Special Correspondent:

Finally the government has canceled the contractual appointment of Local Government Engineering Department’s (LGED) controversial Chief Engineer Abdur Rashid Mia just after five days of his reappointment. The Ministry of Public Administration confirmed the matter through a notification published on Sunday last.

Abdur Rashid Mia was reappointed as LGED Chief Engineer on a contractual basis for a period of one year on March 24.

After his reappointment, “The Daily Sky” published a report on March 25 titled “Rashid Mia returns to LGED as Chief Engineer despite graft allegations”, which exposed his record of corruption and irregularities.

Taking the news-report and several other allegations in recognition, the authorities concerned revised the matter and cancelled his appointment just after five days of his reappointment.

According to the sources, LGED is an organization under the Ministry of Local Government. Abdur Rashid Mia retired from the post of LGED Chief Engineer during the interim government. When the BNP government came to power and reappointed him on a contractual basis, criticism grew from various quarters.

According to sources in the Ministry of Local Government, allegations of irregularities and corruption were made against him while he was the Superintending Engineer of LGED. In April 2023, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) started an investigation into the irregularities and corruption of Abdur Rashid Mia. The allegations against him are that while he was the Superintending Engineer of LGED, he acquired a huge amount of wealth without any known income. LGED officials expressed dissatisfaction over why an officer accused of corruption was reappointed as the Chief Engineer. They blamed the concerned higher authorities for big amount of bribery.

A concerned source said that, Local Government Minister Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was not aware about the one-year contractual appointment of Abdur Rashid Mia as Chief Engineer of LGED. He also expressed his anger over this.

Abdur Rashid Mia’s contractual appointment was canceled in the wake of criticism from various quarters and news-report of several media including The Daily Sky.

Sigh of peace returns to the LGED officials after removal of the controversial officer Abdur Rashid Mia, insiders said.