Govt draws fire from allies

The government is facing protest from its allies against the deal signed with US oil giant ConocoPhillips.

At least three political parties with considerable representation in the Jatiya Sangsad, all of them components of the Awami League-led alliance, have been criticising the deal as it would go against the nation's interests and endanger its energy security.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president and lawmaker Hasanul Haq Inu from a roundtable on energy security of Bangladesh on Monday urged the government to scrap the deal, which has a provision that will encourage ConocoPhillips to export 80 per cent of the gas it will extract from hydrocarbon blocks 10 and 11 in the form of liquefied natural gas.

'Otherwise, the power-starved people of the country will start a massive movement against it,' he warned.

Inu said Bangladesh is suffering from severe energy shortage and it is not acceptable to sign any deal that gives the contractor the scope to export the country's mineral resources.

Pointing at the Niko deal and other one-sided contracts made in the country's energy sector, lawmaker Amena Ahmad termed such contracts 'anti-state'.

In the same roundtable, Bangladesh Workers Party president and lawmaker Rashed Khan Menon said the government would not be allowed to export oil, gas, and other mineral resources from the country.

Menon along with other political leaders in the grand alliance urged the government to enact the Mineral Resources Export Prohibition Act 2010 that has already been placed as a bill in the parliament.

He said the bill which he placed in the parliament last year was nothing but a reflection of Sheikh Hasina's stance in 1998 in response to the suggestion of gas export from the Bibiyana field made on the premise that the country was supposedly floating on oil and gas.

Criticising the contract with the US company, Menon said in the Jatiya Sangsad on Saturday that the present prime minister once had opposed any export of gas and said no gas would be allowed to be exported without keeping an adequate reserve for the country for the next 50 years but now her own government has signed a deal which contains the provision for gas export by a foreign company.

Menon demanded that the government should make the production-sharing contract signed with ConocoPhillips public.

Menon also demanded open discussion in the parliament on the deal and said it is not acceptable that only some government officials and advisers should know the details of the deal while the people, who are the owners of the country's resources, are kept in the dark.

Reminding his fellow MPs that a minister of the BNP-Jamaat-led four-party alliance government was bribed by Canadian company Niko, he said, 'It is not unlikely that such corruption will be unearthed in the future in connection with the ConocoPhillips deal.'

The Workers Party president lambasted a state minister for terming a leader of the oil-gas protection committee a 'foreign agent' and said people know it very well who the real foreign agents are.

'Who are the foreign agents? The people who want to protect our gas or those who are giving away our gas to a foreign company,' he questioned.

State minister for environment and forest Hasan Mahmud digressing from the budget discussion in the Jatiya Sangsad railed against Anu Mohammad, an economist and member secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port, calling him 'Monu Mohammad'.

The state minister called the national committee a 'foreign agent and spy' which wants to stay in the limelight by making an issue out of the contract signed with ConocoPhillips, which, the committee points out, gives only 20 per cent of the extracted gas to Bangladesh and allows the company to export the rest. This contract, said Anu Muhammad, would benefit only the US company, not the country.

Hasan Mahmud also said in the parliament that a professor of economics has no right to speak on oil and gas as he has no knowledge about mineral resources.

The government on June 16 signed the PSC with ConocoPhillips for oil and gas exploration and extraction in deep sea hydrocarbon blocks 10 and 11 amid protests from experts, civic forums, and political organisations.

Source : New Age

Non-profitable mills to be privatised

The industries minister, Dilip Barua, on Sunday told the Jatiya Sangsad that the non-profitable state-owned mills and factories having no commercial viability would be handed over to the private sector.

'The mills and factories which became losing organisations will be handed over to the private sector after a scrutiny by the Privatisation Commission,' said the minister in reply to a question.

Replying to another question, the minister said that no mills or factories had been shut down so far since the Awami League-led alliance government assumed office.

