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Though Bangladesh Railway has allocated 33.12 bighas of land to set up CNG-stations in Dhaka and Chittagong, only one leaseholder out of 33 has been able to do so and the rest are using the plots for other purposes.
   As per the conditions of the allotment, the leaseholders had to set up the stations within six months of allocation, but they could not go by the conditions in over two years. Many of them rather have erected illegal structures, including slums, on the plots to make money, sources in the railway said.
   They suspect the leasees, most of whom lawmakers or leaders belonging to the ruling BNP, can use the railway property to build permanent structures instead of the stations as per their ‘blueprint’ to grab the plots.
   ‘Unless the communications ministry cancelled the allocation, the railway has very little to annul the contract,’ said one of the sources.
   According to the conditions, allotment of any leaseholder would be cancelled and his security money be declared forfeit if he fails to set up CNG-refuelling station and conversion factory within the stipulated period, but only one of the allotments was cancelled since the allocation in 2003.
   Sources in the communications ministry and the railway said all the allottees were either influential belonging to the ruling party or persons enjoying blessings of its leaders. Whip of the ruling BNP, Syed Wahidul Alam, BNP lawmaker Gazi Mohammad Shahjahan, former BNP lawmaker Selina Shahid are among those who got allocation.
   Bangladesh Railway in consultation with the ministry allocated 19.53 bighas of land in Dhaka and 13.59 bighas in Chittagong among 33 out of 611 persons who applied for the plots to set up CNG-stations in 2003.
   From one to one-and-half bigha of land was allocated to the persons for 15 years. The lessees in Dhaka paid Tk 15 lakh each and once the stations start functioning, the leaseholders in Dhaka have to pay Tk 15,000 a month, and in Chittagong Tk 10,000.
   Railway officials said Selina was only the lessee who had been able to set up the station in January, 2004 on the allocated land at Sayedabad and one allotment in Chittagong was cancelled but no step has taken yet regarding others.
   The railway additional director general, Mohammad Abdullah, told New Age that the issue was now up to the communications ministry. ‘We will act as per the directives from the ministry.’
   Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Communications, Syed Monjur Hossain, said the committee in its last meeting on March 5 asked the railway authorities to place a list of the people who received the plots.
   ‘The committee will definitely put forward recommendation to the ministry for taking tough actions if any irregularities found in the allocation of the railway plots,’ Monjur said.
   As irregularities came up in a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee, it formed a committee on February 14 last year to probe into the alleged allegations.
   In the meeting on March 5, the committee chairman asked the probe body to submit the report before the next meeting. Otherwise, he said, the committee to be replaced by a fresh one.

