Half of seized sand goes missing

Half of the five million cubic feet (mcf) of seized sand has gone missing after being confiscated from smugglers by the Chattogram district administration just over a month before.

Earlier on 14 March, a mobile court seized 5mcf of sand during smuggling. However, only 2.5mcf sand was sold in an auction recently with no account for the remaining volume.

The sale was only successful on the third attempt after two revises in rate and volume in the tenders.

Locals allege that corruption was behind the missing sand and claimed that the upazila land office sold the sand for only Tk50 lakh when the real price should be Tk2.5 crore.

In an effort to reduce the volume and price of the sand, syndicated sand traders did not allow many interested parties to submit bids in the first two auctions, they alleged.

However, Satkania Assistant Commissioner (Lands) Arafat Siddiqui said the desired price was not obtained in the first two tenders. "Later, I came to learn that some sand was stolen from the seized pile."

Apu Deb, deputy divisional engineer, Water Development Board, Patiya upazila, said the mobile court initially determined the seized sand to be 5mcf.

"Later, our office measured it at 4mcf. After our measurement, some miscreants stole some sand from the pile and sold it," he said.

"Now we are preparing a case against the ones tasked with securing the sand pile," he added.

Dr Minhazur Rahman, organising secretary of Swadhinata Chikitshak Parishad, said a powerful group has been controlling the extraction of sand from the Sangu River.

"They coordinated a prolonged auction process to bring the sand price down," he said.

Three tenders

The sand was dredged for a project to preserve the Sangu and Dolu riverbanks of Satkania upazila and was piled up in different areas along the riverbanks.

However, an organised gang was stealing and selling sand.

A raid was conducted on 14 March under the leadership of District Administration Executive Magistrate Prateek Dutta. Representatives of the Water Development Board were also present during the raid.

A person named Shaikat Das was arrested in the drive and was sentenced to seven days in jail and a fine of Tk1 lakh.

At that time, the administration informed the media that 5mcf of sand was seized.

Later, a five-member committee was formed to sell the sands through auction.

On 4 April, Arafat Siddiqui, chairman of the committee and upazila assistant commissioner (land), circulated a notice inviting tenders for the sale of 4mcf sand with a quote of Tk5 per cubic foot.

Four bids were submitted in the auction with the highest bid at Tk25 lakh.

However, as the desired price was not received, another tender notice was issued on the same day.

In the second round, the volume of sand was further reduced to 3mcf the price was quoted at Tk2 per unit. Only two bids were submitted with the highest one at Tk35.50 lakh.

Once again, as the desired price was not obtained and on 24 April, a third round of tender was circulated with the volume further down to 2.5mcf at Tk1 per unit.

Finally, the sand was sold to Habiba Builders as the highest bidder at Tk51.10 lakh last Tuesday.