The government had taken moves to resume operation of three factories that had been closed down by the last Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government, he said.

Source : New Age

DSE crawls down on profit-taking sales

Dhaka stocks on Sunday inched down on a profit-taking selling pressure, breaking a five-day gaining streak, market operators said.

The market started upbeat on the day with MJL Bangladesh Ltd making its debut on the bourse but the selling pressure pulled the share prices down after the first hour of trading.

The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange lost 6.00 points, or 0.10 per cent, to close the day at 5,841.25 points. The general index, or DGEN, had gained 162 points over the previous five trading days.

A DSE stockbroker said, 'It's a natural correction of the market after the five-day rise.'

Market operators said stock prices had gained over the last week on the speculation that the government might finally include a provision in the budget for fiscal 2011-2012 allowing legalisation of undisclosed money invested in the capital market as the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry started lobbying for it.

The Bangladesh Bank's move in the last week allowing the commercial banks to calculate the credit-deposit ratio considering other banks' deposits as a source of fund also helped the market to rise, they said.

Mahmood Osman Imam, a professor of finance at Dhaka University, said, 'The five-day rise doesn't really show any positive picture of the market as the turnover is still very low.'

The continued rise in the general index in the previous five days was based mainly on a perception that the government might allow legalisation of undisclosed money invested in the capital market, he argued, adding that 'If the budget finally does not include such a provision, the market will turn volatile again.'

On its debut on Sunday, the share price of MJL Bangladesh posted a 27.48 per cent rise to close the day at Tk 145.20. A longstanding listing deadlock of the company finally resolved on Sunday through a listing agreement signed between the DSE and MJL Bangladesh in the DSE conference room.

The day's turnover of the bourse dropped to Tk 506.84 crore from that of Tk 616.28 crore on the previous trading day.

Source : New Age

Tax lawyers for correction of finance bill ’11-12

Tax lawyers on Sunday demanded that the government should scrap some provisions of the finance bill 2011-2012 including the obligation of paying 25 to 50 per cent of the demandable tax before filing any case with the High Court over any dispute on the tax.

They also suggested that the government should not give the opportunity for procuring government Treasury Bonds with undisclosed money by paying 10 per cent tax rather it should limit the such money for investing in the industrial sectors.

Leaders of Bangladesh Tax Lawyers Association and Dhaka Taxes Bar Association expressed their reaction on the proposed Finance Bill 2011-12 at a joint press conference at Dhaka Reporters' Unity.

BTLA president Golam Sarwar said realising 50 per cent of demandable tax before the judgement would be inhuman and violation of justice. This would prohibit the petitioners from getting justice from the court.

Golam Sarwar said the opportunity of investing undisclosed in procuring Treasury Bonds would encourage the corrupt people in earning money illegally and legitimising it by paying less than the usual tax.

He said the money that was earned illegally should never be exempted from the criminal law.

The lawyers demanded restoration of the Taxes Appellate Tribunal under Section 11 of Income Tax Law that includes the representatives from accounting and judicial departments.

The BTLA president suggested that the government should increase income tax to 50 per cent from 30 per cent and reduce indirect taxes from 70 per cent to 50 per cent.

He said the policy taken by the National Board of Revenue for increasing indirect taxes would increase the pressure on the income of middle and lower income groups.

He also recommended that the government should expand the tax holiday facility up to 2015 instead of 2013 and include the shipbuilding sector in the list of the beneficiaries.

BTLA secretary general Kamrul Alam Chowdhury, Dhaka Taxes Bar Association president Ramiz Uddin Ahamed and general secretary Firoz Alam were present the press conference.

Source : New Age

DCCI urges PM to withdraw increased tax on exports

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Sunday urged prime minister Sheikh Hasina to withdraw the proposed 1.5 per cent tax at source on export proceeds in the final budget for the next fiscal year.

The chamber leaders at a meeting with the prime minister at her office also suggested continuation of current 0.4 per cent tax at source and imposition of 15 per cent tax on the income earned by the export sectors, said a press release.

