Home ›› 06 Oct 2022 ›› Nation
The sales of abandoned government buildings at open auctions in Khulna’s Rupsha upazila failed to get the potential maximum price due to the unethical intervention of a syndicate, according to sources concerned.
The administration is selling the abandoned government buildings at nominal prices to a locally influential vested group of people who allegedly prevented the participation of other interested buyers in the auction through intimidation.
The syndicate later sold the buildings to those interested buyers, who were forcefully barred from taking part in the auction, at prices four times higher than the auctioned prices, depriving the government of appropriate revenue, alleged a buyer who was forcefully deprived of participating in the auction.
Such malpractice occurred recently at an open auction arranged for 10 abandoned school buildings in Rupsha upazila of the district.
A notice for the public auction was published in the local newspaper signed by upazila education officer Sheikh Abdur Rab, inviting interested buyers to take part in the auction at the office of the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) at 10 am on September 26.
“However, even though hundreds of interested buyers thronged the venue, they were not allowed to enter the UNO office as a syndicate of influential political people threatened them of dire consequences,” said the buyer, on condition of anonymity.
He too went to the UNO office but was barred from taking part in the auction. The syndicate members bought the buildings at a nominal price depriving the government of a huge amount of revenue.
According to official documents, Abdul Majid Fakir, a former member of the district Awami League (AL), bought the Chandpur Government Primary School building for Tk 66,500 against the asking price of Tk 65,144. UP member Aurangzeb Swarna bought the Upazila Sadar Adarsha Government Primary School building for Tk 64,000 against the asking price of Tk 62,009.
Former UP member and AL leader Tahid Hossain Mollah bought the Anandnagar Adarsha Government Primary School building for Tk 65,000 against Tk 62,009 asking price while upazila AL vice-president Morshedul Alam Babu paid Tk 62,500, against Tk 59,957 asking bid, for the Patharghata Government Primary School building.
Md Ali Jinnah bought the Mayrabad Government Primary School building for Tk 60,000 against Tk 57,296 asking price and Sardar Mizanur Rahman bought the building of Nandanpur Government Primary School for Tk 61,050 against Tk 57,296 asking bid.
Ghatbhog UP Chairman and AL leader Wahiduzzaman Mizan paid Tk 55,500 against the asking bid of Tk 53,599 for the Sindurdanga Government Primary School building. Hamid Bhasani bought the building of Bagmara Government Primary School (excluding the back wall) for Tk 54,500 against Tk 51,148.
General Secretary of Ghatbhog Union Jubo League Abul Kalam Azad bought the building of Avinash Chandrasheel Government Primary School for Tk 64,000 against Tk 62,009.
Upazila Jubo League convenor ABM Kamruzzaman bought the building for Rajapur Government Primary School building for Tk 1,44,000 against the asking bid of Tk 1,39,216.
However, no one bought the trees of some schools mentioned in the auction notice.
After the open auction, the new owners arranged another auction on the same day and sold the buildings at three to four times higher prices than they bought.
This is allegedly not the first instance of buying abandoned government buildings at a nominal price and later selling them at a higher rate in the upazila.
On anonymity, a buyer said, “I tried to participate in the auction at the UNO office but was not allowed inside. I had to buy the buildings later at a private auction. It is corruption in broad daylight, but I would not name the persons involved and be in trouble.”
Zia of Swalpo Bahirdia union bought the buildings of Chandpur Government Primary School for Tk 1,86,000, Anandnagar Adarsha Government Primary School for Tk 1,66,000, Upazila Sadar Adarsha Government Primary School for Tk 1,84,000 and Patharghata Government Primary School building for Tk 1,66,000.
Former member of district AL Abdul Majeed Fakir said, “I have bought Chandpur Primary School building with the highest price at the bid and then sold it to Zia.” However, he did not confirm the prices he bought and sold them for.
Upazila Engineer of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) SM Wahiduzzaman said the asking bid of the abandoned buildings was determined as per the market value in consultation with the UNO and the upazila education officer.
“I was present at the auction that day and the buildings were sold to the highest bidder as per the rules,” he added.
However, categorically rejecting the allegation of auction-fixing, UNO Rubaiya Tasnim claimed everyone present at the auction at her office was given equal opportunity to participate.
“I do not know why people are making allegations of illegal dealings,” she said, adding that the event was being recorded and journalists were also present.
Contradicting upazila LGED Engineer SM Wahiduzzaman’s remark that the asking bids were fixed in consultation with UNO, she claimed that she does not know about the accuracy of the asking bid compared to the current market price as it was determined by the engineer.
