Ghost mandops in Nilphamari

They prepared the list allegedly in collaboration with a section of unscrupulous staff of the District Relief Office (DRO) here.

There are 485 puja mandops in six upazilas, according to the list of police. But the DRO made a list of 507.

The DRO allocated 100 kg of rice for each mandop. In this way 2.2 metric tons of rice was allotted for 22 'ghost' mandops, it was alleged.

Hindu Kalyan Trust district unit secretary asked the mandop bodies to take money instead of rice saying it is a difficult task to lift foodgrains from the god-owns. He promised Tk 15 for one kg rice although the market price of each kg rice is between Tk 16 and 18. In fact, Tk 13 was given for one kg rice, many mandop bodies said.

Different mandop committee members said they protested the unfair practice but to no effect. The Trust men also threatened cancellation of quota of the protestors.

Sachendra Nath Roy, member of Kachukata Union Parishad (UP) in Sadar upazila who is also a member of puja mandop committee in his area alleged he got less than the promised money. He said the DRO made a list of 10 man-dops in his union although the actual number is 9.

In the DRO list, there are four mandops in Sona Roy Union in Sadar upazila. A mandop of the neighbouring Dinajpur district has been shown as a mondap of the union.

However, Hindu Kalyan Trust district unit secretary Tikendra Jit Miru denied the allegations saying the list was prepared after proper verification. Money was given instead of rice on request of the mondap committee members, he said.

The district relief officer informed local journalists that the entire process was done in collaboration with the executives of the district unit of the Trust.