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The daylong strike observed in Dhaka’s kitchen markets on Sunday affected the life of city dwellers, also hampering the businesses of food shops and restaurants.
   The Dhaka Metropolitan Fish and Kitchen Market Small Traders’ Association called for the strike, demanding demolition of unauthorised kitchen markets and restriction on vendors from selling essential commodities in such places.
   All the kitchen markets remained closed and many people returned home with empty bags as they did not know of the strike. Some vendors at some places sold their produce but at exorbitant prices.
   The traders’ association went on the strike demanding assurance from the city corporation of ensuring hygienic atmosphere in and around the kitchen markets and establishing more landing stations for kitchen goods.
   ‘Illegal markets affect our business as vendors and consumers cannot reach us. We pay taxes; but such illegal markets do not do so. Why should they be allowed to do business?’ said Anwar Hossain Sikdar, the association president, at rally at Muktangan on Sunday.
   The association also announced further agitation programmes to press the Dhaka City Corporation for necessary steps to meet their demands.
   The association has planned a sit-in demonstration in front of Nagar Bhaban on December 26 and a human chain agitation programme every day during December 6–15.
   The association leaders will meet the leaders of socio-cultural organisations and intellectuals to build opinions in their favour before going for the agitation programmes.
   The leaders said they did not call for the strike ‘suddenly.
   We have planned the strike only after failing to convince the authorities of their demands.’
   Sheuli Banu, a domestic help, failed to buy anything after going to Mirpur’s Rupnagar kitchen market, which was closed like all others.
   ‘My employer might be angry with me today. But I had nothing to do with strike,’ she said.
   Ramzan Ali, who runs a roadside restaurant, could not buy vegetables, fishes or meat because of the strike. ‘I could have bought something from vendors who had charged too much. But I would incur losses by doing so,’ he said.

Editors, architects and professionals urged developers and real estate companies to shift their focus to other towns from the Dhaka city to resolve housing crisis.
   They said population pressure on the capital city could be eased if the developers could build low-cost, modern apartments and develop plots in other towns and move some commercial activities outside the city.
   They suggested that the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh should make a long-term strategic housing plan and a short-time action plan for the next decade.
   They said this in an exchange of views on ‘city housing: context of next decade’ organised by the association at the Sheraton Hotel on Sunday as part of its series of discussions on city housing problems.
   The association president, Toufiq M Siraj, said they had formed a research wing to make a strategic plan in housing and hoped to prepare a review paper to be submitted to the government by June.
   Journalists said there were lots of policies such as the National Housing Policy, National Building Code 1993, and the Land Development Policy, but none of them were properly implemented.
   They urged a negotiation between Rajdhani Unnyan Kartipakkha and REHAB to properly implement the policies and housing plan.
   The daily Amar Desh editor, Ataus Samad, said, ‘Rajuk became a showpiece of the government. All policies and decisions come from the public works ministry.’ He said, ‘Rajuk could be a museum of corruption.’
   The daily Jugantor editor, Abed Khan, said developers should remain aware of sewerage, supply water system and other utility services when they plan projects. ‘Developers cannot do only business. They have some social responsibilities too.’
   Another discussant said bank loan interest for housing should range between 5 per cent and 10 per cent, which is now 16 per cent. He suggested developing flats affordable for the low-income people.
   Toufiq president said high price of land in Dhaka, and high transfer and material costs have increased the price of apartments.
   He said five- and six-storey buildings of the city, which are made 50 years ago or more,
   are now at high risk of earthquake.
   He said the government should take initiative of urban renewal programme, post-disaster management and new technology and an integrated utility facility system.
   REHAB will hold a weeklong housing fair at the Sheraton Hotel from November 23, he said.
   The REHAB general secretary, Mahmudul Hasan, executive committee member Syed Sirajul Huq, daily Manav Jamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, daily Naya Diganta editor Alamgir Mohiuddin, daily Amader Samay editor Naimul Islam Khan and Architecture magazine editor Anis Uddin Iqbal were present.

