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A drive to pull down the illegal structures in the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra area starts tomorrow under a water resources ministry plan to permanently solve the water-logging problem in the area.
   All canals in the area will also be re-excavated and 22 more pumps be installed to pump out the clogged water under one of the two plans, short-term, the ministry finalised at a meeting Sunday.
   The meeting with the water resources minister, Hafiz Uddin Ahmad, in the chair has taken a Tk 233 crore project under the long-term plan implementation of which will begin with the availability of fund.
   The meeting identified unplanned urbanisation, grabbing and filling up of the canales, fish cultivation making dams and dumping of garbage into the canals and water bodies as the main reasons for water-logging in DND area inhabited by about 30 lakh people.
   ‘We have taken the plans to solve the water-logging problem and the eviction drive will start under the short-term planning,’ Hafiz told a briefing after the meeting.
   About the installation of 22 more pumps, he said 12 of them will be set up by the Water and Sewerage Authority and 10 others by the Water Development Board.
   The WASA and WDB have already been asked to set up the pumps immediately, he said.
   About the Tk 233 crore project, he said the project includes setting up a 50.2 cusec capacity pump house, re-excavation of the canals, blancing, modernisation, rehabilitation and expansion of the existing pump house and pumps. ‘Implementation of the project will depend on the availability of fund’.
   He, however, stressed coordination among departments like the Local Government and Rural Development, Rajdhani Unayan Kartipakkha, WASA and WDB to solve the problem.
   A technical committee headed by the WDB chief engineer has been formed to solve the problems on way to making the area free from water clogging.
   Representatives from the LGRD, RAJUK, WASA and DCC will be the member of the committee.
   Two local MPs — Salah Uddin Ahmed MP and Giash Uddin MP — present at the meeting assured of providing all cooperation during the drive.
   Giash said the drive would start in four parts of the areas at a time.
   ‘We have already reclaimed about 5km and about 25km area will come under the next drive,’ he said.

A mobile court on Sunday fined the managers of two restaurants at Gulshan-1 and Gulshan-2 Tk 50,000 for selling adulterated food.
   The court, led by Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Md Rokon-ud-Doula, arrested the manager of Shajna Hotel, Kamrul Asmar, at Gulshan-1 and fined him Tk 40,000. He was also sentenced to one-day imprisonment.
   The court also fined the manager of Whimpy Restaurant at Gulshan-2 Tk 10,000 for selling adulterated food and in default, one year imprisonment.
   ‘We have found stale and adulterated food, harmful chemicals at Shajna and adulterated bread at Whimpy,’ said Rokon-ud-Doula.
   The home ministry has formed two mobile courts on July 14 to try instantly the crooked restaurateurs and to reduce adulterated food.

Water supply to Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, known as Mitford Hospital, remained suspended for six hours from 6:00am Sunday due to a problem in the supply line.
   Patients found no supply of water when they went to washrooms after waking up in the morning. They had to use bottled water.
   ‘We had to use mineral water even in toilets,’ said a patient.
   The sufferings of the poor patients were beyond description as they have no capacity to buy bottled water.
   A number of patients were seen taking breakfast without morning wash while some others waiting for water.
   Hasmat Ali, a patient of the medicine ward, told the news agency that there was no water in the supply line from 6:00am to noon that caused enormous sufferings to them.
   ‘The children, women and old people were the worst sufferers.’
   Expressing her resentment, a female patient said she had to go to toilet with mineral water. ‘Think about the poor ones who do not have enough money.’
   In the doctors’ canteen, some were found taking soft drinks after having breakfast while some washing their faces and hands by mineral water.
   Despite serious water crisis, the director of the hospital was not found for his comment.
   The deputy director of the hospital, Sunil Kumar Das, said he was not informed of the disruption.
   ‘This is not the first time, the disruption in water supply is common,’ he said adding that they were facing the crisis for a long time.
   Besides, the lifts of the hospital are not functioning properly, he said. ‘We informed the authorities concerned about the crisis several times.’

Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka on Sunday inaugurated the Sayedabad inter-district bus terminal that was renovated and extended at a cost of Tk 17.80 crore.
   The mayor also assured of providing other structural facilities that bus owners and workers demanded at the ceremony.
   Funded by the World Bank, the Roads and Highway Department modernised the terminal under the Dhaka Urban Transport Project.
   The renovation and extension of the terminal began in September 15, 2003 and ended on April 14, 2005.
   After renovation, the 43,000 square metre terminal has 106 ticket counters, one passenger shed, one mosque, one police control building, four public toilets and one electric sub station.
   The Sayedabad Inter-district and City Bus Terminal Transport Owners Association put forward a charter of 13 demands on structural facilities at the inauguration ceremony.
   ANM Mozib Ullah Naser, general secretary of the association read out the charter of demands.
   The association demanded further extension on the eastern side of the terminal because after shifting the city bus terminal to Sayedabad, parking space has become inadequate.
   They said the terminal needed more entrance passages and exits as lack of these passages would lead to heavy congestion. They also demanded more toilets.
   Despite the renovation, the terminal faces water logging problem, lack of vehicle cleaning facility. There are no waiting rooms for the long route drivers, boundary wall or booking counters for the city services.
   They said the terminal has just opened but there are ditches in the terminal causing sufferings to the workers and passengers.
   Naser told New Age that the renovation and extension was not made with proper design.
   He said although the terminal was renovated and extended, security or traffic facility had not been extended.
   Sadeque urged the workers, owners and operators to keep watch on the maintenance of the terminal.
   Saifuddin Ahmed, chief executive of the Dhaka City Corporation was in chair while local ward commissioners, city corporation officials and transport leaders addressed the ceremony.

Electricity supply in some areas of the Chittagong city could not be resumed till Sunday, about 30 hours after the power outage caused by a mechanical fault in the Khulshi substation.
   The residents of Jamalkhan, Patharghata, Nasirabad, Chandgaon, Chawkbazar and Bakalia also faced water crisis due to the blackout.
   The 100-megawatt power substation tripped off at about 1:00pm Saturday sending more than half of the city into blackout.
   Power supply resumed in some areas after the 40-mw unit of the substation had been repaired at about 11:00pm Saturday, the Power Development Board sources said.
   A five-member committee, headed by the chief engineer of the PDB’s Dhaka Zone, was formed Sunday to investigate the substation collapse, and it was asked to submit the report within seven days.

Bangladesh is fortunate because it has plenty of natural gas and coal, needed to fuel economic development, said the adviser to the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, Mahmudur Rahman, on Sunday.
   At a time when many countries confront each other for control over access to energy, ‘Bangladesh is blessed with plenty of good quality gas and coal’, he told the inauguration ceremony of a five-day workshop on ‘ISO14000 Series and Environment Management System Implementation’ at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
   The workshop is organised by the South Asia Enterprise Development Facility, the University of Asia Pacific and the Engineering Staff College of Bangladesh.
   Mahmud also put emphasis on standardisation of products by improving management quality and conserving environment to compete in the global market.
   He also noted that Bangladeshi enterprises must cut energy waste and save cost to be more competitive in the overseas market.
   The vice-chancellor of the University of Asia Pacific, Abdul Matin Patwari, programme manager of the development facility, Manager Marlon Lezama, staff college honorary rector, MA Hannan were present as special guests.
   Matin underscored the need for complying with international environment management practices to survive in the global market.

A three-day housing fair, BD-RED Fair 2005, will begin at the Institution of Engineers, Chittagong on August 11.
   The Bangladesh Real Estate Directory in association with the Amin Mohammad Group, IDLC of Bangladesh, Ideal Home Builders, HSBC Bank, Berger Paints, Asian Paints and the RK Ceramics will organise the fair for the fourth time.
   Private TV channel ATN Bangla will be the media partner of the fair in which 58 stalls will be installed.
   A number of seminars and discussions on the housing problem and its solutions will also be held during the fair, which will remain open for all from 10:00am to 8:00pm.
   ‘We will organise the fair in the port city to focus on the prospect and problem of housing,’ the BD-RED executive director, Md Yasin Khan, told a press conference in Dhaka on Sunday.
   A raffle draw will be held at the end of the fair, he said. The first prize, a Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka air ticket, will be sponsored by Biman Bangladesh Airlines while the second prize, a Dhaka-Chittagong-Dhaka air ticket, by the GMG Airlines.
   Besides, Silk Line, an AC bus service, and the HSBC will provide bus tickets and gift boxes and the visiting children will be given colourful gifts.
   Naimul Islam and Mehedi Hasan of the BD-RED media cell were also present at the conference.

