Lottery for work suspended after contractors assault engineer
Authorities of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (Minor Irrigation) has suspended lottery for 39 groups of work worth Tk 4.86 crore following assault on an engineer by a group of contractors.
The contractors, allegedly loyal to the ruling Awami League (AL), beat up Sub Assistant Engineer Golam Sarwar of BADC Khulna office at 3:00pm on Monday for not favouring them to get the work orders through dubious means, BADC office sources said.
Monirul, younger brother of AL leader Sheikh Akram Hossain, also former chairman of Phultala upazila parishad, allegedly had a hand in the attack.
Akram Hossain, however, denied the allegation and said it was concocted to tarnish his political reputation.
According to Executive Engineer Md Kamruzzaman of BADC Khulna office, following tenders for 39 groups of works worth Tk 4 crore and 86 lakh for construction of embankments, box culverts and re-excavation of canals in Khulna, Bagerhat and Satkhira districts, as many as 2,900 tender schedules were purchased by over 1,200 contractors.
October 25 of this year was the last date for dropping tenders.
Authorities of BADC decided to appoint contractors through lottery system due to unavoidable reasons but a group of contractors pressed the BADC Khulna office authorities not to go for lottery for distribution of 39 groups of works, Kamruzzaman said.
Following an altercation over introduction of lottery system for distributing three groups of works among the deserving contractors, a few contractors attacked engineer Golam Sarwar.
Khulna office of BADC issued a notice at 4:00pm on Monday suspending the lottery.
At 8:00pm the same day, Golam Sarwar filed a general diary with Khanjahan Ali police station seeking security of his life, said Khanjahan Ali police station Officer in Charge Altaf Hossain.
However, none was mentioned as accused for the attack.
The incident of assaulting a colleague has created sharp reaction among the officials and employees of BADC Khulna office.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments