Staff Reporter:
Serious allegations have surfaced against Shubhra Ahmed, Executive Engineer of the Narayanganj Water Development Board (WDB), over the alleged awarding of government works to a contracting firm operated in the name of his father, S.M. Mamunur Rashid.
According to the allegations, the contractor has secured several projects under the jurisdiction of the executive engineer and allegedly received 100 percent payment despite some of the works either not being carried out or being only partially completed.
Shubhra Ahmed, however, has reportedly claimed that there is no legal barrier to his father carrying out government works. Senior officials of the Water Development Board, on the other hand, have said that such an arrangement is not permissible for an executive engineer overseeing the relevant works.
Alleged work without corresponding field activity
A field investigation found that a project worth Tk 18.29 lakh was awarded to Government Enterprise for cleaning and repairing a canal under an irrigation project passing through Daudpur Union of Rupganj, Narayanganj.
The project reportedly involved clearing vegetation and waste from Canal No. 2. However, during a field visit, only a small amount of water hyacinth was found to have been removed from a limited portion of the canal bank. The expenditure shown for the work was approximately Tk 12 lakh, while local observations suggest that only a very small amount of work was actually carried out.
Local residents said they had seen only a few workers cleaning the mouth of the canal and had not witnessed any significant work beyond that.
In another case, a maintenance project involving a sluice gate in the Tekpara area of Kanchan Municipality under the Pointer Resource Project was reportedly awarded to a firm named Tashira Enterprise.
However, field investigation allegedly found no such sluice gate at the location. Local resident Nargis Akter said she had not seen any such work being carried out in the area during the past one or two years. Other residents claimed that the alleged gate had not existed in the area for more than 15 years.
Similarly, no visible evidence of work allegedly awarded to Government Enterprise was found at Mondal Kali under Murapara Union, although the company reportedly received full payment after the work was shown as 100 percent completed.
Allegations over Meghna-Dhonagoda irrigation project
Government Enterprise also reportedly carried out a project worth approximately Tk 4.5 lakh for removing silt and water hyacinth from the main canal and maintaining the Jatrabpur Pump Station under the Meghna-Dhonagoda Irrigation Project.
However, local inquiries reportedly found that residents had not seen such work being conducted during the current year.
According to information obtained during the inquiry, Government Enterprise allegedly received around Tk 42 lakh between January and June this year for works that are being questioned over their actual implementation.
Questions over contractor’s eligibility
Documents reportedly show that Government Enterprise was enlisted for limited tenders under the Narayanganj Water Development Board on December 22, 2025. The firm’s address is listed in Naogaon, which is also the home district of Executive Engineer Shubhra Ahmed.
Sources at the office of the Director General of the Water Development Board said members of tender evaluation committees are required to sign declarations confirming that no relative or close associate of theirs has participated in the tender process.
According to senior officials, a contractor-owned firm belonging to the father of an executive engineer should not be allowed to undertake works under that engineer’s direct jurisdiction. They also said that receiving payment for work that was not actually completed would constitute a serious irregularity, subject to investigation and verification.
Previous allegations involving recruitment section
Shubhra Ahmed joined the Water Development Board as an assistant engineer in 2016. In 2019, he was reportedly assigned to a sensitive position in the Human Resources Directorate’s recruitment section, where officials were involved in processes including the preparation, typing and printing of recruitment examination question papers.
Allegations have since emerged that money was allegedly exchanged in connection with recruitment examinations during the period when such examinations were conducted internally by the WDB.
The allegations claim that intermediaries and some candidates were involved in an alleged network through which money was demanded in exchange for access to examination questions or recruitment opportunities.
Some individuals have compared the allegations against Shubhra Ahmed with the widely discussed question-leak scandal involving former Public Service Commission staffer Abed Ali. These comparisons, however, remain allegations and would require independent investigation and evidence.
Despite the allegations, Shubhra Ahmed was subsequently promoted to the position of executive engineer.
Alleged tender syndicate and misuse of maintenance funds
After being posted to Narayanganj, further allegations emerged that he formed a tender syndicate and allegedly allocated operational-budget contracts to contractors close to him.
There are also allegations of misappropriation of funds allocated for maintenance works.
Local residents, meanwhile, have complained that waterlogging remains a problem in several parts of Narayanganj even during the dry season. They allege that some projects have existed mainly on paper and that their expected benefits have not been reflected at the field level.
Questions over assets and financial transactions
Questions have also been raised regarding Shubhra Ahmed’s alleged assets.
According to the allegations, he constructed a luxury duplex house in his home district of Naogaon in 2022 and owns a 1,600-square-foot apartment in Keraniganj, Dhaka.
There are also claims that he owns or has interests in several plots of land, properties, a farm and shares in a resort in Dhaka and Gazipur, either directly or through others.
The allegations further mention suspicious transactions involving several bank accounts and raise questions about whether the assets attributed to him are consistent with his lawful income as a government engineer.
These claims would require verification through official asset declarations, banking records and a formal investigation.
Alleged political connections
Shubhra Ahmed has also reportedly identified himself as being close to former State Minister for Water Resources Zahid Faruk. Critics allege that such political connections provided him with protection and discouraged people from speaking publicly against him.
However, the nature and extent of any such political connection would also require independent verification.
Calls for an impartial investigation
The allegations have raised broader questions about how an official could remain in a sensitive recruitment-related position for several years and whether allegations against him were properly examined during his promotion.
Questions have also been raised over how his tender activities and alleged accumulation of assets remained outside effective scrutiny for such a long period.
The allegations go beyond an individual contracting dispute and have raised concerns about transparency in public procurement, government recruitment and the management of public funds.
Those familiar with the matter have called for a prompt, impartial and transparent investigation. They said that all tender documents, work measurements, payment records, field-level implementation, asset declarations and financial transactions should be independently examined.
If the allegations are substantiated through a proper investigation, appropriate legal and administrative action should follow, they said.