Twelve people were injured in police action on the students at BM College who vandalised the campus for the second consecutive day on Sunday, demanding that the college should be upgraded to a full-fledged university.
   Thirteen departments, canteen and auditorium of the Government Braja Mohan College were damaged during the about two-hour vandalism.
   They said the students under the banner of All-Party Students Unity, boycotting classes to press home their demand, brought out a procession at about 11:00am.
   The processionists turned unruly and started vandalising.
   They damaged the English, Bangla, philosophy, political science, economics, Islamic history, general history, accounting, management, physics and botany departments.
   A few policemen, on duty at the main entrance, tried to control the situation, but they were driven out by the agitators, led by the college students’ union vice-president, Mashiul Alam Sentu.
   Shortly after, the police went in action, injuring 12 teachers and students. Subinspector Habibur Rahman was also hurt.
   Of the injured, Nikunja Bala Palash, Imu, Rintu, Shoeb Ahmed and SI Habibur were given treatment in hospital.
   The students later held a rally with Sentu, also the city unit president of BNP’s student front Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, in the chair, and announced to continue the boycott.
   They also announced to bring out processions and stage sit-in from 11:00am to noon at all the city colleges today.
   The unity leaders also met lawmaker Majibar Rahman Sarwar, also the mayor and minister in charge of the district, at 2:00pm.
   Asking them to go for agitation in a peaceful way, Sarwar assured the students of talking to higher authorities.
   The principal, Md Nazimuddin, said they had reviewed the situation at a meeting of the academic council and informed the higher authorities of it.
   On Saturday, the students had vandalised a number of offices, including that of the principal and the vice-principal. At least eight persons were injured with the students thrown stones, and broken glasses.

The Jatiya Chhatra Samaj, student wing of the Ershad-led faction of Jatiya Party, on Sunday once again tried to reinstate itself at Dhaka University, but was compelled to retreat in the face of students protest.
   It was the second attempt of the organisation to run its activities at the university after the fall of the Ershad regime in 1990.
   The party first tried to bring out a procession on the campus in March 1996.
   Paribesh Parishad, an unofficial body of student organisations and procotorial body to oversee the campus situation, banned the activities of Chhatra Samaj on the campus.
   About 50 activists, mostly outsiders, gathered at noon and brought out a procession, chanting slogans in support of Ershad.
   As the procession reached Madhu’s Canteen, a few activists of Bangladesh Chhatra Union and Samajtantrik Chhatra Front resisted the procession.
   The Chhatra Samaj people got dispersed and other students chased them towards the library.
   Near the Teachers-Students Centre, Chhatra Samaj supporters faced students’ wrath and five to six were manhandled.
   The activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Chhatra League played the role of onlookers.
   The Chhatra Dal general secretary, Shafiul Bari Babu, said it should be inquired whether the people chanting slogans were university students. Left-leaning organisations brought out a procession against the attempted resurgence.
   They said the students declared them personae non gratae.
   ‘The students fought for eight years against the autocratic regime and would not tolerate their activities on the campus,’ said Baki billah, president of Chhatra Union.

The residents at Arzatpara in Dhaka on Sunday halted traffic on the busy Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue at Mohakhali protesting against ‘closure of Arzatpara-Nakhalpara Road’ by constructing boundary wall by the army.
   The people sat on the road and chanted slogans for about an hour from 11:00am which caused severe traffic congestion at the place and areas near by.
   The agitating residents left the place after police intervention and a negotiation between the local representatives and the army.
   Acknowledging that the land belongs to army, they said the lawmakers, HBM Iqbal and Mosaddak Ali, had earlier negotiated with the army to keep the road open.
   The army on Sunday suddenly began erecting a boundary wall closing the road.
   The Inter-Service Public Relations Directorate in a press statement on Sunday said the authorities had taken up a project for a welfare project on the land.
   A section of people obstructed the construction saying that it would create trouble for the movement of people.
   The release said the construction would not hamper the local residents as there is a separate wide road for their movement.
   It also claimed a section of people had grabbed a portion of the 2.18-acre land belonging to the Bangladesh Army Welfare and Rehabilitation Department and the army began erecting the boundary wall to stop such encroachment.
   The construction was postponed at the request of local elite, it said.

Barisal Bibhag Unnayan O Swartha Sangrakkhan Parishad formed a human chain and held a rally in the Barisal city on Sunday to press home its nine-point charter of demands.
   A cross-section of people including students, teachers, and political, socio-cultural and NGO activists took part in the programme.
   Chaired by the city BNP president, Mahmud Golam Salek, the rally was addressed, among others, by Advocate Hiran Kumar Das, Advocate Nazrul Islam, Dr Mizanur Rahman, Advocate Khoka Chowdhury, Giasuddin, Mohsinul Islam, Aminur Rahman, Majibur Rahman, Santosh Mukherjee, Ashish Dasgupta, Nurul Alam, and Maksudur Rahman.

