Protect poor job-seekers of the Padma Bridge project

AN English daily has reported that some organized groups are swindling huge amounts of money out of the poor promising work in the Padma Bridge project and have put commercial advertisements in the media to lure the people. The report states that these frauds are operating an enterprise using the names of the army and the Bridge Division taking between Tk 5,000 and Tk 30,000 from underprivileged people promising “jobs” in the Padma Bridge project.
In fact the army and the Bridge Division have no relation with the recruitment and also have not issued any authorization to run the recruitment. But these groups are using fake authorization letters of the army and the Bridge Division to fool the people. But it is equally surprising at this point as to why the army and the Bridge Division are not taking effective steps to arrest those frauds. News reports said the Army Engineering Division has indeed received a consultancy contract in the Padma Bridge project which is estimated to cost Tk 20,507 crore or $ 2.9 billion but it does not require any field worker to run the consultancy.
The report said after the initial set back with World Bank and other lead donors to finance Padma Bridge over the bribery issue involving the present government, it has now invited fresh tenders from international contractors to build the bridge. Three firms from South Korea and China have already submitted financial and technical proposals for the main bridge project. Moreover, five companies from the US, France and India are vying for the job of river training while the bridges division has issued requests for proposals from five short-listed firms for appointing a construction supervision consultant.
But what is happening in the sideline of the main project now is highly disturbing. Groups are at work to cheat as many people as possible in the name of giving jobs. They have put commercial advertisements in national dailies for the recruitment of as many as 40,000 people for four years and once the quota will be over no more jobs will be available. Reports have it that several hundred people in Madaripur, Shariatpur, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Munshiganj, Comilla, Magura, Jhenidah and Jessore districts have already lost money but no legal action is in sight to stop the frauds.
The bridges division of the government has recently published advertisements in different newspapers, saying it has noticed fraudsters are taking money from people by promising jobs in the project but it stopped short of asking the law enforcing agencies to nab the culprits. The army is similarly not taking steps to end the swindling while the swindlers are using its name. It appears that people who are involved in the fraud are ruling party leaders and workers and the government is not willing to make them hostile by stopping them from taking part in the fraud. So the Bridge Division has put alerts against the advertisements but are nonetheless allowing the culprits at the same time to continue cheating the poor. It is corruption of the highest order under the nose of the government involving the poor. We ask the government to stop it forthwith.