An investigation has found that nearly 34 million cubic metres of sand dredged from the Gorai river in Kushtia has disappeared — sand the government values at approximately Tk 3.5 billion. On paper, vast quantities were recorded as removed and stored at designated mouzas; in practice, much of it no longer exists at those sites.
The Water Development Board (WDB) carried out the Gorai river dredging project in four phases at a combined cost of approximately Tk 2,300 crore, removing an estimated 160 million cubic metres of sand from a 40-kilometre stretch of the river since 1997. In the most recent phase, completed in 2018 at a cost of Tk 590 crore, about 41.7 million cubic metres of sand were excavated and stored across ten mouzas. Of that, only 1.7 million cubic metres was sold through official tender and approximately 6 million cubic metres remain in storage at six mouzas. The rest — roughly 34 million cubic metres — is unaccounted for. Had it been sold through tender, investigators found its market value would have been double the government estimate.
The disappearance came to light when Shanta Associates, which had been awarded a tender to sell sand from two mouzas, wrote formally to the WDB and district administration to say that no dredging sand remained at those sites. Locals say hundreds of dump trucks carted the sand away daily for over a year, sometimes under lease arrangements issued by the district administration.
WDB officials confirmed the theft in correspondence to multiple agencies, saying they were unable to stop it despite repeated formal complaints. One WDB official remarked wryly that the sand had “blown away in the wind.”
The most heavily looted mouzas were Jugiya in Kushtia Sadar upazila and Lahinipara and Jainababad in Kumarkhali upazila. Records from the first three phases of dredging — accounting for approximately Tk 1,636 crore in expenditure — are not held at the Kushtia WDB office, officials said.
Locals allege that during the Awami League era, party leaders looted the sand with administrative backing. After the 2024 mass uprising, BNP and NCP leaders have continued in the same pattern, reportedly using at least five dredger machines around the clock. Jugantor’s investigation found the post-uprising operators have already removed approximately 10 million cubic metres. Kushtia WDB superintending engineer Jahedur Rahman said he joined after the project concluded and referred questions about sand disposal to those who were in post during the project period.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report