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The Power Division has asked the authorities concerned to ensure installation of power transformers in all city establishments, residential and commercial, that consume over 49 kilowatts of power at a time before summer.
   The load on feeder power lines, including 11kW lines, has increased and it will be risky if individual establishments do not install transformers, the division at a meeting, chaired by the state minister for power, Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, observed on Wednesday.
   The division asked the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority and the Dhaka Electric Supply Company to take necessary steps in this regard.
   The Electricity Act requires an establishment to install a transformer if it consumes over 49 kilowatts at a time. But consumers have not complied with the law so far.
   ‘The load will be high in summer and if transformers are not installed at individual level, the substations and transformers on feeder lines will be at a high risk. They might trip,’ Iqbal said.
   Power consumption in many residences has increased over the years as a number of the residences have been turned into multi-storey apartments or commercial establishments, including garment factories, the meeting observed.
   Iqbal asked the officials of the power agencies to conduct a door-to-door study to identify buildings that consume
   more than 49 kilowatts and ask the owners to install transformers.
   ‘If they [the owners] do not install transformers, install transformers and charge the landlords in instalments,’ he directed the officials concerned, sources present at the meeting told New Age.
   The power supply agency officials said they had sent letters to the owners of many establishments for transformer installation.
   ‘We will conduct further studies to identify the buildings that will be left out,’ the DESCO managing director, Saleh Ahmed, said.
   He said although they had sent letters to the owners of a number of garment factories, such letters elicited almost no response from the owners.
   Iqbal asked the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association representatives, present at the meeting, to take steps so that factory owners install transformers before summer.
   Saleh told New Age on Friday that they had sent letters to the owners of many residential and commercial establishments to install transformers within three months.
   He said they would ask the owners of the buildings that house factories to install transformers if the factory owners do not install transformers. Saleh said the clients would need to pay for the transformers in 10 instalments.
   He said the cost of a transformer might be between Tk 3 lakh and Tk 5 lakh depending on power consumption.
   The officials of the supply agencies hope that tripping of lines and transformers on lanes and by-lanes would be
   reduced if transformers are installed at individual establishments.
   ‘Power outage will also be reduced,’ said an official.

The Basabo-Madartek Road has been lying in a dilapidated condition for the past six years.
   People may face serious accident anytime during journeys through the two-kilometre road under ward No 27 of the Dhaka City, condition of which worsened severely in the last year’s prolonged flood.
   ‘It is nothing but a trap of accident,’ said Afzal Hossain, a resident of Basabo.
   The people of Basabo and Madartek, especially the elderly, children and sick, have to face immense sufferings during journeys through the road, he added.
   The utility service agencies dug the road several times, but the Dhaka city corporation, the authorities responsible for renovation of the city roads, did not do their jobs properly, the local people alleged.
   They said the utility service agencies had dug the road several times in different points and filled it up by putting some soil and other construction materials, keeping the road in a bad shape.
   Besides, the corporation did not carpet the road in the past six years, resulting in its worst condition, they added.
   Al Mamun Sarkar, a resident of Madartek who have recently undergone a major operation, told New Age that although the doctor had advised him to avoid jerking, he had to face jerking continuously due to the dilapidated condition of the road.
   Another resident, Munawbeer Ahmed, said, ‘My 80-year old grandmother became sick a few days back and we, being failed to manage any ambulance, took her to hospital in rickshaw. Her condition deteriorated sharply due to excess jerking of rickshaw on the road.’
   Nipa Begum, a house wife of Madartek, said she suffers a lot everyday as she has to take her five-year old daughter to school and bring home in rickshaws through the road.
   Mohammad Azhar Hossain said he had not hired any school van for his six-year old son, fearing that his son might be injured inside the van due to the excess jerking.
   A high official of the corporation said the Basabo-Madartek Road and some other bad-shaped city roads will be repaired under a project after getting fund.
   ‘The Executive Committee of National Economic Council on January 9 has approved the project and we are hopping to get the fund within a month or two,’ he said.
   The Basabo-Madartek Road will be their first priority as the condition of the road is very bad, he added.