The owners of a filling station, Clean Fuel Distribution, are doing earth-filling at Hatirjheel on the Tongi Diversion Road without the approval of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha.
   The owners at the site have placed a sign that reads ‘The land has been allocated by the Bangladesh Railway.’
   Rajuk officials said everybody needs to take approval for the construction of any sort in areas under Rajuk jurisdiction, as provisioned in the Building Construction Act.
   But the owners of the filling station have not taken any permission from Rajuk for the construction.
   They also alleged that CNG filling stations have been set up haphazardly, in violation of the Rajuk master plan.
   Earth-filling of this kind is also violation of the Open Spaces and Wetland Protection Act 2000, they said.
   Three other stations — Navana Filling Station, Khandakar Filling Station and Ahmed Filling Station on Sonargoan Road and Tongi Diversion Road — within about one kilometre earlier did earth-filling at some places of Hatirjheel. But the initiatives were stopped by Rajuk in 2004, the officials said.
   Work on the construction of the Clean Fuel Distribution is going on just beside the Khandakar Filling Station.
   The Rajuk chairman, Shahid Alam, told New Age on Thursday that no structure without Rajuk approval would be allowed at Hatirjheel. He said Rajuk would take action against any such initiatives.
   ‘A plan to construct an elevated road at the place is under way and any earth filling will not be allowed. We will take proper steps in this regard,’ he said.
   Urban experts also expressed their concern about the matter as Hatirjheel is the main flood retention point of the adjoining areas.
   Architect Iqbal Habib, also an urban planning expert, said Hatirjheel, stretching from behind the Sonargaon Hotel to the Rampura Bridge, is the main component of the drainage system of the adjoining areas.
   The areas, including Panthapath, Karwan Bazar and Sonargaon Road, will remain clogged with water if the wetland of Hatirjheel is filled with earth.
   He said the government has cancelled its earlier plan of constructing a road from Panthapath to the Rampura Bridge on recommendations of a BUET study and amid protests of green campaigners; and earth-filling of this kind will not be allowed.
   The government is now working on constructing an elevated road so that the flood retention facilities and drainage are not hampered, he said.
   There was a big canal at the place and a box culvert was set up at Panthapath; now a large portion has already been grabbed, he said. Box culverts are not planned any more as they are not viable.
   The government has been planning reclamation of 43 canals in the capital and such earth-filling will only make the task difficult, he said.
   The government has made decisions several times to reclaim and revive the dead canals to address the problem of areas being clogged with water.
   Unauthorised land-filling and grabbing of major canals are blamed for poor drainage in the capital. Most city areas remained clogged with water for about a month in 2004.
   One-fourth of the Dhaka city went under water at that time and the government came decided on the reclamation of the canals.
   The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority has been given the charge to reclaim the canals. It has already prepared an action plan for the task.

The minister for education, M Osman Farruk, on Saturday said the government was planning to set up an accreditation council to oversee the affairs of private sector English medium schools.
   ‘The arrogance of some English-medium schools is intolerable,’ the minister said, addressing as chief guest the inaugural ceremony of a workshop on ‘problems and prospects of English medium education in the private sector in Bangladesh’ at the BRAC Centre Inn at Mohakhali in Dhaka.
   ‘We want to lessen the burden of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education and education boards to oversee the affairs of the English-medium schools in private sector,’ he said.
   ‘The authorities of a number of English-medium schools do not allow inspectors of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka to discuss the curriculum and syllabus,’ he said. ‘All should go by law.’
   ‘The workshop will be of use to us in our efforts to put together policies on regulations to create a uniform curriculum for all English-medium schools.’
   The daylong workshop, organised by the BRAC University Institute of Education and Development, was also addressed by the BRAC University vice-chancellor, Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Administrative Management Shahidul Alam and Rajeev Gopal of the South Asia Enterprise Development Facility.
   The university institute director, Manzoor Ahmed, Scholastica chairperson Yasmeen Murshed, principal of the Aga Khan school George G Kays and head of professional development in the Aga Khan Centre for Excellence Education Kamel Haque presented the keynote papers.
   ‘While having registration from the government is mandatory for private universities, why not for private English-medium schools?’ Jamilur Reza said.

