20 hurt in factory fire

At least 20 people were injured in a devastating fire that burnt a factory at Tora in Ghior upazila of Manikganj Friday night.

Fire service sources said the fire originated from a boiler in the dryer section of Akij Particle Hard Board factory and soon engulfed the entire factory. At least 20 workers were injured in the fire.

On information, fire fighting teams of Manikganj sadar and Ghior fire service rushed to the spot and tried to control the blaze with the help of locals.

The injured were taken to Manikganj sadar hospital from where three of the workers were shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in critical

condition.

Source : New Age

Train derails in Chandpur

A compartment of a passenger train derailed near Shologhar outskirt of the town Thursday night.

As a result, train communications between Chandpur and Laksham remained suspended from 8:25pm.

Railway sources said a goods-laden compartment of a train derailed in the area at about 8:25pm when it was going to Laksham from Chandpur.

An Antonagar Mehgna Express train got stuck at Hagiganj station following the derailment, station sources said.

Station master Umor Faquk said a relief train from Chandpur reached the spot and tried to salvage the derailed compartment.

Source : New Age

DWASA plans to lift 30cr more litres of groundwater a day

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority has planned to pump out another 30 crore litres of groundwater every day by 2014 to meet the growing demand for safe water in this sprawling city of 1.30 crore people.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council on Tuesday approved a project, titled 'Emergency Rehabilitation and Expansion of Water Supply System Project-2' in this regard, involving Tk 224 crore.

Dhaka WASA will implement the project from July 2011 to June 2014 under the Local Government Division of the LGRD ministry.

Of the total project cost of Tk 224 crore, Tk 213 crore will come from the government exchequer, while Tk 11 crore from WASA's own fund.

Of the government fund, Tk 49 crore has been earmarked for the current fiscal year (2011-12), while Tk 138 crore for the next fiscal year (2012-13) and Tk 26 crore for the fiscal year 2013-14.

According to sources at the planning ministry, the daily demand for water in the capital is 220 crore litres, but WASA could supply 200 crore litres or 91 per cent of the demand. The demand, however, rises to 225 crore litres a day in summer.

WASA sources said the demand for water will increase significantly by 2025 when the population of the capital is expected to hit 2.40 crore from the present 1.30 crore.

To meet the growing demand, WASA is undertaking different small and big projects, according to the officials.

Dhaka WASA now could supply water to 75 per cent areas of the capital of which 87 per cent is from groundwater, while 13 per cent is surface water that comes from treatment plants.

Talking to the news agency over phone, Dhaka WASA managing director Taqsem A Khan said the project had been undertaken to meet the increasing demand of the city dwellers. Once the project is implemented, Dhaka WASA would be able to supply additional 300 million litres of water a day, he added.

Under the project, the Dhaka WASA managing director said, additional water supply would be ensured through deep tube-wells. Currently, Dhaka WASA is operating 591 deep tube-wells.

Engineer Taqsem also said such projects were undertaken in the past and more would come in the future in line with the growing demand.

Under the project, there will be 60 new deep tube-wells alongside replacing 165, 5 deep aquifers, 20 deep aquifer replacement, 20 regeneration deep tube-wells, installing a 100-km new waterline and replacement of 50-km one, 17,000 cubic meter land development, construction of 5750 square meter land protection embankment.

The project follows the 'Emergency Rehabilitation and Expansion of Water Supply System Project-1' which completed in June this year.

Source : New Age

Phulbari Day observed

The national committee campaigning for protection of natural resources on Friday called on the Awami League-led government to fulfil the Phulbari agreement immediately or face 'consequences'.

Addressing a discussion marking a popular protest at Phulbari after the police firing on a rally on August 26, 2006, the member-secretary of the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports, Anu Muhammad issued the warning and said the people of Phulbari had made history this day five years ago in their struggle to protect the country's natural resources.

The movement compelled the then Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government was compelled to sign the seven-point Phulbari agreement with the national committee, he said.

