Govt lost BDT225cr, no records of other losses

Translation of article published in Kaler Kontho on March 07, 2013

Translated by: Anonymous

On 28 February 2013, the international crimes tribunal sentenced Dewlar Hossain Sayedee to death for two of the charges among eight those were committed during the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh. From that day and onward, there has been an enormous loss of both public and private properties due to the atrocities by Jamaat-Shibir. In addition to that, it is estimated that BDT225cr worth of national property have been vandalized so far.
Such destructive activities of Jamaat-Shibir, the countrywide shut-down called by them, and the atrocities before and after the shut-down heavily affected the country’s economy in both public and private sectors. But no one has accounted the total amount of losses. Business owners have said, they faced four times more losses than before. Value of lives lost in the last few days cannot be counted.
Jamaat-Shibir’s protest-activities include the burning government offices, power-plants, uprooting rail-tracks, burning of train compartments etc. Government vehicles have been treated the same way. But the burnt power-plant at Chapainawabgonj district’s Shibgonj sub-district and Rural Electricity Committee’s office has caused the most loss incurring and approximate amount of BDT 200cr of loss to the government. The Chairman of IRB Brgd. Moin Uddin confirmed about the loss during a press briefing last Tuesday. Other losses because of the incident are long term, along with the economic loss. Burn of the IRB office put the cultivation of ‘Borro’ rice in uncertainty. This will cause a long term problem in daily life of the locals.
There is no legal action seen so far to collect demurrage for the loss of public properties and people’s life. Prominent lawyer advocate Anisul Hoque thinks government may start trailing those who caused the violence. Causing such violence, terrorization, burning and destroying govt property during shut-down can be tried under criminal law, he said. Besides, lawsuit can be filed under anti-terrorism law. Capital punishment and other strong punishments are the outcomes of that lawsuit. It is to be mentioned, home minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told the parliament that proper actions will be taken in this regard under anti-terrorism law.
According to the calculations of government organizations and personnel, BDT 11cr of loss have been confirmed in Bogra district alone because of the ongoing terrorization and vandalism by Jamaat-Shibir. BTRC’s loss is approximately 2cr. Loss of public and private property in Chittagong is 10cr, including 3cr of government property. Nationwide loss of fire-service is 40lakh. However, burn of police vehicles, destruction of bridges and other properties could not be valued.
Main target of Jamaat-Shibir activists during last few days’ terrorization was fire service vehicles. They destroyed vehicles in fire service offices and on-duty vehicles as well. Hence fire service lost 40lakh worth of properties.
Director (operations) of Fire Service and Defense, Major Mahbub said to Kaler Kontho that Jamaat-Shibir activists burnt a firetruck that was parked inside Satkania’s Fire Brigade office, and vandalized the other vehicles as well. Many other vehicles have been vandalized in different places. Value of the burnt vehicle is approximately 30lakh. 10lakh may be needed to repair other vehicles.
Even though buses and trucks were not running on roads during the strike by Jamaat, rail communication was continuing. Jamaat picked up trains to vandalize. Bangladesh Railway confirmed 59 occurrences of destruction have been done by Jamaat-Shibir in last six days, after Sayedee verdict. This caused a loss of 8.5cr of railway property, claimed railway authority. Two stations and three coaches of west division of railway have been completely burnt.
Additional High-Commissioner of railway, Shah Jahirul Islam, said, “We are preparing the primary report of destruction.”
Jamaat-Shibir activists have vandalized and burnt the government’s newly built Parjatan Motel in Chapainwabgonj. Parjatan Corporation is preparing the report of economic loss of this incident. Contractor of the motel, Khairul Islam, said to Kaler Kontho that it may take more than 1cr to repair the motel.
Head of Bogra police force and the UNO of Nandigram confirmed the loss of 11cr. Mojammel Hoque said five police stations and six police camps have been destroyed and burnt. In total, the amount is loss is BDT 1cr. Asib Hasan, the UNO of Nandigram has informed that a loss of BDT 10cr has been caused due to the burning of upazilla council and two vehicles.
Jamaat-Shibir activists have destroyed and burnt the Bashkhali police station, the upazilla court and the UNO office in Chittagong. A government vehicle was set on fire during this time.
The home ministry has not yet published any official report on the amount of loss. The deputy home minister, Adv. Samshul Hoque Tuku has informed Kaler Kontho that they started enlisting the amount of total loss which will take couple of days to be completed.
The Bangladesh Road and Transport Corporation (BRTC) is also trying to make an estimation of the total loss. An official has informed that a loss of approximately BDT 2cr has been caused due to the Jamaat-Shibir atrocities during the last few days.
The destruction of the sub-station in Shibganj has put the cultivation of ‘Borro’ in an eight thousands hectors of land to uncertainty which can cause the local farmers to face a financial loss of approximately BDT ninety four cr in total. Let alone these destruction of pulic or collective properties, a huge amount of private properties have also been destroyed the monetary amount of which has not yet been calculated. The people to be mostly affected as for the destruction of private properties are the followers of Hinduism who are the minorities in terms of religious views in Bangladesh.
On the 28th of February, in the Bashkhali Thana of Chittagong, the Jama-Shibir activists attacked the Hindus and tortured them which included killing, loot, and arson. According to the report of the home minister in the parliament, the amount of loss was approximately BDT 50 lacs in this incident. There also have been reports of such atrocities in other places of Bangladesh including important places like Jaipurhat, Rajshai etc.