The Marico Bangladesh Limited has launched a soap brand, Camelia Beauty Soap, through a conference at a city hotel on July 11.
   The company recently acquired the brand from the Marks & Ally Limited.
   The company has ready marketed its coconut oil brand Parachute.
   Speaking at the launch conference, the company executive director, Praveen Dalal, introduced the soap brand. The brand will have only 1 variant, Beliphool, and will be available in three sizes.
   The launch conference was attended by all Marico Bangladesh Limited officials along with the sales people.
   The executive director, Praveen Dalal, sales head Arup Kumar Ganguly and brand manager Tanima Hassan also spoke on the occasion.

Professor Christian France-Lanord, director research of CNRS-CRPG, France called on the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, on Sunday.
   They discussed matters of mutual interest specially the existing scientific collaborative programmes between the soil water and environment department of the Dhaka University and the French CNRS.
   AHM Mustafizur Rahman of the department of soil, water and environment was present on this occasion.
   They also discussed the ongoing join-venture on the erosion of Himalayas and its impact in Bangladesh.

The Chittagong city journalists demanded arrest of and punishment for the doctors in Chittagong Medical College Hospital in 24 hours for assaulting a journalist at the hospital on Friday.
   The Chittagong Union of Journalists and the Chittagong Metropolitan Union of Journalists in a meeting at the Chittagong Press Club on Sunday raised the demand.
   Presided over by the CUJ president, Mustak Ahmed, the meeting also demanded investigation of other incidents of assault on journalists at the hospital.
   On-duty doctors of the burn unit allegedly assaulted Al Amin, a reporter of the Nayadiganta, when he went to gather information. The reporter filed a case with the Panchlaish police.

AAA awards scholarships
The American Alumni Association awarded scholarship of Tk 75,000 each to four students who got admission in American universities for the coming fall semester. The awarded students are Faiyaz Talukdar, Brandies University, Massachusetts, Rudmila Orin Rahman, Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, Tanzima Islam, Harvard School of Public Health, Massachusetts and Shiuli Mahmud, State University, New York. The award giving ceremony was held on Saturday. The association executives — Syed Almas Kabir, Ayesha Dastgir, Forrest E Cookson, Jonathan Cebra and Professor Akhtar Sultana — attended the programme.
— New Age

Debate contest ends
The two-day Archbishop TA Ganguly Debate Competition organised by the Dhaka Christian Chhatra Kalyan Sangha and the National Debate Federation ended on Saturday in the Church Community Centre at Tejgaon in the capital. Saint Francis Xavier High School became champion while Saint Nicholas High School runner-up. In the college category, Notre Dam College became champion defeating Holy Cross College. Notre Dam College ex-principal, RW Team CSC, was present as chief guest at the prize giving ceremony while Sangha president, Shuvo Micheal Rodrigues, presided over the ceremony.
— New Age

Badhir school’s demand
A meeting on Sunday demanded that the syllabus for the disabled students should be shortened and Dhaka Badhir High School should be brought under the Technical Education Board. The BRTC chairman, advocate Taimur Alam Khondaker, also managing committee of Badhir School, raised the demand while addressing the meeting at the school in the capital. The school acting headmistress, Masuda Akhtar, presided at the meeting organised for distributing stipends among 12 disabled students of the school.
— BSS

Function of Bhaoiya song
Bhaoiya Ongan on Friday held its monthly function on Nurjahan Road at Muhammadpur in the Dhaka city. The organisation has been working to collect and research Bhaoiya songs, one kind of country song. Singers of Greater Rangpur Kalyan Samity performed songs in the function following a discussion on Bhaoiya song. The samity organiser, Siddique Hossain Chowdhury, was present as chief guest and director general of the samity Rezaul Karim Ranju was special guest. Chairman of Bhaoiya Ongan Salma Mustafiz presided over the function. Hafizur Rahman, Salma Mustafiz, Hashi Sarkar, Lutu Sarkar, Manika Mustafiz Mon, AKM Mustafizur Rahman and Asad Babu were also present.
— New Age