Cast vote for Sundarbans: KCC mayor's call

Khulna City Corporation (KCC) Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque has called upon the people to gear up vote campaign for Sundarbans as the deadline is fast nearing.

There are around 90 days left for Bangladeshis to vote for the world's biggest mangrove forest to elect it as one of the seven natural wonders of the world in the final race to be held on November 11 this year.

He requested the people from all walks of life to vote for Sundarbans through short message service (SMS) or internet within the month of November.

The city mayor made the call at a view exchange meeting in the KCC conference room Monday with Convenor of Sundarbans Supporters' Committee (SSC) and Editor of Dainik Purbanchal Alhaj Liakat Ali in the chair.

Leaders of Awami League, BNP, Jatiya Party, JSD, Workers Party, business community and Greater Khulna Development Action Coordination Committee, Chairman of Khulna Development Authority, Khulna Police Superintendent, representatives from different NGOs and professional organisations attended the meeting.

Khulna City BNP President and lawmaker from Khulna-2 constituency Nazrul Islam Manju was present as special guest.

SCC Convenor Liakat Ali in his speech said Sundarbans is now taking the highest position in the race along with 27 other countries to become one of the seven natural wonders of the world. He urged the people to cast vote for Sundarbans to win the final race.

Source : The Daily Star

Snippets: Eight held for video piracy

Eight people were arrested in the city on Wednesday on charge of their involvement in video piracy. The arrestees were identified as Ahmed Hossain, 39, Jhantu Dewan, 28, M Rumel, 22, Partho, 19, Ashikur Rahman, 26, Milon, 27, Masum, 30, and Rubel, 21. Sources said, a Rab team raided Jahanara Telecom, Swarna Telecom, Electro Mobile Centre, SR Telecom, Kashem Telecom, Mobile Trust and New Banshari CD Centre at noon. The elite force held eight people and also seized a huge quantity of pirated CDs, computers and CPU during the drive.

Source : The Daily Star

One arrested with fake Indian currency

A Bangladeshi was arrested with 17 lakh fake Indian rupees in the district yesterday.

Police arrested the man with the fake Indian notes on Chapainawabganj-Sonamasjid land port highway in Sadar upazila.

He was identified as, Monirul Islan, 32, son of Enamul Haque of Alinagar Moholla in Chapainawab- ganj town.

Acting on a tip off, a Sadar police team raided Chamagram village at around 2:30pm and arrested Monirul.

Police also recovered 17 lakh rupees in 22 bundles of 500 rupee notes and 6 bundles of 1000 rupee notes kept in a bag, said Rafiqul Islam, sub inspector of Sadar police station.

Source : The Daily Star

Snippets: Former UP chairman murdered

Police recovered the body of Mozaffar Ahmed,55, freedom fighter and former chairman of Naldanga union in Sadullapur upazila from a high school pond yesterday. Police said youngest son of Mozaffar who was defeated in the last union parishad election, saw the floating body. Hearing his cry, local people rushed to the spot and identified the body. Later police sent it to morgue for autopsy.

Source : The Daily Star

HC asks Jalil to appear Aug 16

The High Court yesterday summoned Abdul Jalil, chairman of Mercantile Bank Foundation, and its executive committee members to explain the alleged occupation of a temple's land in Naogaon after destroying it by the foundation.

During hearing a suo moto rule, an HC bench asked Jalil, also former general secretary of ruling Awami League, and other members of the bank foundation to appear before it on August 16.

The bench heard the statements from Mozaffar Ahmed, additional deputy commissioner (revenue) of Noagaon, AKM Shahidul Haque, managing director of Mercantile Bank Limited, and ASM Zakir Hossain, manager of the bank, Naogaon branch.

They told the court that Mercantile Bank Foundation, not Mercantile Bank Limited, is responsible for constructing a charitable hospital on the disputed land at Dubol Hati Rajbari in the district.

Mozaffar, Shahidul and Zakir appeared before the bench of Justice AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury Manim and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore yesterday as per its August 9 order.

Source : The Daily Star 

Khaleda takes Iftar with journos

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia attended an Iftar party jointly hosted by BFUJ and DUJ at the National Press Club yesterday.

Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) President Ruhul Amin Gazi and Secretary General Shawkat Mahmud and Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) President Abdus Shahid and General Secretary M Baker Hossain received Khaleda Zia.

Leaders of different political parties and journalists from print and electronic media attended the Iftar party.

