market Disclosures

Peoples Insurance

Md Farhad Ahmed Akanda, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 1,50,000 shares out of his total holdings of 14,38,547 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

BOC

Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from July 28 to August 1. Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on August 2 for entitlement of interim dividend.

Grameenphone

Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date today for entitlement of interim dividend.

Karnaphuli Insurance

Ummu Kawser Salsabil, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported her intention to sell 75,000 shares out of her total holdings of 5,10,594 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Mercantile Bank

AKM Shaheed Reza, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 5,000 shares out of his total holdings of 1,62,219 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Islamic Finance & Investment

Liaquat Hossain Moghul, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 10,000 shares out of his total holdings of 1,59,524 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Mercantile Insurance Co

Farhana Islam Sonia, one of the sponsors/directors

of the company, has reported her intention to sell 1,550 shares out of her total holdings of 27,909 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Bd Thai Aluminium

Zahid Maleque, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 50,000 shares out of his total holdings of 5,31,925 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Federal Insurance

Muhammed Abdul Khaleque, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 60,000 shares out of his total holdings of 2,88,260 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Navana CNG

The board of directors has recommended 18 per cent cash dividend and 14 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on March 31, 2011. The AGM will be held on September 22 at 9:30am at Bashundhara Convention Centre at Baridhara in Dhaka. Record date will be on August 7.  The board has also recommended to increase the authorised share capital of the company from Tk 50 crore to Tk 150 crore (subject to the approval by the shareholders in the general meeting).

    Source: DSE

Source : New Age

Toyota to boost output capacity in India

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it would spend an additional 17.2 billion yen ($220 million) to boost output capacity in India to 310,000 vehicles a year in 2013, in its second announcement of an expansion there in as many months.

Exactly a month ago, the world's biggest automaker said it would raise capacity in India

to 210,000 vehicles a

year in the first half of 2012, investing about 4.9 billion yen.

Source : New Age

BB Khulna office gets automated clearing house

The Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday inaugurated automated clearing house in its Khulna office.

Deputy governor of the central bank Mohammad Abul Kashem inaugurated the automated clearing house as chief guest in a ceremony.

Speakers in the ceremony said with the start of the automated clearing house the customers would now get secured and fast service from the bank.

BB executive director Das Gupta Ashim Kumar and Sonali Bank Khulna general manager Mohammad Shawkat Ali attended the programme as special guests. Bangladesh Bank Khulna general manager AKM Fazlur Rahman chaired the function.

Officials of a number of state-owned and private banks also attended.

Source : New Age

Digital Bangladesh won’t be possible without serious govt initiative: businesses

The business community on Monday said that implementation of Digital Bangladesh would not be possible without adequate infrastructural development in information technology, tax cut and digitalisation of the government secretariat first.

They said the private sector could work together with the government to face the challenges in implementing Digital Bangladesh in providing the IT-based services throughout the country.

They were speaking at a seminar on Digital Bangladesh: Private Sector Perspective, organised by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and industry at its auditorium.

Prime Minister's personal secretary-1 and also the project director of Access to Information, Nazrul Islam Khan, presented the keynote paper at the seminar presided over by FBCCI president AK Azad.

Speaking on the occasion, Bangladesh Computer Samity president Mostafa Jabbar said that the government was yet to facilitate the information and communication technology sector for achieving the goal of digital Bangladesh.

'Although the government reduced the bandwidth fee to Tk 10,000 from Tk 27,000 six months ago, the gazette in this regard has not been published yet. So the consumers cannot avail the opportunity, said Jabbar.

He said that the government imposed 15 percent value added tax on internet service in this fiscal year though the businesses had urged it not to impose VAT on the IT services.

'I don't understand how it could be possible to digitalise 5 lakh class rooms across the country imposing increased tax on the internet service,' said the BCS president.

He also suggested that the government should digitalise the secretariats first, and then extend the digitalisation across the country. Otherwise, implementation of Digital Bangladesh would not be possible, he added.

