The Rural Electrification Board (REB) has sacked 11 of its staffers over jailing a day-labourer in Cumilla for unpaid bills even though he had no power connection in his house.
Abdul Matin, a resident of Mochagora village in the district’s Muradnagar upazila, was arrested on Tuesday (Apr 16) and was ordered to send to jail by a Cumilla court the next day.
Following media reports, including by Bangla Tribune, a Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Trust (BLAST) lawyer, filed petition with the court of Cumilla’s chief judicial magistrate, which granted bail to Matin on Thursday (Apr 18).
On Saturday (Apr 20), REB sacked 11 employees over the incident as well as apologised to the victim.
“We have opened an inquiry, which will not only probe field-level employees and officials but the DGM [deputy general manager] as well,” REB Director General Moin Uddin told Bangla Tribune.
The REB chief said he apologised to Abdul Matin over telephone before adding, “We are scheduled for a video conference with all the 80 units of REB over the matter.”
Matin’s family claimed that they had applied for electricity connection four years ago to the local Palli Bidyut Samity-1, but the sub-contractors gave the connection to one of their neighbours Shafiqul Islam.
In a media statement, the REB said that the power connection under the name of Matin was actually given to Shafiq’s home back in 2015.
Since then, billings for the connection was made against Matin even though Shafiq was using it, the REB said before apologising for what it described as ‘the untoward and unfortunate’ incidents of Matin being sued and sent to jail for unpaid bills.
Seventeen months worth of bills had not been paid for the connection, for which Lakkhan Chandra Sen, AGM of Palli Bidyut Samity-1, filed a case with a local court against Matin to realise the unpaid Tk 4,007.
Following the court’s order, police arrested Matin on Tuesday. He was produced before the court, which sent him to jail on the next day before he was granted bail on Thursday.