Mohammad Abu Saeed, deputy chief revenue officer of Dhaka Wasa, has taken the fuel cost for the car which is not allocated in his name for one and a half years. The vehicle is assigned to another Deputy Chief Revenue Officer Zakir Hossain Prodhania. He also received the running costs of the vehicle.
It is reported that Wasa authorities assigned him the responsibility of media cell member of the organization without taking any action against Mohammad Abu Saeed despite knowing this incident.
Abu Saeed is currently working in Wasa’s Revenue Zone-1. He was transferred from Region-3 on January 2 last. The financial irregularities occurred while he was in Zone-3.
According to Abu Saeed’s salary information, he started charging Tk 15,000 per month for fuel in August 2021. He took this money for fuel for 17 consecutive months till December last year. By the end of the same year, the matter was caught. WASA authorities deducted 15 thousand rupees from Abu Saeed’s salary last January without taking any disciplinary action against him.
An official of Wasa’s accounting department said on condition of anonymity, “The accounting department can first catch the fact that the deputy chief revenue officer takes fuel expenses even if he does not have a car.” Fuel money was deducted from his salary the following month. The matter has been reported to the higher authorities.
In addition to this incident, Abu Saeed also rented another car. The car for the Deputy Chief Revenue Officer of Region-3 is hired from Rent-A-Car. Wasa authorities paid about 87 thousand rupees per month for the car rental used by Abu Saeed. In other words, he took the fuel cost of an unallocated car and took the rent of a used car.
* From August 2021, he started charging Tk 15,000 per month for fuel for using the car. * The matter was caught at the end of last year. Wasa authorities did not take any disciplinary action against him in this incident.
When asked, Abu Saeed said, “I don’t have anything to say to the media about this.” What Wasa told the authorities to say. Find out the statement from the public relations department.
Dhaka Wasa formed a media cell of 14 members on February 15 to exchange information with the media. There are officers of various departments in this cell. Deputy Chief Revenue Officer Abu Saeed has been kept in the cell. The convener of this cell is the Deputy Managing Director (Operation & Maintenance) of the organization.
Several officials of Dhaka Wasa said on condition of anonymity, Wasa authorities repeatedly say zero tolerance against corruption. But an official of the company did not take action after such financial irregularities. On the contrary, he was awarded as a member of the media cell.
Officials of revenue zone-3 of the agency wrote to the managing director of Wasa on September 15 last year, alleging several allegations against abu Saeed. Among them, there are allegations of taking bribes of 3-4 lakhs from billing assistants for the distribution of areas. It is alleged that Abu Saeed misbehaves with customers and abuses subordinates. A demand was made to install CCTV cameras in Abu Saeed’s room.
Appropriate legal action will be taken if allegations of fuel consumption are found to be true. And the previous complaint against Abu Saeed had no signature. So it could not be taken into account. A M Mustafa Tarek, Deputy Chief Public Information Officer, Dhaka Wasa
Dhaka Wasa has not taken any action regarding these complaints. When asked, Deputy Chief Public Information Officer of the organization A M Mustafa Tarek said, “If the allegations regarding fuel consumption are found to be true, appropriate legal action will be taken.” And the previous complaint against Abu Saeed had no signature. So it could not be taken into account.
The vehicle against which Abu Saeed took the fuel money was allotted to the Deputy Chief Revenue Officer, Region-8 in an office order dated 25 May 2022. Deputy Chief Revenue Officer Zakir Hossain Prodhania is using the vehicle. Regular operating expenses are also received. Zakir Hossain Prodhania did not respond when contacted over the phone regarding fuel charges against abu Saeed.
Dhaka Wasa has a Shuddhi Abhiyan Committee to take action against corruption. The convener of the committee is the commercial manager of Wasa. And member secretary Zakir Hossain Prodhania. Several WASA officials claimed that Zakir Hossain Prodhania knew about taking money from Abu Saeed for fuel. But he did not report the matter to the authorities. Some officials expressed their anger at the behavior of the member secretary of the purification committee.
Fuel benefits increased due to an increase in diesel and octane prices On December 27, the monthly fuel allowance for official vehicles of Wasar officials was revised. As per the new allowance, an officer is getting 150 liters of diesel per month, or Tk 27,250 for a jeep. Earlier it was 22 thousand rupees. 200 liters or 21 thousand 800 rupees for double cabin pickup. Earlier it was 18 thousand rupees. And for octane-powered cars, you are getting 150 liters of octane or 19 thousand 500 rupees. Apart from this, the cost of fuel for CNG-powered cars has been estimated at 15,000 rupees.
Source: Prothom Alo
