A low-lift pump (LLP) irrigation scheme approved by the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) in Panchakroshi union of Ullapara, Sirajganj has serious discrepancies over both the land it was sanctioned on and where it was actually built, Bangla Tribune has found. The scheme, which lifts water from a river, was carried out in 2023.
The land papers submitted to BADC in the name of scheme manager Bablu Pramanik do not match the land office records, which do not list him as owner. According to those records the plot belonged to Badiuzzaman and Shamsuzzaman, passed to their heirs, and was mutated by the current owners in the 2024-25 fiscal year, with no record of a transfer to Bablu Pramanik. Wahid Sadiq Amrul, officer of the Panchakroshi union land office, confirmed that the land is not in his name.
The second discrepancy is the site. No LLP structure stands on the plot named in BADC's papers in the Matikora area; instead a brick pump house was built on railway property next to it. Local people say proper checks of the documents and a site visit would have caught both problems. The upazila BADC assistant engineer at the time, Zahid Hasan, and sub-assistant engineer Rakibul Islam were involved in the approval, the paper reports.
Bablu Pramanik said the officials of the time approved the scheme after checking. BADC's executive engineer for Sirajganj, Chittaranjan, said the matter rests with the upazila assistant engineer, who verifies an application before the upazila nirbahi officer approves it.
Ashrafuzzaman, a BADC assistant engineer recently transferred from the Ullapara zone, declined to comment officially but said it is entirely illegal to install any BADC project on government property without the owning department's no-objection. Liakat Ali Khan, divisional manager of Bangladesh Railway at Pakshi, said the matter would be looked into and action taken under the rules.
The report is by Likhon Ahmed, Bangla Tribune's Sirajganj correspondent.
Photo: Mohammed Tawsif Salam / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Source: Bangla Tribune
Comments
(0)