Source : The Daily Star

Girl commits suicide

An 11-year-old girl killed herself by hanging from the roof at her residence in Ponagram village of Gowainghat yesterday.

Police recovered the body of Shoma Rani Das, a student of class IV at Tarukhal Government Primary School, from her house yesterday.

Family sources said Shoma returned home around 2:30pm after sitting an examination at the school. Nobody was in the house during her committing suicide, they said.

Source : The Daily Star

Ju Student's Suicide: Fair probe demanded

Students of history department of Jahangirnagar University (JU) yesterday demanded a fair investigation into the suicide of Majria Jannat Sumi.

Speaking at a press conference at the office of Jahangirnagar Sangbadik Samity, they said an alleged quarter is trying to destroy the evidence of the incident to protect the accused teacher.

Sumi was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her university dormitory room on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, JU authorities yesterday formed a seven-member probe body led by Dr SM Bodiar Rahman to investigate the incident. It has to submit an investigation report within one month, JU sources said. 1

Source : The Daily Star

Homebound People: 'Take steps to ease sufferings'

Different socio-political organisations urged the government to take necessary measures to ease sufferings of the homebound people before the Eid-ul-Fitr.

The authorities should take adequate steps to keep away faulty and unsafe transports from the highways and river routes for avoiding accidents, said a press release of Nagarik Sanghati-Surakhhya O Agragati Foundation.

It said the authorities should deploy adequate law enforcers at the transport terminals.

They demanded repairs of important highways urgently.

In a separate press release, Citizens Rights Movement, Green Club of Bangladesh and Nirapad Noupath Bastobayan Andolon urged the transport owners to stop realising extra fare and selling fake tickets.

It also demanded the authorities to hang public notices with safety and cautionary tips for the passengers.

Source : The Daily Star

Shutting coaching centres overnight not possible: Says education minister

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday said it is not possible to stop private coaching centres overnight without ensuring quality standard of education at the institutions.

He, however, said the coaching centres have to be stopped through social movement raising public awareness.

The minister made the remark at the launching event of "Bangla Version of Confronting the Shadow Education System: What Government Policies for What Private Tutoring," published by International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), Unesco.

Nahid said the government is working for ensuring quality of education with appointing meritorious and committed teachers and increasing their salaries and dignity.

He said the government is actively considering forming a separate pay scale for them.

The Unesco, Dhaka Office, organised the event in the city's National Academy for Educational Management (Naem) auditorium.

"Students of our country go to coaching centres before getting admitted to schools when the students abroad go [for taking] classroom [lessons] and then go for coaching," Nahid said, adding that it is indeed shameful.

He said students of the country have limited scope to learn ethical values from the educational institutions though it is necessary to learn ethics in their childhood.

He said how the teachers will teach morality to their students when many of them are being appointed "unethically" by offering money, not by merit.

"We have to bring a change in our mindset," said Nahid.

Director of Comparative Education Research Centre Mark Bray and Director of Brac Education Programme Safiqul Islam presented separate keynote papers.

Unesco Head and Representative Darek Elias chaired the programme while Bangladesh National Commission for Unesco (BNCU) Secretary Abdul Khaleque, Brac Educational Research Unit Coordinator Samir Ranjan Nath, and Naem DG Shamsur Rahman also spoke.

Source : The Daily Star

Amend constitution to recognise indigenous people, speakers urge govt

Leaders of some indigenous and left-leaning political parties demanded amendment to the constitution to recognise indigenous people.

Refusing to recognise ethnic entities apart from Bangalees goes against the spirit of the War of Liberation, they said.

The leaders were speaking at a meeting between Parbattya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) and Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) at CPB's central office in the city on Wednesday, says a press release.

PCJSS President Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma, popularly known as Shantu Larma, and CPB President Manjurul Ahsan Khan attended the meeting.

They also expressed extreme dissatisfaction for terming the indigenous people as "Bangalees" and for not protecting their rights.

They criticised the government for not taking effective measures to implement the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord, saying it is a clear violation of the government's promise.

The government's decision to keep Islam as the state religion will beef up fundamentalism and communalism in the country, they added.

They also discussed other issues like price hike of essential commodities, power crisis, repression on women, corruption and illegal encroachment on lands and wetlands.

Source : The Daily Star

Iajuddin on artificial life support

Former president Iajuddin Ahmed was put on artificial life support at a city hospital on Wednesday noon after he suffered from cardiac complications, said family sources.