The Phulbari unit of the national committee organised different programmes to mark the 5th anniversary of the protest.

In Dhaka activists of the committee placed wreath

at the Central Shaheed Minar.

In Phulbri the committee placed wreath in the

morning at the monument built at the pace where three people were killed in police firing, and held a discussion.

Convener of the national committee Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah, its leaders Tipu Biswas, Shubrangshu Chakrabarty, Ragib Ahsan Munna, Zonayed Saki, Moshraf Hossain Nannu, Sohan Sobhan, Aminul Islam Bablu and Rabindra Soren also spoke at the discussion chaired by its local unit convener Saiful Islam Jewel.

A separate programme was organised by professional organisations led by Murtuza Sarker Manik.

Leaders of the national committee, Communist Party of Bangladesh, Workers Party, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, Revolutionary Workers Party, Ganasanghati Andolan, National Awami Party faction, Bangladesher Communist League, Democratic Revolutionary Party, BSD faction and Democratic Left Alliance placed wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on the day.

Source : New Age

Striking miners lay siege to Barapukuria coal mine

Local miners at Barapukuria on Friday observed strike and laid siege to the coal mine compound for fourth consecutive day demanding regularisation of their jobs.

The local miners on Tuesday went for an indefinite strike after a series of meetings this month between the authorities and the miners' and workers' union leaders ended inconclusively.

Mohammad Quamruzzaman, managing director of the BCMCL, said that the protesters did not allow the officials and workers to come out of the coal mine compound.

He said that the mine authorities urged the miners to join a meeting in presence of Upazila Nirbahi Officer at 3 pm on Friday but the miners did not respond.

The local miners had been deprived of some minimum rights like reasonable wages, job security, weekly and emergency holidays and insurance facility through their employment by a third party instead of the BCMCL, the owner of the company, said a miner early this month.

For last three years, the miners and workers union has been staging protests demanding the appointment of the local miners by Barapukuria Coal Mine Company in stead of contract-based employment by Xuzhou Coal Mining Corporation (XMC), the third party contractors of the project.

However, at a meeting between the BCMCL authorities and the union leaders held on August 15, both the parties agreed on the employment of the miners on the basis of pay scale.

At a meeting between BCMCL, XMC and union leaders on August 18, XMC officials offered to increase the wage by 18 per cent. The Chinese company also offered bonus if the miners would extract 70,000 tonnes of coal a month, a BCMCL official said.

But the miners did not accept the proposal and went for an indefinite strike, he said.

Source : New Age

Anti-graft drive threatens India’s ‘life force’: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi, widely seen as India's prime minister-in-waiting, warned Friday that a fasting activist's popular anti-corruption campaign posed a threat to India's democratic 'life force'.

Breaking his silence on a high-stakes standoff between activist Anna Hazare and the government, Congress party leader Gandhi praised Hazare's campaign, but challenged efforts to force his version of a new anti-graft law on parliament.

'Individuals have brought our country great gains. They have galvanised people in the cause for freedom... however we must not weaken the democratic process,' Gandhi said.

'A process divorced from the machinery of an elected government, that seeks to undo checks and balances created to protect the supremacy of parliament, sets a dangerous precedent for our democracy.'

It was Gandhi's first public statement on an issue that has snowballed into a full-blown crisis for the government, with huge protests across India in support of Hazare's campaign.

The 74-year-old Hazare has said he will fast until parliament adopts and passes his version of a new anti-corruption bill that would create the post of a national ombudsman to monitor senior politicians and bureaucrats.

The giant groundswell of public support for Hazare shook the government which was already on the defensive over a series of multi-billion-dollar scandals that have implicated top officials.

In his speech, Gandhi, 41, argued that allowing any campaign — no matter how popular its target — to dictate legislation to parliament would set the country on a slippery path.

'Tomorrow the target may be something less universally heralded. It may attack the plurality of our society and democracy,' he said.

'India's biggest achievement is our democratic system. It is the life force of our nation,' he added.

