DCC plans action against road
digging job defaulters
HELEMUL ALAM
The Dhaka City Corporation is planning action against the utility service agencies who failed to finish road digging jobs on time.
‘We have sent a list of defaulters who failed to complete the work by May 31 to the Ministry of LGRD and Cooperatives in early June. We are going to take action against the defaulters,’ said the city corporation chief engineer, Md Idris Miyan, on Monday.
A corporation official said most road stretches remain dug up as utility service agencies, especially the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, have failed to finish job on time.
The workers at the sites said it would take 10 to 15 more days to complete the jobs.
Another corporation official said the ministry had extended the deadline up to June 15, but a number of jobs of the utility agencies, most of the water supply agency, remain unfinished.
The utility agencies dug up around 42.1 kilometres roads in the Dhaka city. Sources in the corporation said the water supply agency has dug up most of the stretches for development work.
More than a hundred roads in the capital remained in a poor condition because of digging involving 41 development projects. The unfinished jobs have been causing congestion on roads.
A corporation investigation in the Circle 1 area up to June 12 found that the water supply agency was yet to begin digging jobs on the Bagdasha Road and at Bangshal Lane.
The agency was scheduled to begin the job on April 20 and was supposed to finish work buy May 10.
Similar was the situation on roads and by-lanes at Rahmatganj where work was scheduled to be completed by May 2 and at Maneshwar First Lane and in Badda Nagar Road where the work was to be completed by June 9.
The investigation found 60 per cent jobs of the water agency have been completed on some road stretches.
The stretches are from the Notre Dame College box culvert to the Bangladesh Bank colony police box, the bank colony police box to the Fakirapool filling station crossing, and the sales centre of Toshiba to Naya Paltan, on the Inner Circular Road.
The works on the stretches were scheduled to be completed by May 21.
Only 60 per cent of digging jobs have been completed on the Middle Circular Road, on the stretch from the Rajarbagh Police Lines crossing to the T&T College crossing where the job was to finish by May 21, from ward commissioner’s office to Mamur Jame Masjid, where jobs were to finish by May 18, and Shantinagar Pir Shaheber Gali, where the jobs were scheduled to be completed by May 22.
The agency completed only 30 per cent work on the Hatirpool Bazar Road at Paribagh, where the jobs were to finish by May 25, 50 per cent work from the Central Road to Green Road, where the jobs were to finish by May 24, 80 per cent work at Paribagh and on the Elephant Road, where jobs were to finish by May 24, and 90 per cent of the jobs on the Eskaton Road by-lane where jobs were to finish by May 28.
Ninety-five per cent of the WASA jobs were completed on the Kalabagan second lane, and from Syed Nazrul Islam Sarani to the sales centre of Toshiba where jobs were to be completed by May 24.
Titas Gas completed only 85 of digging jobs from Swamibagh to the RK Mission Road crossing via Hatkhola. The jobs at the place were to be completed by May 28.
A number of road digging jobs in Circle-2 are also unfinished, although the deadlines have expired.
The corporation on April 30 asked the utility service agencies and other organisations to stop indiscriminate road digging before the rains and complete all such jobs by May 31.
Some utility agencies hurriedly completed the work, leaving the roads with big craters. These roads have not been repaired after the completion of development work.
The corporation is going to take action against the defaulters in line with the guideline of the one-stop cell of the corporation, said another official.
He said the corporation, on an order of the ministry, extended the deadline up to June 15, but the agencies, especially the water supply agency, have failed to make the extended deadline.
Based on a consensus of the utility agencies, the one-stop cell guideline provisioned that all digging jobs would be completed in 15 days. Only the water supply agency will have 21 days to lay sewers and water lines.
‘But the utility agencies never complete their work on time,’ said the corporation official.
No ambulance at RMCH for fuel crisis
Suppliers owe hospital Tk 1.68 lakh
SM HUMAYUN KABIR, Rajshahi
The ambulance service of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital has been suspended for a month as the fund for fuel has already been spent.
Hospital sources said the fuel supplier, who has a contract with the hospital, had stopped supply as the hospital owes him Tk 1.68 lakh.
The hospital authorities allocated Tk 4.5 lakh for fuel for three ambulances, power generators, jeeps and a boiler in the last financial year.
The contractor continued to supply fuel even though the total fund was spent four months before the expected time.