FBCCI former vice-president Dewan Sultan Ahmed said that digitalisation should start from top government activities spreading it to the bottom of the country to ensure E-governance and E-commerce.

Sultan Ahmed claimed that the price of digital projector increased to $750 from $300 as the government increased duty on import of projector.

He said that the government's plan to provide a projector to each school could not be possible if the price of projector was not reduced.

AK Azad said the country has much shortage of ICT-based proper education, skilled human resource and professionalism. Professional management and finance crisis in ICT sector constraints to software development.

'Access to internet with a low cost and uninterrupted power supply across the country are required for digitalisation,' said Azad adding that the government should work with the private sector and other stakeholders to overcome the challenges.

FBCCI directors Abdul Huq, Obidur Rahman and Abul Kashem also spoke at the session.

Source : New Age

Dhaka stocks dip

Dhaka stocks had a bumpy ride on Wednesday with DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, continuing to fall for the third straight day, following the government decision to offload more shares of the listed state-run enterprises and the latest monetary policy announced by the central bank.

The DGEN lost 14.28 points, or 0.21 per cent, to close the day at 6,627.75 points.

Turnover on the bourse, however, increased to Tk 1,727.63 crore on Wednesday from that of Tk 1,680.70 crore on the previous day as the sellers outnumbered the buyers.

Market operators said the investors went for sell-offs in the opening hour on the day as they anticipated the market would be volatile because of increased share supply following Tuesday's government announcement to offload more shares of Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum.

'Although the two companies had seen their share prices to fall on Tuesday but they made surprising gain today,' said a DSE stockbroker.

He also said the monetary policy announced for the first half of the current fiscal year also made the investors shaky on Wednesday.

Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday announced the monetary policy for the July-December period of the current fiscal year. The BB said the policy was aimed at squeezing money supply to unproductive sectors and squeezing money supply to unproductive sectors and discouraging speculative usage of money, like investment in the capital market.

Trading on the DSE was volatile on Wednesday as the DGEN lost 49 points in first five minutes from the opening. The index, however, gained 53 points in the next 10 minutes. The index had lost 60 points by around 1pm but started moving upward in the closing hours, finally ending the day in red.

Mahmood Osman Imam, a professor of finance at Dhaka University, said, 'The market correction in the last two days was natural as it had seen a gaining streak for a long time.' 

He termed offloading shares of state-owned enterprises was a good move in the current market condition.

'In an upmarket new shares will attract more investors and people always have faith in government shares,' he said. 

Mahmood Osman, however, said the companies should be more transparent in publishing their financial statements.

Asked about the impacts of the new monetary policy on the capital market, he said, 'If the policy does not encourage investment in the capital market, it should give a clear picture to the investors at the beginning. Otherwise, any last minute regulations would have more adverse impacts.'

Of the 263 issues traded on Wednesday, 114 advanced, 135 declined, and 14 remained unchanged. 

Source : New Age

Speakers for rickshaws until alternative transport introduced

Rights activists on Wednesday urged the government to withdrawal the restrictions on rickshaw movement on various roads that led to the capital's important establishments, including schools and colleges, until ensuring alternative transport.

They made the call under the banner of the Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Society at a press briefing at the Law Reporters' Forum's office in the Supreme Court Bar Association's building in Dhaka.

The activists complained that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police traffic department had imposed restrictions on rickshaws from entering the roads stretching from Malibagh, Shantinagar, Bijoynagar, Purana Paltan, Naya Paltan, Rajarbagh, Shahjahanpur, Segunbagichha to Motijheel, causing worries to the people who dependent on rickshaws for movement.

'The guardians, who usually use rickshaws to carry their children from schools and colleges to residences at the areas, are seriously being affected by the decision,' said the organisation president, ABM Waliur Rahman Khan.

He also sought the prime minister's intervention to allow rickshaw movement in the areas to relieve suffering of the dwellers, whose only mode of transport was rickshaws.

Waliur also suggested that the government should reintroduce lane-system in all busy roads in order to allow rickshaw movement in the areas.    