The community centres run by the Dhaka City Corporation have shifted their focus to commerce, competing now with privately-run businesses of the kind.
   The centres were set up to promote community-based activities and meet the community’s cultural, aesthetic and leisure avocations or interests.
   There are about 500 private community centres in the capital who are renting out the space to outsiders for parties, functions or even commercial entertainment programmes. But the corporation centres were built and commissioned exclusively to organise and encourage socio-cultural activities of, for and by the community.
   The corporation took an initiative to set up one community centre in each of the 90 wards. The number stands at 39. The centres, according to the Corporation officials, were meant for cultural, social activities and community activities in the wards.
   The ordinance of the Dhaka City Corporation provides for these centres as places for recreation, games, cultural activities, dissemination of information on civic education and other such matters of public enlightenment.
   The corporation needs to provide and maintain public halls and community centres, the ordinance says, as also to hold exhibition of arts and crafts, promote at the centres.
   They will promote physical exercise, encourage people to play games and sports, hold rallies and tournaments, and take measures to promote cultural advancement.
   But most of the centres are now in poor shape. They have no facilities to serve their original objectives, said an official of the corporation’s social welfare department. The walls of the centres have gone into disrepair for years, with the plasters coming off at most places.
   The eight new centres of the corporation have gymnasiums, libraries, and ward commissioner’s office. But most of the space is used for individual accommodation like that of a Mess, said Suraiya Begum, Ward 32 commissioner.
   The gyms have no equipment and there are a small number of books in the libraries, which discourage people to visit the place.
   The rent of the community centres, which are now in poor shape, is lower than the rate of the private centres. The corporation centres charge a maximum of Tk 4,200 at night and Tk 3,700 in daytime. The lowest rent is Tk 1,300 at night and Tk 1,000 in daytime, the officials said.
   The Dhaka mayor in June 2003 announced that the community centres would be used for recreational purposes. But no step has yet been taken in this regard, the social welfare department officials said.
   The acting chief of the department, Mohammad Abdul Awal, said the corporation would turn the community centres into places for socio-cultural activities.

The Ananya Top Ten Award 2004 was distributed among the recipients at Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the National Museum in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Fortnightly women’s magazine Ananya organised the event for the 13th time from 1994.
   The winners were chosen for their outstanding contribution to their professions.
   This year’s recipients are Fazilatunnesa for social welfare in Rangpur, Siddika Kabir for cooking and nutrition, Monwara Hakim Ali for entrepreneurship in Chittagong, Hasna Jasimuddin Moudud for contribution to environment protection, Aleya Ferdausi as women’s sports organiser, Sharmin Aktar for shooting, Marjia Islam as the first woman to have won the sword of honour from the Bangladesh Navy, Sadia Sultana Sampa as the first woman to go on an expedition to Everest, Merina Tabassum for architecture and Rawshanara Roksana Sarkar for television programme making.
   Abdullah Abu Sayeed was present as chief guest and gave away the awards.
   He said gap between men and women will decrease further. The gap has already begun to decrease. ‘The main problem is our mentality.’
   The Ananya editor, Tasmima Hossain, presided at the ceremony.
   She said women have a greater responsibility to change the patriarchal mentality of the people by educating their children. ‘Women need to change their mentality first to do this.’
   Women need to understand their position and resist conspiracy against their development, said Tasmima.
   Fazilatunnesa, the oldest award winner, helped the refugees during the war of independence. She said social restlessness is a matter of concern nowadays and being mothers, women’s role should not be limited to their children. ‘They should also look after their neighbours’ children.’
   Sultana Kamal, a human rights activist, was also present.

Armed robbers stabbed four people, including two women, and allegedly raped a young maid before taking away cash, gold ornaments and other valuables from the residence of a travel agent at Mirpur in Dhaka early Saturday.
   The family members said the robbers sneaked into the first-floor residence of Rafiqul Islam, owner of a travel agency at Motijheel, in a four-storey building at Paschim Shewrapara through the window grilles at about 2:00am.
   The family members tried to resist the robbers. They stabbed Rafiqul, his elder brother Jalal Sikdar, his sister-in-law Shahina and the domestic help.
   The robbers raped the domestic help before going out of the house, they alleged.
   The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where they were under treatment till evening.
   No one was arrested.

