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The compressed natural gas conversion centres in the city are experiencing unprecedented pressure with vehicle owners, particularly owners of private cars, flocking to convert their vehicles into CNG-run after the latest fuel price hike.
   The prominent CNG conversion centres have already been overbooked to satisfy the increased number of clients, mostly car owners, who are converting their vehicles to bring down fuel costs.
   Rahimafrooz CNG conversion centre, which has a capacity of converting 12 to 15 vehicles a day, has seen between 20 and 30 per cent increase in the number of customers.
   ‘As we can only convert a fixed number of vehicles, the pressure is now for advanced booking,’ said the sales and marketing team leader, Towhidul Islam.
   Anudip Conversion Centre at Moghbazar is also facing extra pressure from customers and is booked till September 18.
   ‘We would convert three to four vehicles a day, but now we convert eight to nine vehicles,’ said Anudip service engineer AFM Fozla Raihan.
   The authorities of some other prominent conversion centres said they were under increased pressure by customers, but did not say until when they were booked.
   According to sources in the conversion centres, most of the vehicle owners who were earlier hesitant about making their vehicles CNG-run considering the conversion cost have changed their attitude after the latest price hike of petrol, octane and diesel by an average of 17 per cent.
   The fuel cost for CNG-run vehicles is almost seven times lower than that of octane-run vehicles, they said adding that a CNG-run vehicle with a cubic metre gas worth Tk 8.50 can run the distance which an octane-run vehicle can with 1.25 litres of octane worth Tk 56.25.
   ‘After the octane price rose to Tk 45 per litre, there are two options for me — either to sell the vehicle or convert it to CNG-run. I simply can’t afford octane,’ said Tipu of Uttara.
   He was converting his vehicle at DL Filling Centre at Uttara, which is also faced with unprecedented demand of conversion.
   ‘On an average, we would convert between seven and eight vehicles a month. Since the fuel price hike, we convert between four and five vehicles a day,’ said DL service engineer AH Renoy.
   The little known centres, however, are yet to catch clients significantly. ‘We have converted one vehicle since the fuel price hike,’ said Golam Rabbani, a senior engineer of Jamuna Auto Workshop and Conversion Centre at Moghbazar, which is a few hundred meters north off the Anudip conversion centre.
   ‘Many come these days to ask about conversion. When they hear about the rate they feel discouraged,’ he said.
   A medium-sized vehicle costs Tk 40,000 to be converted into CNG-run. The rate differs depending on the configuration of a vehicle and the material to be used.
   All accessories, including cylinder and kit, are imported from Italy, Argentina, India and Brazil, but the Italian accessories are of the highest demand.
   Asked whether the conversion rate has been increased after the latest fuel price hike, the conversion centre sources denied it and linked it with inflation.
   ‘The customers think that we have increased the rate following the pressure. Actually, the price went up a month ago because of the increased dollar rate,’ said Hussain Haider Khan, a senior accounts executive of Aundip.
   The government has permitted 1,007 companies to set up CNG conversion centres but so far 40 centres have been installed of which 38 are in the capital.
   However, most of the centres are less known but claim their standard and quality is no less than those of the renowned one.
   ‘We use the same quality materials and got training from the same places. The difference is only that they are well known brand,’ said Rabbani.