The timing and tone of Gandhi's intervention was significant.

In recent days, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, who sat beside Gandhi as he spoke, has sought to reach out to Hazare with a series of conciliatory gestures aimed at bringing the hunger strike to an end.

Source : New Age

Businessman mugged, stabbed in city

Muggers snatched Tk 1 lakh after stabbing a businessman at Malibagh in Dhaka early Friday.

The victim was Alauddin Khan alias Arif, 35, a resident of Chowdhury Para.

Alauddin, now being treated in Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said that four muggers had stopped him near the Malibagh level crossing about 4:30am.

'The muggers stopped their car in front of the CNG I was in, dragged me out at gunpoint, stabbed me and took the money,' he said.

He said the muggers also took away two mobiles worth Tk 20,000 and a gold ring.

Source : New Age

As Libya rebels march, covert role of NATO states emerges

The role some NATO states are playing to help Libyan rebels bring down Muammar Gaddafi puts the alliance in an awkward position after repeated denials that it works hand-in-hand with the rebellion.

British defence secretary Liam Fox slightly lifted the veil of secretive operations when he said Thursday that NATO was providing 'intelligence and reconnaissance assets' to help rebels hunt down the elusive Libyan leader.

The British defence ministry then announced Friday that it had bombed a 'large headquarters bunker' in Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, an operation that came as rebels geared up to launch an offensive there after their Tripoli triumph.

NATO has consistently rejected claims that it is coordinating operations with the rebels, commanding special forces on the ground, or trying to kill Gaddafi since the bombing campaign began in March.

'No specific individual is a target as an individual, whether it's Gaddafi or anybody else,' NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said Thursday after Fox's remarks.

Lungescu insisted that NATO was sticking to its United Nations mandate, limited to protecting civilians from any attacks. 'There is no military coordination with the rebels,' she said.

The NATO denials are 'absolute rubbish,' said Shashank Joshi, a Libyan war expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London.

'It's a necessary fiction to stay within the bounds of UN Resolution 1973 and to avoid legal and political difficulties,' Joshi said.

Russia and China withheld their vetos at the UN Security Council to allow the resolution's adoption in March, but they have since accused NATO of going beyond the scope of its mandate.

'There's overwhelming evidence that NATO was not only helping the rebels but that it was a decisive and critical partner to the rebels,' Joshi said.

'It was really engaged in a close and intimate level of coordination and support, without which the rebels could not have won this conflict, so I don't believe a single word NATO is saying,' he added.

An AFP correspondent found on Thursday French and British operatives based at rebel eastern front command facility in Zuwaytina, about 150 kilometres southwest of the opposition capital Benghazi.

France and Britain have spearheaded the NATO air war, launching the first salvos along with the United States on March 19. The three nations later sent military advisers to Benghazi.

British newspapers revealed this week the role played by Britain's Special Air Service forces.

The Daily Telegraph, quoting defence sources, said SAS members were sent to Libya several weeks ago and played a key role in coordinating the battle for Tripoli, and are now focusing on tracking down Gaddafi.

The Times newspaper reported that the SAS had been working with Qatari special forces. While the Qataris were operating along the front lines with rebel fighters, the SAS had performed a more discreet role further back coordinating with NATO pilots, the paper said, quoting ministry of defence sources.

A Western official stressed that there was a distinction between forces led by national governments and the air campaign directed by NATO's command structure.

'I think that's the unfortunate sort of nuance that was missing,' the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said regarding Fox's statement that NATO was helping in the search for Gaddafi.

'The fact that some NATO nations have some individuals on the ground, it should be made clear they are not under NATO command,' the official said. 'Unfortunately people have a habit of calling everything down there NATO.'

Source : New Age

AI demands probe into custodial death

Amnesty International on Friday urged the government to ensure investigation into the death of former deputy attorney general Momtazuddin Ahmed in police custody.

Abbas Faiz, South Asia researcher of the international rights watchdog, said in an e-mailed statement, 'It is the responsibility of the government to reveal the truth about this incident.'