Source : New Age

Pabna Cadet College first in REB

Pabna Cadet College secured first position in the Rajshahi Education Board Higher Secondary Certificate examinations results for the second consecutive years.

College administration informed that all of its 44 students, who took the examinations this year, secured Grade Point Average 5.

Of them 40 were from science group while the rest were from humanities.

The college principal, Joyen Uddin, said that their success was the result of the hard labour of both the students and teachers.

Source : New Age

Leaders demand trade union rights in RMG sector

Politicians and labour leaders on Wednesday at a discussion meeting demanded implementation of trade unionism in the garment industries.

The flourishing apparel sector of the country is facing various movements due to lack of trade union rights in the garment factories, said the coordinator of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, Wazedul Islam Khan.

Industries minister Dilip Barua said that the Awami League-led governmentwould soon scrap the laws that violate the rights of the workers to form trade unions.

The National Garment Workers Federation, a rights body working in support of the workers in the garment sector, organised the discussion meeting at the Dhaka Reporters Unity to mark its 27th founding anniversary.

The discussion, chaired by the Federation's president Amirul Haque Amin, was addressed by Workers Party's general secretary Anisur Rahman Mollick.

Source : New Age

Five media people summoned

A Dhaka court has summoned the editor and publisher, and the executive editor of Bangla national daily Jugantor; a reporter of daily Samakal, and the editor and publisher, and a reporter of daily Aparadh Kantha in three separate defamation cases.

Three metropolitan magistrates of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court issued the summons on Tuesday in response to three separate cases filed by Union Group chairman Rana Shafiullah.

The accused are Jugantor editor and publisher Salma Islam and executive editor Saiful Islam, Aparadh Kantha editor and publisher Rashedul Hasan, its reporter Delwar Hossain, and Samakal reporter Hakikat Jahan Haki.

Magistrate AGM Al-Masud directed the editor and the executive editor of Jugantor to appear before it on September 5.

Another magistrate Harun-or Rashid directed the editor and the reporter of Aparadh Kantha to appear before it on Aug 25, while magistrate Shamsul Islam directed the Samakal reporter to appear before it on September 5.

According to the case details, Jugantor and Samakal on July 20 published two separate news titled 'Billionaire from slum boy selling stolen wine: Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to probe Rana's illegally earned wealth' and 'ACC asks Rana Shafiullah, his wife to submit wealth statements', respectively.

On the other hand, Aparadh Kantha on July 21 published another report titled 'At last Rana, his wife given notice by ACC'.

The plaintiff in his case said that the reports were completely false, defamatory and baseless.

Source : New Age

Five Hizb ut-Tahrir men held in city

Law-enforcers in separate drives in the capital on Wednesday arrested five people including four students on charge of being involved with the banned Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh.

A team of Rapid Action Battalion arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh chapter senior adviser Mahmudul Bari, 41, at Shahjalal International Airport at around 1pm, said RAB legal and media wing deputy director major Khurshid Alam.

Mahmudul Bari, managing director of Silver Sand Reality, a real estate firm, was scheduled to leave for Malaysia later in the afternoon.

Bari allegedly had been playing a key role in the organisation after the arrest of senior Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders including Mohiuddin Ahmed, Golam Moula, and Kazi Morshedul Huq, RAB officials claimed.

Earlier at about 6am, the Gulshan police arrested four students of Southeast University at Banani when they were pasting posters of Hizb ut-Tahrir on roadside walls in the area. The posters were inscribed with anti-government statements.

The arrested students were Anisur Rahman, 24, Sabbir Ahmed Bhuiyan, 21, Afzal Hossain, 21, and Maruf Islam Nadim, 20.

The police also recovered a large quantity of leaflets and other publications from their possession, said additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman.

Earlier on October 22, 2009, the government banned the Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh in the interest of public security.

Source : New Age

Tongi-Bhairab Bazar rail road to be double-line

Bangladesh Railway on Wednesday signed an agreement with a Chinese company for making double-line the Tongi-Bhairab Bazar stretch of Dhaka-Chittagong railway line.

The 64-kilometre double-line would be constructed at a cost of around Tk 1,405 crore, railway sources said.

Bangladesh Railway director general and China Railway Group Limited Web Dong deputy managing director inked the agreement at a function at Rail Bhaban for their respective sides.

Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and Chinese ambassador in Dhaka Zhang Xianyi were present.

Speaking on the occasion, the communications minister said the government had undertaken a project to turn 125-kilometre corridor of 320-kilometre Dhaka-Chittagong rail line into a double-line with the existing 124-kilometre double-line.

He said the government had approved a project for procurement of commuter trains with its own resources and these trains would ply Dhaka, Narayanganj, Joydevpur, Tongi, Mymensingh and Sirajganj routes.

The train services would help reducing traffic congestion improving connectivity between Dhaka and surrounding districts, the minister said, adding that the programmes undertaken by the government for development of railway sector would be visible to people by 2012.

Railway division secretary M Ebadat Ali, project director Sagar Krishna Chakraborty, representative of the ADB and senior officials of the railway were present.

Asian Development Bank would provide Tk 1,331 crore of the projects and the rest of the amount would be given by the government.

Source : New Age

2 cops wounded in B‘baria

Two policemen were injured in an attack by extortionists in Maddhapara area in Brahmanbaria town on Wednesday noon.

The inured are policemen Abdul Bari and Alauddin. The police said local people caught a miscreant, Sadhan, when he went for toll money.

 They beat him before handing him over to the police who arrested and admitted him to hospital.

All on a sudden he attacked the police.

Source : New Age

6 killed on Mawa road

Six people were killed and 20 others injured in a road accident at Nimtoli under Serajdikhan upazila on Dhaka-Maowa highway at 12.15pm on Wednesday.

Injured persons were admitted to different hospitals. Local people blocked the road after the accident.

Serajdikhan police officer-in-charge Mahbubur Rahman said a Dhaka bound passenger bus from Maowa tried to escape after hitting an auto-rickshaw and again dashed another bus and a passenger carrying vehicle.

A total of six persons were killed and 20 injured in the accident.

Source : New Age

6-year-old girl raped

A six-year-old girl was raped at Chatmohar in Pabna on Tuesday. A case was filed. The accused went into hiding.

The police quoting the family said that the accused, Jahidul Islam, 40, raped the girl, who was playing with her friends near the house in the afternoon, after taking her into his house.

Local people rescued her as the girl cried out. The accused managed to get away. The people said that she had been sent to hospital in a critical condition.

The girl's father filed a case accusing Jahidul, the Chatmohar police officer-in-charge, Habibul Islam, said. The girl gave a statement in a court in the presence of a judicial magistrate on Wednesday, he added.

The police said that they had conducted several raids to arrest the accused.

Source : New Age

Mother shot at by addict son

A drug addict fired at his mother as she had refused to give him money at village Najirpur at Baufal upazila in the district.

The Baufal police arrested the 32-year old man, Sohag, following a case filed by his mother Nurunnahar, and producing him in court on Wednesday sought five-day remand.

Referring to Nurunnahar, the police said that Sohag was jobless and a chronic drug abuser and used to pester his mother for money. On the day of incident at about 8:00pm he shot at his mother from a pistol but failed to hurt her.

Sohag was later caught by his neighbours and handed over to the police.

Baufal police Naresh Chandra Karmakar told New Age that they needed to question Sohag for the recovery of the pistol.

Local UP chairman Ibrahim Faruq also said that Sohag was a long-time drug addict and the local people had earlier complained about his tormenting his mother for money.

Source : New Age

20 buses vandalized

Commuters in Chittagong city vandalised over 20 buses for charging more than the fare fixed by the government. They went on a rampage on Wednesday morning at Bahadderhat, and later the violence spread to Muradpur, Sholo Shahar and the environs of the No 2 Gate.

