Govt appoints chairman of Dhaka Wasa
Move comes days after last chairman slammed MD
The government appointed Sujit Kumar Bala as the new chairman of Dhaka Wasa on Sunday and he would be taking up the role of Gholam Mostofa whose tenure expired six months ago.
The LGRD ministry issued a circular in this regard that day.
The appointment comes against the backdrop of Mostofa's recent allegations that Wasa Managing Director Taqsem A Khan turned the state-run agency into "a den of corruption".
Mostofa in letter to the secretary of the Local Government Division on May 18 also alleged that Taqsem runs the administration in an autocratic style, bypassing the board of directors.
Taqsem runs Wasa as he wishes and the internal situation in the agency is very bad, read the letter. "No one dares to speak against him for fear of getting fired. A government agency cannot run this way."
Speaking to The Daily Star over the phone from Canada, Mostofa yesterday said, "It is normal that the government will make someone the new chairman as my tenure ended about six months ago."
"The new chairman has a close and warm relations with MD Taqsem A Khan," a Wasa board member told this correspondent wishing not to be named.
Some Wasa officials said that the appointment of the new chairman is linked with the recent remarks of Mostofa.
The new chairman has a close and warm relations with MD Taqsem A Khan
"The immediate past chairman performed his duties for six months beyond his tenure as the government was happy with him. We assume that he [Mostofa] has been removed for talking against the Wasa MD in public," Dhaka Wasa Sramik Union President Anisuazzaman Shaheen Khan told this newspaper.
In recent years, Taqsem hogged the headlines many times over different issues, including getting reappointments for five times since being appointed as MD in 2009 and his wilfulness.
Recently, three employees' associations of Dhaka Wasa demanded immediate action against Mostofa for what they claimed tarnishing the image of the state-run agency.
In a letter to the Local Government Division on May 11, Dhaka Wasa Sramik Union, Dhaka Wasa Engineers Association, and Dhaka Wasa Diploma Engineers Association said the chairman tarnished the organisation's image by making remarks in a TV talk show.
On May 17, a faction Dhaka Wasa Sramik Union sent a letter to LGRD Minister Tazul Islam saying that the three employees' unions in their May 11 letter resorted to "falsehood" and it was done "intentionally".
Mostofa had been the chairman of Dhaka Wasa board from 2009-2012. Later, Mohammad Rahmatullah and Habibur Rahman resigned as chairman before completing their tenures.
Wasa officials said the two chairmen resigned over dispute with Taqsem.