'NGO' vanishes with Tk 37 lakh from poor women

Officials of a fake NGO at remote Sadurarpul village in Kishoreganj upazila under the district fled away on Tuesday night, misappropriating about Tk 37 lakh collected from poor rural women.

The fake NGO titled "Hosto Shilpa Private Ltd' started operation six months ago, at a rented office at the house of Joinal Abedin, an influential man in the area, who serves as a high official of a non-government office, staying in Khansama upazila of Dinajpur district, locals said.

The NGO officials appointed a good number of women as field officers with promise to provide 'high salary plus bonus' for collecting members, mainly rural women, who would get training on artistic designs, embroideries on clothes and making bamboo and straw made handicrafts, said Rahmatul Islam, a local.

Within only six months, they extended operation in nine unions of the upazila and formed 130 samities (associations) each comprising 30 members.

In the name of admission fee, training fee, and security money for giving electricity run modern sewing machines free of cost, the NGO realised Tk 30, Tk 600, and Tk 300 respectively from each member, said Geeta Rani, president of Boksipara unit of the association formed under the NGO.

Roksana Begum, president of Kalikapur Dolapara unit of the association, said the NGO realised Tk 9,000 as security money for sewing machines from 30 members along with Tk 18,000 as training fee and Tk 900 as admission fee.

In this way, the NGO officials realised about Tk 37 lakh from the rural women but they started dilly-dallying about delivery of the machines despite earlier promise to give it within a week, said Sabet Ali, a local union parishad member.

As the agitated beneficiaries confined the NGO officials to their office on Monday demanding immediate supply of the sewing machines, the so-called team leader of the NGO Mezbahul Islam made commitment to give the machines within Thursday.

But the team leader along with five other staff fled away with all their belongings from the area at dead of night on Tuesday.

Finding the matter yesterday morning, the association members charged the relatives of the owner of the house accommodating the NGO office but they threatened the members of dire consequences, alleged the cheated women.

As the women informed Kishoreganj Upazila Nirbahi Officer Md Siddiqur Rahman of the matter, he told them that the NGO did not have any registration with the social welfare department and there was no record of it at his office.

The official, however, assured them that he would investigate the matter.