New Delhi, July 29 -- Six contractors from six different districts submitted bids for power line rehabilitation work in Jamalpur, Bangladesh, and each quoted the exact same amount: BDT 665,000, down to the last decimal point. Procurement specialists say that is not a coincidence.

Naogaon, Jamalpur, Tangail, Mymensingh, Natore, and Kushtia.

The signing took place at a consequential moment in Bangladesh's recent political history. The student-led mass uprising of July 2024 had resulted in a change of government on August 5. The incoming interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus took its oath the following day, August 8. The contracts at Jamalpur PBS were executed in the 48-hour window between those two events, while government authorit...