BRRI’s annual research workshop begins today

A 3-day-long annual research review workshop of Bangladesh Rice Research Institute will begin today at its headquarters in Gazipur.

Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture CQK Mustaque Ahmed will inaugurate it as chief guest at 10:00am at BIRRI auditorium.

About 200 scientists, researchers and officials are expected to participate in the workshop.

BRRI director general Dr AKG Mad Enamul Haque will chair the inaugural function while its research director Dr Md Khairul Bashar will present the keynote paper highlighting BRRI's research performance.

Dr Wasi Kabir, executive director of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, and Md Habibur Rahman, director general of the Department of Agricultural Extension, will attend the opening session as the special guests.

BRRI dhan55, BRRI dhan58 and BRRI dhan57 - the three high yielding and drought tolerant early maturing rich varieties - are the latest innovation of the BRRI. Of these varieties, BRRI dhan55 can be cultivated throughout the country in favourable conditions and it yields one tone more on per hectare of land than the most popular and cultivated BRRI dhan28.

5 shops gutted

A fire gutted five shops at Nandina bazar in Jamalpur sadar upazila early Saturday.

The fire fighters said that the fire originated from an electric short circuit of a shop at the Nandina bazar at about 1:45am and soon engulfed the adjacent shops.

Being informed, the fire fighters went to the spot and extinguished the blaze after two hours frantic efforts.

The fire fighters estimated the loss about Tk 10 lakh.

PDP opposes new broadcast policy

The Progressive Democratic Party, formed during the military-backed caretaker government, has threatened to launch movement if the proposed National Broadcasting Policy is implemented.

'There are sufficient ways to control misdeeds and irrelevant publicity/publication under the existing law. So, there is no need for a new regulatory law,' the PDP chairman, Ferdous Ahmed Quarishi, said on Saturday while exchanging views with reporters at Biruttam Khaja Nazimuddin auditorium in the city's Segunbagicha area.

He claimed that direct publicity of any political party was prohibited in the proposed policy. 'Such policy is contrary to the political spirit and development of the country.'

'It has also been said in the policy that any 'erroneous' information must not be given. Now the question is who will determine the erroneous information?' he said.

The information ministry on August 1 submitted the draft of the country's first National Broadcasting Policy to the parliamentary standing committee on the ministry with a view to ensuring free flow of information.

The standing committee on September 22 recommended publishing the draft on the internet after consultations with stakeholders.

Stating that the role of the ruling Awami League in terms of freedom of press was not glorious in the past, Quarishi said Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had imposed Newsprint Control Ordinance in 1974 and also banned all newspapers except four government publications while establishing the system of one-party rule called BAKSAL in early 1975.

The PDP chief urged the government to refrain from taking steps that violate the freedom of press, and show respect to people and public opinion. 

 

Ataur Rahman Khan’s death anniv today

The first anniversary of the death of former Bangladesh Awami League presidium member Ataur Rahman Khan Kaisar is going to be observed in Chittagong today.

The family of the deceased requested his friends, political aides and well wishers to attend a prayer session at Bangshalbari Mosque at Chandanpura in the city.

Different organisations, including Bangabandhu Sanskritik Charcha Sammilan Parishad, Chittagong Shishu-Kishor Ananda Mela and the Chittagong City Corporation Kaisar-Nilufar College, will organise similar programmes on the day.

The Bangabandhu Sanskritik Charcha Sammilan Parishad will also hold a discussion at the Abdul Khaleque Auditorium at the Chittagong Press Club on October 15, said a release.

18,000kg hilsa seized in Chittagong

Coastguard and fisheries officials in several drives at outer encourage of the Bay of Bengal seized 18,000 kilograms of hilsa Saturday.

Coastguard members along with the officials of the Department of Fisheries conducted several drives in outer anchorage area and seized the hilsa

loaded in eight boats as the government imposed an

11-day ban on catching, selling and hoarding of hilsa from October 6 to October 16.

Fisheries inspector Mohammad Zahirul Islam said they on the presence of magistrate sold 18,000kg of the seized hilsa for Tk 27 lakh on some conditions.

Coastguard members also fined eight fishing boats Tk 16,000 for carrying the hilsa defying government ban.

Anwara Khan dies

Anwara Khan, wife of National Professor MR Khan, died of old-age complications in Central Hospital in Dhaka at 9:10am on Saturday at the age of seventy-seven.

Anwara Khan is survived by a daughter and her husband.

Her namaz-e-janaza was held on the Central Hospital premises at 4:30pm.

She will be buried at her family graveyard at village Rasulpur in Satkhira on October 10.

Anwara Khan was born at Rasulpur on November 9,1933. She studied at Sakhawat Memorial Girls' School in Kolkata and then in Kolkata Ripon College, now Surendranath College and completed bachelor's degree.

Through establishing Dr MR Khan and Anwara Khan Trust, she funded child healthcare, education, initiatives to establish schools, hospitals and scholarship awarding, said a release.

Mohammad Farhad’s 24th death anniv today

The 24th anniversary of death of Mohammad Farhad, former general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, will be observed today.

The Communist Party and the Mani Singh-Farhad Trust has called up programmes to mark the day with due respect across the country.

Wreaths will be placed at the grave of Mohammad Farhad at Banani graveyard and to his portrait at Purana Paltan in the morning. The Communist Party will hold a discussion at its central office in the afternoon and local units also hold programmes.

The Mohammad Farhad Community Hospital at Farhads ancestral home at Balaramhat of Boda in Panchagarh will also organise programmes of tree planting, health camp, prayer session and discussion.  

Farhad, also a former member of the parliament, died on October 9 in 1987 in Moscow at the age of 49.

Born on July 5, 1938 in Dinajpur, Farhad and actively participated in the language movement of 1952, education movement of 1962, mass uprising of 1969, War of Independence and anti-Ershad movements in 1980s.

Farhad as the key organiser of the NAP-Chhatra Union Guerrilla Force in the war of independence and one of the organisers of the movement against military rule after Ershad's coup d'état in 1982.

In his 35-year political career, Farhad had been either in hiding or in jail for 14 years. He had contested 1986 general election and won from Debiganj-Boda constituency.

3 youths stabbed to death in Jessore, Mymensingh

Three youths were stabbed to death by miscreants in Jessore and Mymensingh.

In Jessore, two young men were stabbed to death by miscreants in separate incidents in the town early Saturday.

The deceased were Masud Hossain, 27, son of Sheikh Abdus Sattar of Purba Barandipara area and Shukur Ali, 25, son of Abdul Gafur Mollah of Railgate Pashchimpara area of the town.

Family members said Masud had a conflict with a drug syndicate of the area as he informed the police of their illegal activities.

They said Laltu of nearby Bejpara area called Masud out of the house at about 1:30am and later he was found dead near a graveyard in the town.

On information, the police recovered the body that bore several stab injury marks. The body was sent to hospital morgue for autopsy.

The police detained Monirul Islam alias Chhoto Moni, son of Azim Mia, Soni and Islam, sons of Fazar Ali of the area for interrogation.

In another incident, miscreants stabbed to death Shukur Ali, an activist of Shechchasebok League at around 12:15am in Railgate area. The body was sent to hospital morgue for autopsy.