The DCCI president, Asif Ibrahim, told the PM that the increased tax at source would make the export sectors of the country vulnerable in the global market competition while many developed and developing countries including India, Vietnam and China were giving incentives to the export sectors to make them competitive.

Hasina assured the business community of all out support from her government to run their businesses freely and smoothly, reports United News of Bangladesh.

'People didn't vote us to power for doing business. As in the past, we'll continue to provide all possible cooperation to the business community,' she told the delegation of DCCI.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, PM's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad said that following a request by the prime minister, the DCCI leaders assured her of doing their best to keep the prices of essentials within the common man's reach during the month of Ramadan.

She said her government would continue to work for flourishing the private sector.

Asif suggested that the government should make liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) easily accessible for households consumption as the new gas connections have been stopped.

The DCCI president also suggested that the government should sponsor manufacturing of diversified products from jute to revive the golden fiber. He recommended that initiative should be taken to use jute for manufacturing pulp and paper.

Asif highlighted on creating opportunities for the Bangladeshi business people investing abroad for achieving 8 per cent growth.

The chamber leader recommended the PM to form a committee led by the Principal Secretary for resolving the scarcity of electricity and gas, and the problems of investment including the complexities of land acquisition and ownership. The proposed committee should include the representatives from chambers and different research and development organizations.

Commerce minister Faruk Khan, prime minister's principal secretary MA Karim, Prime Minister's office secretary Mollah Waheeduzzaman and press secretary to the prime minister Abul Kalam Azad were present at the meeting.

Source : New Age

Govt to get Tk 10cr from unclaimed bank accounts

The government is going to get a large sum of money to the tune of Tk 10 crore lying unclaimed in deposit accounts with different banks and financial institutions.

According to the Bank Companies Act, the accounts having no transaction for 10 years fall in the category of unclaimed ones.

The law requires banks and financial institutions to deposit the money in non-operated deposit accounts held with them in a Bangladesh Bank fund, from where it goes to the public exchequer after one year.

According to the Bangladesh Bank data, around Tk 10 crore is now lying unclaimed with the central bank.

The data shows in 2010 the number of total unclaimed deposit accounts in the country's banking

system stood at 49,337.

If a client or his/her nominee(s) contacts the bank concerned during the one-year interim period, the central bank allows him/her to get the money kept in the special account. The banks and FIs allow only the accountholders and their nominees to claim and get the money.

The law also requires making public the names of the accountholders before depositing the unclaimed money in the government coffers.

A senior BB official said the amount of money that remained unclaimed in a deposit account usually was not a significant one and people generally were not interested or willing enough to make an effort and withdraw the sum. Many of the accountholders have even died in the meantime, he added.

'Most of the accounts have deposits of less than Tk 500,' the official said.

The banks generally send letters to the clients informing about the status of such non-operated accounts and seeking their decision about whether or not they want to keep the accounts alive.

Among other banks, currently the number of such accounts with Sonali Bank is 11,574, Agrani Bank 11,951, Janata Bank 5,995, AB Bank 657, Pubali Bank 6,993, Bangladesh Krishi Bank 352, Bank of Ceilon 144, Habib Bank six, IFIC Bank 4,041, Islami Bank Bangladesh 5,103, State Bank of India 19, Uttara Bank 356, Eastern Bank 54, ICB Islamic Bank seven, Southeast Bank four, Prime Bank three, BASIC Bank 331, Standard Chartered Bank 138, and National Bank 269.

Source : New Age

Students confine VC at SAU

Sylhet Agricultural University students on Sunday locked the administrative building as part of their continued movement demanding adjustment in the existing credit system.


