The control of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the road communication authority of the country, was not only in the hands of Obaidul Quader, but also in the hands of some others. Various irregularities, corruption, bribes, torturing senior officers and extorting money by making people hostages and other crimes were committed by 11 accomplices of former Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidual Quader.
Most of them, hailed from Noakhali, used to conduct many misdeeds after joining the BRTA using the power of ex-minister Quader.
The above information was revealed while talking to the victims and concerned officers of the organization.
The investigation revealed that bribery had become an open secret in every office of the service provider organization under the influence of this syndicate. Starting from vehicle registration, transfer of ownership, issuing fitness certificate and obtaining route permit, several times extra money had to be paid at every step. If the money was not paid, the beneficiaries had to be harassed. BRTA sources said that during the tenure of former chairman of BRTA, Moshiur Rahman, they started the most of the misdeeds. Everything in the Mirpur circle of BRTA was hostage in their hands. Departmental directors, deputy directors, assistant directors and motor vehicle inspectors were hostages to them as well. The chairman of BRTA was also weak to these employees. After the fall of the Awami League government in the August 5 student movement, some people working in Dhaka were immediately transferred to different places by changing their workplaces. It is alleged that the current chairman of BRTA, Gautam Chandra Pal, served as the PS of Obaidul Quader for a long time. For this reason, they were transferred to BRTA mainly to protect those who were close to Quader. The general officers and employees of BRTA have demanded to investigate and take action against these corrupt employees.
The former APS of Obaidul Quader among the 11 accomplices, Salim was one of the controllers of the recruitment and transfer syndicate. Apart from this, BRTA's Dhaka Metro-1 Circle office assistant Hasan Bin Adaj, office assistant Sajib Hasan, senior assistant Imdadul Haque Shamim and dhaka divisional office assistant Saheed Chowdhury were the controllers for Dhaka region. It is alleged that these employees have been ruling Dhaka since the beginning of their working life. Among them, Imdadul Haque Shamim and Saheed Chowdhury are brothers but they have been given responsibilities in different district quotas through quota fraud.
Among the employees who controlled Chittagong by showing the power of Obaidul Quader, there are record keeper Zahirul Islam (Chittagram Metro Circle-2), record keeper Taslim Mahmud (Chittagram District Circle), record keeper Naeem Uddin Chowdhury (Chittagram Metro Circle-1), office assistant Md. Delwar Hossain (Chittagong Metro Circle-1), office assistant Shakibul Haque Ifti (Chittagong District Circle) and security guard (Chittagong District Circle) Sabuj. Their hometowns are all in Noakhali. Although these employees worked in Chittagong, they had control over the entire country. They used to do all kinds misdeeds in most of the offices with their relatives or by exerting influence somewhere.
On the condition of anonymity, an assistant director of the organization told The Bangladesh Pratidin, "Office assistant Sajib Hasan tortured assistant director (Engineer) Golam Haider Sarkar while he was in Dhaka Metro-2 Circle, but the chairman in charge at that time could not take any action against him. In the past, the people of Noakhali have shown great influence in BRTA offices. They used to harass the officials if they tried to stop the corruption. We did not get any result despite repeated complaints about these issues.”
When asked about this, BRTA Chairman Gautam Chandra Pal told The Bangladesh Pratidin, 'There are many complaints about BRTA, and there is no chance to deny it. However, we are working on these complaints.”
When attention was drawn to some identified corrupt officers and employees of BRTA, he said, “I have been in charge for a few days. I have already started the work of reformation. There are many more changes coming to BRTA. We are working to prevent irregularities and corruption.”
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on September 27 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
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