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The government’s formal agreement with the Thai Airways to turn over the management and the operations of the Shah Amanat International Airport, Chittagong, to the latter has run into last minute snags.
   The Thai Airways apparently backtracked from the formalities concluded with the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh at the approach of the final hours, and had notified suddenly asking for a postponement of the handing over ceremony scheduled for March 31 last. The process has since remained hanging.
   ‘Although they [the Thai authority] said that they needed to reconsider the issue, the entire agreement is now as good as dead, with the Thai’s maintaining a total silence since,’ a top official of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh said.
   The official hinted that the huge losses incurred by the airport every year might have been scared them away from taking the operational charge of the airport.
   The Thais have been keeping silence for five months after having sent the sudden notice — a sufficient indication of their loss of interest in the arrangement.
   CAAB sources said that when the government completed all the formalities, including the distribution of the invitation cards for the signing agreement ceremony scheduled for March 31 last, the Thai Airways in a sudden notice postponed the programme, which created confusion among the CAAB officials about the agreement.
   The Thai Airways on March 27 cited unavoidable circumstances for the postponement of the ceremony. The notice signed by General Manager of the Thai Airways Bangladesh, Nibhat Santara, said that with the recent change in the Thai government, most of the board of directors of the airways had also been changed and the newly appointed directors were thinking to reconsider the issue, sources said.
   The CAAB officials also expressed their disappointment as the Thai Airways authorities also deferred the date of signing agreement twice earlier saying that that they were yet to be prepared to take over the responsibility of the airport.
   The government on June 23, 2004 decided to hand over the airport to Thai Airways for next 10 years at a contractual fee of Tk 52 crore in order to plug in huge losses by the airport.
   Under the contract, the Thai Airways will pay the government Tk 3.5 crore for the first year and the amount will stand at Tk 10 crore a year at the last part of the contract period.
   Following the contract, a delegation of the Thai Airways already visited Bangladesh on July 24, 2004 and the airport authority completed all the formalities, including the assessment of the inventory of its assets by the end of September.
   The Shah Amanat International Airport failed to achieve commercial viability and incurred an annual loss of about Tk 32 crore for the fourth consecutive year, which prompted the government to hand over its management to private operator.
   The Chittagong international airport went on operation on March 23, 2001 and the authority hoped that the up-gradation of Chittagong Airport into an International one would enable it to yield a handsome turnover.
   CAAB officials said that when the airport went on operation, the rate of jet fuel was cheaper in Chittagong in comparison to Dhaka.
   The authorities speculated that many aircraft would make stopover for refueling in Chittagong and the airport would achieve commercial viability.
   But all the calculations went in vain as price of jet fuel in Chittagong is differentiated by only a cent than that of Dhaka and the government took the decision of handing over it to private management to cut its losses.

