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The Election Commission on Wednesday directed the returning officer of the Chittagong City Corporation polls to immediately investigate into allegations filed by the ruling four-party alliance mayoral candidate, Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin.
   The decision was taken at a meeting with the chief election commissioner in the chair.
   The meeting also made a review of law and order and preparedness for the polls scheduled for May 9.
   On May 3, Nasir filed two allegations against the Awami League-backed Nagarik Committee candidate, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, with the chief election commissioner.
   The allegations include use of corporation staff and walkie-talkies by Mohiuddin, and also his directive to his supporters to carry sticks. Nasir also accused Mohiuddin’s brother ABM Kabir Chowdhury of printing ballot papers with laser printer.
   Nasir, also the state minister for civil aviation and tourism, said Mohiuddin and his men often violated the electoral code of conduct and intimidated voters.
   The election commissioner, AK Mohammad Ali, told journalists after the meeting at the EC office, ‘The commission directed the election officials to be tough against them, who will violate the election code of conduct.’
   The commission also requested the home ministry to submit a list of vulnerable polling centres by today, said an election official.
   ‘So far we know there are no vulnerable centres, in the true sense of the term, in the metropolis. But we will consider those polling stations which lack good road communication as vulnerable,’ said Mohammad Ali.
   He also said all out preparations are almost completed to hold the polls on schedule.
   Printing of ballot papers is progressing fast and be completed within two days. The meeting also finalised the instructions for returning officers.
   The EC-organised training for polling officials in Chittagong is going on, said an official of the EC Secretariat.
   Responding to a question about frequent visits by government high-ups in Chittagong ahead of the elections, Mohammad Ali said, ‘Anyone can go there, but the commission will see whether they are provided with any kind of government protocol.’

Physical disability could not stand in the way of Shirin Akter, who became blind at the age of one year and a half after suffering from typhoid.
   After receiving her master’s degree and training in computer, she has now been working as instructor with the Vocational Training Centre for the Blind.
   After her primary schooling, as a residential student, at the Baptist Sangha Blind Girls’ School, she went to the Mirpur Girls’ Ideal School and received her secondary education degree in 1994 with a first division.
   She received higher secondary education at Badrunnessa Government Women’s College with star marks and went on to Dhaka University to receive her bachelor’s and master’s degree in English literature.
   ‘Nobody will make any place for me. I will have to earn a place,’ said a confident Shirin.
   ‘I had to compete with the sighted students with a common curriculum all through my studentship and the moment I heard my higher secondary examination results was most joyous in my life,’ she said.
   ‘I was very much attentive to my studies. I tried to secure full marks in all my examinations,’ she said. ‘So, when I failed to answer a question of five marks out of a 1,200-mark examination, I felt disappointed. But the results made me happy again.’
   She had to receive her degrees from the university where there are no other facilities for blind students but a quota in admission and a separate examination system.
   ‘There are no books printed in Braille with the university library. We recorded the lectures in classrooms and took notes form our classmates. We had to collect cassettes from the non-governmental organisations working for the blind,’ Shirin said.
   After receiving her master’s degree, she went to Japan on a month-long scholarship, provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, in computer skills development in August 2004.
   Shirin received training in telephone PABX and computer at the Vocational Training Centre for the Blind. She joined the centre as telephone operator in May 2004 and switched to work as computer instructor in November 2004.
   ‘If we can accept our physical disability, we should not face any difficulty in coping with other people,’ she said. ‘What we need is some policies which will help us to work with the mainstream workforce.’
   ‘I saw girl in a university hall who had been suffering from blood cancer. She had always been on medication. Then I though that I am better off,’ she said.
   She learnt recitation with Katha Abritti Charcha Kendra at the Teaches-Students Centre and became first among 34 members. ‘I like listening to radio plays and music and recitation,’ she said.

