Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The overall flood situation in Kurigram, Nilphamari, Gaibandha, Sylhet, Sunamganj and Netrakona continued to deteriorate because of excessive rainfall and onrush of hilly water from across the border.
   The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre on Wednesday forecasted further aggravation of the flood situation in north and northeast parts of the country with the major rivers, including the Ganges, Padma, Meghna and the rivers in south-eastern basins, kept rising at all points.
   It also predicted that inundation of the low-lying areas in and around Dhaka and Narayanganj might continue as the rivers surrounding the city still flowed above their danger marks.
   Although the Balu registered 1cm fall at Demra point, it on Wednesday flowed 3cm above the danger level. The Lakhya rose by 4cm at Narayanganj while the Turag by 5cm at Mirpur.
   Out of 86 monitoring points water level was measured at 74 points on the day. Of them, 32 points registered rise, 33 fall, one remained steady and water was flowing above the danger levels at 10 points.
   The executive engineer of the Flood Forecasting Centre, Md Selim Bhuiyan, said the flood situation would deteriorate because of the continued downpour across the country.
   The met office recorded 124.3mm rainfall in Chilmari, 110mm in Dewanganj, 93.2mm in Bogra, 70mm each in Kanaighat and Sheola, 66mm in Rajshahi, 52.5mm in Kurigram and 50mm in Jariajajail in the last 24 hours ending at 9:00am Wednesday.
   It also forecasted light to moderately heavy rainfall at most places over the Brahmaputra basin and moderate to heavy rainfall at a few places over the Ganges basin, and light to heavy rainfall at most places over the Meghna basin and light to moderate rainfall at most places over the South Eastern Hill basin in the next 24 hours period ending at 9:00am Thursday.
   Meanwhile, the disaster management and relief ministry at a meeting on Wednesday instructed the district administrations to take necessary steps for the flood-hit people.
   The Kurigram correspondent of New Age reported inundation of fresh areas marooning hundreds of people.
   Traffic on the Kulaghat-Phulbari Road suspended as about half kilometres of the road went under water.
   According to the district administration, some 30,000 people were marooned in Phulbari upazila.
   The New Age correspondent in Sirajganj adds: At least 35,000 people were marooned and nearly five kilometres of roads were partially or completely damaged in last seven days.
   The Gaibandha correspondent of New Age adds: Fresh areas of the went under water while a portion of the Tongradaha Flood Control Embankment at Kasiabari washed away due to strong pressure of the flood water.

The government on Wednesday asked all concerned to take combined measures to reduce the suffering created by floods across the country.
   ‘Make joint efforts to mitigate the suffering of the people affected by floods,’ the food and disaster management minister, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, told government bodies concerned at an inter-ministerial meeting held in Dhaka.
   Secretaries of different ministries, heads of concerned government offices, representatives of the armed forces, Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organisation, Bangladesh Meteorological Department, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and Flood Forecasting Centre were present at the meeting.
   The government asked the district- and thana-level administrations to observe the flood situation regularly and take immediate steps to evacuate the people marooned at different places and take them to the flood shelter centres.
   The armed forces have been asked to keep rescue teams equipped with helicopters, boats and medical personnel ready for helping people facing calamity.
   The Dhaka City Corporation and the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority have been asked to be prepared to avert possible water-logging created by excessive rain in the city.
   Authorities concerned, including the local administrations, the armed forces, BDR, police, Coast Guard and fire services, have been asked to keep rescue boats standing by for carrying out relief operations.
   The finance ministry has reportedly allotted the necessary fund to repair and make 55 rescue boats, out of a total of 275 boats, functional immediately.
   The meeting also asked the district and thana administrations to keep some educational institutions, schools, colleges and madrassahs prepared to be used as flood shelters.
   The food ministry allotted 50 tonnes of rice and one lakh takas to be distributed as immediate relief to flood victims in each of the 64 districts, said meeting insiders.
   The meeting asked the Health Department officials to provide immediate medical relief by deploying medical teams and ensuring adequate medicines, water purifying tablets, bleaching powder and oral saline.
   The meeting asked the home ministry to take steps to maintain law and order in the affected places.
   The Roads and Highways Department, the Bangladesh Railway and the Telegraph and Telephone Department have been asked to maintain regular services in the flood-affected areas.
   Concerned officials have been asked to protect vulnerable dams, embankments, bridges and culverts which may be damaged by severe flood and river erosion.
   The ministries of agriculture and fisheries and livestock have been asked to keep the rural people updated and to provide necessary guidelines and assistance to protect crops, fisheries and livestock from flood.
   Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar have been asked to broadcast programmes to make the possible flood victims aware to be prepared to face the natural calamity so that their suffering can be mitigated.
   The food and disaster ministry has opened a central relief control room to monitor and take necessary action to face the floods.

