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The Rajshahi City Corporation, Water Development Board and the district administration have failed to remove illegal structures on the Rajshahi city protection embankment although the authorities had declared to evacuate the embankment within seven days a month and a half back.
   At an exchange of views on July 27 with people of all walks of life at the Rajshahi Shishu Academy, the Rajshahi mayor, Mizanur Rahman Minu, said, ‘The embankment will be evacuated within seven days.’
   The programme on ‘safety of city protection embankment and environment of Rajshahi city’ was arranged by the mayor himself.
   City elites at the programme expressed dissatisfaction with the environmental degradation of the city as most of the city area went to the grip of anti-social activities, slam dwellers and illegal occupants, leaving no scope for the city dwellers to pass their leisure.
   Many horticulture centre, snacks bar and sporting and gambling clubs have been set up on the embankment, they said.
   The meeting also decided to seek cooperation of the district administration to solve the problem. The mayor also formed a committee called ‘Environment Movement Committee’ convened by himself, and all the guests were made members of the committee.
   The committee could not make any headway and failed to even organise a meeting on the issues while the occupants remained untouched.
   The mayor also told the meeting that no more trees would be planted on the embankment and all the existing sand piles between Bulanpur and Talaimary would be removed.
   He said, ‘If the local administration fails to conduct a drive against the occupants, or extend cooperative hands, the committee would move with city people to evict the occupants’.
   The district administration office sources, however, said no letter was issued from either the RCC or the movement committee, seeking cooperation of the district administration.
   But the Rajshahi Water Development Board superintendent engineer said they had sent a list of illegal structures to the district administration month back, and on September 8, they had again sent it to the same office.
   Besides, early July, the Bangladesh Environmental Layers Association had filed a case, accusing eight persons, including the mayor, deputy commissioner, motor owners’ association and truck owners’ association president, tempo owner’s association leaders.
   The case was filed to stop movement of heavy vehicles through the city and to evict the illegal establishments of the city.
   The mayor could not be reached for comment.

Cadres of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, have forcefully occupied seven rooms of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall of Rajshahi University evicting Chhatra Dal leaders and activists on Saturday midnight.
   A tense situation prevailed on campus Sunday and activists of both the parties were on high alert.
   Additional police was deployed at the hall premises.
   Campus sources said, a group of the Chhatra Dal were trying to settle the matter managing the administration.
   Sources said many Chhatra Dal men left the halls to avoid Shibir’s persecution.
   Campus sources said 14 to 15 cadres of the Shibir led by Masum, Momin, Jalal, Mostak and Satter, occupied the rooms at around 1:00am on Saturday.
   The Shibir men threw away beds and other belongings of the Chhatra Dal students at rooms 107, 210, 215, 305, 314 and 315.
   The Shibir men blocked off the main entrance of the hall and deployed their men at different points of the hall to complete the takeover operation successfully.
   The hall provost, Chan Mohammad Mostafa, said he has received a complaint and the administration is trying to resolve the matter discus- sing with leaders of both the parties.
   The general secretary of Rajshahi University’s unit of Chhatra Shibir, Rokonuzzaman said they have heard that the rooms were allocated for common students and Shibir men only wanted to ensure that.
   He brushed aside allegations of forceful occupation.
   The university’s Chhatra Dal convener, Nuruzzaman Likhon, said they would be able to settle the mater within a short time.

Traffic movement around Khan Jahan Ali Bridge in the Khulna city is routinely hindered as vehicles crossing the bridge come on narrow and worn out roads.
   Vehicle movement on the route has increased markedly from before when the only way to the other side of the river Rupsa was by the ferry.
   Most vehicles use the Rupsa-Labanchara Road, Khulna-Batiyaghata Road and other inner roads to reach the city, said sources concerned.
   Local people said crossing the bridge, a large number of vehicles, especially auto-rickshaws, buses and small trucks, take the Labanchara-Rupsa Road to reach the main roads.
   The sources said as there are no link roads between the bridge and the city centre, the Labanchara-Rupsha Road has to bear most of the load although it is not in a shape. The road has developed a number of potholes.
   Residents said the road is too narrow for two buses or trucks to pass each by. They said traffic congestion takes place frequently at the place.
   Sources in the Khulna City Corporation said they had pulled down illegal establishments on both sides of the road recently, but it is still too narrow.
   Most buses and trucks use the Batiyaghata-Khulna Road to get to the city from the bridge.
   The motorcycles crossing the bridge use inner roads to reach the city centre which also disrupts vehicle movement.
   Referring to the traffic problem, Sheikh Ashrafuzzaman, secretary general of Greater Khulna Development Action Coordination Committee, said it is because there are no bypasses.
   A high Khulna Metropolitan police official (traffic) told New Age that they had been trying to control vehicles for smooth movement.
   The problem will be solved after completing the bypass between the bridge and Afil gate, he said.