He was rushed to Apollo Hospitals in the morning that day from his Gulshan-1 residence after complaining of chest pains, said his nephew actor Teli Samad.

After receiving treatment at the emergency unit, Iajuddin was shifted to the hospital's Critical Care Unit as his condition deteriorated and provided the artificial life support, said Teli Samad.

Teli Samad said Iajuddin underwent a successful open-heart surgery in Singapore four years ago, when he was the country's president, but began suffering from cardiac complications around five months ago.

Doctors told Iajuddin's family that they are considering to do an angiogram (a medical imaging technique used to visualise the inside of blood vessels and organs) of his heart, said Teli Samad.

Meanwhile, Iajuddin's wife Prof Anwara Begum also fell ill yesterday morning with high blood pressure. Anwara, the vice chancellor of Atish Dipankar University of Science and Technology, was undergoing treatment at the same hospital.

Iajuddin is under the supervision of Dr Shahabuddin Ahmed Talukder of the hospital, said family members. However, the doctor could not be reached for his comment on Iajuddin's health condition despite several attempts.

Iajuddin was the president of Bangladesh from 2002 to 2009. Besides, he acted as the chief adviser to a caretaker government from October 29, 2006 to January 11, 2007.

Our Munsiganj correspondent reports that Prof Anwara sought blessings from the countrymen for her husband's recovery.

Source : The Daily Star

Early detection of autism to help lead better life: Child psychologist Saima tells The Daily Star

With a minimal cost, Bangladesh can train community healthcare providers to screen autism among children giving them the chance to lead a quality life, said school psychologist Saima Hossain.

In a recent interview with The Daily Star, Saima said social stigma poses a major challenge in the early diagnosis of autistic children.

Due to lack of understanding of autism, people are negligent about treating autistic children until it is too late, said Saima, who is also the daughter of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people, according to The National Autistic Society in the UK. The neural disorder usually appears in the first three years of life.

There is no reliable data on autistic people in Bangladesh. The social welfare ministry estimates 10 percent of the country's total population are living with various types of disabilities and only 1 percent of them are autistic. It means around 1.5 lakh people are autistic.

The country needs to train community healthcare providers on how to understand signs and symptoms of autism, said Saima, chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on Autism in Bangladesh. She is also the Bangladesh representative of Autism Speaks, a US based NGO.

Community healthcare providers could become the first line of screeners who can help parents become aware of autism in their children, she said while discussing the outcome of the international conference on autism held in the city last month. She was a key organiser of the event.

"They do not necessarily need extensive training. They can be given the training through video conference as internet facilities have reached the rural level by this time," she said, adding that if a group of parents, local leaders and healthcare providers are given requisite training, they will be able to increase public awareness.

"The autistic children need very intense evidence-based therapeutic intervention. If it is diagnosed early, the improvement of the children especially in language area is possible as the brain is extremely efficient at that time," she said.

The pediatricians and general physicians should also receive training on how to diagnose autism, she added

Another challenge is to have psychologists at the schools who can deal with autistic behaviour, provide mental health therapy and help teachers address behavioural challenges of the autistic children, said Saima who has worked as a school psychologist after achieving a degree from Barry University of Miami Shores, Florida.

Focusing on the achievements of last month's Dhaka conference on autism, she said that the education, health and social welfare ministers were keen to create an environment friendly for autistic children. "The education minister is very much eager to start a support system, teachers training and curriculum development," she pointed out.

"But nothing is going to happen overnight," she warns. "We need to start with pilot studies to see what is feasible in the country and then develop the programme through government and NGO collaboration," she said.

As a follow-up to the international conference, Saima intends to form four taskforces on awareness building, healthcare services, education and research field.

"The job of the taskforces will be to identify the most pressing issues and help the government adopt plans to solve them."

A network titled South Asian Autism Network has also been formed to increase regional cooperation for exchange of information and sharing of expertise and best practices.

Source : The Daily Star

Thousands suffer in floods, waterlogging

A warmer weather may be on its way after days of incessant rainfall and flash floods disrupted communication across the country, forecasters say.

The worst of the monsoon is over and the weather conditions would stabilise soon, Met officials said.

However, lakhs of people are living in a submerged state while thousands have lost their homes due to flooding, erosions and landslides triggered by the monsoon that swept across Bangladesh.