Four mobile courts against food adulteration on Thursday conducted drives at different city bakeries, bread factories and restaurants including a university hall canteen and found fake food items, substandard food and artificial dyes, unauthorised bakery factories, and unhygienic environment.
   The teams realised Tk 4.64 lakh in fines and filed fourteen cases.
   The first court led by metropolitan magistrate Rokon-Ud-Doulah conducted a drive at the Al-Amin Bread and Fruits Industries at Jurain and Chistia Food Industries on Majar Road at Postogola and realised Tk 2.15 lakh in fines.
   At Al-Amin Bread, the team found 25-30 cartons of fake Cocola brand noodles, four sacks of rotten biscuits used as raw materials for preparing food items, burnt engine oil and recovered 15 to 20 types of food items produced by the industries without any approval of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute.
   The team realised Tk 1 lakh in fines from the marketing manager of the factory, Didarul Alam and sentenced him to one year imprisonment in case of default.
   The team also realised Tk 5,000 in fines from him and sentenced him to a month in prison in case of default, under the weight and measurement ordinance of the testing institute as the packets of foods bore no labels of weight.
   The court found substandard food items and chemicals in bottles without any labels at Chistia Food. The workers at Chistia did not wear gloves, those preparing the raw materials of bread and biscuit had dirty hands and their sweat dropped on the ingredients as they worked.
   The team realised Tk 1 lakh in fines from the manager, Abu Shama. The court fined him another Tk 10,000 and sentenced him to a month in prison in case of default as the packets had no label of weight.
   The second mobile court led by metropolitan magistrate Syed Muzibul Haque conducted a drive at four bakery factories at Demra and found unhygienic environment. These factories were running without any license issued of the testing institute. The mobile team realised Tk 80,000 in fines and filed four cases against the factories.
   The court fined Alam Bakery, Surma Bakery, Ekota Bakery and Mizan Bakery Tk 20,000 each.
   The third court led by metropolitan magistrate Mizanur Rahman conducted a drive at six restaurants at Chankharpool and a hall canteen of Dhaka University Amar Ekushey Hall.
   The court found rotten and unhygienic food at the restaurants and also found artificial dye, rotten edible oil and substandard food at the hall canteen.
   The court realised Tk 29,000 in fines from the six restaurants including Ekushey restaurant, Nurul Islam hotel, Chandpur hotel, Gazi Khabar Ghar, Mitali hotel and Ananda hotel. The mobile team also realised Tk 10,000 in fines from the hall canteen manager, Jahid.
   The fourth team led by metropolitan magistrate ABM Abul Fattah conducted a drive at five bakery shops at Gulshan and Baddah area.
   The team found unhygienic environment and substandard food inside the bakery and charged Tk 1.30 lakh in fines and filed five cases.

An employee of the Bangla daily Ittefaq was found dead with his throat slit on the ground floor of the daily’s office on Ramakrishna Mission Road in the capital on Thursday.
   The deceased was identified as Kamal Uddin, 42, a junior machine operator of the printing section, and resident of Khanpur village under Shibpur upazila in Narsingdi. He had been working at the press since 1986.
   The on-duty guard, Dhalu Miah, said Kamal entered the building at about 6:30am with a packet, probably food item, as his duty was scheduled for a period between 8:00am and 2:00pm.
   ‘At about 7:15am, another junior machine operation, Rakibuddin, came to the gate and asked for the key of the machine room,’ Dhalu said.
   Later Kamal was found lying on the floor inside the machine room in a pool of blood. His throat was slit and hands tied up, the police said quoting the witnesses.
   The shift-in-charge, KM Wazed Alam Swapan, said someone might accompany Kamal as the food he brought was more than enough to take by one person.
   An inkpot was also found beside the food, and it was brought there from the table of Kamal, he said.
   But Dhalu said only Kamal had entered the office in the morning, and he did not see anyone with him.
   Rakibuddin with two helpers Nuruddin and Sakib was staying inside the building after finishing their duties at the press early Thursday.
   On information, the Sutrapur police went to the spot and sent the body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy in the afternoon.
   The police also recovered a bloodstained knife and rope from the scene, and detained five employees — Nooruddin, Sakib, Rakibuddin, Dhalu Mia, and security in-charge Shahjahan Miah — for questioning.
   The police suspected the assailants were inside the office and killed Kamal when he entered there in the morning.
   Victim’s wife, Mahmuda Begum Dina, told reporters that her husband came out of their Dania residence at about 6:15am, and was scheduled to join his work at 8:00am.
   She alleged Kamal had a conflict with someone in the office over his promotion for which he was in fear. ‘A notice was also sent to Kamal from the employees’ union office, but he (Kamal) did not receive it,’ she said.
   Earlier another employee, Abdul Mannan, was shot dead and an outsider, Biplob, was killed in the daily’s office in 1994.

The archbishop-designate, Father Paulinus Costa, former bishop of Rajshahi, will take over the charge of Archbishop of Dhaka today.
   The Vatican ambassador in Bangladesh, Paul Tschang In-Nam, will read out the Papal Bull announcing the appointment to the office of Archbishop at Kakrail in the city. The Pope Benedict XVI made the appointment on July 9.
   Born on October 19, 1936 in Rangamatia, Gazipur, Paulinus Costa, received his early education at a local school. He enrolled with the Little Flower Seminary in Bandura, Dhaka. He matriculated from Bandura Holy Cross High School in 1955 and went to Notre Dame College in 1957.
   Paulinus Costa is the 3rd Bangladeshi Bishop of Bangladesh and 4th Bishop of the Archdiocese. He studied theology at the Propaganda Fide College, Rome and ordained priest on December 21, 1963, obtaining a doctorate in theology in 1981, said a release.