A prisoner in Barisal Central Jail will be hanged in the small hours Friday, jail sources said.
   Kamal Hossain Howlader of Wazirpur upazila was sentenced to death by the speedy trial tribunal on September 30, 1999 for poisoning his wife to death. The Supreme Court confirmed the punishment on August 7, 2004.
   The jail authorities started preparation for the execution after the president in mid April refused the mercy petition of Kamal, which was sent on November 3, 2004, the jail sources said.
   Kamal gave his sick wife, Hanufa Begum, of the same upazila, poison mixed syrup on May 22, 1998 and Hanufa died at a local hospital the next day.
   Hanif Howladar, elder brother of Hanufa, lodged a murder case with the Wazirpur police accusing Kamal.
   It will be the second execution in Barisal jail after independence, jail sources said. The first execution was in 1983.
   The sources said strict security measures have been taken in and around the jail to execute Kamal, one of the 48 convicts staying in the condemned cell of the jail. The 47 others included a female.
   Gallows has been prepared under a mango tree at the northern part of the jail and trials of the hanging have also been finished by hangmen in the last two days, they said.
   The jail authorities have sent letters inviting the district magistrate, the district judge, the civil surgeon and officials concerned to be present during the execution.
   Authorities of the Power Development Board have been asked to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the jail Thursday night, the sources said.
   Kamal’s relatives have also been informed of the execution and they have already visited him.
   The relatives informed Kamal of the execution, but they did not mention the date and time of his execution, jail sources said.

The police began further investigation of the murder case of the Khulna-based New Age correspondent Manik Chandra Sahah, also a BBC Bangla Service stringer, on a court order.
   The Khulna Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner, M Akbar Ali, told New Age that the police had received the order for further investigation from the Khulna chief metropolitan magistrates court.
   The Khulna police officer-in-charge, Md Iqbal, has been assigned as investigation officer, he said. Iqbal said he had begun work.
   The court officials said the Khulna speedy trial tribunal judge, Md Abdus Samad, on April 11 ordered further investigation and sent the order to the chief metropolitan magistrates court to refer it to the police.
   Manik was bombed to death on January 15, 2004 at Chhota Mirzapur, a few yards off the press club in the city.
   The police first filed the charge sheet in the murder case in June 20, 2004 against 12 people. They also filed a charge sheet in the case of explosion, in which Manik was killed, in March 2004 against 13 people.
   All the people accused in the murder case are also accused in the explosion case.
   Accused in both the cases — Ali Akbar Shikdar alias Shaon, Suman alias Nuruzzaman, Akram Hossain alias Akram Hawladar alias Bomber Akram alias Fata and Bulbul Hossain alias Bulu —are in jail.
   Of the accused, four were killed in encounters and six are in hiding.
   The Khulna special tribunal posted the next proceedings of the explosion case for May 11.

Rudra Sangsad will hold a daylong Rudra Mela on Friday at the Institute of Fine Art to mark the birth anniversary of the late poet Rudra Muhammad Shahidullah.
   Kamal Lohani is expected to open the fair; Asad Chowdhury, Mamunur Rashid and Asaduzzaman Noor will be present. The organisers at a news briefing at the Teachers-Students Centre, announced the programme.
   Rudra was born on October 16, 1956 in Bagerhat. He published several collections of poems. Rudra died on June 21, 1991.

A mobile court of the Chittagong metropolitan magistracy on Wednesday fined 23 people, including a filling station owner, on charge of giving short measure.
   The magistracy in separate drives raided Bahaddarhat kitchen market and the filling station at Nasirabad in the Chittagong city in the morning.

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority will conclude its month-long canal reclamation drive today, with demolition along the Zirani canal.
   The agency managing director, ANH Akhter Hossain, told New Age on Wednesday that the reclamation drive achieved an 85 per cent success.
   He said the authorities are demarcating the reclaimed areas. Concrete pillars will soon be set up for the demarcation; and the work expected to continue till June.
   Akhter said the World Bank is willing to provide the agency with loans for work to improve drainage and sewerage system.
   The drive began on March 29, with demolition along the Kalyanpur canal. The banks of the canals at Begunbari, Mohakhali, Segun Baghicha, Kantasur, Ramchandrapur and Ibrahimpur were also reclaimed.
   A team, led by the WASA drainage circle superintendent engineer, SDM Qumarul Alam Choudhury, along with a 60 policemen, conducted the drive.
   An experts’ committee, formed earlier on the directive of the minister for LGRD and cooperatives, identified the canals for reclamation at a meeting on February 9.
   The agency will soon prepare a master plan to improve sewerage and drainage system.
   A study, funded by the World Bank, will be conducted from June on how to make the infrastructure effective.
   The agency is also digging the canals already filled with earth to ease the flow of water.
   Sources said the agency expects $40 million for the drainage and sewerage infrastructure work.

