ACC raids LGED office in Goalando
Moynul Haque Mridha, Rajbari
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has conducted a raid at the office of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Goalando, Rajbari, on allegations of irregularities and corruption in the 1,415-meter rehab or full-scale paving work from Lal Mia Mridha Para to Joynal Mridha Bari in Char Daulatdia under the supervision of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
The drive was conducted at Goalando Upazila LGED office on Tuesday afternoon under the leadership of Faridpur ACC Assistant Director Sardar Abul Bashar. At that time, ACC officer Abul Bashar told reporters, I along with my Deputy Assistant Director Kamrul Hasan and Faridpur Road Department's impartial engineer Md. Rafiqul Islam first went to the Goalanda Upazila LGED office and later under the supervision of LGED to conduct a drive based on allegations of irregularities in the construction of 1415 meters of rehab or full rehabilitation paving from Char Daulatdia Lal Mia Mridha Para to Joynal Mridha Bari at a cost of 1 crore 37 lakh taka. During the drive, we measured the length, width, slope and layer of the road 300,500,700 meters in succession. We will report to the authorities later after getting the full opinion of the expert engineer. The necessary documents have been collected from the engineer of the Upazila LGED and we have informed them about the matter. He further said, it has been heard that low quality ash, bricks, and garbage are being used here. But when we came to the ground here, we found that no garbage has been thrown and the road work is going on, and even the final bill has not been paid. We have come to know that this road was previously owned by HBB. These bricks have been used on the road, so the cost of these bricks has been estimated at 48 lakh taka.
It is estimated that the bill has been paid to the contractor except for this money. Later, the contractor and engineer have been asked to ensure that the work on this road is done completely. In response to a question about whether there were any irregularities in the road work, he said, "There is supposed to be a signboard installed on the road work, but it has not been installed, and the contractor tried to use some low-quality brick waste for the work, which the contractor is taking back in a truck due to the opposition of the engineers and locals."
Goalanda Upazila LGED Engineer Faisal Jahangir Swapnil said, the road construction work is underway from Char Daulatdia Lal Mia Mridha Para to Joynal Mridha Bari under the 1415-meter rehabilitation or full rehabilitation at a cost of 1 crore 37 lakh taka. A team from Faridpur ACC inspected the road for investigation into the construction of the road. They measured the length, width, and height of the road at 5-6 points and found that the measurement was higher than what was expected. Later, they inspected the construction work of the road. He further said, we are committed to ensuring the quality of our work 100% as per their instructions.
It is mentioned that th ACC is conducting raids at 36 offices of the LGED including the head office, to investigate allegations of irregularities in various ongoing projects, including corruption in road and bridge construction. The raid was conducted in Goalanda Upazila of Rajbari in continuation of that.