The reason behind the murder could not be known immediately. Two separate cases were filed.

In Mymensingh, a youth was stabbed to death by some miscreants in Trishal upazila bus stand area Friday night.

The deceased was Sabuj, 26, hailed from Darirampur village of the uapzila.

The police quoting local people said some local miscreants attacked and stabbed Sabuj at one stage of altercation over a trifling matter at 9:00pm, leaving him seriously injured.

Later, Sabuj was taken to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital where he died.

A case was filed.

1.2 lakh tonnes of furnace oil to be imported from Vietnam

The government will import 1,20,000 tonnes of furnace oil from Vietnam to meet the growing demand of petroleum particularly for the rental and quick power plants.

According to official sources, the energy ministry has forwarded a proposal to the Cabinet Division to place it to the Cabinet Purchase Committee's meeting scheduled for today.

The energy ministry officials said they had finalised a deal recently with Vietnam's Petrolimex to import the bulk of furnace oil which would cost approximately  $82.464 million. The premium of per tonne fuel was proposed to be $32.

'Considering the proposed premium on the fuel, the total value of 1,20,000 tonnes of furnace oil will possibly cost Tk 618.48 crore,' said an official. The Purchase Committee is also expected to fix a premium for import of 60,000 tonnes of furnace oil from the Maldives' MNOC.

Cabinet Division officials said the purchase body might consider a total of 15 proposals including the fuel imports and gas pipeline construction in different places of the country.

The government needs to import some 8,52,000 tonnes of furnace oil for six months from July to December 2011.

The energy ministry official said the ministry had set this requirement taking into account the use of the petroleum fuel in power plants and for other purposes, including its use in the industries where gas was not available.

Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation has so far received assurances from different sources to have the supply of a total of 7,65,000 tonnes of the fuel.

Negotiations are on with different sources to meet the remaining demand, according to the source.

Among the other sources for supply of furnace oil, Petco of Malaysia has assured of providing 1,40,000  tonnes, while ENCO of United Arab Emirate 80,000 tonnes, MIDOR of Egypt 1,00,000 tonnes, Chinese Petrochina 20,000 tonnes, Bumisiak of Indonesia 100,000 tonnes and MNOC of the Maldives 60,000 tonnes.

Besides, BPC will get 1,45,000 tonnes of furnace oil from the state-owned Eastern Refinery Limited.

The demand for furnace oil has shot up in recent months following the installation of liquid fuel-fired rental power plants in private sector.

The government, however, has taken the move to set up the liquid fuel-fired plants amid severe gas crisis.

The state-owned BPC is responsible to ensure supply of the petroleum.

 

RCHCI for referral system to ensure better treatment

Revitalisation of Community Health Care Initiative in Bangladesh project director Makhduma Nargis on Saturday asked for developing a 'strong referral system' by networking the community clinics across the country to reduce the rush of patients at district hospitals and ensure better treatment.

Speaking at a news conference called by the Community Clinic Revitalisation Project at its office in the city she said that unless it was done the very purpose of opening the community clinics would otherwise.

She said that the formalities had almost been finalised for appointing 13,500 community health care providers.

Now, she said, the civil surgeons would make the appointments.

Nargis requested the officials of health directorate and family planning directorate to support the clinics to be run by the two directorates.

She said that a plan had been finalised under which the health service and the family planning directorate would jointly train the community clinic health care providers.

Nargis said that under a1 memorandum of understanding signed some NGOs would support the project.

Society for Empowerment, Education and Development would run a six year project in 36 upazilas in six districts, SEED programme director AN Zafar Ullah said.

He said that SEED would hold studies to identify the health care needs of the people in the select localities.

He said that SEED would also provide training to the health workers and community representatives.

Among others, Barendra Nath Mandal, additional project director of RCHCIC spoke.

No CG in future, says Modasser

Prime minister's health and social welfare adviser Syed Modasser Ali has said the defunct non-party neutral caretaker government will not be restored in the country.

'The people will decide who will govern the country in future,' he said while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop on pneumonia in the city.

Prekkhit, a non-governmental organisation, organised the workshop at Dhaka Reporters' Unity on the eve of World Pneumonia Day to be observed

on November 12.

Those days are gone for grabbing state power through conspiracy,

rigging and anarchy. Change of power will take place constitutionally in the country in future, he added.

Modasser said the

government would strengthen the Election Commission so that the next general election could be held in a free and neutral manner.

He criticised the caretaker government system and said that the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, believed in the power of the people.

He opposed holding any talks between the two top leaders on the next polls, citing 'boundless corruption' by an opposition leader while in power.

If necessary, discussions could be held between the leaders of the

Awami League and the

BNP at other levels,

he said.

The adviser condemned the opposition's anti-government movement

and said the government wanted to extend cooperation to the opposition

parties.

The danger of pneumonia in Bangladesh was discussed in the workshop, where journalists from print and electronic media took part.

Call for strengthening Oil, Gas Committee

District leaders of the National Oil, Gas Committee at a meeting on Saturday asked for strengthening their organisation so that it could compel the government not to lease out gas blocks to international oil companies.

They gave their opinion at the day long central representatives' meeting of the national committee at Tajul Auditorium at Moni Singh-Farhad Memorial Trust Bhaban in the capital.

The National Committee to Protect Oil, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports called the meeting to discuss its next action programme to press its seven demands.

The national committee convener, Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, who chaired said that the committee would continue with its movement until it could secure the mineral resources of the country.

He said that there was no scope for defeat.

Shaheedullah requested the district representatives to work for the success of the committee's long march from Dhaka to Sunetra in Sunamganj from October 28 to 31 and the grand rally in the capital city scheduled for November 26.

The national committee member secretary Anu Muhammad said that Bangladesh would lose its natural resources by signing unequal deals with the IOCs.

'We don't want Bangladesh to suffer the fate of Nigeria which lost its natural resources to multi national companies,' Anu said.

He asked the government to refrain from adopting the so called 'Model Production and Sharing Contract' for the onshore gas blocks designed to give upper hand to the IOCs.

He said that the national committee would work for forging national unity to save Bangladesh's natural resources from plunder by the IOCs.

Mohammad Altaf Hossain of Dinajpur, Manas Nandi of Chittagong, Abul Kalam Azad of Rajshahi, Shahdat Hossain of Rangpur and Jinnatul Islam of Bogra, vented their views at the discussions attended by all the 42 district representatives of the national committee.

National committee leaders Rashed Khan Menon, Mjahidul Islam Selim, Khalequzzaman, Bimal Biswas, Tipu Biswas, Mosharraf Hossain Nannu, Saiful Huq,   Ruhin Hossain Prince, Bazlur Rashid Firoz, Ragib Ahsan Munna, Zonayed Saki, Babul Biswas took part in the discussions besides others.

Che’s 44th death anniv today

The 44th anniversary of death of Marxist revolutionary Earnesto Che Guvera, who was one of the architects of the Cuban revolution and had led a campaign against imperialism afterwards, will be observed today in Bangladesh like elsewhere in the world.

Che, an Argentine-born communist internationalist who became a revolutionary legend in his lifetime, still inspires progressive and anti-imperialist forces across continents struggling for a better future for mankind.

A number of organisations have chalked up various programmes to mark the day.

