UP Member Caught with 12 SIM Cards amid Claims Disability Allowances Were Drawn in the Names of 50 Healthy People

A union parishad (UP) member named Shahidul Islam has been caught by local people in Bagmara, Rajshahi, while withdrawing disability allowance money. Ten of the 12 SIM cards found on him were seized.

Shahidul Islam is the member for Ward 4 of Gobindapara Union Parishad in Bagmara upazila. He is also reported to be the organising secretary in that ward of the Awami League, whose activities are banned.

He is accused not only of taking disability allowances in his own name and in the names of relatives, but also of putting more than fifty able-bodied people on the disability list and embezzling government money over a long period.

According to local sources, on Wednesday (21 October) at noon Shahidul went to the shop of bKash agent Enamul Haque at Maria Mor in Gobindapara union to withdraw disability allowance money.

He handed the agent 10 SIM cards from different mobile operators. The remaining two SIMs were inserted in his own mobile phone. Seeing so many SIM cards being used at once to withdraw allowance money, the people present became suspicious.

When they questioned him, an argument broke out with the UP member. At one stage he was slapped and brought out of the shop. When his supporters arrived, tension spread between the two sides.

On receiving the news, members of the Hat Gangopara police investigation centre reached the spot and brought the situation under control. Inspector Maksud Rupak of the investigation centre said police rescued the UP member from the crowd after hearing of the disorder.

Maksud Rupak added that 10 of the 12 SIM cards in the UP member's possession were seized and deposited with the local UP chairman. However, as there was no complainant, the UP member was later released.

bKash agent Enamul Haque said the UP member had deposited 10 SIM cards with him to withdraw the disability allowance money. Local people realised what was happening and detained him.

Responding to the allegations, Shahidul Islam said his father, brother and niece are also on the disability list and that the UP chairman knew about it all along. He claimed the chairman's men had conspired against him because he wants to contest the chairman post.

Gobindapara UP chairman Habibur Rahman, however, said there have long been allegations that since the previous government's time the UP member had been embezzling allowance money by listing around fifty healthy people as disabled. The recovered SIM cards are registered in the names of the UP member and his relatives. On the advice of the upazila nirbahi officer, he has taken the SIM cards into his own custody.

Bagmara upazila social services officer Motinur Rahman said that after taking charge recently he learned the UP member had been drawing disability allowances in his own name and in relatives' names, and an investigation found the allegations to be true.

Motinur Rahman said that since the allowance money had already been deposited into the SIM cards, nothing could be done immediately. But the UP member will not receive the allowance in future, and legal action against him will be recommended.

The disability allowance is part of the government's social protection programme for genuinely disabled people. The allegation that it was drawn in the names of healthy people has angered local residents. Whether legal action now follows the recommendation remains to be seen.