The violence erupted between furious commuters and transport workers over the charging of excessive fare. Vehicular movement was suspended in several routes of the city till 12:30pm due to the clashes.

Hundreds of people were seen waiting vainly for buses in many places of the city after the clashes, and it was the students of schools and colleges who suffered most due to the suspension of vehicular movement.

Ismail Hossain, officer-in-charge of Panchlaish thana, told New Age that one person was arrested in connection with the violence.

Nurul Alam Chowdhury, general secretary of the Chittagong City Bus, Minibus, Human Hauler Owners' Association, said, 'We have decided to file a General Diary with the police in this connection. We sought help from the police during the violence, but they could not help us as the state minister for home affairs was due in the city.'

During a spot visit, it was seen that though a few ticket counters had been set up in the city, there were no countermen in them. Chittagong City Corporation's mayor, M Manjurul Alam, on July 25 inaugurated the ticket counter service at New Market in the city.

There are a total of 12 routes in Chittagong city which are plied by minibuses and human haulers of 6 transport associations.

Source : New Age

India, Pakistan ministers hail ‘new era’ in ties

India and Pakistan's foreign ministers insisted relations were back on track Wednesday after peace talks that highlighted a 'new era' of cooperation over the ruptures of the past.

Although their meeting in New Delhi produced little in the way of substantive agreements, the tone was one of forward-looking optimism that acknowledged a joint responsibility to bring stability to South Asia.

It was the first meeting of the arch-rivals' foreign ministers for a year, and followed the formal resumption in February of the comprehensive peace dialogue suspended by India after the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

After the talks, the Indian foreign minister, SM Krishna, said ties were back 'on the right track,' while his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar spoke of a 'mindset change' that had ushered in a 'new era of cooperation'.

'We have some distance to travel, but with an open mind and a constructive approach ... I am sure we can reach our desired destination of having a friendly and cooperative relationship,' Krishna said.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them triggered by their territorial dispute over Kashmir, which remains a major hurdle in any future comprehensive peace deal.

Khar said the peace dialogue was now an 'uninterruptable' process that both countries were committed to taking forward.

'A new generation of Indians and Pakistanis will see a relationship that will hopefully be much different from the one that has been experienced in the last two decades,' she said.

A joint statement outlined the commitment of both sides to fight militancy, boost trade and keep the peace process going.

Khar, Pakistan's first female foreign minister, was appointed last week and, at just 34 years of age, some had questioned whether she was experienced enough to handle one of the world's most fraught cross-border relationships.

At 79, Krishna is 45 years her senior.

The pre-talks atmosphere had been soured by Khar's decision to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders immediately after her arrival in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Source : New Age

Higher pass rate, more GPA 5 scorers mark HSC results

Results of the Higher Secondary Certificate and equivalent examinations this year has shown a significant increase in the number of the highest grade scorers.

The pass percentage has also increased, according to the results published on Wednesday.

The total number of GPA 5 scorers this year is 39,769, up by 10,765 than the figure of the past year.

The combined pass rate this year is 75.08, which is a 0.80 percentage point increase on the figure of the past year. The combined pass rate in 2010 was 74.28.

The results have also shown that there are 6,595 in 7,179 institutions where more than a half of the students have become successful.

A total of 7, 64,828 examinees — 4, 13,675 male and 3, 51,153 female — of 7,179 educational institutions took the examinations at 2,035 centres.

Of them, 5,74,261 students passed the examinations and this is higher by 40,892 than the figure of the past year.

The examinations were held in April 5–May 31.

As in previous years, madrassah students have done well than the general students in terms of the pass percentage.

A total of 76,015 students took the examinations under the Madrassah Education Board. Of them, 68,086 students passed the exams.

The pass rate in the Madrassah Education Board is 89.57, which is a 3.02 per cent increase on the figure of the past year. A total of 4,276 students scored GPA 5 in the Madrassah Education Board, which is up by 1,319 on the figure of the past year.