'The government must take all the necessary steps to ensure that the death of Momtazuddin Ahmed is investigated and those found responsible are brought to justice,' the statement said.

It said, 'We know that many lawyers in Bangladesh are in a state of shock about the death. There are serious allegations that he was tortured in the custody of the Detective Branch of police.'

There should be thorough and rigorous investigation into all instances of human rights violation in Bangladesh but, in the case of the death of Momtazzuddin Ahmed, a supporter of the opposition, the need for this investigation to be independent and impartial is even more important, the Amnesty International said.

It also said, 'There have been repeated reports of death in custody in Bangladesh as a result of torture. The continued occurrences of such deaths point out the failure of the authorities concerned to address the issue. This trend must stop, and the time to stop it is now.'

Source : New Age

Homebound people suffer for congestion

With six days still left for Eid-ul-Fitr, a large number of people on Friday started leaving the capital for their village home by road, train and launch, but dilapidated highways, traffic congestions and delayed trains extended their journey time.

Passengers leaving Kamalapur Railway Station had to wait for up to four hours to start their journey on the first day of the five-day special service introduced by Bangladesh Railways, witnesses said.

Communication minister Syed Abul Hossain, who visited Kamalapur on Friday morning, said only some trains left the station late and the maximum delay was up to three hours.

He said lack of adequate number of locomotives was a major reason for the delay in train schedule.

The railway authorities added 14 extra trains on different routes across the country on the occasion of Eid.

On the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, vehicles moved bumper to bumper between Daudkandi and Comilla Cantonment, passengers complained. Our Correspondent in Comilla quoting highway police said damaged roads and the pressure of vehicles just before Eid and erratic driving slowed down the traffic movement.

People traveling to Mymensing and other northeastern districts by road took more time than required due to the rundown highways at several places and huge congestion near Joydevpur crossing.

The journey to the northern districts was also extensive and ardous due to bad condition of the road and congestions due to accidents, passengers said.

Our Tangail correspondent quoting police said a minor accident created severe traffic congestions from Kaliakoir to Gorai early Friday morning.

Highway police inspector Sanwar Hossain said the accident involving a Dhaka-bound bus of Dholeswary Paribahan and Tangail-bound truck at Board Ghor created congestion on nearly 4 kilometer stretch on the highway.

The jam was, however, cleared after about two hours, the traffic officer said.

Another accident that left an old woman killed by a speeding bus at Baoi Khola under Delduar upazila on the highway caused a traffic jam stretching about 10 kilometres

Police said angry local people put up barricade on the road bringing the traffic to a total halt for about one-and-a-half hour from 4:00pm.

Homebound passengers on the Dhaka-Aricha highway also suffered due to long queues at Paturia Ghat and breaking down of vehicles at some places.

Our correspondent in Manikganj said thousands of people including women and children faced serious problem as there is no public toilet at Paturia ferry terminal where they had to wait for hours to board the ferries.

Mohammad Shafiullah, an employee of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority at Aricha, said they would build six to seven temporary toilets within next two days.

BIWTC commercial manager Asharaf Ullah Khan said nearly 100 buses, 50 private cars and about 200 trucks kept waiting at Parturia to take ferries at any point of time during the day before Eid.

Out of order vehicles were seen at many places of the highway on Friday with the authorities showing no concern about removing them.

Police said it was the responsibility of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to look into the issue of unfit vehicles plying on the highway.

Meanwhile, a large number of passengers with advance tickets were seen waiting for long at Gabtali inter-district bus terminal on Friday morning.

Transport service staff members said their vehicles were taking more time on the road due to congestion for which the schedules were being delayed.

Meanwhile, passengers continued complaining about fare hike by the bus services.

At Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority's Sadarghat launch terminal, passengers leaving the capital for southern districts were seen arriving hours before the departure time just to have a good place on the deck.

Despite restrictions, the passengers took small boats to the launches anchored away from the pontoons, witnesses said.

