| BAL men on grabbing spree Errant leaders of the Awami League and relatives of its lawmakers continue flexing their muscles for grabbing public and private property, tender manipulation and extortion in defiance of the party chief Sheikh Hasina's instructions to stop such crimes.(The Newage) 'Deputy commissioners reported from different districts that a section of ruling party leaders and relatives of some party lawmakers were still engaged in crimes, including grabbing of lands, patronising tender manipulation and extortion and destruction of forests,' a senior official at the cabinet division told New Age Wednesday quoting reports sent from the field administration by October 14. 'The MPs and their followers continue seeking undue favours from the government offices.' When asked whether the situation improved after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, had asked the party lawmakers to refrain from patronising offences in their constituencies, the official said, 'There is hardly any difference between the reports sent by field administrations before and after the prime minister issued the warning in the middle of last month.' At a meeting of the Awami League's parliamentary party on September 17, the prime minister warned party lawmakers that stern action would be taken if they encouraged tender manipulation and extortion and tried to put pressure on civil administration, which, she said was tainting the image of the nine-month-old government. Awami League lawmaker ABM Abul Kashem Master's son SM Al Mamun on October 7 allegedly grabbed land of four ship-breaking yards along the coast of Sitakunda in Chittagong. Hired goons of Mamun also assaulted journalists, who went there to cover the incident. When contacted, Abul Kashem told New Age Thursday that the allegation of grabbing shipyard against him and his son was 'false'. 'We have been in shipyard business for quite a long time. My son has bought some land to expand the yard and the sellers had erected fences in preparation for handing over the land,' he said. Henchmen of former Awami League lawmaker Shamim Osman and his brother Nasim Osman of Jatiya Party were engaged in activities like tender manipulation, extortion and lording over the local administration, according to a source in the Narayanganj district police. Narayanganj municipality mayor Selina Hayat Ivy, also a local Awami League leader, on Wednesday told reporters that people of the area were afraid of speaking against the henchmen of the two brothers. 'I will continue to be vocal against criminals even if he is my brother,' she told New Age Thursday. A section of AL lawmakers made themselves controversial by assaulting government officials, interfering in upazila elections, torturing opposition and rival activists and patronising their henchmen who seemed hell-bent on grabbing whatever they could in respective constituencies. Awami League lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi made himself controversial in less than a month of his election for Cox's Bazar-4 (Ukhia-Teknaf) constituency. Aggrieved by his atrocities in the area, many locals have started calling him another 'Joynal Hazari'. At an election rally on January 18, Bodi threatened to 'trigger an earthquake' in Teknaf if the chairman and vice-chairman candidates backed by him were not elected in the January 22 election, said witnesses and a few candidates for the posts. Gias Uddin, assistant presiding officer of Sufia Community School centre at Phoolerdail village, filed a case with Teknaf police station on January 22 accusing Bodi of beating election officials. Some local Awami League and Jubo League men were allegedly involved in felling 30,000 Jhau (tamarisk) trees on about 250 acres of land in August to sell land in the form of plots for hotel, motel and business firms on the Teknaf beach in Cox's Bazar. Denying the charges, Bodi said an anti-Awami League quarter had engineered the filing of the case against him in a bid to taint the government's image. On April 12, a group of AL activists went to the office of the upazila nirbahi officer, Nuruzzaman, at Kumarkhali in Kushtia and assaulted him. They also ransacked the office and allegedly threatened to kill him. The incident took place after the UNO, also the chairman of Kumarkhali Degree College, set a date for appointing a principal for the college without consulting local lawmaker Sultana Tarun. When contacted, Sultana Tarun said the problem had been settled after the prime minister's instruction. 'Nobody indulged in excesses in Kumarkhali,' she told New Age Thursday. Cronies of AL lawmaker Golam Moula Roni filed four 'false' cases last month against two local journalists at Galachipa in Patuakhali in a bid to avenge their reports on land grabbing on a riverbank and setting up of a market with Roni's backing. They vandalised and burnt arches and the stage erected for a public meeting at Galachipa to welcome state minister for water resources, Mahbubur Rahman less than a week after the prime minister had addressed the AL parliamentary party meeting. Golam Moula Roni, however, claimed that he had not asked anybody to file cases against journalists or vandalise the arches and the stage erected for the minister's visit. Shamsul Haq Tuku, state minister for home, said the administration had been asked to take action against the persons involved in crimes no matter which party the offenders belonged to. http://www.newagebd.com/front.html#1 |
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