Pond theft in Koira Kabita-Kabikha work

Sundarban Coastal Upazila Koira of Khulna has been repeatedly affected by natural disasters. In this upazila, for the employment and food support of the rural poor people, the instructions are not being followed in accepting and implementing the projects under the program of money in exchange for domestic work (kabita) and food in exchange for work (kabikha). Especially in the rural infrastructure reform program, almost half of the allocation of various land filling projects is being embezzled along with widespread irregularities. Various educational institutions, religious institutions, playgrounds and recreational centers are being built, but illegal sand is being given underground.

On the one hand, agricultural land is under threat due to the free extraction of sand through dredgers, on the other hand, the poor affected by the disaster are deprived of the benefits of the project due to lack of employment generation. Their children are deprived of education due to lack of employment leaving the area.

In the past three years of work investigation, it is known that more than half of the allocation is being embezzled by repeating projects at the same place and not working as per instructions. Although soil is supposed to be provided in the project, sand is being provided illegally from the subsurface. As a result, employment is not created. Agricultural land is being destroyed. The risk of landslides is increasing. Several times more money is being withdrawn through fake master roll with nominal sand. Although the master roll is submitted showing other works such as earth digging by laborers, the field is actually being filled with dredger machines and earthen road work is being done with excavator machines.

After inspecting the work of 15 projects on the ground, it is known that Arjunpur Katnia Secondary School of Bagali Union of Upazila has been allocated 5 metric tons of rice under the Rural Infrastructure Reform (Kabikha) project in the financial year 2023-24. In filling the field of that institution, 6 metric tons of rice was allocated and filled with sand in the financial year 2022-23. Locals said that almost half of the money was looted at that time as well. In addition, there is an allocation of land filling in the filled area. 5 metric tons of wheat has been allocated from Kabikha in the financial year 2023-24 for filling the ground of the neighboring Arjunpur Katnia Government Primary School. However (as on November 29) no work has been done on the project for the financial year 2023-24 in those two institutions. However, in June, food grains were extracted from the upazila food warehouse and sold.

Local woman UP member Hasna Hena, president of the implementation committee of the two projects, said there were problems. Work will be started soon.

6 metric tons of rice has been allocated for Kabikha project in the financial year 2022-23 by filling the ground of South Kalikapur Government Primary School of Maheshwaripur Union with soil. Going there, it can be seen that a small field adjacent to the local Eidgah, filled with soil, has been slightly raised with sand.

When asked to GM Abdur Rashid, the assistant teacher of that institution, he said that sand was removed for two days with the dredger machine. And for two days three or four workers are working on the soil. The total cost is 50 thousand rupees.

Amirul Islam, the president of the project implementation committee and the head teacher of the school, said that 20,000 taka is spent on soil filling and 1 lakh taka on sand filling. There was no answer regarding the remaining money and the extraction of sand.

2022-23 financial year for filling the ground of Jaipur-Shimlar Ait Daruchhunnah Dakhil Madrasa under Kabita project, 50 thousand Taka from TR in the same financial year and 5 lakh Taka from Union Parishad development support fund for madrasa renovation work. In the financial year 2023-24 another Tk 3 lakh has been allocated from the Development Assistance Fund of the Union Parishad. In the same fiscal year, Tk. 4 lakh was allocated for field filling and building renovation from Kabita project. Among them, two lakh taka were shown in the field.

Some teachers of the institution, who did not want to be named, said that approximately two and a half lakh taka was spent to fill the field and fill the field with a machine by extracting sand from the neighboring agricultural land. Besides, some rooms of the madrasa have been renovated. It may cost approximately two to three lakh rupees. They did not know about the allocation of so much money. They were surprised when the matter came to light. There is pent-up anger among them.

It is also known that in 2023, local youth and Madrasa students were given some soil on the sand in exchange for money. Rumor has it that the cost of filling the field with land and sand came from a grant to hire two employees.

Super Maulana of the institution. Shafiqul Islam said that he was the president of the implementation committee of the Kabita project and all the allocations have been made. Master roll along with details of cost and progress photos are submitted to PIO office.

He also said that he did not do the work of the Development Assistance Fund, several renovation works were done in two buildings under the supervision of the brother of the local UP Chairman. He does not know the cost details of that project. However, when asked to see the previous pictures of field filling and building renovation work, he failed to show them properly.

Besides, the picture of the field before filling was not found with the master roll of the PIO office. Besides, talking to some of the workers named in the master roll, it is known that they did not do any work in that company.

Not only these three institutions, in the seven unions of this upazila, there have been irregularities in the work of almost all the schemes under the rural infrastructure reform (Kabikha-food grains/cash) program in the last three financial years. Millions of rupees have been looted with the help of the administration. There are several allegations that political leaders, public representatives and PIC committee members have embezzled half of the allotted money through the administration's rigging. And the workers were not used even in the work done. As a result, the main objective of the program is being disrupted. The government's noble initiative to create positive impact on poverty alleviation through employment generation is failing.

HM Shahabuddin, a prominent social worker who has been repeatedly elected UP Chairman of Koira Sadar Union, said that although there is a plan to create employment for the people of the area through the Kabita-Kabikha program, those instructions are not being followed in Koira. Most of the people of Koira are poor. They are moving elsewhere in search of livelihood. They go to work in different places of the country including Barisal, Dhaka, Gopalganj, Khulna, Bagerhat for about eight to nine months of the year. Their children are left without guardians. Many people go to work in brick kilns with their children. Along with stopping their children's education, normal growth is also hindered.

He also said that if the use of soil in field filling can be ensured, irregularities will be reduced and the employment of workers will increase. In addition, the filled field will also reduce the risk of being washed away by rainwater or collapsing. Greening will also be easy especially by planting trees. He called for the attention of the appropriate authorities to eradicate corruption along with creating employment through Kabita-Kabikha programme.

Koira Upazila Executive Officer Ruli Biswas said, I am not aware of any such matter. I will look into this matter.

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