The BITWA officials were seen monitoring whether the launch operators were carrying passengers beyond their capacity.

Although the BIWTA officials cleared the upper decks, the passengers were seen returning to the decks as soon as the vessels left the terminal.

Sources at Dhaka airport said local airlines have planned additional flights on all the domestic routes to carry homebound passengers during the Eid.

Source : New Age

AG faces wrath of lawyers, BNP activists at Square Hospital

The attorney general, Mahbubey Alam, on Friday faced the wrath of lawyers and activists of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party as he went to Square Hospital to see the body of late Momtaj Uddin Ahmed.

Seeing him at the hospital lounge, the lawyers and activists got angry and began shouting and hurling abusive comments, branding him a killer.

They also chased him towards the elevator and went up to the third floor of the hospital chanting slogans.

Immediately after his arrival, a contingent of riot police was deployed inside the hospital. They cordoned off the room where the body of Momtaj was kept while inquest examination was on.

The attorney general remained present till the examination completed. No newsman was allowed to go there.

The agitated lawyers, meantime, gathered at the exits of the hospital to keep the attorney general confined.

After two hours, Mahbubey Alam left the hospital avoiding the demonstrators through the basement of the hospital riding a police car. Meantime, the Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, accused Mahbubey Alam for attempting to doctor the inquest report.

The AG had stayed there when the examination was done and none others was allowed, not even the family members of Momtaj.

'We suspect he had dictated the report and there might be no mention of the marks of electric shock on MU Ahmed's body,' Khandakar Mahbub Hossain added.

Source : New Age

MU Ahmed dies in custody

Former deputy attorney general Momtaj Uddin Ahmed, who was allegedly tortured after being arrested on August 11, died at Square Hospital in police custody Friday afternoon.

His widow, Selina Ahmed, sued home minister Sahara Khatun, attorney general Mahbubey Alam, home secretary, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner, detective branch deputy commissioner and Shahbagh police officer-in-charge on charge of killing the Supreme Court lawyer.

A group of lawyers, led by Supreme Court Bar Association president Khandker Mahbub Hossain, submitted the first information report, signed by Selina, to the Ramna police at about 10:30pm.

Ramna police sub-inspector Altaf Hossain, also the duty officer, told New Age, 'We have received the complaint, but a decision has not yet been made whether it would be recorded as a regular case or a general diary, as the officer-in-charge is out of the office.'

Khandker Mahbub, however, said, 'Selina Ahmed filed a case on murder charge...We have submitted the FIR and the police have given us a copy after receiving it.'

Selina filed the FIR accusing the home minister, attorney general and four others of killing her husband in a planned way, Mahbub said adding, 'Now she wants justice.'

As the news spread, several hundred lawyers and activists of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party went out on demonstrations in front of Square Hospital and on the Supreme Court premises describing his death in custody as a 'planned murder.'  

The leader of the opposition, Khaleda Zia, also BNP chairperson, senior party leaders and senior Supreme Court lawyers condemned MU Ahmed's death in custody and called it a 'premeditated murder'.

The angry protesters also chased attorney general Mahbubey Alam when he went to the hospital after hearing the news. They jeered at him shouting 'killer'. Large contingents of police in riot gear were deployed inside the hospital after he went in.  

The BNP has announced countrywide demonstrations wearing black badges for today.

MU Ahmed, who was admitted to the hospital on August 16, breathed his last at around 1:10pm on Friday. Before being admitted to Square Hospital, he underwent treatment at National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases in custody.

Within hours after his arrest on August 11, MU Ahmed fell sick at the office of the detective branch police and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital but physicians there referred him to NICVD.

The chief security officer of Square Hospital, Golam Mawla said MU Ahmed was admitted to the hospital at around 11:00pm on August 16 under police custody. He was under supervision of medicine specialist Abdullah Al Jamil.

Talking to newsmen at Square Hospital, Ahmed's widow, Selina Ahmed, said whenever she had wanted to know about the reported torture in custody, he asked her not to speak about it fearing that they would torture him again. 'At NICVD he often got frightened at the sight of policemen,' she said. 