A total of 62,654 students took the exams under the Technical Education Board. Of them, 52,662 students have come out successful, accounting for a pass rate of 84.05. A total of 728 students scored GPA 5 under the board.

A total of 6, 22,227 students took the exams under the eight general education boards. Of them, 4,50,254 passed the exams which accounts for a pass rate of 72.36. A total of 34,385 students scored GPA 5 under the general education boards.

The pass rate in the Rajshahi education board is 79.01, which is the highest among the general education boards.

The pass rate is 76.89 in the Dhaka board, 68.68 in the Comilla board, 63.37 in the Jessore board, 71.03 in the Chittagong board, 71.12 in the Barisal board, 75.68 in the Sylhet board and 66.18 in the Dinajpur board.

The number of GPA 5 scorers in the eight general education board is 34,385. As in the previous year, the number of GPA 5 scores is the highest in the Dhaka board.

A total of, 17,786 students scored GPA 5 in the Dhaka board, 5,588 in the Rajshahi board, 1,389 in the Comilla board, 3,370 in the Jessore board, 1,795 in the Chittagong board, 1,310 in the Barisal board, 887 in the Sylhet board and 2,280 in the Dinajpur board.

The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, announced the results at the secretariat at 12:30pm. Nahid earlier handed over the results of all boards to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in the morning.

Results were also available on the Dhaka education board web site at www.educationboardresults.gov.bd and by sending text messages to mobile operators.

This year, for the first time, the results were sent to educational institutions by e-mail. As this is for the first time, a hard copy of the results was also sent.

Nahid said that combined efforts of the education ministry, education boards, and district and upazila administrations were behind the good results.

He said that in the past, most students failed in English and mathematics. This year, special efforts by the ministry have contributed to the good results, he added.

The number of students expelled from exams halls because of cheating increased to 735 from 608 in the past year. The figure was 664 in 2009, 785 in 2008 and 1,046 in 2007, according to statistics.

All the students passed in 892 educational institutions this year and it is higher by 178 than the number of such institutions in the past year.

No students passed in 24 educational institutions. The number of such institutions was 23 in the past year.

Source : New Age

310 more people indicted

A Dhaka court on Wednesday charged 310 more people with murder and other criminal offences committed during the rebellion at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles, now renamed as Border Guard Bangladesh, in February 25–26, 2009.

With the 310, the court has so far charged 740 people, including civilians and border guard soldiers out total 847 accused in the case.

Earlier on July 20, the court framed charges against 430 people, including former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and local Awami League leader Torab Ali, and a number of deputy assistant directors for murder and 25 other criminal offences committed during the rebellion.

Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge Mohammad Jahurul Haque on Wednesday began framing charges against the accused persons by reading out their charges and the court asked whether the accused pleaded guilty or not. None of the accused pleaded guilty.

The court started framing charges against the accused at the makeshift courthouse set up on the Aliya Madrassah ground at Bakshi Bazar in the capital amid tightened security, power outages and excessive hot weather on the day.

The court read out the charges against the accused individually in the overcrowded room till 1:05pm with two breaks including a 30-minute break for power outage.

Most of the accused wanted to say something when the charges were being framed but the court did not allow anyone to speak.

The court did not pay heed to their speech and just asked, 'Tell me, you pled guilty or not.'

A middle-aged civilian accused, Javed, told the court that there was nobody to whom 'we can tell our plight... I was picked up from a roadside tea-stall by the law enforcers one year ago on charge of BDR carnage and I was implicated with the charges...'

The court did not allow him to complete his sentence and asked him to answer whether he pleaded guilty or not.

As the court asked accused Subedar Elias whether he was accused or not, he replied, 'I was asked to be one of the witnesses of the case. As I denied doing so, I was made an accused.'

During framing of charges, Arshad Ali, another accused, requested the court to tell him the number of witnesses to the charges brought against him.

But the court denied telling him the number of witnesses set for him, saying, 'There is no opportunity to do so.'

Many of the accused told the court that they were arrested one year after the mutiny took place in their headquarters.

