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The Khulna City Corporation and the shop owners of two markets are at loggerheads over the construction of a market by the corporation on Clay Road.
   The corporation on February 27 demolished some parts of the Moshiur Rahman Market and the Khulna Biponi Bitan upon the drain beside the road, ownership of which is claimed by both the corporation and the owners of the demolished shops.
   About 500 traders had been doing business since the past 25 years taking the land lease from the Bangladesh Railway, some shop owners said and added the corporation had also made some shops by the side of the drain in between the markets and the road and allotted it among the traders.
   But, according to the shop owners, the corporation is out to grab the land to build the multi-storied market although the land and the drain belong to them and they are paying taxes for those regularly.
   Construction of the new complex will not only destroy our business but also make narrower the Clay Road, the busiest road of the city, hampering traffic, they added.
   The corporation has blocked the area by putting fences and hung signboards declaring it restricted area. It has also deployed police and started construction work of the market complex by digging soil for foundation.
   Although the width of the Clay Road, as per government records, should be 45 feet, it is not more than 30 feet and if the road is widened at the place instead of making any structure, its width would reach to 45 feet there, they claimed.
   But if the corporation make the market on the place it would create severe traffic congestion on the area, they added.
   They corporation sources, however, said the shop owners of the two markets were opposing construction of the new market on plea of grabbing the drain and lessening the width of the road as once the multi-storied market is built, the two markets would go backside and it would loose attraction of the markets.
   ‘The drain belongs to the corporation and the market is being constructed rightly and it would not reduce the width of the road,’ said a high official of the corporation.
   Some other businessmen, who deposited money for getting allotment in the new market, said they had already deposited Tk 1,556 for per square foot to the estate department of the corporation and want to get their possession as early as possible.
   ‘If the corporation makes any structure, it must have to be done without doing any harm to the Clay Road. The corporation should also rehabilitate the owners of the shops which have been demolished,’ said Sheikh Ashrafuzzaman, the secretary general of Greater Khulna Development Action Coordina-tion Committee.

Charges for burial in all the five graveyards in the capital city under the Dhaka City Corporation are being realised at a rate pretty higher than the amount the authority has fixed. A certain quarter of dishonest officials is engaged in such malpractice in a nexus with some of the persons to whom the graveyards have been leased out, said a source in the social welfare department of the corporation.
   According to the city corporation, the fixed charges range between Tk 107.40 and Tk 386.25. But there are allegations that the employees assigned for the job of burial in the graveyards do not do the job if at least Tk 5,000 is not given to them, and sometimes, the charge goes higher than it.
   For a job of burial bamboo, chatai and bamboo fence are needed, which also includes grave digging.
   The source further said the lease holders of the graveyards are often found defying the city corporation rules.
   As per rule, a notice containing a list of burial charges is supposed to be placed in front of every graveyard, but it is hardly followed by anyone.
   ‘I found no such notice when I had recently visited a graveyard in the city,’ an official of the city corporation told New Age.
   When asked, Jamal Uddin, a Dhaka University employee who went to Azimpur graveyard last month for burial of his brother, said on Sunday, ‘Tk 6,000 was realised from me as a charge for the burial, but I knew later that the fixed rate was only Tk 107.40.
   ‘I was so emotional at that time that I did not bother to bargain with them’, he added.
   There are three sizes of graves at the graveyards under the jurisdiction of the city corporation. The small ones are meant for new born to 10 years old, medium for three years to 10 years old and the large ones for 10 years old and above.
   The charges for the burial are fixed at Tk 107.40 for Azimpur graveyard, Tk 267.50 for Mirpur, Tk 205 for Uttara, Tk 269.85 for Banani and Tk 386.25 for Jurain graveyard. These charges are never followed by the lease holders, admitted a high official of the corporation, which some graveyard officials echoed.
   An official of the corporation said, ‘People pay Tk 5000 and up for burial due to ignorance of the charge fixed up by the corporation.’
   Meanwhile, the city corporation’s social welfare department has sent a letter to the lease holders of graveyards to place the notice of charge lists immediately at each office of the graveyards.
   Any lapse in obeying the directive would lead to stringent measures against them, warned an official.
   A high official of the department told New Age that the corporation had proposed a hike in the current charges for burial in a work order for the 2004-2005 fiscal. The new work order is yet to be approved by the authority concerned, the official added.
   According to the proposed charges, Tk 598 should be paid to Azimpur graveyard, Tk 709.95 to Jurain, Tk 2,995 to Mirpur, Tk 1,451 to Uttara and Tk 2,113 to Banani graveyard.
   When contacted, two lease holders of Azimpur and Banani graveyards declined to comment on the alleged irregularities in realisation of burial charges.

