Bangladesh: Cha Shramik Sangha demands release of leaders

Dhaka, July 6, 2014 (New Age): Leaders and activists of Cha Shramik Sangha, a front organisation of Bangladesh Trade Union Sangha, blockaded the Sylhet airport road Saturday afternoon, demanding immediate release of two arrested leaders of the organisation. Local people said Cha Shramik Sangha leaders and activists staged the demonstration on the airport road near Malnichhara Tea Garden suspending traffic on the road for about an hour. The demonstrators issued a 24-hour ultimatum for the release of BTUS district unit general secretary Rupak Das and district convener Nurul Islam Makbul of Krishak Sangram Samiti, another front organisation of BTUS. The Biman Bandar police said they resumed the traffic movement on the road at about 1:15pm dispersing the demonstrators. BTUS district president Abul Kalam alleged that the Biman Bandar police arrested Rupak Das and Nurul Islam Makbul without any specific allegation while they were returning home after attending a programme of Kalagul Tea Garden near the Sylhet airport Friday night. Biman Bandar police officer-in-charge Shah Zaman claimed that the arrested were accused in a case filed in connection with the attack on Kalagul Tea Garden workers on June 19. They were produced before the chief metropolitan magistrate court on Saturday noon and the court ordered them to be sent to jail, he added. However, tea garden workers said the BTUS leaders were trying to establish dominance over other workers’ organisations. They alleged that BTUS leaders also tried to resist them from registering their names on the voter list of Cha Shramik Union, the main forum of tea garden workers.

Bangladesh: 2 agencies accused of charging higher prices for Saudi visa

Dhaka, July 6, 2014 (New Age): Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies has accused two of its member agencies of charging an exorbitant amount of Tk 600,000 to Tk 700,000 for a visa for Saudi Arab. The recruiting agencies are Rabbi International, RL. No 258 and Assurance Services Company, RL No 1122, said BAIRA officials. BAIRA president Abul Bashar in a letter to expatriates welfare and overseas employment minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain urged immediate legal action against the agencies. Officials told New Age on Saturday that it was the first incident in which BAIRA accused its members of charging higher migration cost. According to the BAIRA letter, a total of 1322 Saudi visas were collected from Seder Group Trading & Contracting Co based at Riyadh in the KSA. Rabbi International bought 400 visas while Assurance Services Company bought 600 visas at the higher cost. A few other agencies were also trying to purchase the remaining 322 visas, the letter mentioned. BAIRA alleged that these agencies embarrassed the government as well as BAIRA by increasing the cost through visa trading. - See more at: http://newagebd.net/28182/2-agencies-accused-of-charging-higher-prices-for-saudi-visa/#sthash.T3Y1vR6Q.dpuf

Bangladesh: 2 agencies accused of charging higher prices for Saudi visa

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies has accused two of its member agencies of charging an exorbitant amount of Tk 600,000 to Tk 700,000 for a visa for Saudi Arab. The recruiting agencies are Rabbi International, RL. No 258 and Assurance Services Company, RL No 1122, said BAIRA officials. BAIRA president Abul Bashar in a letter to expatriates welfare and overseas employment minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain urged immediate legal action against the agencies. Officials told New Age on Saturday that it was the first incident in which BAIRA accused its members of charging higher migration cost. According to the BAIRA letter, a total of 1322 Saudi visas were collected from Seder Group Trading & Contracting Co based at Riyadh in the KSA. Rabbi International bought 400 visas while Assurance Services Company bought 600 visas at the higher cost. A few other agencies were also trying to purchase the remaining 322 visas, the letter mentioned. BAIRA alleged that these agencies embarrassed the government as well as BAIRA by increasing the cost through visa trading. 

Bangladesh: Arms, Phensidyl seized from BCL leader’s house

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Police recovered arms and drugs from the house of a Bangladesh Chhatra League leader in the city’s Khalishpur area early Saturday. The law enforcers also arrested two people in this connection. Tipped off, a team of police conducted a drive at the house of former pro-vice-president of Haji Mohammad Mohsin College Studetns Union and Chhatra League leader Lutfar Rahman Munna in Puratan Colony in the early hours, said SM Quamruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Khalishpur Police Station. During the drive, the law enforces recovered two homemade pipe-guns, three pipes used for making firearms, two springs, one machete and eight bottles of Phensidyl syrup.

