‘Ministry too cannot avoid responsibility for pillow scam’

Neither the ministry concerned nor the engineers involved can avoid responsibility for the pillow scam at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project, said Engineer Md Abdus Sabur, president of the Engineers Institution of Bangladesh today.

"The ministry as well as the engineers have to make sure that such irregularities never happen again. The Central Procurement Technical Unit did not give any statement after the graft allegations surfaced," he said.

Sabur, who is also the science and technology affairs secretary of Awami League, was addressing a meeting on the present condition of government procurement at the auditorium of the Engineer's Institute in the capital on Saturday.

He said that in many cases the cost of projects escalates because it takes too long to complete them. He urged engineers to complete development projects in the stipulated time.

"Stipulate the time for a particular project as required. Do not give more or less time than it actually needs for completion. Later, it is up to the ministry concerned. You [engineers] must do your job properly," Sabur said.  

He also suggested improving the skills of students in private universities prior to giving them engineering degrees.