Roads in Madaripur, Gaibandha, Khulna, Sirajganj and Rajshahi remain waterlogged as of yesterday.

In Madaripur, villages remain waterlogged as the nearby Arialkhan and Kumar rivers are flowing above danger levels. Many families lost their homes to erosion by these two rivers.

Our local correspondent from Gaibandha said most major roads remain submerged marooning thousands of people. Rafts made of banana plants have become a preferred mode of transport.

Meanwhile, road communication with Bandarban finally resumed after three days. At least four thousand people reportedly lost their homes to landslides and flooding while 12 were injured from torrents of floodwater.

Flash flooding also washed away an alarming amount of crops and cultivated fishes.

In Sirajganj, some 2,500 hectares of Aman rice and 15 hectares of vegetables went under water, influencing the price of rice and vegetables in the district.

Meanwhile, Khulna saw fish worth Tk 41 crore being washed away in the rain and floodwater.

Our Khulna correspondent informed the district is looking at an estimated infrastructure damage of around Tk 3.87 lakh from the flash flooding.

Meanwhile, the skies remained relatively clear in Dhaka city, which saw a few spates of showers and light drizzles throughout the day.

Met officials recorded 5mm of rain in the capital yesterday saying the worst of the ongoing monsoon is over.

To the city dwellers' relief, the clouds cleared way for the bright sun at midday drawing to a supposed end to the non-stop rain over the last four days.

The rain clouds caused a rare full rainbow to appear at the horizon in afternoon.

Source : The Daily Star

26 injured in China quake

A 5.2-magnitude earthquake that struck China's far-western region of Xinjiang yesterday injured at least 26 people, three of them critically, state media said.

The quake occurred in an area near the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar at a depth of nearly 35 kilometers, the US Geological Survey said.

It toppled more than 30 housing units, a spokesman with the Jiashi County Committee of the Communist Party of China told the state-run Xinhua news agency.

The Kashgar government was not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.

Xinjiang is a vast region in northwest of China with a population of around 20 million, of which roughly nine million are Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking mainly Muslim ethnic minority.

Source : The Daily Star

Chaos at Court: Errant lawyers to say sorry

Thirteen pro-BNP-Jamaat lawyers involved in creating chaos in the courtroom of a High Court bench with one of them throwing a plastic missile at the bench will apologise to the judges on Sunday.

This was decided at a meeting between the attorney general and the Supreme Court Bar Association leaders yesterday on the advice of the chief justice.

The advice came when the full bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain was hearing an appeal of the 13 lawyers seeking stay on an HC order banning them from practising law in any court in the country.

The HC bench of Justice AHM Shamusddin Chowdhury Manik and Justice Gobinda Chandra Tagore in a suo moto rule imposed the ban on August 3, a day after the same bench witnessed raucous protests against it by these lawyers.

The apex court adjourned till August 14 the hearing of the lawyers' appeal, filed on August 7.

The 13 lawyers are among the 17 accused in two cases filed by police on August 2 and 4 on charges of assaulting them and preventing them from doing their duties on the court premises.

Four of the accused have already been arrested. The rest 13 will surrender before the trial court on August 14 in connection with the two cases.

On August 3, the HC bench also issued a rule asking Bangladesh Bar Council to explain by August 14 why the 13 lawyers should not be blamed for committing contempt of court for their "disrespectful conduct with this court."

It also asked these lawyers to explain why the Bar Council should not be directed to cancel their enrolment certificates on charge of committing professional misconduct.

The ruling came after the judges witnessed pandemonium on August 2 when they cautioned BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for her recent remarks on the constitution.

The opposition-backed lawyers scuffled with the pro-government lawyers after the judges questioned Khaleda's patriotism and observed that her statement on the constitution is tantamount to sedition.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam yesterday told The Daily Star that he will take steps so that the law enforcers don't harass or arrest the absconding accused lawyers till August 14, and they are not taken on remand.

"If the 10 absconding lawyers are not granted bail and sent to jail after they surrender before the trial court on August 14, I will take ask the jail authorities to produce them to the High Court bench for apologizing to it," he said.

Mahbubey Alam said four other lawyers, who are already in custody, will also be produced before the HC bench.

"I have always said the accused lawyers will not be dishonored if they surrender before the trial court," he said.

Asked, SCBA President Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, "The attorney general has assured us that no new case will be filed against the lawyers, and he will help so that they can get bail in the cases after their surrender. We are grateful to the attorney general for this."

