Staff Reporter:

Allegation of irregularities has been surfaced against contracting firm ABS over the implementation of Jamuna Railway Bridge Construction Project.

The contractor ABS has been accused of embezzling a huge amount of government money by extracting soil illegally from the government land for lake filling work under the Jamuna Rail Bridge construction project and using that soil in the same project.

Locals claim that, the nearby cropland has been damaged due to the extraction of soil through dredging from land owned by Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA). However, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority has assured to investigate the complaint and take necessary action.

The Jamuna Rail Bridge construction project began in 2020 to make rail connectivity with the northern region faster, safer and more modern. Although, the initial plan for the project was to build a beautiful lake and a railway museum in the Sirajganj section of the railway, the authorities concerned later changed the design and decided to fill the lake.

Locals alleged that, instead of collecting sand from outside to fill the lake, sand was dredged from the Bangladesh Bridge Authority’s land behind the museum. This has damaged agricultural land and turned many areas into water bodies. At the same time, allegations have been made against the contractor ABS for embezzling a huge amount of government money by showing fake bills of land purchase for the project despite using government land.

Several local residents said that, there was cropland here earlier. The ABS dug soil from there and filled the lake inside the project. Instead of bringing soil from outside, the contracting firm extracted sand from BBA land and destroyed the nearby agricultural lands. Currently, it has turned into a deep hole, which is disrupting agricultural work.

When contacted, ABS Managing Director (MD) Abdur Rahman refused to make comment.

Syed Riaz Uddin, Executive Engineer of Jamuna Bridge Site Office, Bhuapur (Tangail), said that the BBA head office has been informed about the illegal excavation of soil from the BBA site. Action will be taken soon after the investigation.

The locals claimed that, such irregularities will continue in the future if transparency and accountability are not ensured in government development projects. Therefore, they have called for an impartial investigation of the allegations to uncover the real facts and take legal action against those responsible and take effective steps to protect the interests of the affected farmers.