The Dhaka Zoo has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock seeking risk allowance for the animal caretaker and some employees, the officials said.
   A zoo official said a number of accidents took place in the zoo in which several animal caretakers sustained injuries. But they did not receive any money for treatment.
   The livestock ministry officials said a proposal was sent to the finance ministry towards the end of 2004 which requested the fisheries ministry to provide it with some documents of such examples for the introduction of risk allowance. It also asked for identification of the victims.
   The zoo officials said the provision will not include the employees working on muster roll.
   The zoo curator, Mafizur Rahman, said the proposal includes 55 animal caretakers, zoo officer, and veterinary surgeons who are directly involved with taking care of ferocious animals.
   In 2002, a bear killed caretaker Ismail. His family did not receive any compensation except for some financial help contributed by the ministry staff from their salary.
   Since 1998, at least 12 caretakers were seriously injured in such attacks. A few of them had to leave their jobs being incapable of continuing in the jobs.
   In 1984, caretaker Dinu sustained injuries in the abdomen that forced him to leave the job.
   In 1998, caretaker Motaleb suffered knee fracture in an attack by a tiger. In 2001, Abul Kalam was injured and his patella broke in an attack by bear.
   Shah Alam sustained injuries in the leg when he was cleaning a tiger’s cage in 2001. In the same year, caretaker Sattar sustained injuries after a monkey bit his finger.

The Rajshahi University authorities and the police on Tuesday rescued a former leader of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of the Awami League, from the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activists, student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   The university officials said about 10 Chhatra Dal activists, including Safin, Miran, Johans, Tamal, Rabbul, Shipon and Bablu, picked up an expelled vice-president of the university unit Chhatra League, Mohammad Faruque, from a restaurant near the campus after he had failed to pay Tk 5,000 as the Chhatra Dal activists had demanded.
   The victim was taken to Nawab Abdul Latif Hall and was tortured, sources said.
   The provost, with the help of the police and the proctor rescued the victim.
   The proctor, Shamsul Alam Sarkar, confirmed the happening.

The British Council will begin a five-day festival, Connecting Futures Festival, on March 25. Young people of the United Kingdom and Bangladesh will join the event.
   The state minister for education, ANM Ehsanul Haque Milon is expected to open the festival.
   The council director, June Rollinson, at a briefing on Wednesday said the festival would bring young people together ‘not only to build friendship, but also to create mutual understanding.’
   British organisations such as the Scottish Youth Parliament, Student Council of University of Bath and Biswa Sahitya Kendra London will join the festival.
   ‘Connecting Futures Festival’ was first held in 2002 and also held events in India and Pakistan.

The work abstention programme of the interns at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital to protest against harassment by an attendant of a patient passed for the second day on Wednesday.
   A patient of Ward 15 in the hospital died allegedly because of negligence as there were no physicians on Wednesday.
   Sources said on March 21, the interns of Ward 22 and 23 began the programme as an attendant of a patient, Tara Bibi, roughed up the interns.
   They demonstrated in front of the office of the medical director and put forth eight-point charter of demands on Wednesday.
   The interns threatened that if the attendant, Shubha, was no arrested, they would continue the programme.
   The attendant alleged that when he requested to see his patient, a physician and some interns become furious and drove him off the ward.

The Japanese Universities Alumni Association in Bangladesh held a discussion in the auditorium of the Teachers-Students Centre at Dhaka University on Sunday celebrating the 34th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence.
   The discussants recalled the contribution of Japan to Bangladesh’s independence.
   The people of Japan stood by Bangladesh by giving both moral and material support during the war of independence, they said.
   Even the schoolchildren of Japan extended their helping hands by collecting money for the war victims, they said.
   The organisation, which initiated the action by the children, Banguradesu Tomono Kai (Bangladesh Friendship Society), is still active in the field of development of Bangladesh.
   The roles of Japanese politicians were also very supportive, they said. Within three months of victory, Japan officially recognised Bangladesh on February 10, 1972.
   The discussants also recalled former Japanese lawmaker Takashi Hayakawa for his advocacy for the cause of Bangladesh.
   Hayakawa was one of such Japanese politicians who loved Bangladesh so much that he had wished his ashes to be sent to Bangladesh after his cremation.
   Professor Ataur Rahman, director of Japan Study Centre, presented the keynote paper on the ‘Independence of Bangladesh and the role of Japan’.
   Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology vice-chancellor Musharif Husain attended the discussion as chief guest.
   Mustafizur Rahman also joined the discussion, chaired by the alumni association president, Mozammel Hoq.