On May 7, the supplier issued a letter to the hospital authorities, asking them to pay the outstanding bill, saying
that otherwise he would be unable to continue supplying fuel.
Moreover, an ambulance is out of order and continues to remain so as the repair fund of Tk 70,000 has also been spent on purposes other than repair.
Sources said Tk 40,000 is spent on fuel for the ambulances, generators and other official vehicles per month, and the hospital earns Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000 a month from ambulance service.
The hospital authorities have hired an ambulance from the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence at a high rate.
The RMCH director, however, expressed frustration over the suspension of the ambulance service.
Insufficient, low-quality
food for zoo animals
TASLIMA MIJI
A faulty procurement system, spiralling prices and unchecked growth of zoo population have resulted in insufficient and low-quality food supply to animals at the Dhaka Zoo, claim sources close to the curator’s office.
The sources also allege that a section of employees pilfer the food allocated for the animals.
An increase in allocation for food from Tk 1.5 crore to Tk 2 crore will bring little benefit to more than 2,000 species at the zoo, if the problems are addressed effectively and immediately, they fear.
Terming the existing food procurement process faulty, a supplier said as the lowest bidders are awarded the contracts the bidders compete to quote lower rates to get the tender, which seriously hampers the quality and quantity.
‘When the price of beef in the market was Tk 80 per kg, it was being supplied at Tk 53 while it is now being supplied at Tk 75 though the market price is Tk 100,’ he said.
In this situation, there remains no alternative for the supplier but to compromise the quality and quantity, he added.
It is widely alleged that the suppliers in collaboration with a section of zoo employees either supply substandard and rotten food and fruits, or temper the weight to cope with their market prices.
Price hike of the food and fruits also compel the suppliers to adopt the unfair ways as they are not given the extra money for the increased prices, the sources said.
‘As we, according to the existing rule, have to award the contract to the lowest bidder, we have no scope to evaluate other details,’ said a zoo official.
Although the prices of almost all food items increased in the market, suppliers for most of the items quoted lower rates to get the contracts.
The supply rates for small fish, shrimp, indigenous fish, silver carp fish, taki fish, grapes, safeda, dates, gram, ground nuts, sun flower seeds, china gram, iodised salt, poultry feed, vitamin mineral premix (poultry), rabbit, guinea pig, lizard, snake, chicken and some other items in 2004-05 decreased significantly compared with those of the previous year, sources at the zoo said. The rate of meat, however, was increased.
There are also allegations that some employees of the zoo pilfer food and fruits after the suppliers hand over it to them.
The animal nutrition officer of the zoo, Shah Zaman Khan, denied providing of inadequate and low quality food to the animals.
‘We never accept the food if it fails to meet our quality and quantity. We check the food closely every day.’
He, however, said unchecked growth of animals is one of the major constraints to meet the food crisis.
He also told New Age that they were trying to increase the quantity of food and bring change on the menu to improve the health status of the animals. ‘We are trying to be more cautious in feeding the animals so that they can be in good health.’
He also mentioned a recent initiative of the zoo authorities in upgrading the menu for animals and measuring the need of food and timing of feeding.
‘Number of motor vehicles
should be reduced’
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The increase in the number of motor vehicles, especially the private ones, should be checked to keep cities green, said speakers at a roundtable on Monday.
The speakers, while addressing the roundtable on ‘the role of transport in maintaining a green city’, recommended giving priority to non-motorised vehicles, and roadside tree plantation for making the cities green.
Manusher Janya Rasta, a non-governmental organisation, organised the meeting at the National Press Club.
The length of railways should be increased and non-motorised vehicles such as bicycles and rickshaws should have separate lanes on roads to cut down air pollution, they said.
In the keynote paper, Maruf Rahman of Manusher Janya Rasta, said a green city should have plenty of trees, less polluted environment, enough light and fresh air.
The paper said ecology has been badly damaged in areas wherever motor vehicles are present in great numbers.
‘In Dhaka city, the government imposed a ban on two-stroke engines and buses older than 20 years, and claimed that air pollution has been reduced by 40 per cent. But recently, Moyuri, a two-stroke vehicle, has started plying the streets.’
The paper said due to the increase in the number of motor vehicles, the ambient temperature is going up in the city, and pollution — both air and sound — has taken a turn for the worse.
According to standard measure, one kilometre of road needs 25 acres of land, and the increased number of motor vehicles requires parking space, otherwise it will give rise to even more traffic congestion, warned the paper.