The University Grants Commission put forth a six-point recommendation seeking use of information and communications technology to improve higher education standards.
   The commission, in charge of monitoring, evaluating and regulating public and private universities, in its latest annual report stressed immediate implementation of the recommendation.
   The report suggested that the commission activities should not only be confined to grant affairs. It should also work for the development of the ICT curriculum of 73 public and private universities.
   A common library is required for all the universities in this regard, the recommendation said. Communication among organisations should be through information and communications technology.
   Ideas should be shared between academia and industry, it recommends. ‘There should be no compromise on the quality of ICT education.’
   A high speed broadband connection should be installed between the universities and the network should later be expanded to cover colleges and other institutions, the recommendation said.
   The report said information and communications technology will open up new avenues in higher education.
   ‘Full-time presence on the information superhighway is needed for universities and higher education,’ the report said.
   ‘The annual report for 2003 was scheduled to be published by March 2004, but it was published late because of non-compliance in providing information and statistics by the universities,” the commission chairman, M Asaduzaman, told New Age.

A large number of people crowded the Ekushey book fair on Friday, the public holiday that fell between the general strike of Thursday and another beginning from today.
   People from all walks of life even crowded the surrounding areas in the evening.
   The number of titles also increased on the day. The information centre reported 70 new arrivals till 4:00pm. The publishers said they failed to bring out books in time for general strikes.
   Language movement hero Ali Ahad donated the prize money of his Swadhinata Award of Tk 1 lakh to the Bangla Academy’s research, development and conservation fund.
   Novels topped the new arrivals with 26 titles, followed by collections of poems. Thirteen collections of poems hit the stalls on the day.
   Most publishers expressed their satisfaction with sale. Some said sales were not good in comparison with the number of visitors as the visitors failed to stand in front of the stalls for more than a few minutes.
   Strict security measures were in place. The police were deployed at places with an increased number of visitors. Bags were checked at the entrance with metal detectors. The Rapid Action Battalion members were in and outside the fair ground.
   No stalls or vendors were allowed on the pavement between the Teachers-Students Centre and Doel Square.
   Volumes of poems were on high demand as many young men bought them for exchange of spring greetings.
   Jagriti brought out a novel, Sarala, by Mohammad Lutfar Rahman. Agami published a collection of short stories, Apap Purush, by Rashid Haider.
   A volume of 10 novels by Rabeya Khatun was brought out by Anyadhara. The house published Chameli Hall-er Kayekti Meye by Milan Farabee.
   Ananya published Kabita Samagra 1 by Shamsur Rahman and Balika Ashram by Abu Hasan Shahriar. Translation of ghazals of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib by Dr Mafiz Chowdhury was brought out by Anirban.
   Agami Prakashan reprinted Humayun Azad’s Bhasa Andolan: Sahityik Patabhumi. The house also published Bhasa, Chinta O Prakriya Ebang Ekti Kabita by Simon Rian.
   Mawla Brothers brought out two new titles, including Mujibnagar Government Docu-ments 1971, by Sukumar Biswas.
   The Bangla Academy organised a drawing competition for children in the morning. Hundreds of boys and girls took part in the contest in three categories. Sculptor Ivy Zaman inaugurated the competition.
   The academy also held a discussion on the development of lexicography in Bangla Academy.
   Jahangir Tareque chaired the session. Ahmad Kabir read out the keynote paper and Bashir Al-Helal, AMM Hamidur Rahman and Mahbubul Huq joined the discussion.
   A session of Tagore songs was held in the evening.

