Theft of Relief Materials: 3 UP chairmen, nine members suspended

The government yesterday suspended chairmen and nine members of three Union Parishads on charge of their involvement with irregularities in distributing relief materials amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Ministry issued separate notifications announcing their suspension orders yesterday. 

The suspended chairmen are Makhdoom Kabir Tanmay of Kishoreganj's Niyamtapur Union Parishad (UP), Mohammad Abdus Sattar of Natore's Arjunpur Baramahati UP, and Mirza Ghulam Hafiz Sohag of Bogura's Mazihotta UP.

The suspended members are Md Reza of Arjunpur Baramahati, Md Zakir Hossain and Md Rokonuzzaman of Barishal's Kodorpur UP, Md Abdur Rob Patwary of Bhola's Hazirhat UP, Sheikh Mosharaf Hossain and Rony Begum of Narail's Joynagar UP, Md Rafiqul Islam of Sirajganj's Khaskaulia UP, and Al Amin Chowdhury and Ms Asia Khatun of Bagbati UP.

Earlier, a total of five UP chairmen and seven UP members were suspended on April 12 and April 15 respectively over the same allegation.

Since March 30, law enforcers and civil administration officials have recovered over 310 tonnes of rice, 5 tonnes sugar, 8,048 litres of edible oil and 25 sacks of chickpeas. Besides, 56 people were arrested in different districts in this connection, according to media reports.

The drives for recovering rice and other food, which was meant for the poor, are continuing in different districts

In Rajshahi, law enforcers arrested a local ruling Awami League leader and  seized 3.23 tonnes of rice from his home in Godagari upazila's Pakri union on Saturday evening.

The arrestee is Alal Uddin Swapan, president of Pakri union and dealer of government's "rice at Tk 10 per kg" programme meant for the poor.

He was appointed to distribute the rice among 500 card holders, who are hit-hard by poverty in the union.

Later, he took rice from the government's warehouses twice -- on March 8 and April 6. But he did not distribute the rice and instead filled the register with fake signatures of poor people. He lied to government officers about distributing rice while storing it in his house to sell illegally at high prices, said Nazrul Islam Sarker, Godagari upazila nirbahi officer (UNO).    

On information, a team from the local administration, led by the UNO, raided the house and seized the rice. The team also recovered a register filled with 200 fake signatures.

In Kishoreganj, Rab recovered 588 litres of edible oil, one sack of pulse and one sack of sugar of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) from Sotal bazar yesterday.

The oil was supposed to be sold among the poor at a low price by a dealer appointed by the government.

On information, a Rab team raided three shops in Sotal bazar and recovered the food items. The law enforcers also arrested four people in this connection.

The arrestees are Md Mahtab Uddin, 48, Md Abu Taher and Md Abdul Hakim, 45, owners of the three shops, and Md Oliullah, 28, the TCB dealer.

(Our Correspondents from Rajshahi and Mymensingh contributed to the story.)