Zahangir Alam Explained

Md. Zahangir Alam
Native Name:মোঃ জাহাঙ্গীর আলম
Native Name Lang:bn
Birth Date:7 May 1979
Birth Place:Gazipur District, Bangladesh
Nationality:Bangladeshi
Office:2nd Mayor of Gazipur
Predecessor:Asadur Rahman Kiron
Successor:Asadur Rahman Kiron
Term Start:27 July 2018
Term End:25 November 2021
Alma Mater:Bhawal Badre Alam Government College
Party:Bangladesh Awami League
Mother:Jayeda Khatun[1]

Md. Zahangir Alam (born 7 May 1979) is a former mayor of Gazipur City Corporation, an Awami League politician and businessman. Aligned with the Bangladesh Awami League, he was elected as the second mayor of the Gazipur City Corporation in July 2018.[2] [3] [4] He is the managing director of Honourable Textile Composite Ltd and Z Alam Apparels.[5] He was the general secretary of Gazipur metropolitan Awami League until he was expelled by Awami League central working committee on 19 November 2021. Jahangir was pardoned and got back his Awami League membership on 1 January 2023. The LGRD Ministry suspended Alam on 25 November 2021 from the mayor post of Gazipur City Corporation (GCC) on the allegations of illegal land grabbing, not compensating people after taking over land for development and working against the public interest.[6]

Early life and education

Alam was born in Gazipur District. He passed his SSC and HSC exams from Bhawal Badre Alam Govt. College. He completed graduation and post graduation from the same college. After that, he graduated with an LLB degree from the National University in Bangladesh.[7]

Political career

In July 2018 Alam was elected mayor of Gazipur City Corporation as the Bangladesh Awami League candidate.[8] In the election he earned 400,010 votes while Hasan Uddin Sarkar, managed to secure 197,611 votes.[9] [10] He was the former vice-president of the Bangladesh Chhatra League and vice-chairman of Gazipur Sadar Upazila.

Mayor of Gazipur City Corporation

During the 2019-20 session, Alam announced a budget of approximately US$700 million in income and US$550 million in expense for Gazipur City Corporation.[11] While working as a mayor of Gazipur City Corporation, mayor Alam disclosed about corruption and irregularities in the city corporation. In May 2019 at a press briefing, he revealed that 14 employees of Gazipur City Corporation got show cause notice over corruption and irregularity charges.[12] In July same year in another press briefing, he informed the journalists that among the 14 accused employees, 6 had been suspended, 3 had been temporarily suspended and the remaining 5 had been served show-cause notices for alleged corruption.[13]

See main article: Murder of Engineer Delwoar. On 11 May 2020, Delwoar Hossain, the executive engineer of Gazipur City Corporation was murdered allegedly by his colleague. The investigation agency and Delwoar's family suspect that the motive behind Delwoar's murder was a corruption of the city corporation projects.[14] Police arrested Anisur Rahman Selim, an assistant engineer of Gazipur City Corporation as a suspect of the murder case. Mayor Alam told the Prothom Alo that he knew about the corruption of Selim but never took any measures against him.[15] Alam told another news channel, Channel i that he suspected the murder could be caused because of bribe money from contractors.[16]

On 4 October 2021, the Awami League sent a show cause notice to Alam after a video of him making controversial remarks on former president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the number of deaths in the Bangladesh Liberation War leaked and went viral on social media.[17] On 19 November, he was expelled from the Awami League over the comments.[18] Justices Mamnoon Rahman and Khandaker Diliruzzaman of High Court Division issued an order asking Alam why contempt of court proceedings should not begin against him for not obeying a 2018 court order that asked him not to disturb the property of the petitioner, Ashraf Uddin Ahmed.[19] The Local Government Division suspended Alam from the office of mayor of Gazipur on 26 November.[20] Eight cases were filed against him over his comments in which he was able to secure bail.[21]

Md. Tajul Islam, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, announced plans in December 2022 to return Alam to the Awami League and described his previous expulsion as a temporary suspension.[22] On 21 January 2023, Alam was conditionally allowed to rejoin the Awami League.[23]

