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Corruption in10-high school construction project: Part 2

PD’s greed for car crosses all limits


Published : 09 Dec 2019 09:28 PM | Updated : 06 Sep 2020 09:00 PM

The Director of the project for constructing 10 new government high schools in Dhaka city and the adjacent districts has bought a luxurious car at a cost of Tk 91.26 lakh, almost double the maximum price stipulated in the approved Development Project Proposal (DPP).

For another car he spent Tk 43.31 lakh which is also much higher than the maximum stipulated price in the DPP. And though these cars are meant for using for the project activities, both the cars are used for the Project Director’s (PD’s) personal works and for his family members.

Dr Md Amirul Islam, the Project Director, a 20th BCS Education cadre officer, currently an associate professor, allegedly has crossed all the limits of corruption and irregularities including almost doubling the cost of the project. The Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education under the Ministry of Education appointed Amirul Islam as the Director of the project worth Tk 673.46 crore in 2017, and only 2 percent work of the project has so far been completed. But Project Director (PD) Amirul Islam has already sent a Revised Development Project Proposal (RDPP) to the Ministry of Education increasing the cost of the project by almost double, Tk 1,124 crore.

The approved Development Project Proposal (DPP) allowed the PD to buy two cars for the project – one with a maximum Tk 55.20 lakh and another one with maximum Tk 40 lakh. Violating the rules, he bought a luxurious QX Mitsubishi jeep at a cost of Tk 91.26 lakh and a microbus at a cost of Tk 43.31 lakh, which is a clear act of embezzling the government fund. Only the ministers are allowed to buy such an expensive car like QX Mitsubishi with government fund, sources said.

There was an audit objection on purchase of the two cars. But the authority concerned did not accept his audit reply as those could not satisfy them. Amirul Islam was asked by the audit authority to resolve the audit objection by 19 September but there was no development in this regard due to his non-cooperation. He had provided false and fabricated information to the audit authority, sources said.

Besides wasting more than Tk 33 lakh in car purchase, the PD also wasting a lot of money in buying excess amount of petrol and gas for the cars. As per the approved DPP, he was entitled to buy petrol of Tk 13 thousands and gas of Tk 27 thousand per month but he spends much more than the stipulated amount every month.

During his 20-day leave for travelling abroad for 20 days in two phases from 30 July to 12 August last year and from 24 June to 29 June this year, he withdrew Tk 30 thousand as fuel cost of his jeep. That means, the luxurious car was randomly used by his family during his travelling abroad, sources said.

Amirul Islam owns some construction projects. He always uses the jeep of the government project for taking care of his private projects. In September and October last, the mileage of the jeep was around 3,200 kilometers, which is quite unusual. He also made a bill of Tk 50,000 for repairing works of the two cars.

In a latest information, it is learnt that his official jeep is being used for campaign purpose of the upcoming election of Officers Club. Conscious citizens have demanded a comprehensive investigation of alleged corruptions regarding the much-talked-about 10-school project.

This correspondent on Monday called Amirul Islam over phone several times to get his comment. But he did not receive the calls. This correspondent also sent an SMS to his personal mobile phone seeking his comment over the allegations against him but there was no response from his side.
(This the second part of a series report under the above headline.)