There was a huddle around the big steel umbrella in front of the Bangla Academy as reporters from Channel-i were taking comments of people about this year’s Boi Mela.
   As the TV camera moved away, the crowd thinned. And around that time, a man was heard screaming and people started gathering around him.
   Dressed in a full-sleeve shirt and tie, the man was reciting poetry from a book.
   He answers today’s five questions.
   Name: Kabi Dr Adbul Hai Choudhury Polash (and he insisted the title ‘Kabi’ was included)
   Age: 52-55 (with a self-proclaimed margin of error)
   Occupation: ‘Full-time’ poet
   You seem to be furious. What is wrong?
   I am a poet. And this is my collection of poems written and published in 1999. I wanted the television reporters to take my interview, and discuss my book. But they simply didn’t pay any attention. And when I asked again, they refused and literally ran away. You know what, had I been a girl they would have paid more attention.
   Tell us about your book of poems?
   I have written on every conceivable theme in the world. And that is a challenge for all poets. Religion, romance, rebellion, rituals, what not!
   Who do you think are your readers?
   My last book is appropriate for students of class one all the way to master’s level. And I mean serious readers!
   Among the new books published this year, which ones do you think are really good?
   None. The modern poets compose poems with verses that do not rhyme. They are good littérateurs, but as poets they are failures. How can a poem be a poem if it does not rhyme?
   Do you have any new books coming this year?
   Yes, yes! Two of my new books — Kabitar Phul and Oshohae Pather Chele — are supposed to come out this mela. But they are stuck in limbo due to financial hardship. The government has bought two of my books, and I also get a meager Tk 720 honorarium every month.

Sammilita Sangskritik Jote, a coalition of cultural activists, chalked out a 14-day programme on Friday to observe Ekushey February and International Mother Language Day on February 21.
   The coalition general secretary, Golam Quddus, at a briefing at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity, announced the programmes. He said the coalition took all the preparations in this regard.
   The programmes are scheduled to begin on February 8 and will continue till February 21, at the Central Shaheed Minar and the Dhanmondi Rabindra Sarobar, he said. Programmes will begin at 4:00pm every day at the places.
   Poet Shamsur Rahman will inaugurate the programmes on Monday at the Shaheed Minar. Language movement hero Mahbubul Alam Choudhury will attend the ceremony.
   Another language movement hero, Imdad Hossain, will inaugurate the programmes at Dhanmondi where Sanjida Khatun will be present as a speaker.
   The programmes on International Mother Language Day will include mourning procession, discussion meeting, reminiscence, recitation, theatre, dance, children’s performance, mime show, street theatre, folk songs and other cultural presentations.
   A language day observance committee was formed with Manjarul Islam as its convener and Maskure Sattar as member-secretary for the Central Saheed Minar programmes.
   A similar committee was also formed for the Rabindra Sarobar programmes with Afjal Hossain as its convenor and Mahbubul Haider as member-secretary. The coalition leaders put out a call for the introduction of Bangla for all government and non-government functions other than foreign communications.
   They said Bangla must be used in hearing and verdict at all the levels of the judiciary. Article 3 of the constitution, which says ‘The state language of the Republic is Bangla,’ becomes useless, otherwise.
   The leaders demanded that all the signs, hoardings, names of government transports and others should be written in Bangla.
   The coalition president, Nasiruddin Yusuf, its former president Ramendu Majumder, presidium member, Dr Muhammad Samad, the Jatra Shilpa Sangstha president, Milon Kanti Dey, and its general secretary, Sharif Muhammad Iqbal, also attended the news briefing.

A three-day steering committee and technical committee meetings of the rice-wheat regional consortium among Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal will be inaugurated at the Spectra Convention Centre in the capital at 8:30am on February 6.
   The minister for agriculture, MK Anwar, will attend the inaugural session as chief guest, and the ministry secretary, ASM Abdul Halim, will be present as special guest.
   The chairman of the steering committee, Badararuddin Soomro, also chairman of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council, will preside over the session.
   About 128 rice and wheat specialists, policy makers, planners and representatives from agricultural organisations of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Mexico, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Australia, Philippines, Peru, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Taiwan and Africa are expected to take part in the meeting.