Nayeb Subedar Nurul Islam told the court that he was arrested one year after the mutiny took place in the headquarters while he was not involve with mutiny.

During the proceedings, an apparently sick accused, Nayek Shahidul, told the court that he was suffering from diabetics, paralysis and other diseases.

He applied to the court for a directive so that his fetters and shackle, and hand-cuff could be removed. The court, however, did not give any directives.

At once, one of defence counsels, Sultan Mahmud, approached the dais and requested the court to consider the rights of the accused as they were most of the time kept with hand-cuffs, fetters and shackles.

As excessive heat made the court proceedings difficult, some defence counsels, including Faruque Ahmed and Sultan Mahmud, at about 1:00pm requested the court to adjourn the proceedings for the day.

The court agreed to adjourn the proceedings. 'It is very hot. We are uncomfortable due to excessive heat and the accused are hungry,' the presiding judge said while adjourning the proceedings till August 10.

But one of the prosecutors, Mosharraf Hossain Kajal, snatching the microphone from the defence lawyers, repeatedly requested the court to continue with a short break. The court, however, denied continuing.

Of the accused, 829 including Nasir Uddin and Torab Ali, a retired Subedar, were present in the courtroom.

The Criminal Investigation Department filed two cases — one under the Penal Code for murder, arson, robbery and other crimes and the other under the Explosive Substances Act for illegally taking up arms — against 850 border guard personnel and civilians.

Three of the accused have meanwhile died and they were not indicted. Twenty of the accused are still in hiding.

A total of 75 people, including 57 army officers, were killed at Pilkhana, the headquarters of the BDR in course of the mutiny on February 25-26, 2009.

Source : New Age

Dhaka, Delhi to sign deal

Bangladesh and India are going to sign an agreement on 'coordinated border management plan' to check crimes such as killing, trafficking in persons and drug smuggling in the borders of the two neighbouring countries during the official visit of India's home minister to Dhaka in July 29–30.

The Indian home minister, P Chidambaram, scheduled to arrive in Dhaka tomorrow, will hold a meeting with her counterpart Sahara Khatun at the secretariat on Saturday morning to discuss border security, border management and the planned move for enclave exchange now in adverse possession between the two countries, said a senior official at the home affairs ministry.

The chiefs of India's s Border Security Force and the Border Guard Bangladesh are expected to sign the deal on July 30. 'This is for the first time that India and Bangladesh are planning a coordinated border management, especially to reduce the number of casualties of civilians,' joint secretary of the home ministry Kamal Uddin Ahmed told New Age on Wednesday.

He said that both the countries would strengthen patrol in 'designated areas' along the borders to check cross-border crimes and illegal movement of persons.

The Joint Boundary Working Group headed by joint secretaries of the two countries has prepared the draft of the document. The group will sit at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka today to give a final touch to the draft.

Kamal Uddin, also leading the Joint Boundary Working Group from the Bangladesh side, said that India usually attributed the cause of casualties to illegal movement of civilians along the border. 'So we have decided to strengthen patrol in designated areas along the borders.'

Both the countries have agreed to sign the deal to jointly manage 700 'vulnerable stretches' to contain crimes along the borders between the two countries, officials concerned said.

'The  two governments have been working for about two years on a joint border management plan to reach an agreement on managing 700 vulnerable stretches along the borders. The stretches have been created by rivers or infrastructures. Most of the cross-border crimes are committed at these points,' an official said.  

Chidambaram will visit Dhaka at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart Sahara Khatun. 

The agreement on the coordinated border management plan would be inked in line with the Land Boundary Agreement signed in 1974 between the two countries.   

The two countries formed the working group headed by the joint secretaries of their home ministries in 2002 to settle issues involving territories in adverse possession, enclaves and demarcation of 6.5 kilometres of un-demarcated border areas. Bangladesh and India share a 4,098-kilometre porous border.

Source : New Age

Six robbery suspects lynched

Six men said to be getting away after committing a robbery and killing a grocer were beaten to death at Companyganj in Noakhali early Wednesday.

