Public Works Engineers Penalized Over Rooppur Pillow Scandal

Two sub-assistant engineers of the Public Works Department have been sent into compulsory retirement and another has been demoted to a lower pay grade following proven charges of irregular expenditure in the Rooppur Green City Project in Pabna, widely known as the “pillow scandal.”

On Thursday, September 11, the Ministry of Housing and Public Works issued separate gazette notifications on the matter.

The notifications stated that Fazle Haque, Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil), Pabna Subdivision (temporarily suspended), Mosammat Shahnaz Akhter, Sub-Assistant Engineer (E/M, P&D), Rajshahi Zone, and Khorsheda Yasriba, Sub-Assistant Engineer (Civil), Rajshahi Circle, were found guilty of involvement in abnormal spending on furniture and other essential items for the 20- and 16-story buildings under the Rooppur Green City Project, which was under construction in 2019.

Reports of excessive expenditure on these purchases and related works were widely circulated in the media at the time. Separate investigation committees formed by the Public Works Department and the Ministry of Housing and Public Works submitted reports on May 19, 2019, confirming the irregularities. Subsequent departmental investigations also established the misconduct beyond doubt.

The project gained notoriety as the “pillow scandal” after it was revealed that the estimated cost of a single pillow had been set at Tk 28,000.

According to the notifications, “As per the recommendation of the investigation committees, Fazle Haque and Shahnaz Akhter have been sent into compulsory retirement under the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2018, for being directly involved in preparing the inflated cost estimates and neglecting their official responsibilities.”

It further stated that Sub-Assistant Engineer Khorsheda Yasriba has been handed the major penalty of “demotion to a lower pay grade.”