The agitating students also resisted a team of police from entering the campus at the main entrance at noon as the university authorities called for the law-enforcers to tackle the situation.
Campus sources said more than five hundred students of the first and second semester under different faculties staged a sit-in in front of the academic building at about 10:00am, boycotting classes and scheduled examinations to press home their demand.
The students at about 11:30am locked the main gate of the building, confining the vice-chancellor, along with others, for about two hours till 1:30pm.
The university authorities called the Kotwali police to take the situation under control, but the students stopped the policemen at the main entrance at noon when they tried to enter the campus.
At a rally in front of the administrative building, the student representative claimed the existing credit system was discriminatory.
The system, which was launched in the 2009-10 session, does not allow a student's promotion if he/she fails in more than 20 per cent examinations of the credit courses in a semester.
But the system is much more relaxed at other public agricultural universities in the country, the student representatives claimed.
They vowed to continue the movement boycotting academic activities until their demand for fixing the credit limit at 40 per cent instead of 20 per cent was met.
The university student welfare-affairs adviser Jamal Uddin Bhuiyan asked the students to send their representatives to the authorities to discuss their demand.
But the students refused the proposal, saying they would consider sitting with the authorities, if they would sit with all the students.
The students, however, postponed their demonstration at around 1:30pm as the authorities agreed to sit with all the students.
'We will sit in a meeting among ourselves in the evening to fix the time of the meeting with the authorities,' a student said, seeking anonymity.
Source : New Age

Proposed budget ignores Ctg dev, say speakers

The proposed budget of 2011-12 has bypassed the development issues of the Chittagong city, stated speakers at a programme on Saturday.


They said this at a dialogue titled 'analysis of the national budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year,' jointly organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue and Bangladesh Economic Association at the Chittagong Club Auditorium.
'You'll find many things in the proposed budget except for the development issue of the port city,' said Lawmaker Mainuddin Khan Badal in his chief guest's address.
Khandaker Golam Moazzem, senior research fellow of CPD, presented the keynote paper on 'the state of the Bangladesh economy: analysis of the national budget FY2011-12.'
Former Chittagong University vice-chancellor Alamgir Mohammed Sirajuddin complained that all the successive governments had invariably ignored the development need of the port city.
Perhaps the policymakers have failed to realise the urgency of the issue in the light of the greater interest of the national economy, Mainuddin Khan Badal viewed.
With BEA Chittagong chapter president Joyti Prokash Datta in the chair, CPD executive director Mostafizur Rahman, former BEA president Moinul Islam, former BEA Chittagong chapter president Sikandar Khan and former Chittagong Chambers of Commerce and Industry president Farid Ahmed Chowdhury, spoke at the programme, among others.
Source : New Age

2nd Agro Bangladesh 2011 kicks off in city

A three-day exposition of agro-industries began at in the capital on Sunday with a view to enable the local and international stakeholders to exchange ideas about the modern technologies in the field.


Fisheries and livestock minister Mohammad Abdul Latif Biswas opened the exposition, 2nd Agro Bangladesh 2011, jointly organised by the Extreme Exhibition and Event Solution Limited and I Station Limited, at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
The minister at the inauguration gave a call on the private sector entrepreneurs to introduce novel technologies to augment the development of the agriculture sector in the country.
He informed that the government was working on opening two fisheries research centres in Gopalganj and Kishoreganj.
'If the country can fulfil its target production of 34.78 lakh tonnes of fish in 2012-13, it will be able to export two lakh tonnes of fish and processed fish products that year,' he added.
About 65 agricultural input and equipment manufacture and export-import establishments from 12 countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Korea, Taiwan, China, Thailand, United Kingdom, Germany, Singapore, Japan, Netherlands and Turkey, have participated in the show.
Agricultural machinery, fertilisers, seeds, medicines and other related technologies are showcased at the 165 stalls of the fair, the organisers said.
Presided over by World Poultry Science Association – Bangladesh Branch president Mohamad Abdur Razzaque Mia, the opening programme was addressed by fisheries and livestock secretary Ujjal Bikash Dutta, department of livestock services director-general Mohammad Ashraf Ali, WPSA president Bob Pym, Mohammad Nazrul Islam Khan, personal secretary to the prime minister, Anwar Faruque, director-general of seed wing under agriculture ministry, Mohammad Nazrul Islam, director of Agriculture Information Service, Abdul Matlub, president of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and MM Khan, secretary-general of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association, among others.
The exposition, to end on June 28, will be kept open from 10:00am to 8:00pm every day, the organisers said.
Source : New Age