Social activists under the banner of Che Sanghati on Saturday held a discussion, recital of poems and a concert of people's songs at Rabindra Sarobar amphitheatre in Dhaka on the occasion.

Writer Ahmad Rafiq, Asaduzzman Noor MP, Sajjad Sharif, Zahid Reza Noon and Parvez Chowdhury joined in the discussion while musical troupes Udichi and Mrittika rendered people's songs in the programme.

Cultural group Wrishiz will hold a similar programme at the same venue today.  

Born in the Argentine city of Rosario, Che travelled across Latin America in 1952 and 1953 and was shocked to witness widespread economic disparity and miseries of the working class.

He became convinced that violence was necessary to overturn the unjust social order in the region.

He met Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1955 and quickly joined the uprising against the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The revolution triumphed in January 1959 of which Che was a key player.

After liberating Cuba, Che decided to spread revolution and led a group of Cuban revolutionaries fighting side by side with Marxist guerrillas in Congo before going to Bolivia in late 1966.

There he led a small clutch of rebels for 11 months trying to spread revolution to the peoples fighting against imperialism and its lakeys.

The Bolivian army and the US Central Intelligence Agency agents captured an ill Che during a battle in the village of La Higuera, and executed him on October 9, 1967. He was 39.

20 hurt in AL infighting in Bagerhat

At least 20 people were injured in a clash between two fractions of the Awami League at Rahmatpur village in Chitalmari upazila of Bagerhat Friday evening.

Local people said there was a longstanding rivalry between Jalaluddin Rumi group and Haji Syed group over establishing supremacy in the area.

The clash ensued between the two groups at one stage of altercation over a trifling matter.

Both groups later equipped with lethal weapons,

sticks and brickbats attacked each other, leaving 20 people from both sides wounded.

Fourteen of the injured were admitted to Tungipara Hospital in Gopalganj and Chitalmari Health Complex. Condition of five injured was stated to be critical.

The police visited the spot and additional police have been deployed at the village to avert further clash.

BNP marches towards Sylhet tomorrow

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday expected a overwhelming participation of people in its road march towards Sylhet and alleged that goons of the Awami League were instigating people into violence at places along the road march route.

The party's joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a briefing in its central office at Naya Paltan alleged that Awami League goons were instigating people into violence at places along the road march route towards Sylhet from Dhaka and said that an overwhelming participation of the people would stem all their evil attempts.

'Awami League leaders and activists are threatening people, trying to create a state of fear in different localities to keep the people away from the march but all their attempts will fail,' he said.

Despite accusing the ruling party of instigating violence, the acting BNP secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday wrote to the home ministry to ensure proper security for the road march convoy and the programme venues, party insiders said.

The BNP begins the road march on Monday to press home its demand for the reinstatement of the caretaker government system and holding the next election under an election commission neutral in a true sense.

The march will start from the party chief's office at Gulshan and the chairperson Khaleda Zia is scheduled to address at least six large rallies on the way at Tarabo of Rupganj, Itakhola of Narsinghdi, Bhairab of Kishoreganj, Kadda crossing of Brahmanbaria, Shayestaganj of Habiganj and Sherpur of Moulvibazar on Monday. She will conclude the march by holding a rally in the Aliya Madrassah ground in Sylhet town on Tuesday.

The BNP high command has asked its local units concerned to make necessary preparations to ensure huge turnout in the rallies and on both sides of the highway.

All steps have been taken to make the road march successful, Rizvi said, hoping that it will create a momentum for the ongoing anti-government movement.

He said that all the local units had made adequate preparations for the march and carried out successful campaigns.

Rizvi said that the BNP had made arrangements to webcast the road march live on www.bnplive.com so that the people abroad could see it.

In reply to a question on the impact of party infighting on different units in view of the march, Rizvi said that there was a competition of leadership in the BNP but there was no rivalry.

As for change of the venue of the concluding rally from Rajshahi to Chapainawabganj, he said that there had been a large rally in Rajshahi for which they would be holding the rally this time in a bordering district.

As for conflicts between Khaleda Rabbani and Naser Rahman in Moulvibazar, Rizvi claimed they both were working together and there was no conflict.

The leader of the opposition in the parliament announced the agitation programme, including road marches towards Sylhet, Rajshahi and Chittagong, at a 'grand' rally organised by the BNP-led alliance in Dhaka on September 27.

The party, later, postponed its Chittagong road march scheduled for October 25 –26 because of Hajj and Eid-ul-Azha.

Govt plans quality power for rich

The government is planning to introduce quality-based power price by way of which people could get uninterrupted power supply with proper voltage by paying higher while others may have to experience power outages and other related problems.

The state-run Power Development Board worked out a new price chart consistent with the cost of fuel oil-fired power offering consumers better quality and uninterrupted power.

According to the proposal, the distribution agencies will realise power price ranging between Tk 12 and Tk 13.5 a unit (kilowatt-hour) from all levels of consumers who want to get uninterrupted supply and better quality power.

A PDB official, however, said that power consumers were connected to 230kv, 132kv and 33kv transmission lines. 'In that case,

initially big industries and a few commercial consumers will get the advantage. For others, new dedicated power lines will have to be laid out,' he added.

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission in the past week took cognisance of the proposal of retail power price increase submitted by the power board where the board proposed that the commission should set the new price chart with added facilities that were not in the current scheme.

With the proposal, the government is trying to introduce a new tariff policy for power distribution where the quality of power is also considered a factor linked to the financial capacity of the consumers, another PDB official said.

According to the existing tariff policy, all consumers are treated equally in the quality of power without making any discrimination between higher and lower payers.

A few officials and experts concerned said that power outage and other quality problems would increase for consumers who would not be able to pay higher for power if the BERC approved such a tariff policy.

Asked about the government's move, power expert Shamsul Alam, who also represents the Consumers Association of Bangladesh in the power and energy sector, said that it would require a fresh tariff policy.

In addition to the Power Development Board, there are four other state-run power distribution agencies — Dhaka Power Distribution Company, Dhaka Electricity Supply Company, Rural Electrification Board and West Zone Power Distribution Company and the four did not demand such a new price chart with in their proposal for the retail power price increased by the energy regulatory commission.

The power distribution agencies expect that the commission would increase the power price in December as the commission earlier increased the bulk price of power in two phases —  by 11 per cent with effect from February 1 and by 6.66 per cent with effect from August 1.

BD Rahmatullah, former director general of the Power Cell, said that the power board's proposal was nothing but a trick to increase power prices.

'The government helped a few businessmen, policymakers and bureaucrats to make money with power generation initiatives from fuel oil-fired rental power plants which increased generation cost. Now the government will pay the bill either from the state exchequer or by increasing power price,' he alleged.

He said that the government, in an unsolicited way, awarded 18 rental power projects of installed capacity about 1,500MW only for corruption.

Courses prolonged as session jam continues

A long session jam continues to affect almost all courses, adding to the owes of students at the National University although the university was set up to save students the hassles of session jam.

Students cannot complete any course on time as many of the courses have session jam up to three years.

Officials said that mismanagement at the university was what caused the the session jam and the authorities did not have any effective measures to resolve the matter.

Ahsanul Bashar, who did his graduation from a city college under the university told, New Age that it took six years for him to complete his four-year graduation course.

