National Citizens Party (NCP) Chief Organizer (South) Hasnat Abdullah said, ‘Earlier, a work worth one crore taka would consume only three million taka. There was no accountability. This has been going on for the last 20 years. An unaccountable society had developed.
Some of them still think that they don’t have to answer to anything. That would be their mistake. Since we don’t take commission, we are not held accountable by anyone. My contractor doesn’t work here, do I have a contractor? I don’t take commission here, I am not accountable to anyone.
“So the money allocated for this work must be properly utilized.”
He made these remarks to reporters after being caught red-handed in a work worth Tk 2.43 crore on the Debidwar section of the Comilla-Sylhet regional highway around 7 pm on Wednesday (June 25).
Hasnat Abdullah said, “The government officials and employees who are there are trained to give any ‘excuse’. They have ‘excuses’ ready for anything and are doing pill-passing, meaning it’s not my responsibility, it’s his responsibility, not this chair, that chair.”
Regarding the irregularities in the road, Hasnat Abdullah said, “Tk 2.43 crore will not be of any use to the people. Rather, the suffering of the people has increased. They were supposed to build 6 inches of road before installing the divider, but they did not do so. The divider has been erected on the road pitch, which will fall if pushed. The blocks that were supposed to be installed here were also not installed.”
The distance from one road to another should be 300 mm but they have given the distance 400 mm. Where 100 rods were needed, they have continued the work with 70 rods. Look at the amount of irregularities they have done, the contractor, engineer and those who were responsible for this work should be compensated. It is like the Qazi’s cow is in the name, it is in the book, but it is not in the cowshed.
Local sources said that Hasnat Abdullah arranged a grant of Tk 2.43 crore from the government for the road widening project, including the installation of road dividers on the road to relieve traffic congestion on the Debidwar section of the Comilla-Sylhet highway. The contractor for the work was Messrs. Bhuiyan Enterprises. But when the company was accused of various irregularities in the work, Hasnat Abdullah himself came and caught it red-handed.
Government officials and employees are trained in giving ‘excuses’ : Hasnat Abdullah
