Tk 2cr canal project at Kalai faces irregularity allegations

KALAI, JOYPURHAT, Aug 3: A Tk 1 crore 82 lakh canal re-excavation project in Joypurhat's Kalai Upazila has come under scrutiny amid allegations that the work completed on the ground does not match official records, with residents claiming that excavators were used instead of labourers and the canal was not excavated according to the approved design.

The project, implemented by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) under the Sustainable Small-Scale Water Resources Development Project, received Tk 1 crore 11 lakh in the 2023-24 fiscal year and another Tk 71.15 lakh in 2025-26.

According to LGED, the project covers nearly 16 kilometres of the Kanmona-Harabati canal and was scheduled for completion between March 15 and May 31 this year.

Residents alleged that although government guidelines require at least 50 percent of the excavation work to be carried out manually to create employment for poor labourers, no local workers were engaged. Instead, six excavators were used throughout the project.

They also alleged that the canal was neither deepened nor widened as specified in the approved estimate. Rather than carrying out proper excavation, contractors only removed weeds, scraped grass from the embankments and completed limited earthwork before declaring the project finished.

Locals further claimed that numerous valuable trees along both sides of the canal were cut down and sold without any government tender or administrative approval.

A member of the Kanmona-Harabati Water Management Cooperative Society, requesting anonymity, and an LGED source alleged that a list of 180 male and female labourers had been submitted to facilitate fund withdrawal despite no labourers being engaged in the project.

LGED Assistant Engineer Abu Zafar acknowledged that no manual labourers were used.

"The work was done using six excavators. I inspected the site several times, and about 55 percent of the bill has already been paid," he said.
Rejecting the allegations, cooperative society General Secretary Mofidul Islam said the work had been carried out in accordance with government guidelines and the approved design.

Kalai Upazila Engineer Suman Kumar Debnath said the final bill would be paid only after post-work measurements, adding that payment would be reduced if the excavation was found to be less than the approved quantity.