-Md. Habibur Rahman
Kushtia, July 29, 2026: There is a well-known proverb: “The Qazi’s cow exists in the book, but not in the shed.” A very similar incident has occurred in Kushtia. Under the agricultural rehabilitation assis-tance sector for the 2025–26 fiscal, an allocation of nearly Tk 8.2 million was made for a tree plantation program across six upazilas of Kushtia. Although paper records claim that nearly 28,000 trees were planted, no physical existence of these trees can be found in reality. The Department of Agricultural Ex-tension (DAE) allegedly without implementing the project properly, the allocated fund were mostly em-bezzled. And the presented upazila-wise lists are entirely fictitious paperwork.
On June 4, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a government order allocating Tk 8,208,500 for the six upazilas of Kushtia. The target was to plant 27,950 trees, with the cost for planting and ancillary expens-es per tree estimated at Tk 293.68. Despite strict directives to complete the project and reconcile the ac-counts with the government treasury by June 30, sources at the Kushtia District Accounts Office re-vealed that the DAE failed to reconcile the accounts within the stipulated timeframe.
The upazila-wise breakdown of allocations shows that Daulatpur was allocated Tk 1,703,224 for 5,800 trees; Kushtia Sadar Tk 1,483,000 for 5,050 trees; Kumarkhali Tk 1,424,251 for 4,850 trees; Mirpur Tk 1,394,885 for 4,750 trees; Bheramara Tk 1,248,000 for 4,250 trees; and Khoksa was allocated Tk 1,027,810 for 3,500 trees.
Even though the deadline has passed, no real evidence of tree plantation could be found on the field. Extreme inconsistencies were observed in the statements provided by the upazila agriculture officers. Rehana Parveen, the agriculture officer of Daulatpur, stated that only 850 trees have been planted in her upazila, while Bheramara Agriculture Officer Mahmuda Sultana stated that only 20 percent of the target has been planted so far. On the other hand, Mirpur Agriculture Officer Abdullah Al Mamun and Sadar Agriculture Officer Rumpa Khatun claimed that while government guidelines initially specified 30 kg of cow dung fertilizer (costing Tk 120) per tree, it was later revised to 5 kg (costing Tk 20), and after de-positing the excess money into the treasury according to the revised directive, the activities are ongoing. However, the agriculture officers of Kumarkhali and Khoksa claimed that 100 percent of their targets were implemented, though they failed to show any factual evidence during field visits.
Regarding the situation, Deputy Commissioner of Kushtia, Md. Touhid Bin Hasan, stated that “The re-sponsibility and directive to implement this priority government tree plantation project were given to the Department of Agricultural Extension. The agriculture department is supposed to submit its report after project completion, which has not received my office yet. If there are any irregularity in the report, it will be thoroughly investigated.