Bangladesh: Scandal-hit BASIC Bank chairman quits

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Bangladesh Small Industries and Commerce Bank Limited chairman Sheikh Abdul Hai Bacchu has quit amid growing allegations that he misappropriated funds by approving shady loans of several thousands crore takas. The controversial chairman of the state-owned bank handed his resignation to the finance minister AMA Muhith Friday afternoon at the latter’s residence, two months before expiry of his tenure. Muhith, while talking to reporters Saturday at the secretariat, acknowledged that Hai, who was appointed chairman in 2009, was rewarded reappointment in 2012. The finance minister did not disclose the reason cited by Hai in his resignation, which, according to even many government officials, was long overdue given the unprecedented nature of the loan scam that has left the bank ailing. Bangladesh Bank detected anomalies worth more than Tk 4,500 crore and urged the finance ministry to dissolve the BASIC Bank board of directors, a couple of months ago. The finance ministry had been dillydallying on taking a firm decision on the loan scam in the BASIC Bank – a specialised bank once touted as one of the best-run public sector banks – first detected in November 2012. Muhith said Hai will be brought to book if found guilty. He also said they will reconstitute the board of directors of the bank and appoint a new a chairman. He said a notification in this connection may be issued on Sunday. Finance ministry officials said four bankers, including current Krishi bank chairman Alauddin A Majid, and a bureaucrat, are under consideration for the position of the new chairman, who will face the daunting challenge to lift the bank from its abysmal state. The default loans of BASIC Bank soared to Tk 2,557 crore last March from Tk 1,417 crore in February. Before making the recommendation to the finance ministry, the BB had fired the managing director of BASIC Bank for his direct involvement in the loan scam. The central bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the bank last July in a desperate bid to bring discipline.  The bank, however, failed to comply with the MoU.

Bangladesh: Iftekhar, 2 others injured in Rangamati attack

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Three people, including Chittagong Hill Tracts Commission member Iftekharuzzaman, also the Transparency International Bangladesh executive director, were injured as the commission’s motorcade came under attack in Rangamati on Saturday. The motorcade was attacked while Bengali settlers were demonstrating against the commission’s visit accusing the commission of being biased towards the hill people. Alongside Iftekharuzzaman, Rangamati Kotwali police station officer-in-charge Monu Sohel Imtiaz, who was escorting the commission members, and rights activist Ilira Dewan also sustained injuries when the attackers threw bricks on their vehicles. Ilira was given treatment at Rangamati Combined Military Hospital. The Bengalis under the banners of six organisations including Parbatya Bangali Chhatra Parishad and Parbatya Chattagram Sama-Odhikar Andolan were demonstrating against the commission’s visit to the hill districts, witnesses said. The protesters laid siege to Parjatan Motel where the commission members were staying and also blocked highways and waterways in Rangamati and Bandarban. ‘The protesters launched the attack all on a sudden as a vehicle carrying the commission members was leaving the motel for Rangamati district town under police escort,’ said the superintendent of police in Rangamati, Amina Begum. None was arrested in connection with the incident, Amina said, claiming that the situation was now normal. The Parbatya Chattagram Sama Adhikar Andolan coordinator, Moniruzzmaman Monir, said that ‘agitated mob’ might have attacked the car carrying the commission members. The commission team left Rangamati for Chittagong under police escort at about 3:00pm cancelling their programme in Rangamati and Bandarban, said the commission coordinator Hana Shams Ahmed. The six-member delegation of the commission already visited Khagrachari on July 3 to see if there were any incidents of human rights violation following the government move to establish Border Guard Bangladesh battalion headquarters at Dighinala. The team was scheduled to visit Rangamati and Bandarban also. Rangamati police, however, said the commission members were there as guests of Chakma Raja Debashish Roy to attend his wedding. Six organisations — Sama Adhikar Andolan, Parbatya Gana Parishad, Parbatya Nagarik Parishad, Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad, Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Oikya Parishad, and Parbatya Sama Adhikar Chhatra Andolan — on Friday called 36-hour road and waterway blockade in Rangamati protesting against the commission’s visit. They withdrew the blockade after the commission returned to Chittagong. 

