Special Correspondent

To accelerate agricultural mechanization in Bangladesh, a project titled "Agricultural Mechanization through Integrated Management" was initiated with a total budget of approximately Tk 3,020 crore.

However, the project became mired in corruption and irregularities, failing to meet its completion deadline.

While work worth Tk 528.65 crore remains incomplete and a proposal to extend the project duration by one year remains pending in administrative red tape, a section of Ministry of Agriculture officials is actively pushing to initiate a new project worth nearly Tk 3,690 crore. This move has sparked fresh controversy.

Initiated during the previous Awami League government, the Tk 3,020-crore project suffered from widespread embezzlement involving hundreds of crores of Taka. Following evidence of financial misdeeds, a former Project Director and several officials were suspended.

Officials report ongoing attempts to protect corrupt machinery suppliers as well as high-ranking bureaucrats involved in the scam. Investigations revealed major anomalies in combine harvester distribution, including fraudulent records showing more harvesters distributed than were actually imported. Separate investigations are currently being conducted by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Audit Department.

Because the original project term expired, field operations have come to a standstill, leaving project personnel in limbo and disrupting overall progress in agricultural mechanization. Current Project Director (PD) Md. Manjur Ul Alam (who took charge in February 2025) said, Tk 528.65 crore of the original budget remains unspent.

A Revised Development Project Proposal (RDPP) was submitted to the Planning Commission to extend the project timeline—initially for two years, now aimed through June of next year—so the remaining unspent funds can be utilized to finish incomplete infrastructure development, machinery distribution, and training.

Ministry officials argue that completing the existing project with unspent funds makes the most financial sense for the state, protecting long-term investments and staff livelihoods.

However, the syndicate's push to bypass the unfinished project in order to launch a new Tk 3,690-crore mega project has raised serious concerns over accountability and misuse of public funds.