The media studies and journalism department of the University of Liberal Arts of Bangladesh held a roundtable on ‘press freedom in Bangladesh’ on its Mohakhali campus on Monday, marking World Press Freedom Day.
   Social sciences dean Sakhawat Ali Khan chaired the roundtable where lawyer Amir Ul Islam, journalist Ataus Samad, National Press Club president Reazuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists president Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, also Bangladesh Observer editor, Dhaka University mass communication department chair Golam Rahman and teacher Gitiara Nasrin, the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association president Hasan Sharier, Mass-line Media Centre executive director Kamrul Hasan Manju and Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communication president Nayeemul Islam Khan, also Amader Samay editor, and Associated Press bureau chief Farid Hossain were present.
   The vice-chancellor, Kazi Shahid Ahmed, delivered the welcome speech.

The Australian high commissioner, Lorraine Barker, visited UCEP-Bangladesh office at Mirpur on Monday, said a release.
   She attended a briefing session in the office and visited the UCEP Dhaka Technical School for the underprivileged working children.
   Barker praised the role of UCEP in transforming the underprivileged urban working children into productive human resources.
   She spent two hours with the students. She assured UCEP of supports of all sorts from the high commission.
   UCEP board vice-chairman M Sirajul Islam said a UCEP model could change the destiny of thousands of poor working children.
   UCEP executive director Aftab Uddin Ahmad, a retired brigadier general, briefed Barker on the overall activities and plans of UCEP.

The 20th anniversary of death of the Elite Chemical Industries Ltd founder chairman, Shirajuddin Ahmed, was held in his Chittagong residence on May 1.
   He was also chairman of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries, the Tea Traders’ Association and initiator of the Arab-Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh General Insurance Co Ltd.
   The minister for foreign affairs, M Morshed Khan, state minister for civil aviation and tourism Mir Nasir, state minister for forest and environment Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, former state minister for civil aviation and tourism Mosharraf Hossain and former deputy speaker Ali Ashraf attended the programme.

Condolence book
at Indian HC
The Indian high commission has opened a condolence book in the commission on the death of Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora. The book will remain open from May 5 to 7 between 10:00am and 5:00pm, a commission release said on Wednesday.
— BDNews

Call for rehab for people with disability
The Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed, Savar, Dhaka organised a daylong workshop on ‘community-based rehabilitation assistance’ in the conference hall of Jafar Imam Tennis Complex on Wednesday. The speakers stressed rehabilitation of the people with disabilities to integrate them in the mainstream. CRP coordinator Velory A Tailor was in the chair. Deputy civil surgeon Jahurul Islam, deputy director of social services department Aftab Uddin Sheikh and CRP officers Alauddin and Abdus Salam and programme officer Shahnaj Parvin read out papers.
— BSS

Five JUJA members resign
Five members of the Jahangirnagar University Journalists’ Association — Nur Siddique of Prothom Alo, Billal Khashru of Bhorer Kagaj, Fuad Hossain of Ajker Kagaj, Fardin Ferdous of Amar Desh and Rafiqul Islam of Sangbad — resigned from the association in protest at the issuance of a show-cause notice against them by the association for attending a news briefing of a faction of the ruling BNP student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal on April 20. They tendered their resignation to the associationadviser.
— UNB

Indian defence team calls on navy chief
A 29-member delegation of the 17th Indian higher command course, led by Commodore SN Singh, called on the navy chief, Rear Admiral M Hasan Ali Khan, in the Naval Staff Headquarters at Banani in the Dhaka city on Wednesday. The delegation reached Dhaka on Tuesday on a five-day visit. The team will visit BNS Issa Khan, BN dockyard and BNS Shaheed Moazzem in Chittagong and is expected to leave Bangladesh on May 7.
— New Age

Press Freedom Day observed in Rajshahi
The Centre for Communication and Development and the Bangladesh Centre for Development, Journalism and Communications on Tuesday held an open dialogue in the Rajshahi City Corporation training room, marking World Press Freedom Day. The Danish embassy in Dhaka gave financial support for the programme. The programmes included rally, dialogue and discussion. Local newspaper editors spoke.
— New Age