Jatiya Nagrik Party (NCP) spokesperson Asif Mahmood Sajeeb Bhuiyan and the party’s southern chief organizer and Member of Parliament for Comilla-4 Constituency Hasnat Abdullah explained the allegations against them of taking money from the district council. Both of them claimed that the money was allocated for their upazilas and it was spent for the development of the two upazilas as per the rules.
Comilla Zilla Parishad Administrator Mostak Mia said, ‘Asif Mahmud of Muradnagar has taken Tk 15 crore from the revenue sector of the Zilla Parishad in a discussion meeting and prayer meeting on the occasion of the 45th martyrdom anniversary of former President Ziaur Rahman, the founder of BNP, at Comilla Shilpakala Academy yesterday afternoon. And Hasnat Abdullah took 10 crore rupees. This is the status of coordinators. They wanted an anti-discrimination policy in Bangladesh, but they didn’t have that.’
In view of this statement, Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan came live on his own Facebook page and said, ‘Who appointed him (administrator) to this position? Which money is ADP and which is revenue – it must be known. I have given special allocation to all upazilas from the ministry (when I was a consultant). Allocations have also been given to Muradnagar and Devidwar through Comilla Zilla Parishad. These funds have been spent on various development projects as per rules. whose records are in the Zilla Parishad.’
Hasnat Abdullah wrote in a post on his Facebook page, ‘Comilla administrator went to the party function of BNP and said that Hasnat-Asif took 25 crore rupees from the revenue sector of the district council. Out of this, I have taken 10 crore rupees. Hearing the statement, it would seem that we have pocketed the money ourselves. But there are at least two false facts in his statement.’
Explaining, Hasnat wrote, ‘Firstly, this allocation was not given from the revenue sector of the Zilla Parishad. Debidwar, like other upazilas, has been allocated through the ADP scheme of the Local Government Department, which is implemented through the Zilla Parishad. 5 crore was allocated for Devidwar. It has no involvement with the revenue sector of Zilla Parishad. So to claim that it is revenue sector money is a blatant lie.’
Hasnat Abdullah also said, ‘Secondly, he said we took the money. But this money has been spent on a total of 42 projects. This money has nothing to do with us as individuals. This money has been spent in various sectors through the district administration and upazila administration. He also wrote, ‘When asked to call him about the matter, the administrator said that the money has been allocated for development work. He also said that maybe the journalist did not fully express his statement.
This member of parliament from Comilla-4 constituency said, ‘It is not unusual to allocate for upazilas from the district council. Such allocations are given under the budget every year. The allocation given for Devidwar upazila has also been spent through the upazila administration. An account of every penny of that expenditure is preserved in the government records.’
