The High Court (HC) on Tuesday ordered the authorities concerned to form a commission to find out the creators of false stories of corruption in the Padma Bridge construction agreement. The court asked to form the commission within 30 days and submit a report within two months.
It said Padma Bridge is our national asset and our pride. The people behind the conspiracy are against our development. The people, who oppose our national interest and development, are enemies of the country and the nation, the HC said, adding they need to be identified.
We hail the HC order and hope that it would help the authorities concerned form the commission which will be assigned to detect the persons who had plotted conspiracies against the construction of Padma Bridge.
The cabinet, law, home and communication secretaries, chairman of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) will start working together to form a commission within the stipulated time. The commission will then submit a report within two months so that the names of conspirators will come out and be exposed before us.
Ignoring many obstacles and breaking the web of
conspiracy, today the much-desired bridge stands on the chest
of turbulent Padma River
In 2012, the World Bank had cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the Padma Bridge project alleging it has proof of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm, and individuals. It had cancelled the funding to the project on Dr Yunus’s request.
Besides, Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s Chairperson Khaleda Zia now convicted in a graft case and Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and some economists had questioned the government’s capabilities, saying it could never build Padma Bridge with the country’s own money.
According to media sources, the economists who had opposed the construction Padma Bridge are Dr Akbar Ali Khan, Badiul Alam Majumdar, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute, Dr Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), and Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) fellow and a Dr Shahdeen Malik a lawyer. Country’s all national dailies had run various stories with their statements and remarks while private television broadcast reports in this regard.
The long-awaited Padma Multipurpose Bridge was opened to traffic on June 26, a day after its inauguration. The 6.15-kilometre-long bridge has connected the southwest of Bangladesh with Dhaka through road and rail links. People riding on private cars, buses, coaches and other vehicles while drivers and helpers of goods-laden trucks, covered vans and pick-up vans, are now crossing the bridge with great enthusiasm. Ignoring many obstacles and breaking the web of conspiracy, today the much-desired bridge stands on the chest of turbulent Padma River. We believe the names of the persons who hurt the feelings of the country’s people through plotting conspiracies and making indecent remarks against the construction of Padma Bridge will come out soon.