Crops on 21,688 hectares of land in nine districts have been affected in flood so far, according to the latest information of the Department of Agricultural Extension. Sources at the DAE control room said four more districts — Narayanganj, Gaibandha, Sirajganj and Noagaon — flooded till Wednesday affecting crops on 6,688 hectares of land out of 67,120 hectares cultivated.
   Jamalpur, Sherpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur earlier experienced flash flood causing damage to crops on 15,000 hectares of land out of 82,720 hectares cultivated in the districts.
   The newly affected areas are Narayanganj sadar, sadar, Sadullahpur, Palashbari, Gobindaganj, Saghata, Phulchhari and Sudarganj in Gaibandha, sadar, Kazipur, Raipur, Tarash, Ullapara, Shahjadpur, Belkuchi, Kamarkhada and Chowhali in Sirajganj and Madha in Naogaon.
   In Narayanganj, 12,450 farmers have already been affected with the damage of crops on 1,001 hectares of land out of 3,089 hectares. The damage caused an estimated loss of Tk 3 crore.
   Crops on 902 hectares of land out of 8,927 hectares were affected in Gaibandha while 4,585 hectares out of 45,604 hectares in Sirajganj and 200 hectares out of 9,500 hectares were affected in Naogaon.
   The DAE control room sources said more than 45,000 farmers had been affected due to the damage of crops in Kurigram, Narayanganj and Sherpur.
   In Kurigram, crops on 348.94 hectares out of 3,074 hectares affected land damaged totally hitting hard 10,000 farmers while 22,700 farmers were affected in Sherpur as crops on 1,385 hectares out of affected 5,750 hectares of land damaged totally.
   In Jamalpur, crops on 2,000 hectares of land worth Tk 7.62 crore damaged totally. The total figure of land affected in the district is 6,895 hectares.
   A DAE official, however, said the estimation of loss caused by flood was in the very preliminary stage and the detailed figure would be prepared afterwards.

