Kurigram Correspondent

Severe allegations of corruption, administrative misconduct, transfer trading, and intimidation have emerged against Mozammel Haque, Deputy Director of the District Family Planning Office in Kurigram.

Subordinate officers and field staff alleged that the official has engaged in systemic malpractice since assuming office. In a notable incident on June 21, Deputy Director Mozammel Haque visited the Kurigram Mother and Child Welfare Center and summoned Family Welfare Inspectors Shahina Khatun and Pratima Rani Sarkar to the medical officer's room, where he allegedly verballed and threatened them for refusing to reside in condemned government quarters.

Inspector Pratima Rani Sarkar alleged that she was verbally abused in the presence of colleagues, with offensive remarks directed at her family and religious symbols. Inspector Shahina Khatun separately stated that she was coerced under duress and threats to sign a pre-drafted confession written by the Deputy Director.

Although executive engineers from the Health Engineering Department and former Kurigram Family Planning Deputy Director Modabber Hossain had officially certified the officers' quarters and family planning inspectors' quarters at the district headquarters as uninhabitable in 2023, the incumbent Deputy Director continued pressuring staff to occupy the abandoned structures.

Subsequent to the incident, Mozammel Haque reportedly coordinated with the Rangpur Division Family Planning Director to issue administrative notices ordering the deduction of backdated house rent and electricity bills from the affected employees spanning August 2024 to July 2026.

Staff members, speaking on condition of anonymity, further alleged that the Deputy Director engaged in widespread transfer trading across the district. According to employees, officials who resisted illegal demands or refused to supply personal provisions during off-hour field visits were punitively transferred to remote locations, with favorable reassignments subsequently offered in exchange for substantial monetary transactions. Employees further alleged that the official routinely threatened staff with departmental cases and transfer out of the district, citing personal friendships with divisional leadership to claim immunity from administrative oversight.

Administrative irregularities within the Kurigram office also include the unauthorized assignment of core departmental responsibilities. Official records and transfer files across four upazilas, alongside recruitment transactions, are reportedly handled by Md. Mahbubur Rahman (Mim), who was originally attached to the office as a statistical assistant. Appointed statistical assistants, including current incumbent Nazmul Islam, have allegedly been denied their official duties while designated senior administrative officers remain bypassed.

Additional allegations highlight the misuse of public resources, including the unauthorized consumption of office electricity for personal cooking on government premises and the routine deployment of the official departmental vehicle for personal travel to the Deputy Director's private residence in Rangpur.

When contacted,  Kurigram District Family Planning Deputy Director Mozammel Haque refuted all charges, asserting that the claims brought against him are entirely baseless and fabricated.