Accusations of charging up to 20 times more than the government fee, harassment during license renewal, and even closing down shops illegally have been brought against the deputy assistant plant conservation officer in Kaharol Upazila Agriculture Department in Dinajpur.
Local pesticide traders have accused Mukti Chandra Biswas, the deputy assistant plant protection officer of the Kaharol Upazila Agriculture Department, of such corruption. The traders claim that since joining the office, he has been involved in a grand festival of illegally collecting bribes.
According to the Upazila Agricultural Extension Department, there are 260 pesticide shops in Kaharol Upazila, whose licenses have to be renewed every year. Mukti Chandra Biswas has made this renewal opportunity.
The affected traders said that Mukti Chandra Biswas is strategically collecting from each trader a minimum of 4,000 to 6-7,000 taka, ignoring the government-set fee for license renewal. This is almost 20 times more than the government fee.
Victim, Ujjal Sharma Dev, a businessman from Vendabari Hat, said that the official took 3,300 taka from him after harassing him for a long time for the renewal of his license.
Nur Alam, the owner of a shop in Basher Hat in Dabar Union, was threatened several times for not paying the additional money. Another businessman from Vendabari Hat, Md. Riazul Islam, was forced to close his shop after not being able to pay 6,000 taka for the renewal of his license.
Not only in Kahrol, traders have complained that Mukti Chandra Biswas had been accused of massive irregularities and corruption when he was working in Fulbari. At that time, angry traders formed a human chain demanding his removal. Although the traders of Kahrol do not have the courage to speak out for fear of losing business, they have strongly demanded that Mukti Chandra Biswas be removed and transferred immediately. The traders have alleged that Mukti Chandra Biswas is committing such corruption in connivance with Kahrol Upazila Agriculture Officer Mallika Rani Sehanbish.
When asked about this, Kaharol Upazila Agriculture Officer Mallika Rani Sehanbish said that action will be taken if she receives a complaint. However, when she was asked about the newspaper news, she raised the question, what is the importance of the newspaper news? What proof is there that the newspaper wrote correctly? There is a lot of news against many people and that is normal.
Despite repeated attempts to contact him, Deputy Assistant Plant Conservation Officer Mukti Chandra Biswas refused to meet any media personnel. Locals have alleged that the higher authorities have not “moved their heads” despite repeated reports of his corruption in various media outlets.