Six hundred workers were deported from Saudi Arabia empty-handed on Wednesday. The ill-fated workers returned home after passing through ‘horrifying experiences’ in Saudi deportation camps.
   After three flights brought them to Zia International Airport, many of the impoverished workers could not hold back their tears, thinking of their miseries abroad and of their uncertain future at home.
   It is the highest number of deportees in a day from Saudi Arabia. An official in the immigration section of the airport told New Age that around 3,000 workers had been deported in the past one month as they failed to show any work permits to the Saudi authorities.
   The workers, who had to sell their last assets to manage money to go there and get jobs, said hundreds of more Bangladeshi workers were languishing in different Saudi jails and were waiting to be deported empty-handed.
   Many of them alleged that they were detained and sent back despite having valid documents (Akama) to work, and accused both the Saudi and Bangladeshi authorities of being responsible for their plight.
   ‘Our embassy did nothing for us while Indian and Pakistani envoys were active and repeatedly visited the jail to get their nationals released,’ said Omar Farooq, who had spent a week in a detention centre.
   ‘We had nobody to help us and lighten our plight. The government, the embassy and the manpower agents are all thieves,’ said Muzammel Hossain, who hails from Comilla. He used to work as a driver for a family in Al Turabi of Tayef.
   Although Muzammel went there under an agreement that he would be given a monthly salary of 800 riyals, he was paid 550 riyals only and was also forced to do additional work at a farm.
   Many workers complained that non-payment or under-payment of the workers and handing them over to the police whenever they insist on their salaries has become ‘normal’ among the Saudi employers.
   The practice of denying payment seems to have become so widespread that even the Khadims (workers) of mosques are not spared, they said.
    Zirani Miah of Ujan Char in Brahmanbaria, who worked for 13 months at a mosque in Al Gassim, said that when he asked for his salary, the imam of the mosque told him to ask money from the Kafil (Saudi sponsor).
   ‘After failing to contact the Kafil every time I tried to, I asked the imam for my salary and he finally told me, ‘Pray to God and ask money from Him!’
   ‘Jews and Christians are far better than them,’ said Jirani, who had spent Tk 1,75,000 to get a job there. He has come back empty-handed and now faces a very bleak future.
   Like Jirani, many had to return wearing slippers, lungis and carrying gamchhas because they had no money.
   The workers described horrible experiences of torture in deportation centres by the Saudi policemen.
   ‘We were almost starved and kept in an inhumane condition in the jail for about 15 days,’ said Hirok from Pabna.
   He said Aminul, a detainee in the centre, was so severely tortured by the police that he is not able to speak anymore. Aminul was deported last week.
   Airport immigration officials said Aminul seemed to be totally traumatised and was only able to express himself by writing.
   Monir Hossain from Chandpur said at least one thousand Bangladeshi workers are living in an ‘unspeakable condition’ in the deportation centres where they are forced to stay in rooms that can accommodate only 200 persons.
   ‘The Saudi police used to beat us mercilessly and treat us like animals,’ said a tearful Tajul Islam of Comilla.
   A number of workers said each of them paid around Tk 1.5 lakh to middlemen, travel and recruiting agents.
   ‘I went there with a dream of changing my life and I sold out my land to do so, but now I have to start begging,’ said Jainal Abedin from Noakhali, holding a polythene bag in his hands which he said was his last possession.
   Secretary of the ministry of expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, AKM Shamsuddin, termed all the returnees ‘illegal workers’ and denied all the allegations raised by the returnees.
   He said either they have overstayed or changed their company without permission or had gone there with Omrah (pilgrimage) visa.
   ‘The government will take action if the returnees can produce “documentary evidence” to prove their allegations,’ said Shamsuddin.

The dead bodies of seven Bangladeshi workers, who died in Saudi Arabia in an industrial fire, arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   They died of suffocation on July 9 in Taef, a western city of Saudi Arabia, when a fire broke out in the factory that they had been working and living in.
   The bodies were brought from Jeddah by a Biman flight which landed at Zia International Airport at 8:54am.
   The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment took the initiative to bring back the bodies.
   The expatriates’ welfare secretary, AKM Shamsuddin, and Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training official Mostafiz Hossain received the bodies. The bodies were later handed over to the family of the victims.
   Shamsuddin told journalists that the factory authorities had given Tk 40,000 as preliminary compensation to each family.
   Payment of the full amount of compensation, which will be at least one lakh Saudi riyals for each of the deceased, may take three to six months to come upon settlement of the case now pending with a Saudi court, official sources in the ministry said.
   The owner of the factory was arrested following the death of the workers.
   The ministry is scheduled to send the list of nominees to the Saudi government today.
   The manpower bureau also provided Tk 20,000 to each family of the deceased for carrying the bodies to their village homes and for burials.
   Besides, each family will get Tk 1 lakh from the Wage Earners’ Welfare Fund in the country, the sources said.
   The deceased Bangladeshis are, Abdur Rouf and Dalim from Noakhali, Naser from Lakshmipur, Naser from Kasba of Brahmanbaria, Nizamuddin from Chandghar of Laksham, Nurunnabi, son of Shafi Mistri of Char Chandia in Feni, and Rafiq, son of Shahid Shikder of Khashial in Narail.

