Comilla South District Correspondent :
The chairman and vice-chairman of Laksam Upazila Parishad have withdrawn 14 lakh 13 thousand 671 taka from the revenue fund of the Upazila Parishad for fuel and travel allowance in the last five years without inspecting the development works of the Upazila Parishad.
The Upazila Parishad chairman has used the Upazila Parishad jeep for his personal use, violating government regulations that allow the jeep to be used for commuting to and from the office and inspecting other administrative and development works.
In the last five years, 483,064 taka has been withdrawn for fuel and 930,625 taka for travel allowance for using government vehicles for personal purposes.
There is a provision to maintain a log book for the Upazila Parishad vehicles. Although the said log book has instructions to record the place of travel, distance (miles/kilometers) and purpose of use of the vehicle every day, mentioning the user’s name, designation, signature and date, no log book was found for the jeep of Laksam Upazila Parishad.
Jeep driver Abdul Quader said that he submitted the vehicle’s log book to the Upazila Parishad after August 5.
Laksam Upazila Executive Officer Md. Kausar Hamid did not want to talk about this. Meanwhile, Upazila Parishad’s sat typist cum-computer operator Rakibul Hasan, office assistants Manik Mia and Ahsanullah, Upazila Executive Office Deputy Administrative Officer (CA) Md. Harunur Rashid, office assistant cum computer typist Md. Shafiqul Islam, office assistant Md. Abul Bashar and office assistant Md. Enamul Karim said that none of them knew anything about the log book.
Sources said that the log book was hidden or not used to cover up the massive looting of the Upazila Parishad’s revenue fund through the withdrawal of fuel expenses, repair expenses, and travel allowances for the said jeep.
Analyzing the data, it can be seen that in the jeep repair sector of Laksam Upazila Parishad, 50 thousand taka was spent in April 2020, 4 lakh 32 thousand 9 hundred and 50 taka in January 2021, 70 thousand taka in February 2021 for denting and painting of jeeps, 30 thousand taka in June 2021 for repair, 64 thousand taka in September 2021, 23 thousand taka in February 2022, 34 thousand 100 taka in October 2022, 34 thousand 100 taka in March 2023, 31 thousand 800 taka in June 2023, 55 thousand taka in September 2023, 45 thousand taka in November 2023, 3 lakh taka in March 2024 and 25 thousand taka in September 2024.
Travel allowance: 1 lakh 73 thousand 375 taka in May 2020, 1 lakh 60 thousand 875 taka in May 2021, 32 thousand 500 taka in June 2021, 97 thousand 500 taka in March 2022, 92 thousand 625 taka in April 2022, 32 thousand 500 taka in June 2022, 1 lakh 30 thousand taka in April 2023,
65 thousand taka in the month of June 2023,
Chairman’s travel allowance of 97,500 taka was withdrawn in March 2024 and 48,750 taka in April 2024.
In the energy sector, expenditure on the energy sector has been shown as 56,030 taka from the Upazila Parishad revenue fund in April 2022, 41,100 taka in June 2022, 1,05,640 taka in April 2023, 52,820 taka in June 2023, 1,31,265 taka in April 2024, 40,215 taka in June 2024 and 56,030 taka in September 2024. In the last five years, 2,68,621 taka has been withdrawn from the energy, travel and car repair sectors.
Generally, cars cannot be used outside the upazila area. However, cars can be used for official work in the district headquarters or within the district area. If there is a need to take a car outside the district for any special reason, prior permission from the local government department must be obtained.
Upazila Parishad jeeps cannot be used for any personal purposes.
Although the Upazila Parishad manual instructs that the use of vehicles and fuel costs of the Upazila Parishad should be controlled as much as possible and that the expenditure should be limited to the allocation for this sector in the budget approved by the government, experts believe that an exception has been made in Laksam. In view of the above, the local residents demanded punishment of the guilty through a judicial investigation.
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