& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Railway Ctg Zone

Bribe money not less than Tk 10 crore

Claim workers' unions

Staff Correspondent, ctg
A syndicate led by Bangladesh Railway (east zone) General Manger Yusuf All Mridha has so far collected not less than Tk 10 crore as bribe centring the recent recruitment for over 2,700 posts.
The cash money seized from the vehicle of the railway minister's APS on Monday was a part of that “bribe money”, alleged leaders of Bangladesh Railway Sramik Karmachari Sangram Parishad at a press conference here yesterday.
Demanding expulsion of Mridha, the Parishad leaders urged proper investigation into the corruption either by the Anti Corruption Commission or under a judicial probe body and demanded that all the culprits be brought to book.
The platform comprises railway workers and staff of seven organisations.
Addressing reporters, Chief Coordinator of the Parishad's central unit Mokhlesur Rahman said if involvement of Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta is found in the corruption, he should be tried too.
“The bribed money cannot be less than Tk 10 crore," he said adding that if Mridha
is interrogated in police custody more about it could be known.
Mridha very often used the name of the minister and asked his cohorts to collect higher amount of bribe saying that "he needs to give the minister a percentage of the amount".
The bribery nexus collected money ranging from Tk 2.5 lakh to Tk 6 lakh, as much as they could manage from major portion of the job seekers who qualified in the written tests for over 2,700 posts in 28 categories, alleged Mokhlesur.
They even took money from the railway employees' children who applied under the "dependent quota”, he claimed.
Mentioning that they had no idea whether the minister is involved or not, Mokhlesur said had the GM or the minister's APS utter the minister's name in a bid
to save themselves, they should be tried.
He demanded disclosure of the actual amount of money that was seized by the BGBmen.
Central Convener of the Parishad Abdur Sabur, Mohammad Ali, Rafik Chowdhury, Kazi Anwarul Hoque, Rizwanur Rahman Khan and Divisional Coordinator SK Bari Khokan were present at the conference. MINISTER, DGALERTED Reading a written statement at the press meet, Divisional Convener of the Parishad, Harunur Rashid said that on October 31 last year they arranged a rally at Central Railway Building protesting bribery centring recruitment. They also submitted a memorandum to the east zone GM.
The Parishad also sent a fax message to the railway director general on February 9 this year and another to the
railway minister on February 12 informing that the GM was talking about the involvement of the minister in the 'recruitment trade', said the statement.
A 14-member team of the Parishad also met with Suranjit at the conference room of Railway Building on March 28 and informed him about the issue. “But no step was taken," said Harunur.
He alleged that the railway authority fixed the time limit of recruiting 7,414 people upto February 11 this year but the GM delayed the process “only to do his business”.
MRIDHA NOT CLEAN
A central leader of the progovernment workers-staff-organisation admits having knowledge about "corruption” in the recruitment procedure.
Joint General Secretary of Sramik League Lokman Hossain said the gross alle-
gations of corruption are not true, but “we have heard that there have been grafts and bribery in the recruitment process".
Asked about the involvement of east zone's GM in bribery, Lokman told The Daily Star that Mridha, a proBNP person, became general manager with the blessings of former communications minister Syed Abul Hossain.
“He [Mridha] cannot be termed transparent," said the Sramik League leader.
He also refuted the claims that the top central leaders of the pro-government workers' organisation were involved in corruption in the recruitment process.
“As part of the ruling government, we sometimes request the authorities in favour of candidates who apply for jobs under different quotas. But we do not do it in exchange of money," claimed Lokman.