The police arrested three other robbery suspects at the place at Miarteka of Charkakra in the upazila.

The Companyganj police officer-in-charge, Moham-mad Rafique Ullah, and the local people said that a group of about 25 men had burgled into houses of Wadud Mia, Seraj Mia and Mafiz Mia and looted valuables at gunpoint about 3:00am.

Local people rushed to the spot as the occupants of the houses cried out for help after the group had left. On reaching Miarteka, the group tried to break into the shop of Mosharaf Hossain Masud and shot dead Mosharraf when he cried out for help.

The local people had reached the place by the time and captured nine of them. Six were beaten to death and the police rescued the remaining three. Others managed to get away firing shots.

The four of the people beaten to death who could be identified are Alauddin, 30, Pichchi Kalam, 25, Faruk, 28, and Negro Helal, 25. 

The additional superintendent of police in Noakhali AFM Nizam Uddin said the people beaten to death had robbery cases against them.

The police, having recovered the bodies from the spot, sent them to the Noakhali Medical College Hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations.

The arrested are Nur Islam, 22, Abdullah, 26, and Mohammad Rubel, 20. The police also recovered four knives, four mobiles and 15 bullets from them.

According to statistics provided by human rights organisation Odhikar, 75 people were beaten to death across the country in January–June 2011.

Source : New Age

Local govt taxes may increase

The government at the deputy commissioners' annual conference on Wednesday hinted at an increase in taxes of city corporations and municipalities to improve their services.

'We have laid stress on tax increase to increase revenue collection and improve service delivery by local government bodies such as city corporations and municipalities,' the LGRD and cooperatives minister, Syed Ashraful Islam, told reporters after a working session at the secretariat.

He said that the deputy commissioners had sought more allocations for local government bodies that include upazila and union councils.

The deputy commissioners sought legal authority to monitor the implementation of development programmes directly related to public welfare.

The minister said that it would be impossible to improve service delivery by local government bodies without an increase in revenue. The city corporation taxes were last revised in 1998 as most local representatives are against any moves to increase taxes, he added.  

'We have asked them to take measures to increase revenue collections to strengthen local government bodies. It is not possible to improve and expand services without increasing the revenue of local government bodies,' Ashraful said.  The deputy commissioners in another session of the three-day conference that began on Tuesday asked the commerce ministry to provide them with lists of dealers and distributors of essential commodities so that they could strengthen market surveillance, a number of deputy commissioners told New Age.

They said that in most of the cases, dealers were politically influential and local administrations find it tough to control them.

In the absence of the minister, the commerce secretary, Ghulam Hossain, assured the district administrators that the ministry would provide them with the lists in a week.

The matter came to be discussed amid soaring prices and shortage of sugar and cooking oil which are still selling for prices higher than what the government set in view of Ramadan.

Inaugurating the conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday, the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, asked all the deputy commissioners and seven divisional commissioners to guard against attempts at price manipulation in Ramadan, beginning in the first week of August.

She asked the deputy commissioners to be more active in Ramadan so that unscrupulous traders could not increase prices through manipulations. 

Nine working sessions dealing with the ministries of communications, social welfare, commerce, agriculture, fisheries, local government, labour, expatriates' welfare, health, food and public administration and the Prime Ministers' Office were held on the second day of the conference to be concluded today.

The Dhaka deputy commissioner recommended legal authority for them so that they could monitor the government's development programmes.

The Gazipur deputy commissioner asked for strengthening tax collection while the Lakhshmipur deputy commissioner proposed to double the rate for the lease of government land to increase revenue.

A number of deputy commissioners complained against deputations of an increased number of personnel from the Armed Forces to civil administration.

Deputy commissioners of Kishoreganj, Gopalganj and Rangpur asked the public administration ministry to increase the ceiling of their fuel from 200 litres to 300 litres.

The Gopalganj deputy commissioner asked the PMO for more coordination in local administrations to monitor the activities of non-governmental organisations.

Source : New Age