Massive irregularities have taken place in 34 development projects of Gazipur Public Works Department (PWD). In the 2019-2020 financial year, the contractors have collected bills of Tk. 49.29 crore through hand receipts by 'satisfying' the officials without performing the work of the projects. The looting was led by the former Executive Engineer(EE) of Gazipur PWD Anwarul Azim.

Regarding such massive irregularities Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, Md. Mizanur Rahman Majumder has asked the Chief Engineer of PWD to answer about the complaints.

Regarding plundering of money the concerned Executive Engineer Anwarul Azim was transferred to Pabna in mid-September. On the other hand, the Gazipur PWD could not reply to the letter sent by the ministry within 28 days. The letter said that the Gazipur Public Works Department could not show the bill, MB and vouchers in writing against the work of all the projects to the audit team.

Crores of money has been paid through HR (hand receipt) alone. In the letter, it has been directed to send a detailed reply to the ministry with the recommendation of the Superintendent Engineer(SE) and the opinion of the Chief Engineer, attaching detailed information and evidence regarding paragraph No. 5 of the audit objection of Gazipur PWD 2019-2020 raised by the Directorate of Internal Audit.

According to the relevant sources, only in the last 28 days from June 2 to June 30, 46 crore 36 lakh 15 thousand 306 rupees have been paid in advance in 28 hand receipts. The remaining money has been disbursed in the same manner at different times. The same path has been followed in all the projects mentioned. In contrast to these, contractor bill vouchers, work record measurements are not available in Gazipur PWD. The matter has also been detected in the internal audit. The source further said, Gazipur PWD Executive Engineer Anwarul Azim did not look at the work with various benefits from the contractors but only paid the bills of the contractors. Apart from him, Gazipur PWD Staff Officer and PWD Accountant Mamtaz Ala Zakir and many others were involved in the looting.

When contacted the concerned EE about the irregularities former EE of Gazipur PWD Anwarul Azim said that all the projects have been completed in accordance with the rules. There were no irregularities. No extra bill was paid for a single job. All the work has been done long before the audit. No work is left out. Regarding the letter from the ministry, he said the work was completed in June. There were no irregularities. One or two works were not included in the MB. All running bills are paid by hand receipt. No bills were paid in advance. The ministry has since started the query, we will answer. Regarding transfer, he said, I do government jobs. There has to be a transfer. I have been transferred in general. In the same context, the present EE of Gazipur PWD Swapan Chakma said, in the middle of last September, the Anwarul Azim was transferred to Pabna. The letter came from the Ministry of Housing and Public Works on October 26 after he took charge.

It is too early to reply to the letter. He was not transferred for irregularities. The transfer order has been made long ago. Asked if there were any irregularities in the projects, he said, "There is no opportunity to pay the bill without work." Hand receipt is a conventional system. Payment has to be made after the bill is submitted.

It is often seen that the amount of funds is not as much as the bill. We then provide the contractor with as much funds as we have through hand receipts. Regarding the progress of the project, he said work on 34 projects is underway. Contractors work, take bills. This is how everything works. Didn't work but the bill was paid it's not right. The big thing is - contractors often don't get the bill even after finishing work. Again, due to lack of funds, the pace of work slows down or the work stops.

The job of the auditor is to find irregularities. There may be irregularities even within the rules. I can't avoid liability for it. If there is an irregularity in the eyes of the auditor, then there must be an answer. Although he said that the work is going on, it can be seen on the ground that no work has been done for the construction of Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Medical College and Hospital against the money paid last June. Verification of the basis of his statement regarding payment of bills in hand receipts shows that according to the GCC-75 clause of the contract, there is no scope for contractors to pay bills in advance.