Chittagong and Sylhet Three persons were killed and another injured as a truck ran into a tea stall on the Ice Factory Road at Paschim Maderbari in the city early morning on Thursday.
   In Sylhet the driver of a three wheeler died in a road accident on the Burhan Uddin Road at Tultikar in Sylhet.
   The Chittagong police said four persons — stall owner Ali Fakir, Jasim Uddin, 30, of Muradnagar and Motaleb Hossain, 35, of Daudkandi in Comilla, and Abdus Salam, 40, of Mathbaria in Pirojpur — were injured.
   They were taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where Jasim, Motaleb and Salam died. Ali was undergoing treatment in a critical condition. The truck driver managed to escape with the vehicle.
   In Sylhet, the police said the accident took place when a truck and a three wheeler collided near village Mirerchak under Tiltikar at about 3:00pm.
   The driver of the three wheeler, Tafur Miah, 30, son of late Haji Syed Miah, of village Sonapur under Sadar upazila in the district, died on the spot. The driver managed to flee.

The first anniversary of death of Quazi Sajjad Hossain (Pappu), director (human resource) of the Reckitt Benckiser (Bangladesh Ltd), will be observed on Saturday.
   The deceased, eldest son of late Lion Quazi Muazzam Hossain who was member director of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation, died of cerebral haemorrhage at Apollo Hospital in Delhi.

AM Mezbahuddin Ahmed, a retired official of the Australian high commission, died of cardiac failure in Millennium Hospital in Dhaka on Thursday. He was 68.
   He had been suffering from cancer for years and was admitted to the hospital recently.
   He is survived by his wife and two daughters.
   He was buried at the Banani army graveyard. His qul khwani will be held at house-1/3, block-D, Lalmatiya, Dhaka on Saturday.
   Relatives and well-wishers are requested to join the programme.

36th Indian Int’l Film Festival
The 36th International Film Festival of India will be held in Goa, India between November 24 and December 4, said a press release. The festival, recognised by the International Federation of Film Producers’ Association, will have six sections —competition, cinema of the world, personality based foreign retrospectives, Indian panorama, mainstream Indian cinema and film bazaar. The last date for collecting entry forms is September 10 while the entry is subject to preview by a committee constituted by the festival directorate. Details are available with the information and culture wing of the high commission of India and at the website:iffi.
go.in.
— New Age

HIV/AIDS course begins Saturday
A four-day training programme on ‘HIV/AIDS, gender and human rights’ will begin in the Dhaka city on Saturday. Participants from different national and international organisations, including experts from FHI, SCF-USA, UNICEF and MSCS, will take part in the course organised by the HealthConsult Associates Ltd and NICARE at its Gulshan 2 office. The training aims at facilitating the participants in gaining a clear understanding and sensitising on prime issues related to HIV/AIDS in the context of Bangladesh.
— UNB

Charity photo exhibition for acid survivors
A two-day charity photo exhibition began Thursday at the Spectra Convention Centre in the Dhaka city’s Gulshan area to raise fund for acid survivors across the country, a statement said. The deputy British high commissioner, Stephen Bridges, inaugurated the show, organised by the Acid Survivors’ Foundation at the King’s Hall of the centre. A total of 70 renowned photographers and photo journalists donated more than 350 photographs for the exhibition. The exhibition was assisted by the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel, JCI Bangladesh and co-sponsored by the Sonargaon Hotel, Spectra Convention Centre, Banglalink, Nascom Ltd, TACK Training, Intelab, Kodak, Express One, North South University Social Services Club and Linkers.
— BDNEWS

Human chain in Khulna demands
safe road
The Khulna unit of Nirapad Sarak Chai formed a human chain at the Moylapota crossing in the Khulna city on Thursday, demanding safe road for all. Advocate Firoz Ahmed, Mamnura Zakir Khukumoni, Shaheen Zaman Pon, Kazi Hasibur Rahman, Selim Khan and Kamrul Hasan addressed the hour-long human chain. The speakers expressed their deep concern for road accidents in the southwestern zone and uprising of death tolls in the accidents. They blamed negligence of the traffic police for overlooking unskilled drivers and the Bangladesh Road and Transport Authority for giving license to the unskilled persons.
— New Age