Bangladesh: BNP prepares for movement, election: Fakhrul

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): The acting Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said that the party was being reorganised for intensifying movement after Eid-ul-Fitr and preparing for early elections simultaneously. He made the statement while talking to reporters after visiting BNP chairperson’s media wing official Shamsuddin Didar at a hospital at Mirpur. Shamsuddin was injured in a traffic accident on June 30 when he was returning home after attending an iftar party hosted by the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, at Eskaton. Fakhrul said that the government was not elected by people, but it was holding the power forcibly. Replying to a question about the prime minister’s comments that Awami League would foil BNP’s movement after Eid, the BNP leader said, ‘The ministers are talking nonsense. They are not elected by the people. The Awami League took away the peoples’ right to vote through the January 5 elections. The people now want them to quit.’ Doctors Association Bangladesh joint secretary SM Rafiqul Islam and BNP chairperson’s media wing official Sayrul Kabir Khan were present. 

Bangladesh: 25 hurt as fire breaks out at Tongi RMG factory

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): At least 25 people were injured in a fire which has broken out at a readymade garment factory at Sataish of Tongi in Gazipur on Saturday. Quoting survivors, fair service and police said the fire originated around 4:30 pm at SS and Fame Sweaters that is housed on the fourth floor of Chaity Complex and fire immediately spread to other floors of the building. All the injured had given treatment to different hospitals including Tongi Government Hospital. Seven units from Tongi and Gazipur and Kurmitola fire services rushed to the spot to douse the flame. Tongi fire service suspect that the fire originated from electric short-circuit. They said loss and damaged could not be known immediately. Officer-in-Charge of Tongi police station Ismail Hossain told BSS that at least 25 workers were injured. He said the fire was brought under control in the evening.

Bangladesh: Canal grabbing threatens city sewer system

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Unplanned development and illegal construction encroaching on natural canals, flood-flow zones and low-lying areas in the city and on its outskirts have jeopardised Dhaka’s sewer system, causing water-logging during monsoon every year, urban experts have said. They told New Age that absence of a common city development control authority had caused a lack of coordination among the public utilities that resulted in the mismanagement in the city’s drainage system. According to them, Dhaka did not have a proper drainage and sewerage infrastructure. The city, moreover, is expanding both horizontally and vertically at an uncontrollable pace, along with its growing population. In comparison, the drainage and sewerage facilities made little improvement over the years. Encroachment on natural canals, including Katasur canal, Ramchandrapur canal, Segunbagicha canal, Jirani canal, Shahjahanpur canal, Mohakhali canal, Debdholai canal and Kalyanpur canal was a major reason for water-logging, they said. Some of them said the existing drainage facilities could not operate at full capacity because of poor maintenance. ‘The city’s drainage system has broken down with its natural canals, water retention zones and low-lying areas gobbled up by land developers,’ said Jamilur Reza Choudhury, former vice-chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Urban expert professor Nazrul Islam, also the former chairman of University Grants Commission, said the problem of water-logging was rooted in the ad-hoc plans of the policymakers. ‘Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority or Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha or the city corporations do not have a long-term and coordinated plan to address the longstanding problem,’ he said. Had Dhaka city been developed in line with the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan, it would not have encountered this problem, he noted. Nazrul said no plans were executed as those were taken on an ad-hoc basis. On the other hand, he said, the government had no control over the unauthorised and unplanned development occupying canals and water bodies in and around the city. Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon joint secretary Iqbal Habib, also an architect, said the entire sewer system had turned ineffective due to ‘mismanagement by WASA, RAJUK and city corporations.’ The WASA has converted all the canals under its jurisdiction into ‘box culverts’ worsening the situation. The experts said that a city government system should be in place to streamlines the development with a long-term plan for the fast-growing city of Dhaka. According to officials of the respective agencies, the two city corporations have 999.468 kilometres of open sewers and 1052.19 kilometres of storm sewer network while the Dhaka WASA has 240 kilometres of storm sewer lines, including eight kilometres of ‘box culverts’, but none of the agencies took special measures to address water-logging before the start of monsoon.

