The recently resigned managing director (MD) of Dhaka Wasa, engineer Taksim A Khan, has been on the run since the fall of the Hasina government in the student-Janath movement on August 5. He resigned via e-mail on August 14. On August 20, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) banned foreign travel. Despite the ban, he is out of touch. According to related sources, the agencies responsible for arresting him have not taken effective action despite the ban.

Foreign travel ban: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has issued a letter on August 20 banning the foreign travel of Engineer Taksim A Khan, the recently resigned Managing Director (MD) of Dhaka Wasa. From the head office of the ACC, with the approval of the commission, the inquiry officer Syed Nazrul Islam sent a letter in this regard to the court and the special branch of the police. On May 23 last year, the ACC filed a report seeking recommendations for approval of the case after investigating the allegations of illegal recruitment of Dhaka Wasa.

According to ACC sources, the investigation found evidence of contractual appointment of the two posts of Director (Development) and Director (Technical) despite not being in the organization chart of WASA under the influence of the MD of the organization. And 1 crore 98 lakh 65 thousand 980 taka have been paid for their salary for more than 4 years. The report alleged that this amount was embezzled due to illegal recruitment.

By making illegal appointments, they have committed an offense punishable under Section 5(2) of the Corruption Act, 1947 and Section 109 of the Penal Code, and submitted an inquiry report to the commission recommending filing a case against 10 people including Managing Director (MD) Engineer Taksim A Khan and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dhaka Wasa. , although the case did not happen due to unseen reasons. ACC is now investigating various projects and revenue sectors and recruitment irregularities and corruption.

Statement of authorities: The current MD of Dhaka Wasa and Additional Secretary to the government Fazlur Rahman told Yugantar that after joining, he came to know that there were many irregularities and corruption in Dhaka Wasa during the time of engineer Taksim A Khan. The ACC has already started an investigation into irregularities and corruption in the scheme, revenue sector and recruitment of the period. Officials have been designated to provide that information on behalf of Dhaka WASA. The officer is providing the information requested by the ACC and keeping a copy in my office. All assistance in corruption investigation will continue.

Corruption in Taksim: Leaders of Dhaka Wasa Officers and Employees Oikya Parishad complained in a letter to the government that there was corruption of Tk 600 crore in the construction of the transmission line of Padma (Yashaldia) water treatment plant, Tk 600 crore in the purchase of low-quality equipment of Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant, Tk 3,221 crore in water and sewage bills. , Dhaka Wasa Employees Bhumukhi Cooperative Samity Limited Tk 621 crore. They allege that he is a relative of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in the student movement, and he has done whatever he wants without regard to the law. Unjustly fired many people. Despite the directions of the High Court, many were not allowed to carry out normal activities. After August 5, officials and employees of Dhaka Wasa staged a protest demanding his arrest. After some time he resigned voluntarily.

When asked about this, the former chairman of the Dhaka Wasa Board, Dr. Golam Mustafa said, engineer Taksim was reckless. Through irregularities and corruption, Dhaka WASA has turned into a sick institution. Overwhelmed by the chairman's duties at that time, on May 17, 2023, the engineer wrote a letter to the local government department about irregularities and corruption in Taksim. The Ministry did not investigate him and removed him after 4 days of filing the complaint. He knows how to get caught with corruption money. There was no investigation or punishment for these irregularities, and he was politically assisted.

He also said that there were terrible irregularities and corruption in Taksim in Dhaka Wasa; It is very clear. A proper investigation into Padma (Yashaldia), Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant Project will make it clear. Besides, the government can also investigate the other projects that have been implemented. Once the ACC started an investigation, it stopped for mysterious reasons. He turned the ministry into his puppet. Now the ACC has started a new investigation. Hopefully, through this, the correct picture of irregularities and corruption during the time of Engineer Taksim will come out.

According to the calculations of the Dhaka WASA Officers-Workers Union Parishad, at least 600 crores of corruption has been committed by using Newman equipment in the construction of the Dasherkandi sewage treatment plant project built at a cost of about 4000 crores. Apart from this, there is no benefit from implementing the main project without networking this project. In this, no household waste is being treated, and no revenue is being collected. Hatirjheel waste water is being treated there to keep the refinery plant running. In this, 512 million taka are going to Dhaka Wasa annually; If the loan installments start in 2027, the annual loss will increase to about Tk 825 crore. Although the project was launched 2 years ago, no transmission line (network) project has been proposed so far. Even if the transmission line process starts now, it will take at least 10 years to complete. By then the sewage treatment plant equipment will be useless. Same picture, in Padma-Yashaldia water treatment project. About Tk 500 crore has been embezzled for the use of Newman's water and equipment in the construction of the main transmission line. As the project was launched without building a supply line in this project, 45 crore liters of water was supposed to be produced daily, but less than half is being produced. As a result, 142 crore rupees have been lost to Dhaka Wasa from the financial year 2019-20. And since the repayment of loan installments has started, the amount has increased to Tk 450 crore from the current financial year. There has been corruption in this project; 105 crores have been paid to the contracting firm even within the warranty period. Although there is money in the Dhaka WASA Fund, no initiative has been taken to build a supply line for this project due to mysterious reasons.

According to Oikya Parishad, Dhaka Wasa has lost Tk 3,221 crore from 2014-15 financial year to 2022-23 financial year. Despite the increase in water price and number of customers, despite the digitization of the billing system, the company is deprived of this huge amount of revenue due to theft, negligence and inefficiency of its officials. In the financial year 2009-10 the system loss of the organization was 34.82 percent and currently it has increased to 54.82 percent; However, the current administration of Dhaka WASA is claiming that Dhaka WASA system loss is 20 percent.

Besides, Tk 621 crore has been looted from the Dhaka Wasa Employees Multipurpose Cooperative Society in violation of the Cooperative Act. Similarly, the society's own goods have also been sold. His estimated value is also more than hundred crore rupees. Between 2010 and 2020, the investigation report of the Directorate of Cooperatives revealed a loss of Tk 332 crore and 52 crore. After that, the rest of the money went missing. No action was taken against any of them due to corruption under the umbrella of Engineer Taksim A Khan.

In the investigation, it is known that engineer Taksim A Khan has many examples of extorting money without providing minimum services to the citizens of the capital in 15 years. Although there is no water service in the city, 400 crore rupees have been collected from the city residents in this sector annually. According to the promise of the MD of Dhaka WASA, 70 percent water production from surface sources and 30 percent from underground sources was announced in 2024. In fact, he could not even get close to it. Still 76 percent of Dhaka Wasar motor water is extracted from underground sources. And 24 percent is taken from surface sources.

It is also known that seniority was not accepted in his time for promotion in Dhaka Wasa. Seniors have been promoted to juniors to mature illegal money transactions. Those who helped him in his work, benefited them financially and also gave him the opportunity to travel abroad. During his time, he formed a syndicate consisting of half a hundred officers and employees. Lopat has backed them steel hard to prevent disruption.