The Barisal Reporters’ Unity on Sunday staged a sit-in programme in the city protesting against the killing of journalist Goutam Das in Faridpur on November 17.
   It also held a rally in front of the Ashwini Kumar Hall with the organisation president, Mir Moniruzzaman, in the chair.
   The rally was also addressed by the organisation’s former president Anisur Rahman, secretary Shawkat Milton, incumbent secretary Swapan Khandakar, Barisal Journalists’ Union secretary Toufiq Maruf, joint secretary Liton Bashar, Jugantar bureau chief Akter Faruk Shahin, and Samakal bureau chief Pulak Chatterjee.
   Speakers said killing of the journalists could not hamper their professional duties.
   After the gathering, participants paraded city roads and handed over a memorandum to the prime minister through the deputy commissioner demanding punishment for the killers of Goutam, and security of the journalists.

The two-week programme on ophthalmology of ORBIS, a US-based international humanitarian mission to promote capacity of eye experts of various countries and improve present poor state of blindness, was inaugurated on Sunday through a simple ceremony.
   A high profile multinational team, including ophthalmologists, nurses and anesthetists, of ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital arrived in the port city on Thursday.
   The Flying Eye Hospital in a DC-10 aircraft equipped and enriched with latest medical apparatuses and surgical tools to treat eye diseases stationed at the Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport.
   With the ORBIS Plane Programme-2005 chairman, Dr Rabiul Hossain, in the chair, the inaugural function was addressed as chief guest by director general of the Health Department Dr Shahadat Hossain.

Al Amin (Raihan), Class VII student of Khilgaon High School, has been suffering from aplastic anaemia since August.
   He is now under treatment in Dhaka Shishu Hospital where the doctors have advised his parents to send him abroad for treatment. Al Amin’s teachers and guardians organised a rally at the National Press Club on Sunday.
   His parents request financial assistance from all. He needs four bags of O+ blood.
   Money can be sent to the following address: Md Abul Kalam, 13/32, Khilgaon Staff Quarter, Khilgaon, Dhaka 1219. Savings account no 12100381751, Sonali Bank Ramna Corporate Branch, Dhaka. Mobile: 0172-830380.

Addiction rehab
camp in Ctg
Non-governmental organisation Young Power in Social Action began a two-week detoxification camp for drug addicts in Chittagong with the help of the Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company on Sunday. Additional divisional commissioner Golam Quddus opened the programme at the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry as chief guest. Chittagong division health services deputy director Rezaul Karim was in the chair. Kafco managing director Peter A May, Qazi Mohammed Saiful Alam and Mahbubur Rahman also spoke.

Demand for gas supply in Rajshahi
The Rajshahi Protection Movement Council lay siege to the office of the Rajshahi deputy commissioner and submitted a memorandum on Sunday demanding gas supply through pipeline, drive against illegal occupation of the Rajshahi embankment and an end to irregularities in Rajshahi Medical College Hospital The council leaders and activists also went out on demonstrations on the court premises where the council president, Jamat Khan, was in the chair. The rally was addressed by Bangladesh Bar Council member Yahea, ward commissioner Sazzad Hossain, Rajshahi Bar Association leader Entajul Haq, Drug Traders’ Association leader Harunor Rashid, Mahila Parisad leader Kalpana Roy, student leader Tutul, Monjur Hasan Mithu, union council chairman Manzil and Dabashis Pramanik Debu. The memorandum alleged that out of 18km embankment, 12 kilometres remained unprotected and occupied. On September 24, the Rajshahi mayor inaugurated an eviction drive on the embankment when only 3 to 4 unauthorised structures were demolished.

DU Bangla students submit memo to VC
The students of the Bangla department at the University of Dhaka on Sunday submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor, arts dean and the department chair to stop the commercialisation of education at the department. They vowed to continue their demonstration until the authorities stopped introduction of evening shift master’s course. The students alleged that some teachers of the department and activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal had asked them to stop going out on demonstrations. The department chair, Mohammad Abu Jafar, stands against the student’s position, saying the evening shift would be good for all.
— New Age