The University of Dhaka has formed a committee to investigate why no classes of the Bangla foundation course for the first-year students of the arts faculty were not held during 2003–04.
   The officials said the authorities decided to provide clearance for about 2000 students of the faculty to be promoted to the second-year course without any examinations of the foundation course on the Bangla language worth 100 marks.
   The five-member committee was recently formed at a meeting of the academic council of the university.
   The vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, was in the chair.
   The pro-vice-chancellor, AFM Yusuf Haider, was made convener of the committee.
   Other members of the body are deans of arts and social sciences faculties, Wakil Ahmad of the Bangla department, and the examination controller.
   The arts faculty dean, Sadrul Amin, said classrooms were allocated to hold the classes and all the departments were informed of the matter orally.
   He said a letter was sent to the Bangla department in this regard on September 21, 2004 as per the decision of a meeting of the deans’ committee when the authorities had come to know that the classes did not begin even after about six months of its schedule.
   The Bangla department, however, did not take any initiative to take classes even after receiving a number of letters from the dean’s office.
   The foundation courses in Bangla and English of 100 marks each were made mandatory for the arts faculty students in 1998 to enhance language proficiency.
   Classes of the English foundation course ended in time.

The minister for communications, Nazmul Huda, on Saturday expressed his dissatisfaction over not using electronic traffic signal system effectively in the capital.
   ‘The electronic traffic system introduced to ease traffic congestion and ensure road safety has become ineffective,’ he said, at a meeting of the National Road Safety Council in the ministry’s conference room.
   ‘We are not getting fruitful outcome of the modern signal system because of lack of proper judgement and not obeying traffic rules,’ he said.
   The participants stressed seizing compressed natural gas-run three wheelers having false registration numbers, ensuring proper use of traffic signal, forming road safety committees at the upazila level and pulling down markets and other illegal establishment on roads.
   Nazmul directed the authorities concerned not to encourage VIP vehicles to disobey traffic rules. He also asked all concerned to create awareness of road accidents, said an official handout.
   The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman, Faruq Ahmed, Roads and Highways Department chief engineer, Mohammad Fayezur Rahman, members of the National Road Safety Council and officials of the departments concerned, attended.

Seminar on
maternal leave
Speakers at a seminar in Chittagong on Friday stressed awareness campaign to ensure rights, including maternal leave, of women workers. Karmajibi Nari in collaboration with Agrajatra organised the seminar at the Chittagong Press Club on ‘maternal leave: a basic right of women workers,’ accor-ding to a release. The Karmajibi Nari president, Shirin Akhter, presided at the seminar. The Chittagong mayor, ABM Mahi-uddin Chowdhury, was as chief guest of the programme. UNICEF representative Alamgir Bhuiyan, Agrajatra chairman Nilima Akhter Chowdhury, MA Group owner Amir Azim, the Chittagong unit president of the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal Nazim Uddin Chowdhury and freedom fighter Mesbah Uddin also spoke.
— BSS

Children’s
carnival held
A daylong children’s carnival, organised by the Bangladesh Today and the ACI Group, was held on the Bangladesh Shishu Academy premises on Friday. The carnival featured art competition and cultural show, said a release. The chairman of the board of advisers of the Bangladesh Today, M Anis-ud-Dowla, also chairman of the ACI Group, attended the function as chief guest. The Bangladesh Today editor, M Asafuddowlah, and Chowdhury Mughis Uddin Mahmood, principal of Al-Hera College, were present as guests of honour.
— New Age

Women urged to resist repression
The Communist Party of Bangladesh urged women folk to resist repression, tyranny and discrimination against them. The call was put out in a discussion organised by the party’s women’s unit marking International Women’s Day in the party office in Dhaka. The party general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, Maksuda Akter Lily, Saki Khondoker, Kulsum Begum, Luna Noor, Ienunnahar Lipi, Rasheda Kuddus and Joly Talukder joined the discussion with Syeda Ummehani Khanam in the chair.
— BDNews

Call to reactivate Mongla port
The Communist Party of Bangladesh demanded that Mongla port should be brought back into action. The party president, Manjurul Ahsan Khan, made the demand, addressing a rally at Shaheed Minar Square in Mongla on Friday. He called for the reopening of closed mills and factories, including Khulna Jute Mill, in the region. Sheikh Moniruzzaman, HM Shahadat Hossain, Zulfikar Ali, A Rahman, M Noor Alam and Nazmul Haq also spoke.
— BDNews