'Students begin their academic life in the National University with session jam. No one can complete courses in time. The session jam is wasting our time,' he said.

When the National University was set up in 1992, it was said that it would help to get rid of the session jam and would end student sufferings but it has not been able to do so since its establishment.

Teachers, students and officials of the National University said that the session jam in the university was quite unusual.

They said that universities normally have session jam as they remain closed because of campus violence or because of something else but the National University, which is an affiliating institution, does not have any campus activities.

They said that it was the mismanagement of the university which was responsible for the session jam.

They said that delay in the publication of results and delay in the admission process were mainly contributing to the session jam.

According to students and officials, the university has failed to publish the results of the bachelor of business administration and computer science courses even 13 months after the examinations. Delay in the publication of results is happening in most of the courses, an official said.

Students who are mainly from low- and middle-income groups suffer most because of the session jam. Students said that although they were supposed to complete their graduation in fours, they needed six to seven years for this.

'It just increases our cost of education. Many of us live in Dhaka in rented houses and depend on tuition for livings. Session jam makes our life unbearable,' said Shafikul Islam, a student of  Mirpur Bangla College in Dhaka.

'As we are from low- and middle-income groups, our families expect that we would complete our study as soon as possible and get jobs. But the National University does not allow us to do so,' said Shamsul Alam, a student of Titumir College.

'The National University is not only causing suffering to us but also to our families,' he added.

The pro-vice chancellor of the university, Tofail Ahmed Chowdhury, said that there were some reasons for the session jam in the National University.

'In some cases, we are not responsible for the session jam but it is also true that the university also has some negligence that is contributing to the session jam,' he said.

He said that the admission process at the National University was done after the admission process of other universities. 'This is also responsible for the session jam,' he said.

He added that sometimes delay of in the BG Press in printing question papers had also resulted in delay in the examinations, which added to the session jam.

Tofail, however, said that the university was trying hard to avoid session jam and end sufferings of the students.

'We have taken many measures in recent times to avoid session jam,' he added.

BNP unlikely to join next JS session

Leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have said there are little chances that they would attend the next session of parliament scheduled to begin on October 20, although the treasury bench have repeatedly urged them to return to the house and place their demands.

BNP insiders said they were abstaining from attending the house sessions on various grounds and accused the government of not initiating any effective move to ensure the opposition's return to the house.

'Although we have not made a decision, the possibility of our attending the session is still zero,' the opposition chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque told New Age on Saturday.

Farroque, who returned to the country on Friday after staying in the United States for about one month and a half for treatment, also said that the BNP's attention was now focused on the 'long march' beginning on Monday and the party would think of other programmes and issues after the Sylhet long march.

'We are boycotting the house to press our various demands but the ruling party have paid no heed yet and have not communicated us over the matter,' he said, adding that 'no significant progress' had been made by this time to persuade the opposition to attend the upcoming session.

He, however, said that he would talk to the party chairperson Khaleda Zia and other leaders before taking a final decision on whether to attend the next session.

Senior BNP leader MK Anwar said that the ruling party had not created an atmosphere conducive to the opposition's return to parliament.

'We are yet to take a decision on the matter,' Anwar, also a party standing committee member, told New Age on Saturday, adding that the situation remained unchanged.

The chief whip of parliament, Abdus Shahid, however, said that the treasury bench always wanted presence of the opposition parties in the house as it was their constitutional responsibility to attend after the president summons parliament.

'I have repeatedly requested the opposition to attend sessions… The prime minister and the speaker have also made repeated appeals,' Shahid told New Age on Saturday. 'What can one

do if they abstain from attending the session despite taking all facilities as lawmakers.'

He hopped that the opposition would attend the next session and the treasury and opposition lawmakers would exchange Eid greetings there.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on October 1 welcomed the opposition's proposal for re-constitution of the Elections Commission by consensus and urged the BNP to place its demands in parliament and discuss everything there.

Hasina on different occasion urged the opposition to return to the house to press their demands, including the one on the election-time interim government.

Senior leaders of the AL, including general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and presidium members Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury and Matia Chowdhury made similar appeals to the main opposition.

The BNP last time attended the house on March 25 during the eighth session of parliament after boycotting 74 consecutive sittings to keep their memberships valid but remained absent in the ninth and tenth sessions.

BNP did not attend the second, third, sixth and seventh sessions of the ninth parliament and only attended the fifth session for only one day.

BNP started boycotting parliament sessions from the second session over some issues, including seating arrangement in the front row, demanding withdrawal of the cases against Khaleda Zia and her two sons and other BNP leaders and activists, scrapping of the decision to cancel the lease of Khaleda Zia's cantonment house and ensuring an atmosphere conducive to their return to the house.

8 Bangladeshis executed in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia said it had executed eight Bangladeshis in Riyadh on Friday on charges of an armed robbery and killing, said a statement released by the Saudi interior ministry.

The migrant workers, who were beheaded in public, were sentenced to death for killing an Egyptian in April 2007, a senior official at the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh said.

Human rights group Amnesty International criticised the incident, saying that 'multiple executions are deeply disturbing.'

The Bangladeshis executed in Riyadh were Mamun, son of Abdul Menan of the Tangail district headquarters, Mohammed Sumon, son of Abdul Hye, and  Masud, son of Shamsul Haque, of Kalihati in Tangail, Shafiq al-Islam, son of Khowaz Uddin of Sakhipur in Tangali, Abu Hussain, son of Ahmed Biswas, and Motair Rahman, son of Shahid Khan, of Faridpur, Faruq, son of Jamaluddin of Daudkandi in Comilla, and Sumon Miah, son of Milan Miah of Pakundia in Kishoreganj, according to the Bangladesh mission in Riyadh.

Three other Bangladeshis were imprisoned for varying terms and sentenced with flogging.

The Bangladeshis wounded Egyptian Saeed Mohammed Abdulkhaleq, a guard of a building complex who later died, when they were reportedly stealing electric cables.

The accused gave confessional statements in the court on their involvement in the incident, SM Haroon-or-Rashid, counsellor of the labour wing of the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh, said.

The Saudi Arabia government did not inform the embassy of the matter before executing the order of a criminal court, which was supported by the court of cassation and the supreme judicial council and approved by the king of the country.

Asked whether the people executed had received quality legal support, he said that they embassy had provided them with all legal support.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz also rejected a request of the Bangladesh president, Zillur Rahman, for mercy to the convicted on humanitarian grounds keeping in consideration the state of poor families dependent on the eight convicts.

The Saudi foreign ministry informed the embassy that the state, the king in this case, does not grant clemency to people convicted for

killing and spreading reign of terror, he said.

According to the Saudi law, only the family of the victim can grant mercy to the people responsible for killing, the Saudi foreign ministry said.

'We contacted the relatives of the guard who was killed through the Egyptian embassy in Saudi Arabia but they were adamant about not granting pardon, even in exchange for blood money,' the counsellor said.

According to Saudi rules, the beheaded people are buried locally under the management of the Saudi police. 'We are, however, trying to get the bodies so that they could be sent to their families in Bangladesh,' the official added.

Two other Saudi citizens were executed in the northern city of Tabuk, taking the total number of executions on Friday to 10.

The Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said, 'Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards for fair trial and news of these recent multiple executions is deeply disturbing,', the organisation said in a release.

'The Saudi authorities appear to have increased the number of executions in recent months, a move that puts the country at odds with the worldwide trend against the death penalty,' she said.

Saudi Arabia applies the death penalty to a wide range of offences.

The beheadings bring the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year to at least 58, more than double the 2010 figure. Twenty of the people executed in 2011 were foreign nationals, mostly migrant workers from poor and developing countries.

The Amnesty International said that defendants often have no defence lawyer and are unable to follow court proceedings in Arabic. They are also rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them.

They, and many of the Saudi Arabians who are executed, also have no access to influential figures such as government authorities or heads of tribes, nor to money, both crucial factors in paying blood money or securing a pardon in murder cases.

 

SEC okays amended mutual fund rules

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday approved the amended Securities and Exchange Commission (Mutual Fund) Rule, 2001, allowing asset managers to handle funds of institutional clients and increasing the individual placement ceiling to Tk one crore.

'The commission finalised the amendments taking into consideration the opinions of stakeholders and public,' SEC  executive director Saifur Rahman told a press

briefing at the commission office.

He also said, 'Provident funds, pension funds, and endowment funds will now be considered as institutional clients.'

Before making the draft of mutual fund rules public, the commission had proposed that the individual placement ceiling should be Tk 25 lakh, which it later raised to Tk one crore.

The SEC also allowed advisory service for the mutual funds subject to approval of the commission, Saifur said.

The capital market regulator on Wednesday also formed a three-member committee headed by Saifur Rahman to prepare and place a set of recommendations to the commission

for amending the Securities and Exchange Commission (Merchant Banker and

Portfolio Manager) Rule, 1969.

Saifur said, 'The committee will submit the recommendations within 15 working days after receiving the office order.'

BB warns banks against rat race for collecting remittance

Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday warned the authorised dealer banks that it would cancel the licence of any bank found involved in a rat race for collecting remittance from abroad by offering high rates of dollar.

The BB warning came from a meeting of the central bank with chief executive officers and managing directors of all banks at the BB headquarters on the ongoing dollar crisis.

BB deputy governor Ziaul Hasan Siddique presided over the meeting.

BB officials observed that the price of dollar shoot up because of unhealthy competition between banks to bring in remittance by offering high rates of dollar.

'Some of the banks are in a rat race for collecting remittance. If a bank offers Tk 75 for a dollar, others offer Tk 76 to bring in the remittance. This sort of practice must be stopped, otherwise the BB would cancel the licences of the errant banks,' said a BB official.

The inter-bank buying rate of dollar soared to Tk 75.41 on Wednesday from Tk 74.90 on September 18 while the selling rate increased to Tk 75.45 from Tk 75.05 because of a supply dearth of dollar.

BB officials also asked the banks to expedite repatriation of export proceeds in the wake of the country's depleting foreign exchange reserve.

A BB high official said BB's forex reserve had been depleting in recent times because of rising import.

BB officials told the bank chiefs that, although as per the rules the banks were given a maximum of four months to repatriate export proceeds, they should take steps so that the proceeds could be brought in by a week or two.

They also told the banks to negotiate vigorously with their clients to repatriate the export proceeds fast, considering the current state of the country's foreign exchange reserve, which came down to around $9.94 billion at the moment from around $11.32 billion in March.

Bank credits to large industries on decline

Banks' and financial institutions' credit to the big industries decreased 0.92 per cent in the April-June period of this year compared to the previous quarter of January-March, according to the latest data of the central bank. 

And the industrial term loans disbursement posted only 1.47 per cent growth in the April-June period.

Experts and business leaders said that the energy crisis, high lending rate, the government's borrowings from banks and lack of business confidence were the reasons for the decline in the industrial loans.

Bangladesh Bank data shows that the total amount of term loans of the big industries was Tk 5316.43 in April-June period which was 5267.47 crore in the previous quarter.

The amount of industrial term loan disbursement stood Tk 7675.49 crore in April-June period of this year.

On the contrary, in the January-March period term loans disbursement was Tk 7564.01 crore.

Meanwhile, disbursement of working capital loans was Tk 18067.41 crore in the April-June period which was Tk 17619.86 in the previous quarter, a rise by 2.54 per cent.

According to the BB data, loans for the medium industries increased 8.76 per cent and small industries loans increased 2.80 per cent.

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies research director Zaid Bakht said that the industrial term loans disbursement was not satisfactory due to shortage of energy and infrastructure.

He said that big industries were not interested enough to get loans and there were different problems such as high lending rate and business confidence that discouraged the enterpreneurs.

Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Mustafizur Rahman said that the economy has been passing through a crucial time with the balance of paymentsproblems and depleting foreign exchange reserves.

He said that bank borrowings by the government rose significantly in the recent days which was a major concern for the credit flow to the private sector.

'If the term loans disbursement to the big industries slows down the overall investment might be affected,' he cautioned.

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries president AK Azad said that if banks charge interest rates of 18 to 20 per cent for lending it would be difficult for the business community to run their business.

He said, 'Many industries are still waiting for gas connection to start their operation while inadequate power supply is also a great concern.'

'But the situation will improve soon as the government has taken initiatives for solving the energy crisis,' FBCCI chief added.

BB data shows that imports of capital machinery were worth Tk 2,894 crore in 2010-11 fiscal year while the total import posted 41.79 per cent growth.

As on October 3, 2011, the country's total foreign exchange reserves came down to $9.94 billion from around $11.32 billion in March.

According to the central bank data, the government's borrowings from banks stood at Tk 7,893 crore till 15th September, 2011.

JU admission tests schedule published

Jahangirnagar University has published the schedule of the intake tests of its bachelor's degree courses under academic session 2011-12.

The tests will begin on October 8.

The seat plan will be available on mobile phone from October 7. To know the sitting arrangement, the aspirants have been asked to type JU<Space> SP<Space>Roll Number and send to 9934.

To know the results of the intake tests the aspirants will have to type JU<Space>R<Space>Roll Number and send to 9934.

The intake test for Ka Unit (faculty of mathematics and physical sciences) will be held on October 8, for Kha Unit (faculty of social sciences) on October 11, Ga Unit (faculty of arts and humanities) on October 13, Gha Unit (faculty of biological sciences) on October 09, Uma Unit (Business Studies Institute) on October 10, Cha Unit (Institute of Business Administration) on October 12, Chha Unit (Institute of Information Technology) on October 11 and Ja Unit (Law Institute) on October 13.

The seat plan and other details on the tests is available on the JU website www.juniv.edu.

This year 69 students will vie for each seat with around 166,000 aspirants competing for a total of 2400 seats under eight units.

From this academic session bachelor's courses at different departments will have 500 seats more and three new departments, Public Health, Communication and Media Studies and Law, have also been launched.

HSBC-The Daily Star Climate Award launched

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and The Daily Star on Wednesday launched the HSBC-The Daily Star Climate Awards, 2011 to honour and recognise the individuals and institutions working to preserve environment and tackle climate change impacts through their green business.

The launching ceremony of the second edition of the award was jointly organised by the HSBC Bank and The Daily Star at the Sonargaon Hotel in the capital.

