ACC nabs 10 for illegally extracting sand, cutting soil from river banks

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) nabbed on Tuesday ten persons from three districts for their involvement in destroying the environment by illegally cutting soil from riverbanks and extracting sand from riverbed.
Three separate ACC enforcement teams, with the assistance from respective local administrations and police, conducted the drives in different areas of Gumti River in Cumilla, Nagor River in Bogura and Kaliganga River in Jhenidah.
In Shibganj Upazila of Bogura, the commission, with the help from local administration and police, nabbed four people for their involvement in cutting down soil from the bed of Nagar River.
The mobile court of the upazila administration sentenced the detainees to six months in jail and fined Tk 0.8 million.
Several dredging machines and pipes were destroyed during the drive while a case would be filed against the accused according to relevant environment conservation act.
Simultaneously, an ACC team, accompanied by local upazila administration, led by its Cumilla office deputy director Helal Uddin Sharif arrested five people and sent them to jail for illegally extracting sand from Gumti River at Debidwar Upazila in the district.
During the drive, two tractors and two dredgers used in illegal sand extraction were destroyed.
In Tribeni and Dignagore Union in Shailkupa Upazila of Jhenaidah, an ACC team led by its Jashore office deputy director Md Nazmus Sadat detained a person red-handed while illegally extracting sand from Kaliganga River.
Later, the detainee was sent to jail through the local administration. Talking about the drives, ACC director general and chief coordinator of its enforcement units Muhammad Munir Chowdhury said vested quarters have been earning millions by illegally extracting sands and cutting soil from embankments of many rivers.
Mentioning that ACC will continue its drives to protect environment and natural resources, he said the commission will shortly take legal actions against the people who have been accumulating illegal wealth by destroying the environment.
In the meantime, another ACC team comprising its director Shafiqur Rahman Bhuiyan and assistant director Jasmine Akter conducted a drive at Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation (BSEC) in the city over allegation of irregularities in its recruitment process.
ACC received complaints in its hotline-106 that the BSEC authority has been playing bias role to recruit its favoured individuals.
The state-body's recruitment exams for the positions of assistant engineer, deputy-assistant engineer, audit officer, assistant programmer and accounts officer have been in process.
However, reviewing the recruitment process, the commission advised BSEC authority to maintain transparency to keep the recruitment free of graft incidents.

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