RU student movement for TSCC continues

The students and cultural activists of Rajshahi University on Saturday continued their demonstration, demanding immediate opening of the Teachers-Students Cultural Centre.


Around 200 students, members of the Progressive Students Alliance, platform of four leftist student organisations, and Kendrya Sangskritik Jote, platform of more than 15 cultural organisations, brought out a demonstration in the morning that paraded through the main streets of the campus.
Later they gathered in front the university central library.
The cultural activists from different groups at the rally complained that they did not have any spaces to practise and hold their cultural activities.
The university authorities had more than once failed to keep their promises that they would provide them with such spaces, they alleged.
Iqbal Kabir, convener, RU unit of Biplobi Chhatra Maitry, Sujon, organising secretary, RU unit of Chhatra Front, and Jewel, member of Anushilon Natyo Dal, spoke at the programme, among others.
The demonstration was coordinated by Aupurbo Chakrabarty, general secretary, Kendrio Sanngskritik Jote.
The long-drawn-out movement for the TSCC began in the 1960s at the university. The construction work of the TSCC building, begun in 1991, has yet to be finished. The RU students commenced the present movement on June 2.
Source : New Age

Change in temperature unlikely

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at most places over the Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and at many places over the Rangpur, Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions till 6:00pm today.

Moderately heavy to heavy falls are also likely at places over the country, Met Office said.

Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.

The sun sets in the capital today at 6:50pm and rises tomorrow at 5:14am.

The country's highest temperature, 33.3 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Sunday in Sylhet and the lowest, 24.5 degrees, in Rangamati.

Source : New Age

New BCL body formed at CU after 5 years

The committee of the Chittagong University unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, associate student body of the ruling Awami League, has been formed after a gap of five years.


The BCL central committee announced the committee Saturday evening, with Mamunul Hoq of applied physics department as president and SM Khaled of public administration department as general secretary.
When contacted, Mahfuzul Haider Rotan, secretary of the BCL central committee, confirmed the matter.
Abul Mansur Shikdar, Saiful Islam Romel, Riazul Hoq, Saifuddin Khaled Rantu Dus, Faruk Hossain, Kazi Marufur Rahman and Shekh Sfaet Billah are vice-presidents of the new committee.
Kazi Tanjim Hossain and Suman Mamun are join-secretaries and SM Arifur Islam Arif, Alamgir Tipu, Rubaet Hossain are organising secretaries.
Besides, Mohsin Karim Real, Saiful Alam Riman, Shahed Sarawar and Shahriar Rahman Tarek are members.
The previous committee was formed on October 14, 2005 with a tenure of one year.
Source : New Age

RU BCL committee formed

The committee of Rajshahi University unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, associate student body of the ruling Awami League, was formed Saturday night.


The BCL central committee in Dhaka selected Ahmed Hossain of public administration department as president and Abu Hossain Bipu of mass communication and journalism as secretary general of the committee for 2011-12, said a press release.
Ilias Hossain and Jakir Hossain Roni were selected vice-presidents while Fuad Hossain Murad was selected joint secretary.
Meanwhile, leaders and activists, led by the new committee's vice-president Illias Hossain and joint secretary Fuad Hasan Murad, brought out a procession on the university campus on Sunday, welcoming the new committee.
Earlier, the university unit committee of the organisation was suspended on August 8, 2010 following a factional clash on the campus that left 30 BCL activists injured
Source : New Age