61 sued over  irregularities in building Haor dam

The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed a case against 61 people, including officials and contractors of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts for alleged corruption, irregularities and negligence in construction of Haor Dam.
The case was filed with Sunamganj Sadar Police Station on Sunday, said the ACC Assistant Director Faruk Hossain. The ACC sources said they have already arrested two suspects from among the 61 persons, including Water Development Board's
suspended Executive Engineer Md Afsar Uddin and a contractor Bachchu Mia over the graft in embankment in the haor region.  
The government officials were sued in connection with the flash flood in haor regions that destroyed tonnes of crops earlier in April. Flash floods in March submerged crops, especially Boro rice in the Haor areas or shallow wetlands in Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Kishoreganj, Netrakona and Brahmanbaria districts.
The corrupt officials and contractors were blamed for the devastation. They allegedly showed negligence in building or fortifying dams that caused havoc to crops on around 19,840 hectares of land causing more than 800,000 families that rely on the land for livelihood penniless, according to the government.
The ACC began investigating the matter in April over the published reports that said a huge amount of money was embezzled from funds those were sanctioned for the construction of 28 embankments that were never built in Sunamganj.
ACC Director Md Belal Hossain headed the three-member committee that formed to probe the allegations. As probe continued, the BWDB suspended Sylhet Superintending Engineer Md Nurul Islam Sarker, Additional Chief Engineer (North-east Region) MD Abdul Hai and Sunamganj Executive Engineer Md Afsar Uddin. The issue stirred up anger among activists who held several media briefings in the capital. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during her Apr 30 visit to Sunamganj, promised measures over possible negligence.
President Md Abdul Hamid visited the flood affected areas of his hometown Kishoreganj, one of the affected districts.
The May 4 questioning of top BWDB officials revealed "huge negligence" on part of the agency, the ACC Director General Muhammad Munir Chowdhury had said.