The government has handed down major penalties to two sub-assistant engineers of the Ministry of Housing and Public Works over their involvement in irregular expenses for the procurement and installation of furniture and household items in the 20- and 16-storey buildings of the Rooppur Green City project (under construction in 2019).
One has been sent into compulsory retirement, while the other has been demoted to a lower pay grade.
According to an official notification issued on Friday, Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil) Md. Shahin Uddin has been sent into compulsory retirement, and Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil) Md. Alamgir Hossain has been demoted to a lower pay grade.
The allegations stemmed from their tenure at the Public Works Department’s Pabna Subdivision (Shahin Uddin) and Rajshahi Zone (Alamgir Hossain), where both were accused of preparing inflated cost estimates for furniture procurement and installation. The scandal drew massive public attention in 2019 when details of abnormal expenditures were reported in the media.
Following the reports, the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Housing and Public Works formed two separate inquiry committees on May 19, 2019. Both committees confirmed the allegations.
The investigations concluded that the two engineers were directly involved in preparing grossly inflated estimates, amounting to negligence of duty and misconduct under the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018. Based on the findings, the Public Service Commission recommended major penalties. Acting on the President’s order, the ministry issued separate notifications signed by Secretary Md. Nazrul Islam on September 4, enforcing the punishments.
Media reports in 2019 revealed that Tk 1.69 billion was spent on furniture and household items for the project’s residential buildings, with widespread irregularities. To bypass ministerial approval (mandatory for contracts above Tk 300 million), the purchases were divided into six packages, each kept below the threshold.
The inflated prices included Tk 5,957 per pillow, with an additional Tk 760 charged for carrying each pillow to beds. Comforters were billed at Tk 16,800 each (market price Tk 4,500–13,500), with an extra Tk 2,147 for carrying each to beds, and Tk 143 per comforter as "supervision charges." When contractor’s profit and duties were added, the final cost per comforter rose to Tk 22,587. Similarly, imported bed sheets were purchased at Tk 5,936 each (market value Tk 3,000–3,500), with Tk 931 charged just to carry them to beds. Even for transporting only 30 comforters, a truck rental of Tk 30,000 was shown.
The scandal caused a nationwide outcry. Later in December 2019, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) arrested 13 people, including Executive Engineer of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project Masudul Alam, several officials of the Public Works Department, and two contractors.
Those arrested included former Pabna PWD Executive Engineer Masudul Alam, Subdivisional Engineers Tahajjud Hossain, Ahmed Sajjad Khan, and Mostafa Kamal; Sub-Assistant Engineers Abu Sayed, Zahidul Haque, Shafiqul Islam, and Rowshan Ali; Assistant Engineers Suman Kumar Nandi, Morshed Tarek, and Aminul Islam; and contractors Shahadat Hossain (Sajin Construction) and Asif Hossain (Majid Sons Construction).