The Bolivian police have detained 27 Bangladesh citizens in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s largest city, for illegal entry.
   Prosecutor Jaime Soliz in the city, 570 kilometres south-east of La Paz, said the detained foreigners, picked in ‘six separate police raids during the morning’ were taken to police headquarters for interrogation Tuesday, according to NDTV.
   ‘They entered Bolivia in an irregular, illegal manner,’ Soliz said without providing details. ‘We believe Bolivia has become an open door for the entry of people who may pose a security risk for our country or others,’ he said.
   Authorities are investigating whether Bolivia is being used by a network of people-traffickers organised by Bangladeshis.
   The prosecutor’s office can hold the Bangladeshi nationals detained for 48 hours without filing charges, but Soliz said they would almost certainly be expelled.

The International Monetary Fund has renewed the pressure on the government for restructuring the nationalised commercial banks by fixing corporatisation and divestment targets for the Agrani, Janata and Sonali banks.
   The IMF has also asked the government to ensure full convertibility of the current account by June 2006.
   The government, under renewed pressure, has to privatise Agrani by June 2006 and Janata by 2007. The Rupali Bank is already in the process of being corporatised and the memorandum has already been issued.
   Before being privatised, Agrani and Janata have to be corporatised by December 2005 and June 2006 respectively, along with corporatisation of Sonali by December 2006.
   The government has already adopted action plans to operationalise bank-by-bank resolution strategies for the NCBs.
   The finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, has sent the IMF a letter of intent and memorandum of economic and financial policies to be fulfilled in the April 2005-June 2006 period under the poverty reduction growth facility agreement.
   ‘Under these strategies, three NCBs (Rupali, Agrani, and Janata) will be brought to the point of divestment in full or in part during 2005-07,’ said the MEFC.
   The government has to sign a contract with financial advisors by mid-December 2005 as a part of Agrani Bank’s privatisation process.
   The government also has to finalise the appointment of the management support team in Janata by the end of August 2005 and reconstitute the board of directors by December 2005.
   The Bangladesh Bank’s guideline has to be applied for reconstituting the board, ensuring that at least two board members have relevant banking experience.
   The government has to appoint financial advisor to Janata by the end of December 2006.
   For Sonali, the board of directors has to be reconstituted by mid-December 2005, according to the central bank guideline for board membership.
   In the letter of intent, the government also agreed to lift restriction to the convertibility and transferability of funds from non-resident taka accounts by June 2006.
   ‘Given the near-term outlook of the balance of payments, we think this is not the appropriate time to remove this restriction,’ the letter said, rejecting immediate withdrawal of such restriction.
   The memorandum, however, clearly says, ‘We accept to remove this restriction by the end of June 2006, with due attention given to having regulatory safeguards to prevent illegal transactions and limit the scope for capital outflows.’
   The current account has been partially convertible since 1994 but the IMF is asking for full convertibility of the current account as well as the capital account.
   The Bangladesh Bank, however, ruled out capital account convertibility in the near future.
   The government also has to set up an audit unit, headed by an advisor of the rank and status of a member, reporting directly to the chairman by November 2005.
   The IMF has so far disbursed four instalments worth $315.8 million as balance of payment support to Bangladesh under the PRGF agreement. The fourth instalment was delayed due to non-observance of Rupali Bank’s sell-out programme.
   Following a request from the Bangladesh government, the IMF in July 2004 approved $78 million from the newly created mechanism and so, added to the PRGF, the total amount of assistance is $585.7 million.

The chairman of the Premier Bank, HBM Iqbal, may face the central bank’s wrath for allowing the removed managing director, Kazi Abdul Mazid, to continue working at the bank.
   During a sudden visit to the head office of the Premier Bank on Sunday, a team of the Bangladesh Bank found Mazid working on a loan proposal.
   The central bank vigilance team seized the file from Mazid and asked him to explain the reason of his presence at the bank.
   Mazid reportedly defended himself claiming that he was there at an invitation of the bank’s chairman to discuss the operations of a private university.
   The central bank made the sudden visit, following allegations from different quarters that Mazid still attends his office at the bank and dictates management activities even after his removal.
   ‘It is a serious violation of the Bangladesh Bank’s order and the responsible person has to be penalised,’ said a senior official of the central bank.
   Due to his involvement in opening thousands of fake accounts with different branches of the private commercial bank to manipulate the initial public offering in February, the central bank removed Mazid and slapped a one year suspension on his joining any bank or financial institution as the chief executive.
   But, violating the central bank order, Mazid continued to work for the bank and even participated in the bank’s management decisions although an acting managing director had been appointed, said sources.