HSBC, Bangladesh chief executive officer Sanjay Prakash said HSBC engaged its employees in this initiative as it was a right thing to recognise the individuals and institutions striving in the fight against the negative impacts of climate change.

The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam urged the print and electronic media journalists to give more coverage of climate change issues to change people's indifference to preserving the nature in their daily life.

He said if the entire environment was ruined, noting would survive in that situation.

Iftekhar Anayetullah, director of Waste Concern, knowledge partner of the award programme, said many unexposed elements were active behind the climate change and they should be disclosed. 

The awards will be given in five categories. The first one is climate champion in green business for the commercial organisations that introduced products or services that mitigate the effects of climate change.

The second category is climate champion in green operations for the commercial companies with full Bangladeshi ownership and full or partial foreign ownership that adopt eco-friendly processes and technologies in business operations.

The third category is climate champion in knowledge management for research initiatives that focus and/or provide solutions relevant to climate change and environmental preservation.

The forth one is climate champion in community engagement for social initiatives that aim to improve the lives of people and communities affected by climate change.

Detailed information can be found at thedailystar.net and hsbc.com.bd websites while the application has to be sent on or before November 3, 2011.

After being scrutinised by a jury board, trophies will be handed over to the winners in the first week of December, 2011, said the programme officials.

Among others, HSBC, Bangladesh head of marketing and communication Talukdar Noman Anwar and public relations manager Iftekhar Hasan were present at the programme.

Change in temperature unlikely

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at a few places in the Chittagong, Khulna and Barisal divisions and at one or two places in the Dhaka and Sylhet divisions till 6:00pm today.

Weather may remain dry with temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country, the Meteorology Office said in a forecast on Wednesday.

Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in Dhaka today at 5:42pm and rises tomorrow at 5:52am.

The country's highest temperature, 35.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Wednesday in Chuadanga and the lowest, 24.0 degrees Celsius, in Srimangal.


ACC to probe alleged graft of ex-RHD chief engineer

The communication ministry on Wednesday asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to probe allegations of corruption against roads and highways department former chief engineer Shahabuddin, a self-declared corrupt official.

'The communications ministry has approved a proposal requesting the ACC to investigate the allegations of corruption and irregularities against Shahabuddin. The official letter to this effect has been sent to the ACC,' a senior official concerned told New Age.

In the face of widespread criticism and pressure from different quarters, Shahabuddin who earlier confessed of his involvement in corruption to the now-defunct Truth and Accountability Commission, seeking clemency, and deposited his ill-gotten money with the public exchequer, resigned from service on August 18.

The condition of roads and highways across the country has recently turned dilapidated allegedly due to his rampant corruption and misuse of funds. 

On September 15, a total of 14 engineers of the RHD were made officers on special duty. They also went to the TAC and confessed to their guilt during the army-backed interim government. 

The communications ministry earlier promoted most of these officials following the law ministry's opinion, instead of initiating departmental proceedings against the self-declared corrupt officials.

'We have taken a move to initiate departmental proceedings against the self-declared corrupt engineers of the RHD,' a senior official of the communications ministry said.

The move came in the face of strong criticism from various quarters including civil society organisations against the communications ministry for the poor condition of the road network across the country.


PM stresses secular, democratic ambience for country’s progress

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Wednesday called for maintaining a secular and democratic atmosphere in the country for building a happy and prosperous nation with contribution of every citizen.

'The country can progress if every citizen can contribute to its development under a secular and democratic atmosphere,' she said while addressing devotees during her visit to Dhakeswari National Temple and Ramkrishna Mission in the city on Wednesday afternoon.

She said the present government has been making relentless efforts aimed at establishing a secular Bangladesh through ensuring rights of every citizen irrespective of their religious identity.

She extended her greetings to the members of the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja and said, 'It's nice to see that people of every religion are enjoying the Durga Puja and religious festivals of others communities together.'

On her arrival at Dhakeswari National Temple, leaders of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Committee received the prime minister.

In the Ramkrishna Mission, principal of the mission Swami Amiyanandajee received her.

Awami League advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta, chief patron of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Committee CR Dutta Bir Uttam, lawmakers Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Mijanur Rahman Khan Dipu, Puja Udjapan Committee president Subrata Chowdhury, committee leaders Nirmal Goswami addressed, among others, were present on the occasion.

The prime minister said, due to the government steps, people of the country have been celebrating their religious festivals, including Eid, Janmastami and Puja, peacefully and in a festive mood.

This year, she said, the Durga Puja is being celebrated at the highest number of 196 mandaps in Dhaka City while the number across the country is about 28,000, thanks to democratic and harmonious atmosphere in the country.

Economic solvency of the people also contributed to celebrating the religious festivals in festivity, she said.

The prime minister thanked the law enforcement agencies for their constant stride to ensure peaceful atmosphere across the country to help the members of the Hindu community to celebrate their biggest religious festival.

She said, peaceful coexistence is our constitutional right as we irrespective of caste, creed and religion have liberated the country together under the leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She said the government has amended the constitution to ensure religious rights of all.

Listing various steps taken by her government for development of the country, she said, 'Our main goal is to make the country self-reliant with the united efforts of all so that Bangladesh can stand on the world stage keeping its head high.'

State minister for religious affairs M Shahjahan Mia, state minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs Qamrul Islam, state minister for home Shamsul Haque Tuku, Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif and PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad were, among others, present.

Govt forgot its election pledges to teachers

Teachers got none of the benefits the Awami League-led government had pledged to them in its election manifesto three years back, teachers' association leaders said Wednesday.

Instead, harassment of teacher by the ruling party leaders has increased, they told a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar on Teachers' Day.

National Alliance for Teachers and Employees organised the rally to mark World Teachers' Day.

Teachers across the country observed the day on the theme, 'Teachers for Gender Equality.'

School and college teachers are sacked and face harassment for political reasons, association leader Salim Bhuiyan told the rally. 

Newspapers often publish reports of harassment of teachers across the country, he told the rally attended by teachers from all over Bangladesh.

Several other associations of teachers observed Teachers' Day demanded better pay and facilities.

Bangladesh Teachers' Association (Bashar-Selim) at a rally held at a city school demanded implementation of a separate salary structure as Awami League had pledged in its election manifesto to win the 2008 parliamentary polls.

BTA president Abul Bashar Howlader said that the teachers would have no option but to go for a movement unless their demands were met.

Hundreds of teachers attended a discussion hosted by National Committee for Observing Teachers' Day at the Teacher Student Centre of Dhaka University.

Speaking at the session, National Professor MR Khan said that teachers deserved better recognition from the society because they shaped the minds of the future citizens.

State minister for Women and Children Affairs Shirin Sharmin Choudhury said that the government was fully committed to ensure equal rights of girl children in education.

National Front of Teachers and Employee convenor Quazi Faruque Ahmed presided over the discussion.

In the morning, teachers took out a procession from Central Shaheed Minar carrying the banners of their associations.

World Teachers' Day has been observed each year since 1994.

Two drown, one missing in Padma

At least two people drowned and another went missing in a boat capsise in the river Padma at Ishwardi in Pabna Wednesday morning, police and family sources said.