Bangladesh: Downpours paralyse life in capital, other cities

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Capital Dhaka and the other cities woke up to heavy rains and congested traffic on Saturday. The downpour disrupted morning rush hour traffic in all the cities and several district towns. Traffic crawled on water logged roads with commuters finding it difficult to reach destinations. The non stop rains from Friday night caused water logging on several roads and low lying areas in the capital and other cities and towns disrupting normal life and economic activities. Dhaka city witnessed huge traffic congestion at many places with the roads going under water. Shortage of transports further aggravated public sufferings. In the capital pavement and slum dwellers were the worst sufferers. Makeshift shops and hawkers’ markets remained closed in most of city areas and kitchen markets had fewer buyers. Increased fares charged by rickshaw pullers and auto-rickshaw drivers hurt commuters’ purses. The met office in Dhaka, recorded 70 mm  of rainfall in Dhaka,  49 mm in Khulna, 40 mm in Barisal and 45mm in Rangpur in 12 hours ending 6 PM on Saturday. Coastal district of Patuakhali was battered by the highest rainfall of 154 mm during the period. The Met Office said light to moderate rains or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind would be experienced in most places in Khulna, Barisal and Rajshahi, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and Rangpur divisions in the next 24 hours from 6 PM on Saturday. Dhaka Met Office weatherman Arif Hossain  said the intensity of the rains might decrease on Sunday but normal monsoon rains would continue. The maritime ports of Chittagong, Cox’s Bazaar, Mongla and Payra have been advised to lower the local cautionary signal no three. According to Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre, the water flow in the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, Ganges-Padma and the Meghna were rising and water level had risen at 34 out of 83 monitored points. Only Kansha at Jariajanjail are flowing above their danger levels. In Dhaka, most of the areas of Shantinagar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Mogbazar, New Market, Mirpur, Green Road, Matijheel, Shahbagh, Gulistan, Chankharpool, Nimtali, Basabo, Jatrabari, Khilgaon, Demra and Pallabi went under water causing traffic jams. Flyover construction and wayside storage of construction materials multiplied the woes of the commuters especially at Moghbazar, Mouchak, Shantinagar, Shahjahanpur, Eskaton, Satrasta, BFDC, Panthapath, Dhanmondi and Gulistan areas, commuters alleged. Several auto rickshaws broke down with water entering their engines at water logged roads at Kazipara, Mirpur causing a huge tailback behind them, a commuter Ashraful Islam told New Age. He said it took him almost three times the   normal time to reach his office at Karwanbazaar from Mirpur. Thousands of other commuters had similar stories to tell. New Age correspondent in Khulna reports, heavy rains disrupted normal life in Khulna city Saturday. The rains caused water logging in most of the important roads and low-lying areas of the southern city. Slum dwellers became the worst sufferers with their shanties deep under water. Except for a few rickshaws most other vehicles stayed off the roads in the southern city under knee-deep water. The city’s low-lying areas were inundated particularly Labonchara, Harintana, Arhonghata, Rupsha strand road, Mistripara, Mohirkhalparh and Natun Bazar. New Age Correspondent in Barisal reports that non stop heavy rains for 10 hours  paralyzed normal life in Barisal city and disrupted its river communication with outlying areas. Barisal River Port authority suspended operations of smaller water transports on the river routes since 8 AM, Md Shahidullah, Barisal river port officer told New Age. Most people stayed home. In the district towns of Patuakhali, Madaripur, Feni, Maijdi Court, Syedpur and Bhola he stuation was no different,  reported district correspondents. 

Bangladesh gets back 75 bigha lands from India

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): Bangladesh has got back 75 bighas of land in Benipur frontier at Jibannagar upazila in Chuadanga that was occupied by India 67 years ago. The Border Guard Bangladesh took possession of the land from Indian Border Security Force on May 4 following a series of negotiations and handed over the possession of the land to Chuadanga district administration on Saturday. The Border Guard Battalion 6 director, Lieutenant Colonel SM Moniruzzaman, told New Age that the land was occupied by Indian in 1947. He said, ‘Indians had been cultivating the lands since 1947. The Indians, however, stopped to cultivate the lands in 2005, as the Bangladesh border force barred them from cultivating the lands claiming Bangladesh’s ownership of the lands showing valid documents.’ Moniruzzaman said that the border guards had several meetings with Indian land officials and border forces and finally the BSF handed over the possession of the land to the border guards on May 4 as they failed to show any document on their claim of ownership. ‘Earlier, the border guards tried to take possession of the lands thrice when Border Security Force of India had foiled the attempts,’ he said. The additional deputy commissioner (revenue) in Chuadanga, Abu Sayed, who take possession of the land from the border guards on Saturday, told New Age that the Border Guard Bangladesh officials wanted to build its camp on the lands and told him that they would apply to the authority concerned seeking allocation of the lands. 