The Rajshahi District Sports Association and a number of BNP leaders have taken up another venture to do brisk business using the stadium.
   The sports association has planned to hold a month-long fair, Ananda Mela, at the stadium. About 50 toilets, two water tanks on the gallery, two restaurants, and a place of ablution at the VIP gallery have been installed within the stadium.
   Earlier, more than 100 bamboo pillars were installed to make pandals for holding the divisional union council representatives’ conference of the BNP on February 9.
   The sports association treasurer, Mustafiz Iqbal, also fair committee chairman, told newsmen on Friday that the stadium was dug up for holding the Independence Day football tournament in March and the sports association has no investment in the venture.
   Other association sources said the Rajshahi City Corporation is the organiser of the tournament.
   Another source said a number of local Juba Dal leaders, who are also executive committee members of the sports association, are bagging tenders of the fair. Tk 30 lakh has been estimated to come from the fair. The money will be spent on the football tournament, the sources said.
   But it is alleged that the notice of tender for the lease of the fair gate and 18 pavilions have been distributed without an open bid.
   The final decision on the leasing of the gate and the pavilions will be decided at a meeting of the association on Saturday, the sources said.

Two motorcycle passengers died in a road accident when a bus hit the bike on the Dumuria-Sharafpur Road at Moikhali under Dumuria upazila in Khulna Friday morning.
   The victims are identified as Rabiul Islam, 20, of village Dumuria and Abu Bakar, 25, of Dakkhin Dumuria.
   The Dumuria police and local people said when the bus hit the motorbike, Rabiul and Abu Bakar sprang off the road. Rabiul died on the spot.
   The local people took Abu Bakar to Dumuria Health Complex where doctors declared him dead.
   The police seized the bus, but the driver and the conductor got away, the police said.
   A case was lodged.

The Narayanganj Municipality Ward 5 commissioner, Mohiuddin Prodhan, 38, son of Saizuddin Prodhan of Nandipara, died of cardiac attack at about 2:30pm on Friday.
   He is survived by his wife and two sons.
   The municipality chairman, Selina Hayatt Ivy, condoled the death of Mohiuddin.
   His janaza was held after the magrib prayers. He was buried in the Mazdair graveyard.

Altaf visits
Masud Nizami
The minister for commerce, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, visited ailing journalist Masud Nizami at DAB Cardiac Hospital in the capital on Friday. The minister inquired about Masud’s treatment. He has been suffering from kidney problems and diabetes. The Dhaka Reporters’ Unity president, Shafiqul Karim Sabu, and other senior journalists were present.
— BSS

Juba Dal emergency meet today
An emergency meeting of the central executive committee of Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal will be held in its Naya Paltan office at 3:00pm today. In a statement, the Juba Dal president, M Barkat Ullah Bulu, and the general secretary, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal MP, requested all executive committee officials and members in Dhaka and presidents, general secretaries and organising secretaries of the south and north city units to attend.
— BSS

Citizen’s festival
in Khulna Feb 9
The Khulna Nagarik Forum will observe a daylong citizen’s festival at Zia Hall in the city on February 9, the organisers said at a briefing on Friday. The forum chairman, Sheikh Abul Kayum, Aloka Nanda Das, Shaheen Zaman and Mojammel Haque Hawlader were present. The organisers said the forum will assess their activities of the past year in the festival, make plans and hold a cultural programme.
— New Age

Rickshaw off-limit decision slated
Leaders of the Rickshaw-Van Employees’ Unity Council, a combine of six organisations of rickshaw owners and employees’, urged workers to go for a movement against the decision of off-limit to non-motorised vehicles from different roads in the capital. The Bangladesh Trade Union president, Shangha Khalilur Rahman, leader of the Samajtrantik Sramik Front Abdur Razzaq, front leader Shahadat, Biplobi Sramik Andolon leader Jafor Hossain, convener of the Rickshaw Sramik Front, Nurul Islam Ronju, Rickshaw Sramik Shangha leader Abul Kalam Azad, Dhaka Mohanagar Rickshaw Sramik Samity leader Razzaq Molla and the Rickshaw Ucched Protirodh Committee leader, Masud Ahmed, addressed the rally.
— New Age

CRP holds
‘sponsored walk’
The Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed organised a ‘sponsored walk’ at the Gulshan Park in the capital on Friday. The centre coordinator, Valerie A Tailor, and managing trusty and chief executive officer Shafi Sami led the walk in the morning. The centre trustee, Lina Alam, a former Canadian high commissioner’s wife, Carrolin Scott, took part in the walk programme.
— New Age