Kazi Faruq, general secretary of the Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh, said the number of vehicles is more than the capacity of the roads in the capital, and this largely contributes to traffic congestion.
The ‘Work for a Better Bangladesh’ project officer, Amit Ranjan Dey, moderated the meeting, while Deborah Ann Efroymson of WBB, Professor Roxana Hafiz of urban and regional planning at BUET and planner at the Urban Development Directive Mohammad Tariquzzaman addressed the meeting.
160 fastest of fingers in GP SMS contest
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
GrameenPhone identified 160 fingers that were the fastest in sending SMS (short message service) through a competition at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Monday.
The mobile phone operator organised a three-day SMS competition, aimed at creating awareness of the uses of SMS among the young generation of GrameenPhone users.
Around 15,000 GrameenPhone users, aged between 18 to 25 years, took part in the competition, and 160 participants were invited to the final round and the prize-giving ceremony.
Ten mobile users, all from different universities and colleges in Dhaka, took part in the final round.
Dr Md Rafiqul Bari Polash sent the SMS in the shortest time and won the first prize, while Md Nazrul Islam and Himel Nehrin Khaleq won the second and third prizes respectively.
The GrameenPhone presented all the ten SMS contest finalists with television sets, fridges, DVD players and handsets.
It organised SMS competitions in all the universities two years back, but this competition is the biggest SMS competition so far.
The GrameenPhone’s marketing communication unit’s deputy general manager, Ghalib Ahmed Ansari, said they
would organise such contests again, targeting certain age groups.
He said the mobile phone operators have already created a generation named ‘Djuice’, members of which converse in the language of SMS.
Two JCD activists placed
on 3-day remand
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The two activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, arrested from the Dhaka city’s Kakrail crossing area for snatching Tk 12 lakh from a jewellery shop employee on Sunday, were placed on a three-day police remand on Monday.
The Motijheel police produced the two — Golam Ohab Liton and Azizul Haque — before the chief metropolitan magistrate court Monday afternoon and sought a five-day remand for them.
After the hearing, the magistrate, Mir Ali Reza, granted a three-day remand and asked the police to be cautious during interrogation.
Earlier, the police recovered the looted money from a room of the Dhaka College international dormitory at about 12:30am Monday.
The money included Tk 10,04,900 in Bangladesh currency and 30,000 Saudi riyals found in an abandoned travel bag in room 324 of the dormitory.
On Sunday, three activists of the Dhaka College JCD — Ruhul Amin, Liton and Aziz — abducted the jewellery shop employee, Abul Kashem, from in front of Baitul Mukarram mosque.
Kashem was going to deposit the money with the Janata Bank at about 4:00pm when the muggers abducted him at gunpoint and sped away towards Kakrail in a car.
But the traffic policemen and local people rescued the victim when the car was forced to stop at the Kakrail traffic signal. Two of the muggers — Liton and Aziz — were arrested while the other, Ruhul Amin, managed to flee with the money and the firearm.
The police claimed that they launched raids at different places, including the dormitory room at Dhaka College, immediately after the incident but failed to trace him out till Monday evening.
The Natore police were also asked to raid his village home, but any message regarding his arrested was yet to be reached, the police claimed.
Water Kingdom inaugurated
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The Water Kingdom, a water park of the Concord Entertainment Co Ltd, was opened at Ashulia in Dhaka on Friday.
The inaugural programme featured fashion show, fireworks, concerts by Shaptak, LRB and Prometheus and other games shows. Chief and special guests were picked from the visitors who formally opened the park by releasing balloons.
The chief and specials guests received two colour television sets from TCL.
The Concord Group chairman, SM Kamaluddin, expressed his commitment to providing people with quality entertainment.
The sponsors and strategic members of the Water Kingdom distributed prizes among the winners of games shows.
The opening ceremony will be aired on Channel i on June 25 at 3:30pm.
DHL donation for AUST
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The DHL Express Bangladesh has recently given two computer servers to the Ahsanullah University of Science and Techonology, Dhaka for use in the information technology lab.
The DHL Express country manager, Desmond Quiah, iterated DHL’s commitment to working closely with communities it operates in. He presented the vice-chancellor, MH Khan, with the documents for the computer systems.
Inqilab chairman, four others sued
OUR CORRESPONDENT, Sylhet
A case was filed on Monday against five persons of the daily Inqilab on charge of publishing two ‘false’ reports.