Local people recovered the bodies of Selim Pramanik, 24, and Seken Pramanik, 30, from the river at about 12.30pm on Wednesday.

Mintu Pramanik, 27, elder brother of Selim is missing police and his family sources said.

Officer in charge of Ishwardi police station Kazi Haniful Islam said that the boat set off at about 7 AM carrying 35 to 40 persons overturned due to strong current 30 minutes later at Laxmikunda in Ishwradi upazila.

All the passengers, except the three, swum ashore, the OC said.

Laxmikunda Union parishad chairman Anis Mollah said that the local people recovered the bodies of Selim and Seken.  But Mintu remained missing, he said.

Fire brigade divers from Rajshahi and the police rushed the spot to join the rescue efforts, the OC said.

BNP says no to unilaterally formed EC

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday called on the government to reconstitute the Election Commission in consultation with all the political parties after the incumbent commission served out its tenure.

The BNP will not accept any commission unilaterally formed by the government without consulting the political parties, BNP standing committee member MK Anwar told a human chain organised by Jatiyatabadi Sangskritik Dal in front of the National Press Club.

'If the government does not reconstitute the Election Commission after the present one serves out, the BNP will not accept it,' he said. He also said the incumbent commission should leave office immediately as the opposition lost its trust in it.

He alleged that the government was out to form the next commission with its chosen people to sweep the next general elections.

'Still there is time. Try to understand the meanings of the graffiti and announce elections under a caretaker government,' he urged the government from the human chain organised in demand of reinstating the caretaker government system.

Anwar said people of the country would never accept an election not held under a caretaker government and any such move would be thwarted. He also called on the people to join demonstrations to ensure the government's exit.

BNP leader Ruhul Quddus Talukder, Nagarik Forum president Abu Naser Muhammad Rahmatullah, and Jatiyatabadi Sangnskritik Dal president Humayun Kabir Bepari were also present.

Law, order better than any time in decade: Sahara

The home minister, Sahara Khatun, on Wednesday claimed that law and order now was better than any time in a decade.

Sahara said this at a press conference after a meeting of an inter-ministerial task force composed of home affairs, foreign affairs and law ministries on brining back home the convicted accused in the Mujib murder case hiding in other countries.

Asked about an increasing number of cases of disappearance and secret killing, she repeated her speech and said, 'According to reports

of the mass media at home and abroad, Bangladesh's law and order is better than any time in 10 years.'

the law minister, Shafique Ahmed, said, 'How has the number of such incidents increased? Such incidents also took place in the past. We get to know of them as such incidents are now reported in the mass media.'

As for allegation of involvement of the law enforcement agencies in such disappearance and secret killing as an alternative to extrajudicial ways such as 'crossfire,' she said that there were law enforcement agencies, courts and the home ministry to look into such allegations. Aggrieved people could easily get justice by way of laws, she added.

As for bringing back home six fugitive convicts of the Mujib murder case, Shafique said that the government was making all-out efforts, including resorting to legal means, to bring back home Noor Chowdhury from Canada and Rashed Chowdhury from the United States.

He said that foreign and home affairs ministry were working to bring back the two convicts.

Shafique, however, said that the government was yet to identify the whereabouts of the remaining four convicts as they were moving about.

Of the 12 convicted, five were hanged to death, one died abroad and six others are in hiding.

Asked about the probable complications in bringing back home any condemned convicts from Canada as the law there does not allow execution, Shafique said that they could appeal to the Appellate Division, seek review of the High Court judgement and seek presidential clemency.

ACC asks govt to get Canada court verdict

The Anti-Corruption Commission has requested the foreign ministry to collect the Canadian court verdict in the Niko bribery case through the Bangladesh mission.

The commission on June 27 appointed an 'enquiry officer' to look into the allegation against former BNP state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain that he had been bribed by the Canadian oil company Niko Resources Limited so that the company could be exempted from giving compensation for the damage caused by the explosion that took place in the Tengratila gas field in Sylhet on January 7 and June 24, 2005.

The commission had made the decision in line with the verdict delivered by the Alberta Court on June 24 that had fined the company nearly $9.5 million for bribing the state minister.

'We have requested the ministry on several occasions to get the documents but the ministry has not yet collected the documents,' the commission chairman, Ghulam Rahman, told New Age on Tuesday.

He, however, said that there was no reason for the Canadian authorities to provide Bangladesh with the documents.

Ghulam also said that the commission would provide the foreign ministry with the money that would be spent on collecting the documents.

The Bangladesh mission is in touch with the Canadian authorities to get the Niko case documents, a foreign ministry official said.

The law minister, Shafique Ahmed, who is scheduled to visit Canada on October 8, told New Age on Monday that Mosharraf's matter might be discussed if the Bangladesh mission showed interest in this regard.

According to a source to the commission, the enquiry officer, Shaidur Rahman, who is also an assistant director at the commission, had sent at least three letters to the foreign ministry requesting steps to collect the documents, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation report, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench verdict and the Niko's confession in the court about the crime.

The latest commission letter, addressed to the foreign secretary and issued on Tuesday, said that the ministry was again requested to expeditiously collect the documents which are needed to dispose of the complaint filed against Mosharraf.

Calgary-based oil company Niko Resources on June 24 agreed to pay nearly $9.5 million in fines and penalties after admitting in the Alberta Court that it had bribed Mosharraf Hossain.

According to a report published on June 24 by a Canadian daily newspaper, the Globe and Mail, the company accepted charges of providing Mosharraf Hossain with a car and trips to Canada and the United States to escape from giving compensation for the damage caused by the explosion that took place in the Tengratilla gas field in Sylhet in 2005.

Mosharraf resigned on June 18, 2005 after the media in Bangladesh revealed that Niko had given him a Toyota Land Cruiser-Signus 2005.

When asked, Mosharraf, however, brushed aside the allegation levelled against him and termed the verdict of the Canadian court fabricated.

The Globe and Mail report said that Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Scott Brooker said that the bribery 'was an embarrassment to all Canadians' and 'a dark stain on Calgary's reputation' as he passed the sentence that had already been agreed to by prosecutors and the company.

The report said that for several years, a team of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, known as the force's international anti-corruption unit, had investigated the company after the arrests of several Bangladeshi politicians on corruption charges by authorities in Dhaka during the immediate-past military-backed interim government in 2007.

The commission on December 9, 2007 sued the two former prime ministers, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, who were then detained for alleged corruption in signing contracts with Niko showing an undiscovered gas field as marginal which caused the state to incur Tk 23,630.50 crore in losses.

Three former ministers, five retired bureaucrats and a Niko official were also accused.

Hasina was implicated in the case filed by the commission's deputy director MM Shabbir Hasan with the Tejgaon police for causing a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore.

Her chief secretary SA Samad, former state minister for energy in her cabinet Rafiqul Islam, former energy secretaries Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury and M Akmal Hossain, the then Petrobangla chairman Mosharraf Hossain and Niko's South Asia vice-president Quashem Sharif were also accused of the same charges.

Khaleda was sued for causing a loss of Tk 10,000 crore. Former law minister Moudud Ahmed and former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain in her cabinet, the then acting energy secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam and Quashem Sharif of Niko were the other accused.

