Staff correspondent :

Former Minister of Communications and former Member of Parliament from Madaripur-3 Constituency, heroic freedom fighter Syed Abul Hossain is no more.
He breathed his last while undergoing treatment at the United Hospital in the capital on Wednesday night due to a heart attack (Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilaihi Rajiun). Syed Abul Hossain was born in Madaripur in 1951. He was 72 years old.
He is survived by wife Khawaja Nargis, two daughters Syeda Rubaiyat Hussain and Syeda Iffat Hussain.
His death cast a pall over Dasara.
He is a politician and businessman by profession. Abul Hossain was elected Member of Parliament from Madaripur-3 Constituency in 1991 in the Fifth National Parliament Election for Bangladesh Awami League. He then served as a Member of Parliament in the seventh, eighth and ninth parliamentary elections. From 2009 to 2012, he served as the Minister of Communications in the Awami League-led government. During this time he established numerous educational institutions.
On April 28, 2011, the government signed an agreement of 120 million dollars with the World Bank for the construction of Padma Bridge. But at the end of the year, there were allegations of corruption against the then Minister of Communications Abul Hossain. Later on 5 January 2012, Syed Abul Hossain resigned from the post of Minister of Communications. The then Secretary of Bridges Department Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan also had to step down.
However, on February 2 of that year, the ACC reported that no evidence of corruption was found in the appointment of the bridge contractor. But on June 30, the World Bank canceled the Padma bridge loan agreement. However, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the decision to build the Padma Bridge with her own funds in the cabinet meeting on July 9.
Later, a case was filed in the Canadian court alleging corruption in the Padma Bridge. On February 10, 2017, after a long 5-year judicial process, the Canadian court said that no evidence was found for the allegations of corruption conspiracy in the Padma Bridge project that the World Bank had canceled the loan.