Mobile courts against food adulteration, along with drives at food shops, raided a pharmaceutical company and filed a case against it on charge of having no licence at Demra in Dhaka on Monday.
   The company produces 24 drugs without any approval of the drug administration. Four courts conducted drives at restaurants and fast food shops, including Bombay Sweets.
   The courts realised about Tk 1.5 lakh in fines from the shops, restaurants and the pharmaceutical company. The courts filed 15 cases.
   A court, led by magistrate Rokon-Ud-Doulah, inspected the Grameen Pharmaceuticals at Demra and the Bombay Sweets and Chanachur factory at Shyampur.
   The court filed a case under the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution ordinance against Bombay Sweets and ordered a case to be filed against the drug manufacturer under the Special Powers Act.
   The court found that the drug company had the approval for the manufacturing of six drugs, but the company had produced 24 items without any approval. The company licence expired in 2002. The court found some illegal drug items including vitamins.
   The mobile court spokesman said, ‘The company used cattle feed chemicals to make drugs for humans.’ The court also seized all the drug items and directed the Demra police officer-in-charge to file the case.
   The court inspected the Bombay Sweets and Chanachur and seized more than a hundred sacks of Sizzling fruit flavours with crossed expiry dates.
   Another court, led by ABM Abul Fattah, inspected fast food shop and Chinese restaurants and fined them Tk 70,000 for keeping environment dirty and having no license from the city corporation. Three cases were filed.
   The court also realised Tk 40,000 in fine from Nandan, Tk 10,000 from Emmanuelle’s Chinese Restaurant for having no licence and Tk 20,000 from Ninfa’s Foods.
   The Nandan officials said the shop displayed more than 28,000 products for sale; and the court fined it for keeping some items in its store. They said only one of its 56 varieties of fishes were found ‘a little bit soft’ by the court.
   A court, led by magistrate Mizanur Rahman, inspected seven restaurants at Tejgaon and realised Tk 41,500 in fine from them. It filed seven cases.
   The fourth court of the day, led by magistrate Syed Muzibul Haque, inspected three bakeries at Sanir Akhra, realised Tk 40,000 in fine and filed three cases against the owners.
   The court found substandard oil used in biscuit manufacturing. It also raided Prime Bakery and realised Tk 10,000 from the factory.
   The court realised Tk 30,000 in fine from Emon Bakery as it had no licence from the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution.
   The court found Marigold Bakery without BSTI licence for making confectionary. The court directed the Marigold owner to appear in court.

Film maker Nathaniel Kahn, son of Louis I Kahn, the architect of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban, urged the Bangladesh government on Monday to protect the original design of the premises.
   He urged to declare the parliament building a national heritage site and to take measures to put it on the list of world heritage sites.
   Kahn made a feature film, ‘My Architect,’ on his father’s architectural work in Bangladesh and handed over the copyright of the film to the Institute of Architects Bangladesh in a ceremony at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
   He said the parliament building is one of the 20th century’s greatest monuments and Louis I Khan designed it through scientific research of the county’s culture and weather.
   He said the building was constructed on 800 acres of land, according to its original design, and the open space surrounding it was also in the design.
   The space around the building must be protected, he said. ‘I visited the parliament building and met the speaker and other lawmakers and urged them to declare the site a national heritage site and to protect the original design.’
   He said architects all over the world and Bangladeshis are concerned about the preservation of the original design.
   Kahn gave away the copyright of his film on Louis I Kahn as a gift to the Bangladeshi people. My Architect won numerous awards and was nominated for the Academy Award in 2003.
   ‘This is a story of a son’s long quest and epic journey to reconcile the life and work of his mysterious and contradictory father,’ said Kahn.
   It took five years to make the film where he showed the most important work of his father.
   Before making the film, he saw many pictures of the building, read the history of Bangladesh, and read letters written by his father to his mother from Bangladesh during the construction.
   The Institute of Architects, Bangladesh president, Khadem Ali, said he would arrange screening of the film at architecture institutes and on television.

Gandaria Kishalay Kachi-Kanchar Mela began the third GrameenPhone Zainul-Quamrul international art competition for children on Monday.
   The competition will be held in four groups — Group Ka with children aged between 3 and 6 years, Group Kha with children aged between 6 and 9 years, Group Ga with children aged between 9 and 12 years and Group Gha with children aged above 12 years, said Shafiur Rahman Dulu, director of the Gandaria Kisholaya Kachi-Kanchar Mela said at a briefing at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.
   Mobile operator GrameenPhone has sponsored the competition. It has given Tk 10 lakh for the event.
   Willing children have been asked to send in two paintings on any subjects by December 31 to Kachi-Kanchar Mela, at 15, Dinanath Sen Road, Dhaka 1204. Further details are available by dialling on 8807420473.
   Shafiur Rahman said the primary selection will be done during January 1–15. A jury board of renowned artists will complete the final selection by January 31.
   ‘There will be a three-day exhibition of the selected paintings in the first half of February,’ said Shaifur at the briefing.
   Eighty-four medals, including four of gold, and certificates will be given to the winners.
   ‘We are proud to be the event partner as it will encourage children to nurture their talent,’ said GrameenPhone marketing director Khafil HS Muyeed.
   The organisers expected that participants from 40 countries will joined the programme.
   Around 2,000 children from 23 countries sent around 5,000 paintings in the second competition in 2003, sponsored by GrameenPhone.