The North South University vice-chancellor, Hafiz GA Siddiqi opened the North South University Wireless Forum on its campus on Monday.
   The forum has been formed to promote interactive and innovative concepts and
   partnership between the industry and the university in telecommunications, said a release.
   Hafiz said a high-tech nation and information superhighway cannot be imagined without wireless technology.
   Among other the pro-vice-chancellor of the university SAM Khairul Bashar, dean ANM Meshquat Uddin, computer science and engineering department chair Miftahur Rahman, Information Services director Farrukh Ahrned, the forum's adviser Khaled Mahmud and president Shabbir Ahrned also spoke.

Unocal Bangladesh president Andrew L Fawthrop recently opened the Dighalbak Sulaiman Sarkar Government Primary School.
   The new building of the school has seven rooms spanning 2,865 square feet.
   This school, with 300 students, is situated at Dighalbak, near Unocal's Bibiyana field. The land for the building has been donated by Alam Sarkar from the local community.
   The chairman of the Inathganj Union Council, teachers, students, people of the local community and Unocal officials were present.
   Fawthrop said, 'In all our activities, we are committed to improving the lives of people where we work.'
   He hoped the new building would help to provide better education for the children.

Sanowar Hossain, 17, a student of Class VII, has been suffering from heard disease and needs an open heart surgery. He is now under treatment at Ward 5 of National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases under the supervision of Noor Hossain. His father, a day-labourer, requested people and organisations for financial help. Money can be sent to account Sheikh Mohammad Adil, No 12799, Uttara Bank, Azimpur branch, Dhaka.

Bootleg cigarettes recovered
About 3,39,500 packets of bootleg cigarettes worth about Tk 2,80,00,000 were seized from two houses at Shantinagar in the Motijheel police area, the police said on Wednesday. They also arrested one Sohrab Hossain, 31, and one Mizanul Huq Nasim, 33, in this connection.
— BDNews

Japanese film
festival May 29
The Japan embassy will begin a three-day Japanese Film Festival at the Institute of Modern Languages auditorium of Dhaka University on March 29. The festival will begin at 4:00pm every day, said a release. The Japanese ambassador, Matsushiro Horiguchi, will open the festival. Animation film Tombstone for Fireflies will be screened first. Five other films to be screened are Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t at 7:00pm on March 29, Sadako Story at 4:00pm on March 30, Nodo Jiman at 7:00pm on March 30, Little Elephant at 4:00pm on March 31and Ame Agaru at 7:00pm on March 31.
— BSS

Sunsilk fashion
show held
The Sunsilk fashion show was organised by Sunsilk, Persona and Kaniz Almas at the Sheraton Hotel on Tuesday. Shahrukh Shaheed designed the dresses for the models; Kaniz Almas styled their hair. Television actresses Bijari Barkatullah and Dipa Khandakar, film actor Ferdaus, film actress Poppy, models Rumana, Monalisa, Novel and singer Meherin modelled in bridal dresses. The event concluded with songs sung by Bappa and Fahmida Nabi.
— New Age

Health management instt soon
The minister for health and family welfare, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, on Wednesday said the government would soon establish a health management institute in the capital. He was speaking at the 16th annual conference of the Association of Physicians of Bangladesh in a hotel in Dhaka. The association president, Professor Mobin Khan, chaired the function. The state minister for health and family welfare, Mizanur Rahman Sinha, health secretary AFM Sarwar Kamal, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University vice-chancellor MA Hadi and the association secretary general, MD Azizul Kahhar, also spoke.
— BSS

Memo signed on siesmic risk study
A memorandum of understanding to carry out collaborative research regarding the seismic risk evaluation and management was signed among Dhaka University and Rajshahi University of Bangladesh, Jadavpur University of India, Lyons University of France, Aachen University of Germany and University of Basilicata of Italy at the University Grants Commission building in Dhaka on Wednesday. The commission chairman, M Asaduzzaman, French ambassador Jacques Andre-Costilhes, Italian ambassador Pietro Ballero, commission members Mornirul Hoque, Badrul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, and Bruno Helly and Riccardo Caputo of the universities concerned signed the memorandum.
— New Age