The parliamentary standing committee on the LGRD ministry has rejected the ministry’s enquiry report on allegations of corruption and irregularities against the Dhaka WASA managing director and the capital’s two city corporations.
The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives presented the report at a meeting of the watchdog on Wednesday.
But the committee asked the ministry to submit a fresh report as the current one had ‘many inconsistencies’.
The panel members were not happy with the report.
Committee chief Abul Hasnat Abdullah told reporters, “There are many discrepancies in the report.”
“The ministry’s previous information and the date in today’s report are inconsistent. That’s why the committee didn’t accept the report.”
During its June 16 meeting, the parliamentary committee asked the ministry to investigate the activities of both city corporations – Dhaka North and Dhaka South – of the time before the new mayors took charge.
It also asked the ministry to look into the alleged irregularities of Dhaka WASA MD Taqsem A Khan in light of recent news reports.
An official, who was present at Wednesday’s meeting, told bdnews24.com: “The ministry’s report on Dhaka WASA MD’s alleged irregularities is incompatible.”
“It is the same with the report on revenue collection irregularities by both city corporations. Both reports are inconsistent (with previous information).”
Minutes of the meeting showed that the ministry did not find any proof of allegations of irregularities levelled against Taqsem Khan.
Rather, it found developments and progresses in many projects including establishment of water refineries.
The report said Khan was not responsible for the death of 4-year-old ‘Jihad’ who died after being trapped several hundred feet down the pipe of a tubewell at the capital’s Shahjahanpur in December last year.
It, however, said it was true that Dhaka metropolitan suffers from severe waterlogging after heavy rain and people endured lots of trouble due to that.
The project-related financial corruption allegations against Khan were also found false, said the report. WASA was a profitable institution before he took charge – this allegation was also found untrue, it added.
About the alleged irregularities at the city corporations, the report, prepared by LGRD Joint Secretary Parimal Kumar Dev, also failed to satisfy the parliamentary standing committee.
The ministry at the last meeting said Dhaka North City Corporation collected Tk 43.8 million in market rents in the 2014-15 financial year. But at Wednesday’s meeting, the report showed the total collection was a mere Tk 2.6 million.
At the June 16 meeting, it was said that Tk 287.8 million was collected on account of trade licences, but the report showed the number was Tk 231.3 million.
On the other hand, the minister previously said Dhaka South City Corporation had collected Tk 272.7 million as market rents in the last fiscal. But the number decreased to Tk 189.4 million in the report submitted Wednesday.
At the last meeting, the ministry said until May Tk 24.6 million was collected from the bus terminals. But the report showed no collection at all in June.
Parliamentary standing committee chief Abul Hasnat Abdullah said, “This report was prepared without any proper investigation.
“This is unacceptable. That’s why this report will have to be resubmitted,” he stressed.
Source: bdnews24