Ahmed's nephew Iliyas Ahmed said the lawyer's hands and legs were tied up before being taken to Square Hospital. His brother Mainul Ahmed said he was not even slightly ill before being arrested.  

Senior jurist Rafique-ul Huq demanded a judicial inquiry into the death of the former deputy attorney general. 'It is a death in police custody. It should be probed by a judicial inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge,' he said.

'The death might be a part of the ongoing extrajudicial killings and other unnatural deaths. It has to be investigated properly,' he said.  

BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed termed it a 'planned killing'.

The Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandakar Mahbub Hossain, said the killing was a part of the government's 'attempt' to 'silence' any voice of protest. 'The government, home minister, state minister for law, attorney general, police inspector general and DMP commissioner  have to take the responsibility for the death,' he said.

'The Supreme Court failed to carry out its constitutional obligation at the death. His family and lawyers will sue the persons responsible for his death,' he said.

Mahbub accused the attorney general of attempting to doctor the inquest report. 'The court had instructed him to take measures for proper treatment of MU Ahmed but he did nothing. Today he came to see the body and sat by it for two hours and dictated the magistrate to prepare an inquest report. None of us was allowed there. We suspect the inquest report would not mention the marks of electric shock that his body bore,' he said.      

The detective branch police in a hurriedly arranged briefing claimed that MU Ahmed was not in custody and had been on bail since August 16. 'He was in our custody for only 30 minutes on August 11. We did not torture him rather took him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after he complained of chest pain,' said Monirul Islam, deputy commissioner of DB police.     

'His wife had appealed to us for leaving him in her custody and we granted him bail on August 16 and informed the court about the matter. Since then he was under treatment at Square Hospital in her wife's custody. We have all the documents…,' he said.   

'Before arresting him, we did not know he was suffering from cardiac disorder,' he said.

Ahmed's body was handed over to the family at around 7:00pm and it was taken to BIRDEM mortuary. His first namaj-e-janaza will be held at the High Court ground at 11:00am today and then the body will be taken to the BNP's central office at Naya Paltan.

He will be buried at his family graveyard at village Baliyakandi of Sherpur in Bogra, said his widow.

Ahmed is survived by his widow and two sons – SM Shubho, 11, and SA Babu, 9.

Meanwhile, 250 teachers of Dhaka University in a statement condemned the death of MU Ahmed in custody and demanded exemplary punishment for the persons responsible.

Sadrul Amin, Aminur Rahman Majumder, M Sirajul Islam, Tazmeri SA Islam, Akhtar Hossain Khan, Shahida Rafique and Dil Rawshan Zinnat Ara Naznin were among the signatories.

Source : New Age

Festival turned misery haunts the poor

High prices, unabated inflation, and the recent flooding in some northern districts have kept most of the poor and day-labourers of the country from required Eid shopping.

With Ramadan nearing its end, Eid shopping is gaining momentum across the country. But, while shopping malls and markets are being thronged by the well-off, a large section of the poor in rural areas appear to be inclined towards buying cheap, low-quality goods or refraining from shopping at all this time due to the exorbitant prices, report New Age district correspondents.

A number of shoppers said high prices had pushed a great many items beyond their purchasing capacity and they were compelled to confine themselves to just window shopping.

According to shop owners, unlike the Eid business seasons in the past, most people this time just walk in, look around, ask about the prices, and then depart in silence.

'The prices of most clothes and footwear have almost doubled over the past two years, putting those beyond the reach of the prospective buyers among the poor people,' said Monirul Islam, a shop

owner of Chapainawabganj.

Shirts that were sold at Tk 120 last year, now cost Tk 200 apiece, said Jamil Hossain, selling shirts at a makeshift shop on Ganakpara footpath at Shaheb Bazar in downtown Rajshahi.

The prices of basic food items have shot up so high that the poor are left with no choice but to dropping several items from their shopping list for Eid.