Notes and References

  1. News: 2023-05-10 . Gazipur City Polls: It's responsibility of EC, govt to hold fair polls . 2023-05-15 . The Daily Star . en.
  2. News: AL's Jahangir Alam elected Gazipur mayor . 2018-06-26 . The Daily Star . 2018-09-16 . en.
  3. News: New Gazipur city mayor sworn in . 2018-07-26 . The Independent . Dhaka . 2018-09-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230127142053/https://www.theindependentbd.com/post/159531 . 27 January 2023.
  4. News: Awami League's Jahangir Alam elected Gazipur mayor . 2018-06-27 . Dhaka Tribune . 2018-09-16 . en-US.
  5. News: Gazipur City Corporation polls: AL candidate Zahangir supersedes BNP's Hasan Sarker in net wealth . bdnews24.com . 16 April 2018 . 2018-09-16.
  6. News: 2021-11-25 . Gazipur mayor Jahangir Alam suspended . Dhaka Tribune . dead . 2021-11-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211125105602/https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/11/25/gazipur-mayor-jahangir-alam-suspended . 25 November 2021.
  7. News: http://somoytribune.com/2018/06/28/%E0%A6%9B%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%A5%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%87/ . bn:ছাত্রলীগের রাজনীতি থেকে নগরপিতা . 2018-06-28 . Somoy Tribune . 2018-09-16 . bn . 2018-09-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180916202317/http://somoytribune.com/2018/06/28/%E0%A6%9B%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%A4%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%9C%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%80%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF-%E0%A6%A5%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%87/ . dead.
  8. News: Jahangir Alam sworn in as GCC mayor . Prothom Alo . 2018-09-16 . en.
  9. News: Jahangir Alam wins Gazipur city election . Risingbd.com . 2018-09-16 . en.
  10. News: AL's Jahangir elected mayor . Daily Sun . 2018-09-16 . en.
  11. News: 2019-07-24 . Budget for Gazipur city announced . The Daily Star . 2020-07-20.
  12. News: 14 GCC staff show-caused on corruption charge . 21 July 2020 . United News of Bangladesh . New Age . 21 May 2019.
  13. News: 9 GCC staff suspended over graft . 21 July 2020 . Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . New Age . 10 July 2019.
  14. News: Javed . Hasan . GCC executive engineer pays with his life for standing up to corruption. . 19 July 2020 . Dhaka Tribune . 17 May 2020.
  15. News: Asaduzzaman . bn:প্রকৌশলী দেলোয়ার খুনে গ্রেপ্তার আনিছুর দুর্নীতিবাজ: মেয়র জাহাঙ্গীর . https://www.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/article/1658951/%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8C%E0%A6%B6%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%80-%E0%A6%A6%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%8B%E0%A7%9F%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%96%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%87-%E0%A6%97%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%AA%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%86%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%9B%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B0 . 21 July 2020 . Prothom Alo . 27 May 2020 . bn.
  16. News: Morol . Fazlul Haq . bn:ঘুষ ও অনৈতিক সুবিধা না নেওয়ায় খুন হন প্রকৌশলী দেলোয়া . https://www.channelionline.com/%E0%A6%98%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B7-%E0%A6%93-%E0%A6%85%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%88%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95-%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%AC%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%A7%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%A8%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%A8%E0%A7%87%E0%A6%93/ . 21 July 2020 . Channel i . 31 May 2020 . bn.
  17. News: 2021-11-19 . Awami League expels Gazipur Mayor Zahangir Alam . 2023-01-28 . The Daily Star . en.
  18. News: 2021-11-19 . Awami League expels Gazipur Mayor Zahangir . 2021-11-21 . The Business Standard . en.
  19. News: 2021-11-24 . Gazipur Mayor Zahangir Alam faces contempt of court . 2023-01-28 . The Daily Star . en.
  20. News: 2021-11-26 . Zahangir loses post of mayor . 2023-01-28 . The Daily Star . en.
  21. News: 2022-09-05 . Suspended GCC mayor gets anticipatory bail . 2023-01-28 . Dhaka Tribune . en.
  22. News: 2022-12-21 . Tajul: Ministry working on reinstatement of ex-Gazipur mayor Jahangir . 2023-01-28 . Dhaka Tribune . en.
  23. News: 2023-01-22 . Suspended Gazipur mayor Jahangir gets back Awami League membership . 2023-01-28 . Dhaka Tribune . en.