Madaripur Correspondent

For a long time, passports were being withheld and sent for printing in exchange for money.

The ACC conducted an undercover raid at the Madaripur regional passport office based on allegations that work cannot be done without money.

A broker was arrested in the raid. However, locals expressed anger that none of them were arrested even though the passport office was involved in this irregularity.

Mahmudul Hasan, the assistant director of the passport office, has been involved in various types of irregularities and corruption for a long time. Angered by this incident, the aggrieved civil society put up banners with the words, "We want a corruption-free and harassment-free passport office and we want the withdrawal of Assistant Director Mahmudul Hasan."

Even then, the harassment at the passport office did not stop. If you go to get a passport without a designated broker, you have to be harassed. Angered by this, the ACC filed a complaint. Later, around 12 noon on Tuesday, ACC Assistant Director Md. Akhtaruzzaman led an undercover raid on the Madaripur Regional Passport Office.

At that time, a broker named Emdad Howlader was arrested. The arrested Emdad Howlader (50) is the son of Abdur Rafiq Howlader of Patiladi village of Dudhkhali union in Sadar upazila. It is known that he has been running rental activities in the Iterpul area of the city for a long time.

ACC said that the Madaripur Regional Support Office and its surroundings are becoming reckless and the passport office officials are cooperating with them. Based on such news, the ACC conducted an undercover raid there. Later, the officials secretly videotaped the conversation in front of the passport office. Emdad Howlader demanded 8,500 taka from a candidate on the condition of issuing a passport. He was later caught red-handed. The ACC then released Emdad in the custody of his wife on a bond.

Adv Masud Parvez, president of the Madaripur Unnayan Sangram Parishad, said that no work is done at the Madaripur passport office without money. Services are only available if money is paid through brokers.

Brokers put a code mark on the passport file. If that mark is not there, services are not available. He added in an angry voice, "It is not enough to just catch the brokers. We have to catch the officers. Then people will get the desired services."

ACC's Madaripur Assistant Director Md. Akhtaruzzaman said that Emdad was released in the custody of his wife on a bond on the condition that he does not engage in such activities in the passport office and its surroundings in the future.

The ACC's campaign at the passport office to stop harassment will continue regularly. Mahmudul Hasan, assistant director of the Madaripur Regional Passport Office, denied responsibility and said that ACC officials had arrested a broker outside the passport office. They later took action against him.