Chalan Beel project fund gobbled up by contractors
Sunday, 16 May 2010
FHM Humayan Kabir
A government agency has detected massive rip-off in a Tk210 million fisheries department project designed to help millions of poor in northern Bangladesh, officials said Saturday
The fund was allocated to develop fisheries in the Chalan Beel - one of the country's major water bodies - and set up a fish sanctuary as part of a government effort to create jobs for fishermen and provide protein for poor.
But officials have found that the contractors have "gobbled up" majority of the fund before executing most of the works under the "Chalan Beel fisheries development project".
"It is theft of a huge scale," said a top official of Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
He said an IMED probe has found that the contractors have drawn bills without digging any ponds, river and water-bodies, and planting trees in the project sites in Natore and Sirajganj districts.
"The project was meant to help the poor. Instead, the contractors simply stole the money," the official said, adding fisheries ministry has also launched an investigation into the "grand larceny".
A project evaluation team comprising IMED secretary M Abdul Malek detected the rip-off during several field visits to the sites in February this year.
The fisheries department launched the Chalan Beel fisheries development project in FY2007, aimed to establishing a fish sanctuary at the water body, known for its rare fishes, and boosting jobs in the northern districts.
Chalan Beel straddles several districts in the north and is the only source of living for millions of poor including fishermen and rice farmers living in Natore, Sirajganj, Pabna, Bogra, Naogaon and Rajshahi districts.
The planning ministry officials said the fisheries department has completed 53 per cent work of the project till December 2009. The project is scheduled to end in June this year.
But the project evaluation team found that funds have been drawn by the contractors without implementation of major parts of the work as per the project design.
Citing an example, the official said the probe team did not find existence of the "Vella pond" at Gurudaspur in Natore though the contractor has drawn a bill of Tk 232,958 in May 2008 for digging the pond.
Contractor also drew bills for rehabilitation work of dozens of ponds and water-bodies. But during the field visit the probe team could not find any trace of the work.
"They (the contractors) also took millions for planting trees and distributing micro-credit to poor fishermen. But in most cases, we did not find any signs of these work," he said.
IMED Secretary M Abdul Malek told the FE that they have recommended stern action against the contractors and the officials who oversaw the project.
"I could not believe it. It's sheer misappropriation of government fund. We are supposed to develop our fisheries sector with the fund. But what we saw was simply theft," he said.
The IMED official said the project director, a deputy director of the fisheries department in Rajshahi Division, never visited the project sites. "He did not do any monitoring job," he said.
"We are convinced that the contractors have gobbled up the money in collaboration with the officials of the fisheries department," he added.
The contractors have violated the project design and done some partial work in different sites to make the fisheries department officials believe that he was doing the job as per schedule, said another IMED official.
"For example, an existing pond has been dug only 4-feet deep against 9-feet required by the project," he added.
A government agency has detected massive rip-off in a Tk210 million fisheries department project designed to help millions of poor in northern Bangladesh, officials said Saturday
The fund was allocated to develop fisheries in the Chalan Beel - one of the country's major water bodies - and set up a fish sanctuary as part of a government effort to create jobs for fishermen and provide protein for poor.
But officials have found that the contractors have "gobbled up" majority of the fund before executing most of the works under the "Chalan Beel fisheries development project".
"It is theft of a huge scale," said a top official of Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
He said an IMED probe has found that the contractors have drawn bills without digging any ponds, river and water-bodies, and planting trees in the project sites in Natore and Sirajganj districts.
"The project was meant to help the poor. Instead, the contractors simply stole the money," the official said, adding fisheries ministry has also launched an investigation into the "grand larceny".
A project evaluation team comprising IMED secretary M Abdul Malek detected the rip-off during several field visits to the sites in February this year.
The fisheries department launched the Chalan Beel fisheries development project in FY2007, aimed to establishing a fish sanctuary at the water body, known for its rare fishes, and boosting jobs in the northern districts.
Chalan Beel straddles several districts in the north and is the only source of living for millions of poor including fishermen and rice farmers living in Natore, Sirajganj, Pabna, Bogra, Naogaon and Rajshahi districts.
The planning ministry officials said the fisheries department has completed 53 per cent work of the project till December 2009. The project is scheduled to end in June this year.
But the project evaluation team found that funds have been drawn by the contractors without implementation of major parts of the work as per the project design.
Citing an example, the official said the probe team did not find existence of the "Vella pond" at Gurudaspur in Natore though the contractor has drawn a bill of Tk 232,958 in May 2008 for digging the pond.
Contractor also drew bills for rehabilitation work of dozens of ponds and water-bodies. But during the field visit the probe team could not find any trace of the work.
"They (the contractors) also took millions for planting trees and distributing micro-credit to poor fishermen. But in most cases, we did not find any signs of these work," he said.
IMED Secretary M Abdul Malek told the FE that they have recommended stern action against the contractors and the officials who oversaw the project.
"I could not believe it. It's sheer misappropriation of government fund. We are supposed to develop our fisheries sector with the fund. But what we saw was simply theft," he said.
The IMED official said the project director, a deputy director of the fisheries department in Rajshahi Division, never visited the project sites. "He did not do any monitoring job," he said.
"We are convinced that the contractors have gobbled up the money in collaboration with the officials of the fisheries department," he added.
The contractors have violated the project design and done some partial work in different sites to make the fisheries department officials believe that he was doing the job as per schedule, said another IMED official.
"For example, an existing pond has been dug only 4-feet deep against 9-feet required by the project," he added.