The parliamentary standing committee on the communications ministry at its first meeting in the Chittagong city on Wednesday recommended establishment of a new rail link between Laksham and Dhaka for faster rail journey on the Dhaka-Chittagong route.
   Chairman of the committee, Syed Manjur Hossain presided over the meeting at the Railway building where committee members, Ataur Rahman Angur, Harunur Rashid and Mohammed Ali were present. The state minister for communications, Salauddin Ahmed, took part on special invitation.
   After the meeting, Salauddin and committee members met journalists at a press conference where the secretary for communications ministry, Mohammed Shafiqul Islam, Bangladesh Railway director general AFM Mostafizur Rahman and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation chairman Taimur Alam Khandakar were present.
   Manjur said a decision had also been taken to renovate the rail link from Chittagong to Laksham and after implementing the projects, it would take only two and a half to three hours to reach Dhaka from Chittagong by train. Currently the trip takes five hours or more.
   The meeting also formed a four-member sub committee to find out the means of making the Bangladesh Railway a more dynamic and pro-people organisation.
   The sub-committee, headed by Manjur, is due to submit a report within 15 days with recommendations to make the railway more functional, he said.
   Replying to a query, Salauddin said construction of the third Karnaphuli Bridge, costing Tk 650 crore, would begin by November with financial assistance of Kawyet fund.
   He said the bridge would be constructed in cable strip system where a few pillars would be needed. He added that the decision had been taken to keep navigation on the Karnaphuli functional for smooth operation of the Chittagong port.
   Salauddin also said upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to four lanes would be completed by this fiscal year and construction of a road to Myanmar had already begun. It would connect the Chittagong port with Myanmar, China and Thailand.
   Responding to a query, Manjur said there has been no decision to turn the Bangladesh Railway into a corporation and added that the government had no such intention at all.
   He said the service quality of railway had decreased recently period as it has been neglected for long.
   He also said necessary measures were being taken to improve the service quality of the railway.

Ruling alliance candidate Maulana Shahinur Pasha Chowdhury won the Sunamganj-3 by-election in a close contest on Wednesday.
   Unofficial results showed Pasha of Islami Oikya Jote had bagged 42,944 votes while his nearest rival independent candidate MA Mannan got 38,875 votes.
   Post-election violence in the evening left 30 people injured. Seven of them were admitted to Sunamganj sadar hospital.
   Witnesses said supporters of rival candidates in Patharia and Gazinagar villages of sadar upazila engaged in the clash over a victory procession. Both sides used sticks and brickbats. Tension was prevailing in the area.
   The parliamentary seat fell vacant at the death of elderly Awami League leader Abdus Samad Azad. As in the past Awami league boycotted the by-election, but quietly lent support to Mannan.
   Voting was held peacefully under tight security measures. The turnout was relatively low due to inclement weather.

The Election Commission on Wednesday thought of going for preparing a fresh voters’ list, but it would invite political parties for a dialogue before finalising its decision.
   The decision was taken at a meeting of the commission with the chief election commissioner, MA Aziz, in the chair, where the top bosses of the commission agreed to invite general secretaries of 96 political parties for discussions by phases on July 26, 27 and 28.
   ‘According to the practice not rule, the commission makes fresh voters’ list prior to general elections. We have decided to sit with the political leaders next week for discussion,’ Aziz told journalists after the meeting.
   The Awami League and its allies in their recently announced proposals on the reform of the electoral system demanded a fresh voters’ list.
   The commission spent about Tk. 30 crore for preparing a digital database of voters’ list before the October 2001 general election saying that the commission would not need preparing a fresh voters’ list every time before a general election, and the officials estimated preparing a fresh voters’ roll would now cost about Tk. 40 crore.
   ‘It was done with a view to continuing maintenance through upgrading the records, and thereby saving a huge amount of money,’ said the then chief election commissioner, MA Syed, before initiating the project for preparing the digital database of voters’ roll.