Bangladesh: FFs database work suspended

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): The work of building up a database with detailed information of freedom fighters, started by the liberation war ministry in 2011, has been suspended due to an unusually large number of applications. About 300,000 people applied to be enlisted on the database, when the number of gazetted freedom fighters is around 209,000, and many of them did not even apply. The ministry, however, is scrutinising the applications cross-checking it with Mukti Barta (Lal boi), a list of freedom fighters prepared by the Awami League government while in power in 2001, which includes around 154,000 names, said officials involved with the database project. The ministry is currently at a dilemma about what to do with the applications that do not belong to any previous list. ‘We can’t outright reject names not included in the Mukti Barta as the enlistment of freedom fighters is a continuous process. So, we archived the entries of all applications,’ said an official of the ministry, preferring anonymity. The liberation war affairs ministry in 2011 initiated the Tk 4.46 crore database-building project, which will include a full list of freedom fighters, their background details and certificates on parchment paper containing nine security bar codes. The project was scheduled to be completed in June 2014 by two outsourced companies. The database was uploaded in February 2013 on the ministry’s website but was taken off last March when problems were identified. There were mistakes in the data entries and many of names included on the list were not freedom fighters, said an official of the ministry. Japan-Bangladesh Security Printing and papers Ltd, the company contracted to enter the information on the database, completed about three lakh entries. ‘We handed over our work to the ministry last year and now we are making 188,000 certificates,’ said Akramul Hoque, an official of Japan-Bangladesh Security Printing and papers Ltd. Another company, Saffron Corporation Limited, has been hired to scrutinise the information on the database. Saffron’s managing director Nirmal Goshwami, however, refused to talk on the issue. The ministry, meanwhile, has already requested the finance ministry to extend the database project. The liberation war affairs minister AKM Mozammel Huq said after solving the ‘problems’, the project will be resumed soon.

Bangladesh: Govt plans fresh fuel price hike

Dhaka, July 6, 2013 (New Age): The government is planning to raise fuel oil prices to increase its revenue by at least Tk 1,000 crore a year although it is already counting profit from the sector, officials said. It is yet to finalise the level of hike in the fuel oil prices and when it would come into effect, they said. In a bid to achieve the goal, the government increased the tariff value of crude petroleum oil to $40 per barrel, up from $32 per barrel and that of other refined petroleum products to $0.40 cent per litre, up from $0.31 per litre, the officials said. The previous rate of tariff value enabled the government to earn about Tk2,400 crore in 2013-14 financial year by realising taxes from the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation even after paying the state-run agency Tk 2,400 crore in subsidy for the year, the officials said. The BPC, however, incurred a loss of about Tk 3,000 crore in the last fiscal, a petroleum corporation official said. He said that the tariff value hike would cause the BPC to count an additional Tk 1,000 crore in loss a year, in the form of tax it would pay to the government. The government would shift the entire burden on the consumers by increasing the fuel oil prices, the official said. The NBR, on behalf of the government, realises tax based on the tariff value of a product which implies in a way that the more the tariff value the more the tax. The National Board of Revenue issued a circular in this regard immediately after finance minister AMA Muhith on June 5 proposed in his budget speech for increasing the tariff value of the petroleum products. The BPC informed the energy division about the possible impact of the increased tariff value of crude and refined oils on its financial status, BPC chairman Md Eunusur Rahman told New Age. When asked, he said that the BPC would count up to Tk 2 in loss per litre for the increased tariff value of petroleum products. ‘We would seek more money to make up for the additional loss,’ he said. In the 2013-14 financial year, the BPC paid about Tk 7.14 in taxes on an average for each litre of fuel oil to the government’s exchequer, a petroleum corporation official said. Now the government would increase the price of fuel oils at the consumer’s end so it would not have to pay it back to the BPC in subsidy, he said. BPC estimated that it would incur a loss of about Tk 3,000 crore in the 2013-14 fiscal year although the government gave it Tk 2,400 crore to make up for the loss, the official said. The government, showing the BPC as a losing concern, already raised the price of diesel and kerosene by Tk 24 per litre, from Tk 44 to Tk 68, and that of petrol and octane by Tk 22 per litre in five phases between May 2011 and January 2013. It also increased the price of furnace oil by Tk 36 per litre, from Tk 24 to Tk 60 per litre, in 2011. The NBR, in a desperate move to raise the revenue to make up for a potential budget deficit in 2014-15 fiscal year, issued a circular asking the BPC to pay taxes for imported crude considering the new tariff value. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, in his budget speech in parliament on June 5, 2014, argued that the international price of petroleum products had increased significantly in the last 10 years but their tariff values had not been revised during the period. On June 29, 2014, parliament approved the budget of Tk 2,50,506 crore for the new financial year, with a deficit of Tk 67,552 crore.