Speakers at a seminar stressed the need for developing arsenic filters for use in households and setting up arsenocosis medical units at all medical and service centres for arsenic patients.
   The state minister for LGRD and cooperatives, Ziaul Haque, was chief guest at the seminar on ‘danger of arsenic pollution: perspective analysis and obligations.’
   The Dhaka University Students Forum of Feni organised the seminar at the Teachers-Students Centre at the University of Dhaka.
   Chaired by Jahidul Islam, the function was also addressed by Abul Khair, project director of the Noakhali Science and Technology University.
   Ziaul Haque said the government has undertaken steps to supply safe drinking water from alternative sources, such as deep tube wells, ring wells and rainwater, to reduce the risk of arsenic contamination.

The Chhatra League and the Progressive Students’ Alliance at Rajshahi University on Monday called a strike for Tuesday to press home its four-point demands centring on Sunday’s incident on the campus.
   The students’ alliance submitted a memorandum to the vice-chancellor on Monday.
   The demands are release of the five students arrested, withdrawal of cases filed against the students, solution to the problems of the applied maths department and an end to autocratic behaviour of the university administration.
   The left-leaning parties brought out a procession and went out on demonstrations on the campus.
   The Motihar police arrested another student, Zillur Rahman, from the university medical centre. Injured in Sunday’s incident, he had been under treatment at the centre.
   The students of applied mathematics went on the rampage at the science faculty building demanding separate classrooms, laboratories and other facilities.
   They vandalised 15 rooms of the faculty building. At least 10 teachers and students were hurt.

Private PSTN operator Ranks Telecom on Sunday signed an interconnectivity agreement with the state-owned mobile operator Teletalk Bangladesh.
   The company president and chief executive officer, A Rouf Chowdhury, and Teletalk managing director Md Obaidullah signed the agreement.
   RanksTel and Teletalk subscribers will soon be able to make and receive calls to and from each of the networks.

Speakers at a workshop on ‘update management of bronchial asthma’ held in the conference hall of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on Monday said the number of people in the country suffering from bronchial asthma has been rising alarmingly in recent years.
   They said in Bangladesh about 70 lakh people have been suffering from asthma and the death rate from acute condition of the disease has increased by about 40 per cent in just 10 years. With increased urbanization and affluence, the prevalence of the disease is growing, the speakers at the daylong workshop said.
   The workshop was organised by the Asthma Association Rajshahi in collaboration with the Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited.
   With the president of the AAR, Wasim Hossain in the chair, the opening ceremony was addressed by the principal of the RMCH Fazlur Rahman, director of the RMCH Abul Kalam Azad, general secretary of the local unit of the Bangladesh Medical Association Mofakkharul Islam, and the AAR secretary Shawkat Ali.
   ARM Saifuddin Ekram of the department of medicine of the RMCH, Quazi Tariqul Islam, associate professor of medicine, Ayub Ali, assistant professor of cardiology, and Wasim Hossain, medical superintendent of Chest Disease Hospital, Rajshahi presented four keynote papers.
   The keynote speakers said bronchial asthma, which is a common disease of the lung, affect about seven per cent of the population.
   Some specific elements like dust, gases, fumes, tobacco smoke, and air pollution triggers or may initiate or worsen bronchial asthma. Patients with poorly controlled asthma may develop long-term conditions over time, which can lead to chronic symptoms, the speakers said in their papers.
   Although no cure exists for asthma at the moment, excellent treatment is available.

