TIB gives figures late after grabbers done the damage

ANTI-GRAFT watchdog body Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) revealed that 61 per cent of the funds for different forest department projects get embezzled. Besides, at least Tk 3 crore changed hands in 60 offices of the department for appointment, promotion, and transfer of officials. While disbursing project funds to the range office, divisional forest offices illegally kept 20 to 25 per cent of the money. The embezzled money was divided among forest survey team members, conservators of forests and their assistants, auditors, grievance redress team members, and a section of local journalists.
Officials at the forest range offices also took away 20 to 25 per cent of the funds before giving it to the beat offices that further embezzled 20 to 30 per cent of the remaining funds. The TIB study collected data on hill forests, sal forests, mangrove forests, and mangroves afforestation initiatives in 10 districts. In the last five years, the forest department could reclaim about 8,792 of about 2.87 lakh acres of grabbed forest lands. The forest department did not make any effort to demolish illegal structures or reclaim lands if the defaulters belonged to influential quarters in Gazipur, Tangail, Mymensingh and Cox’s Bazar.
TIB said about 1.60 lakh acres of forest areas were given to different public and private organisations as of September this year. Of those, 58.62 per cent was given to different state forces and law enforcement agencies, 26.89 per cent to the Bank and Financial Institutions Division, and 14.49 per cent to other public and private organisations. Although forest conservation is the key responsibility of the forest department, there have been specific instances of its failure in doing so. We do not hear about corruption and grabbers as if it is daily affair. Help us to have good governance. Otherwise, the labour of TIB in finding facts and figures is wasted and corruption stories look like painful jokes.