He, however, alleged the law enforcers tortured advocate MU Ahmed, who was arrested in the early hours yesterday from his Segunbagicha residence in the capital.

Four lawyers including Papia have been arrested so far in connection with the two cases. Two other arrestees are Abu Bakar Siddique and Gazi Touhidul Islam.

Source : The Daily Star

No repair since 2005 4-lane project saw no light for irregularities

The Dhaka-Mymensingh highway has become the worst highway that saw last repair or rehabilitation in 2005.

The 120-kilometer highway was supposed to be reconstructed under the road sector reform programme, a World Bank-funded project initiated in 2005.

However, the move was abandoned in 2009 without any work done on the highway as the WB refused to provide fund on grounds of anomalies in the project, communications ministry officials say.

Considering importance of the highway and followed before awarding the task.

The communications ministry sent its Deputy Secretary Nurul Amin and Laskar to China to verify the joint venture. On return, they also confirmed that it was not genuine.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain assured to take prompt action against Intraco, but no action could be taken in more than a month.

The minister asked the roads division to terminate the contract with Intraco. He also directed to forfeit the company's Tk 36 crore performance guarantee deposit and recover advance payment of Tk 25 crore made to it.

"We will soon cancel the contract," said Syed Abul Hossain, adding that legal action will also be taken against the firm for the fraudulence.

Sources say a section of corrupt RHD officials were not happy with Intraco as it failed to fulfil their demands.

"We could not appease all as we got the two packages by quoting 16 percent less against the estimated money," said a representative of Intraco.

Source : The Daily Star

Impossible rides stop: Transport owners suspend plying vehicles on battered Dhaka-Mymensingh highway

Transport owners yesterday suspended indefinitely the bus service on Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, citing the road has become impassable.

Cratered, the 120-km highway gets waterlogged even in moderate rain. The heavy downpour for the last few days has made things worse, as potholes at many points have turned into ditches.

This is the first time the owners have gone on strike demanding immediate repair of the highway.

Buses on 12 routes to Mymensingh, Netrakona, Kishoreganj, Sherpur and Jamalpur will be off the road until the condition improves.

Only a few trucks and private cars plied the highway yesterday. Some were seen stuck in knee-to-waist-deep water at different points.

The suspension of bus service will mean sufferings for the weekend home-goers and those who need to commute between the capital and the five districts regularly. It will also affect communications between Dhaka and part of Gazipur district.

Selim, a cloth trader in Mymensingh town, was planning to come to Islampur in Dhaka yesterday, but he had to cancel the trip, as the road link was snapped.

"We go to Dhaka at least thrice during Ramadan to buy clothes for our shops. If the road condition remains the same, we will surely make a loss in our Eid business," he told our Mymensingh correspondent.

The condition of the road is worst at Tongi Mill Gate, Board Bazaar, Malek's Home, Bhogra Bypass and Mawna of Gazipur, and Seed Store and a few other points in Bhaluka of Mymensingh, reports our Gazipur correspondent.

"The road is simply not suitable for vehicles to run," said Mohammad Abul Kalam, president of Mohakhali terminal transport owners association.

He added that it should not take more than two days to repair the heavily damaged portions of the highway to make it fit for at least some days. Adequate traffic personnel should be deployed to ease vehicular movement during repair work.

Meanwhile, a three-member committee led by the communications secretary visited the highway yesterday to determine what should be done to ensure uninterrupted movement of vehicles before Eid ul-Fitr.

"We will act immediately after the committee submits its report," Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain told The Daily Star.

The ministry will also sit with the transport owners so that they withdraw the strike, he said.

Momtazuddin, president of Mymensingh transport owners association, said, "It is the failure of the communications ministry that it could not yet repair the road."

He alleged the ministry did not disburse the maintenance funds to the contractors in time, and that is why the highway has yet to be repaired, reports our Mymensingh correspondent.

In recent months, the number of passengers has come down sharply as the usually three-hour Dhaka-Mymensingh journey now needs eight to ten hours, said Robiul Hossain Shaheen, secretary general of Mymensingh transport owners association. Besides, maintenance cost of vehicles has shot up due to the potholed highway.

Despite losses, the association had continued the service so that the public did not suffer, he added.

In Gazipur, transport owners, workers and commuters blame the district's Roads and Highways Department for the sorry state of the highway.

Source : The Daily Star