A delegation of the National Defence College of India called on the defence secretary, Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, at the ministry office in Sher-e-Banglanagar in the Dhaka city on Monday, said a press release of the Inter Service Public Relations.
   The delegation led by Major General Rajeshwar Singh discussed training and academic activities of the armed forces of the two friendly countries and exchanged views about different issues.
   Joint secretary Md Aziz Hasan and other senior officials of the ministry were also present on the occasion.
   Earlier, the delegation called on chief of the Naval Staff Rear Admiral M Hasan Ali Khan at the Naval Headquarters at Banani and discussed matters of professional interest.
   The 26-member delegation of the Indian NDC team arrived in Dhaka on Sunday on a five-day visit to Bangladesh, said the release.

Speakers at a daylong seminar at the Rupantar Training Centre in the Khulna city on Monday emphasised creating awareness among the young people of reproductive health for safe growth of the youths.
   Rupantar, an NGO, with the help of the Bangladesh Centre for Communication Programme, organised the seminar on ‘reproductive health awareness for adolescents.’
   Chaired by Rupantar chief executive Swapon Guha, the seminar was addressed by the Khulna civil surgeon Dr Hame Jamal as chief guest while BCCP assistant director Khadija Bilkis and programme officer Badal Halder spoke.
   The speakers observed that adolescent people constitute about 23 per cent of the population but they are growing amid unawareness about procreation health, as result of which they become victim to sickness, mental and physical.
   Although 75 per cent of adolescents know about HIV/AIDS, only 6 per cent of them know about sexual diseases and while 13 per cent female adolescents and 7 per cent male adolescents have heard about physical change of adolescent period, the seminar was informed.

The third anniversary of death of Abu Muhammad Murtayish (Kachi), lawyer of the Supreme Court and one of the founders of Padatik Natya Sangsad and the Bangladesh Law Association, will be observed today, said a release.
   Murtayish, who was also consultant of the World Bank’s legal and judicial capacity building project, died on September 13, 2002 in Dhaka from a heart attack. He was 45.

Crackers seized,
one arrested
The police recovered more than 150 crackers at Shyampur in Dhaka early Monday and arrested one Mohammad Shahjahan, 21, of Madaripur, in this connection. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner (south), Mahbub Alam, said the crackers were likely to be used during Sab-e-barat. Subinspector Shahjahan of the Syampur police said the arrested was produced in court for a remand.
— BDNews

Children’s cultural competition
Amra Kuri National Cultural Competition 2005 will begin at Royal Tower Restaurant in the Dhaka city on September 22. Amra Kuri has organised the two-day competition marking the Children’s Rights Week. The competition in three groups will be held in painting, recitation, handwriting, general knowledge, patriotic song, Tagore song, Nazrul song, folk song, and dance, said a release. Participants aged between 4 and 9 years will be in Group Ka, between 10 and 13 years in Group Kha and between 14 and 18 years in Group Ga. Children interested have been asked to register their names by September 19 with Amra Kuri (Pratibedan House) at Bijoynagar, Dhaka.
— UNB

BPA team calls
on Abbas
The leaders of the Bangladesh Photojournalists’ Association on Monday called on the minister for housing and public works, Mirza Abbas, in his secretariat office on Monday. The leaders informed the minister of their problems. The minister assured them of providing all possible supports. The association president, AKM Mohsin, and general secretary Mir Ahmed Miru led the 12-member delegation.
— BSS

Workshop on Jasimuddin’s songs
A fortnightly workshop on ‘songs of Pallikabi Jasimuddin’ will be held during September 15–29. The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy will organise the workshop. Interested singers, and teachers are requested to contact the training department of the academy by September 14 along with two copies of passport- sized photographs, curriculum vitae and photocopies of certificates.
— New Age

31 establishments burnt in Ctg
Thirty-one establishments were burnt in a fire that broke out at the Steel Mills Bazar in the Chittagong city on Monday, the fire service officials said. The affected establishments include 13 shops, and 17 houses with poultry farms. The fire originated at about 3:00am from the oven in a house and engulfed the adjacent houses and shops. Fire fighters extinguished the blaze with the help of local people at about
6:50am.
— BSS