| Submit your comments on this article |
| Bangladesh |
| Bribery nexus involves Mridha |
| 2012-04-13 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] Persons who got jobs in Bangladesh Railway East Zone in the last one year, almost all of them had to pay bribe ranging from Tk 2.5 lakh to Tk 6 lakh to a nexus of the zone's General Manager Yusuf Ali Mridha, some other bigwigs, and some leaders of local Railway Sramik League. The allegation was made to The Daily Star by Railway Sramik Karmachari Sangram Gay Pareehad's Chittagong Divisional Coordinator SK Bari, and a private contractor for the railway department who did not want to be named. The nexus also used to take bribe from private contractors in exchange for work contracts, they added. Mridha quite often used to openly brag that the railway minister was behind him, Bari said adding that the syndicate even took money from the children of railway employees who were seeking jobs in the department. Bari and the private contractor said many job applicants, who qualified for interviews after written tests, did not get the interviews because they could not pay bribes. They also alleged that the railway department published advertisements for recruitment to more than 3,200 posts in 38 categories in October and November 2010. Tests of the applicants in many categories were completed by April last year and the deadline for completing the recruitment was August last year, but the deadline was extended to give the jobseekers time to arrange bribe money. Bari said on May 19 last year there was a robbery in Mridha's bungalow that he shared with some of his colleagues. Additional Chief Engineer SM Liakat Ali of the department, who used to share the bungalow with Mridha, filed a case with Kotwali Police Station after the incident. In the case statement he mentioned that about Tk 2 lakh and other valuables including a laptop and some mobile phone sets were looted. But Assistant Commissioner of Police Mahmud of Kotwali Zone said yesterday that five robbers who had been locked away by police weeks after the robbery later confessed to looting over Tk 12 lakh from the bungalow. More than 100 workers and employees of Bangladesh Railway East Zone held a rally yesterday morning under the banner of Railway Sramik Karmachari Sangram Gay Pareehad at the Carriage and Wagon Repair Workshop in Pahartali demanding termination of Yusuf Ali Mridha from the job. The demonstration was arranged after Mridha along with 3 others were caught in a car in Dhaka on Monday night with Tk 70 lakh in their possession. Later the demonstrators brought out a march in front of the Central Railway Building. Speakers at the rally demanded proper investigation of the allegations against Mridha and his associates, and demanded their punishment if proven guilty. Gay Pareehad's Chittagong Divisional Coordinator SK Bari, and conveners Shahabuddin Ahmad and Nizam Uddin spoke at the rally among others. Mridha could not be reached for comments as he did not receive phone calls despite repeated attempts over the last two days. |
| Posted by:Fred |