The High Court on March 11, 2010 quashed the charges against Hasina while it earlier stayed the trial against all others.

 source : New Age

Two killed in RAB ‘shootouts’

A Biplabi Communist Party leader and a crime suspect were killed in separate incidents of 'shootout' with the law enforcement agencies in Jhenaidah and Natore early Wednesday.

Mukul Hossain, 25, of Par Alandanga in Chuadanga, was killed in a 'shootout' with the Rapid Action Battalion in Jhenaidah and Jahangir Alam, 45, of Daulatpur in Kushtia, was killed in the other 'shootout' with the battalion in Natore.

The New Age correspondent in Jhenaidah said that Mukul, a regional leader of the Biplabi Communist Party (Moazzem Group), was shot dead in a 'gunfight' with the battalion at Pairadanga of Harinakundu early

Wednesday, Jhenaidah battalion camp commander Major Sakhawat Hossain said. Two of his associates managed to get away.

Sakhawat said that acting on a tip-off, a team of the battalion and the police had raided the area about 3:10 am Wednesday. As the lawmen approached, the outfit operatives fired on the lawmen, who fired back, triggering a 'gunfight' that continued for 15 minutes.

The law enforcers found Mukul lying on the spot with bullet injuries. He was sent to Jhenaidah General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Sakhawat said that the deceased was wanted in seven cases, including two for murder and abduction, filed with the police in Jhenaidah, Chuadanga and Kushtia.

In the other 'shootout' with the battalion, the United News of Bangladesh said, the crime suspect Jahangir had been killed at Padma Char of Lalpur in Natore early Wednesday.

The deceased Jahangir, of Natunchar at Daulatpur in Kushtia, was the second-in-command of the Panna Bahini, the lawmen said.

Acting on a tip-off, a battalion team raided the char area about 3:30am when Jahangir and his associates were holding a meeting.

As the lawmen approached, the group fired into the lawmen, who fired back, leading to a 'gunfight.' At one point, Jahangir became wounded and his associates managed to get away.

The battalion later sent Jahangir to Lalpur health complex where he was pronounced dead.

Five firearms, 54 bullets, some sharp weapons and 15 bottles of Phensedyl (codeine) syrup were seized.


Another round of power price hike on cards

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission on Wednesday took cognisance of a Dhaka Power Distribution Company proposal for raising its average retail power price by 11.93 per cent and another proposal submitted by the Power Development Board seeking a 15 per cent average power price hike.

The commission earlier took cognisance of a Dhaka Electricity Supply Company proposal for increasing its average retail power price by 21.34 per cent and another proposal for raising that of the West Zone Power Distribution Company by 18.99 per cent, and asked the Rural Electrification Board to revise its proposed power price hike.

Officials of the power distribution agencies expect that the commission will increase the power tariff by the next winter.

Before that, the BERC will have to complete by December public hearings on the proposals for power price hike of the five power distribution agencies.

BERC chairman Yusuf Hossain said they would complete the public hearings on the proposals of the PDB and the DPDC by November.

The PDB sought to increase the power price so that the power distribution venture of the board would break even.

The board also proposed that the commission should categorise the residential consumers into four slabs based on power consumption instead of three to realise higher revenue from the rich.

The DPDC proposed that the commission should increase the power price in accordance with its demand so that the company could pay a part of the dues it had inherited from the DESA to the PDB. The price hike will also enable it to pay off the loans taken from the government and different lending agencies, in addition to Tk 107 crore in corporate tax, the power distribution company argued.

The PDB high-ups along with experts and consumer rights activists for the first time reached at the consensus that failure to increase power generation in the public sector matching the private generation was leading the country's power sector to an anarchic situation.

ASM Alamgir Kabir, chairman of the PDB, the country's lone power buyer and distributor, on Wednesday afternoon said at present the private-public power generation ratio was 50:50, which would increase to 70:30 soon, leading the PDB to a huge monetary deficit as its purchasing price of power from the private sector was much higher than its selling price.

Alamgir emphasised increasing capabilities of the PDB so that the board could invest more in power generation.

Power expert Shamsul Alam, who also represents the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, told New Age that it seamed the government had been gradually waking up to the reality that power price hike was not the solution to the imbalance between cost and revenue of the state-run power distribution companies.

He said the policy of realising the addition cost for power generation from people would not offer the government any solution in the socio-economic perspective. Rather, the government should go for a combination of a major portion of low-cost public sector power and a smaller portion of high-cost private power, he added.

The government, however, is implementing 58 per cent power projects in the private sector and the remaining 42 per cent in the public sector in line with the power generation plan for 2010 to 2016.

As for increase in power generation cost, the BERC increased the bulk price of power in two phases – one by 11 per cent with effect from February 1 and the other by 6.66 per cent with effect from August 1.

The commission also increased the retail price of power by 5 per cent with effect from February 1.

The BERC on November 3, 2010 accepted the proposal of the PDB for increasing the bulk rate of electricity by 110 per cent in the next three years.

Govt agrees to fund JnU, 2 other univs

The government in the face of student movement has decided to amend three laws to continue giving budgetary grants for academic activities of Jagannath University, Comilla University and Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University as is done with other public universities.

The proposed amendment would allow the government to continue funding the three public universities like it does for other public universities, the prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad quoted prime minister as saying when a Jagannath University delegation called on her on Wednesday.

After the government announcement, Jagannath University students who had rallied for amendments to the Jagannath University Act 2005 brought out a procession celebrating their achievement, with the government for the first time after 1991 conceding the demand of the students.

As the students had continued rallying, the Jagannath University delegation, led by the vice-chancellor, Mesbahuddin Ahmed, met the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to discuss the problems of the university.

The students had rallied for more than a year so that the university was given government support as is done with other public universities.

The students had demanded repeal of Section 27(4) of the Jagannath University Act 2005 which provisioned for the university to generate its own funds five years after its establishment and the five-year time frame expired in 2010.

The education secretary, Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, who attended the meeting, at a press briefing at the secretariat in the evening formally announced the decision on the amendment to the laws.

The related provisions in the Comilla University Act and in the Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University Act would also be amended and it would be done in the shortest possible time to continue with government grants to run the campuses, the education secretary said.

Naser said that the prime minister had ordered for amendments to the laws of the three universities.

The education secretary also said that the Jagannath University vice-chancellor

would take steps for the withdrawal of the cases filed against the university students, including the university correspondents of daily newspapers.

The Jagannath College, founded in 1884, was upgraded to a public university in 2005 with the enactment of the Jagannath University Act 2005.

Section 27(4) of the Jagannath University Act, however, stipulated that the university would run on public funds for five years and the university would need to generate its own funds after five years.

With support of the teachers, the students of the university in Old Town of Dhaka had for long demanded that the provision should have been scrapped.

Students had demanded repeal of the section of the act for long before they took to the streets on September 24 as the university increased the semester fees from Tk 3,500 to Tk 20,000 to increase its internal revenue.

Comilla University was set up in 2006 at Kotbari in the district headquarters and Kabi Nazrul University started its journey in 2006 at Trishal in Mymensingh with the enactment of the Comilla University Act 2006 and Jatiya Kazi Kabi Nazrul Islam University Act 2006.

Section 27(3) of both the acts stipulated that both the universities would need to be run on their own funds after 10 years of their establishment.