The Sylhet city BNP president, Ariful Haque Chowdhury, also a ward commissioner of the Sylhet City Corporation, filed the case with the court of Class I magistrate, Habibur Rahman.
The accused are the chairman of the Inqilab Group, Maulana MA Mannan, editor AMM Bahauddin, executive editor Ruhul Amin Khan, news editor Abu Musa, and Sylhet correspondent Omar Faruque Al Hadi.
After accepting the case, the magistrate ordered for a judicial investigation.
According to the case, the Inqilab published two reports, Sylheter aghoshito montri Arif: du bochhore shato koti takar malik and Sylhete panch shatadhik hundi bybosayee khamotadhar city commissioner-er chhayay, on June 14 and 18.
The complainant claimed the accused had published false, fabricated, and baseless reports to damage his reputation and disgrace him.
Five witnesses in the case include special public prosecutor of the Sylhet judges court, Numan Mahmud, the Ward 5 BNP president, Zunnun Mahmud Khan, and ward commissioner Kayes Ludi.
Call for steps to solve water logging in city
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Speakers at a rally in Dhaka on Monday urged the government to take stern measures to avoid water logging in the capital during the rains.
Two green forums, Jana Udyog and the Green Force, organised the rally in front of the National Museum at Shahbagh in the morning.
They emphasised reclamation of all the 47 canals in the city from encroachment to restore normal sewerage system, essential for draining of rainwater.
They urged the government to keep city footpaths.
Presided at by the Jana Udyog central coordinator, Sharifuzzaman, the rally was addressed by columnist Sayed Abul Maksud, Abu Naser Khan, Shajahan Mridha Benu, and Golam Kibria.
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CITYLINE
Tk 2.4 lakh looted
at Pallabi
Robbers looted Tk 40,000 in cash, gold ornaments weighing 10 tolas and other valuables worth about Tk 2 lakh from the house of one Shahidul Islam in Road 1, Section 12, at Pallabi in the capital Sunday night.
— New Age
Newborn found
dead in Khulna
The Khulna police Monday morning found the body of a newborn at Iqbal Nagar in the Khulna city. The police said the local people saw the body of a baby girl in a cement bag on a drain slab. The police recovered the body and sent it for a post-mortem examination. A case was filed with the Khulna police.
— New Age
DAM signs hospital construction deal
The Dhaka Ahsania Mission on Monday signed an agreement with the Associated Builders Corporation Ltd for the construction of the 10-storey building of Ahsania Cancer Hospital to be built in the Uttara Model Town. The Ahsania Mission executive director, Kazi Rafiqul Alam, and Associated Builders Nazrul Islam signed the agreement. The project involves a cost of Tk 150 crore, he said.
— New Age
Training in research methodology
The Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities at the University of Dhaka will begin a weeklong training workshop in research methodology on Wednesday. The vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, will inaugurate the workshop. New teachers, PhD and M Phil researchers of universities will attend the course.
— New Age
Labourers’ memo
to Khulna DC
The Khulna-Jessore unit of the Bangladesh Pat, Suta O Bastrakal Sramik-Karmachari Sangram Parishad on Monday submitted a memorandum to the Khulna deputy commissioner to press home their eight-point charter of demands. The organisation said about 30,000 labourers and workers of eight state-owned jute mills are in a dire state as they had not received their wages for seven to 30 weeks and salaries for two to seven months. The memo demanded allocation for the jute sector in the budget, payment of labourers and workers’ dues, etc.
— New Age
Rally against
tax
on SIM
The Citizens’ Rights Movement will form a human chain for an hour from 100:00am at Shahbagh and will not use mobile between 10:00am and 1:00pm today demanding withdrawal of tax on SIM card and reduction of call rates. The group convener, Tusar Rehman, announced the programmes at a meeting on Sunday.
— UNB
WP slates attack
on Mahi
The Workers Party of Bangladesh on Sunday condemned the attack on the workers’ conference of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh in Bagerhat of Saturday. The party president, Rashed Khan Menon, and general secretary Bimal Biswas on Sunday in a statement said the police and BNP activists stopped the Bikalpadhara organising secretary, Mahi B Chowdhury, from joining the conference. Condemning the attack, the left leaders said the government was using party activists against opposition political parties. They called on the government to refrain from harassing opposition parties.
— New Age
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