Inflation, which had been double-digit for five months since March, hit a three-year high of 10.96 per cent in July, far above the government's target of 7.5 per cent, according to the data released on August 18 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

Thousands of people in Satkhira and Lalmonirhat, devastated by flood and river erosion, are not even able to buy vermicelli and sugar to prepare a dish of shemai, let alone new dresses.

The people of the flood- and erosion-hit Teesta and Dharla river basin areas, who have lost their shelters, crops, and domestic animals, cannot afford to buy any thing beyond the bare essentials under their present circumstances, they told New Age.

New Age correspondent in Rajshahi reports that the low-income, poor, and ultra-poor people in Rajshahi city are passing a hard time, with their sense of misery heightened by the inability to procure new clothes and good food for the Eid. 

Shariful Islam, a rickshaw-puller from Natore who lives in Asam Colony, told New Age, 'I feel awful as I cannot buy new clothes for my three kids even on the occasion of the Eid.'

New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat writes: About two lakh people, affected by flood and river erosion in Sadar, Aditmari, Kaliganj, and Hatibandha upazilas, are unable to buy even vermicelli and sugar to prepare shemai, the traditional Eid dish.

A good number of them have been hoping for some support from the government and non-governmental organisations so that they could buy some vermicelli, powdered milk, and sugar for observing the Eid.

'We have to fight on a daily basis to have something to eat. We have no money to spare for Eid celebrations,' said Sajedur Rahman, 55, a farmer of the flood-hit Sindurna village under Hatibandha upazila.

Afzal Hossain, 68, a Teesta river erosion-hit farmer of Balapara village of Mohishkhocha union under Aditmari upazila, said, 'I have lost every thing to the Teesta river erosion. Now I have no place to live with my family. The Eid does not bring us any joy.'

A flood-affected Hasina Banu, 38, of Dawabari village under Hatibandha upazila said his husband, Mazibor Rahman, is a farmer who cannot find any alternative job in the village. They cultivated aman in eight bighas of land but all the aman fields have been damaged in the recent flood, making them bereft of livelihood. 'So, Eid celebrations are not meant for us,' she said.

Hamidur Rahman, 47, another farmer of the village, said, 'I have two sons and two daughters but we have not been able to buy any dress for them till now. We also have not purchased any vermicelli and sugar for the Eid as we are totally bankrupt. We, the flood-affected people of this village, are waiting for some government help.'

New Age correspondent in Jhenaidah reports that the Eid failed to bring happiness for the poor and the people of low-income group of the district.

Tipu Sultan of Mollakua village under Kaliganj upazila said he used to earn Tk 250 to 280 a day by working as a farm labourer. But, he has not found any job in the past few days. He will buy a shirt for his son-in-law and a sari for his daughter and that is all. His will not buy any clothe for his school-going son due to financial constraints.

Amjad Hossain, a rickshaw-van-puller, said he would purchase a shirt for the younger of his two kids, a four-year-old son, and a sari for his mother but nothing for his wife, his other child, and himself.

New Age correspondent in Moulvibazar writes: The low-income people like day-labourers, marginal farmers, and hawkers are becoming more and more worried as the Eid is nearing.

Noor Ali, a day-labourer of Barhat area in Moulvibazar town, said due to the price spiral of essential commodities and his poor income, it had become really hard for him even to arrange the bare minimum food for his family. He cannot even think of buying new clothes for his family members on the occasion of the Eid, Noor added.

New Age correspondent in Patuakhali reports that Sufia Begum, a widow of 60, who runs a family of seven by selling chatpati in Patuakhali town, said, 'I am yet to find the money for buying some gifts for my grandchildren while the Eid is knocking at the door.'

Jamal Sarder, a hawker, who lives in Kalatala Slum and runs his 6-member family by selling toys, said, 'I make a net profit of Tk 200 to 250 a day on average, which is not enough as my two children go to school. How can I think of buying new clothes for my family members at such high prices?'

Source : New Age