The employees at Khulna Medical College and Khulna Nurses’ Training Centre continued their half-day work abstention for the second consecutive day on Sunday demanding placing their jobs under revenue sector from development sector.
   The employees were not getting their salaries for the past six months, and observing work stoppage for two hours from September 13.
   Later they began the half-day work abstention from Saturday, and were staging demonstrations on the college campus, hampering the academic and administrative activities seriously.
   The employees threatened that they would announce tougher agitation programme on Monday, if their demand was not met.
   Sources said the medical college has 148 employees and teachers, including an assistant professor and 31 lecturers, apart from 33 employees at the training centre.
   The work stoppage is also being observed at the medical colleges in Comilla, Faridpur, Dinajpur, and Bogra which have 148 employees each, sources added.

The Khulna Development Authority is yet to approve the plans of a number of public and private establishments been set up in the Khulna city and its adjacent areas under the master plan.
   Sources said they drew up a master plan in 1961 covering 185 square kilometres of area, and the plan was revised in 2002 incorporating 456 square kilometres.
   The master plan first covered only the metropolitan area, but it later incorporated parts of Rupsa, Dumuria, and Dighalia, and the Noapara municipality.
   Most of the unauthorised buildings belong to the Khulna City Corporation, Khulna University, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, and Public Works Department.
   No plan for any building of the Noapara municipality was approved in three years, the officials said, adding that plans of only 25,000 establishments in the metropolitan area were approved, but had no records of the number of establishments in the area.
   In the city, establishments not approved by the authorities include Nagar Bhaban, Zia Hall, corporation supermarket, ward commissioners’ offices, Baitun-Nur-Masjid, market complex, Mina Bazar, Sheikhpara market, buildings at KUET, and PWD office.
   Establishments outside the corporation area are at Khulna University, some fish processing plants at Rupsa, and the buildings of Noapara municipality.
   The development authorities did not approve the plans of some residential buildings, as they did not fulfil requirements, said sources, adding that some buildings were constructed in such a way that their plans could not be approved.
   The authorities issued notices the building owners several times, without any result.
   An official said they will hold meetings with people of different sections to make them aware of the approval of their plans to construct buildings.

The 51st founding anniversary celebration of the National Press Club will be held on November 25 instead of October 20 due to Ramadan.
   The celebration will be followed by a dinner and a cultural programme. An iftar will be held on October 20.
   A two-day festival for children will be held from November 10. A sports competition for the members of the club will start on September 23.
   Interested persons are requested to contact the reception counter at the club.

Robbers looted cash and valuables worth Tk 6 lakh from a house at Kafrul in the Dhaka city early Sunday.
   Locals managed to catch two of the robbers and handed them over to the Kafrul police.
   The police said about five robbers entered the first floor residence of Mostafa Sadiq at Old Kachukhet cutting window grilles at about 3:00am.
   They confined the inmates, ransacked all the rooms of the three storey house and took away Tk 45,000 in cash, gold ornaments weighing about 50 tolas and other valuables. The residents said one of the robbers wore a mask and all carried firearms.
   They left the house through the main gate at about 5:00am.
   But, locals, responding to the shouts of the inmates, caught two robbers, Julu, 24, and Badal, 28, while the others got away.
   The two were later handed over to the police.

The Communication for Advocacy project returns to Dhaka today, three years after its inauguration in May 2002.
   Fifty participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Lacs, India, Thailand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and the UK are meeting over the next three days to share their experience.
   The project recognises that without building people’s skills to represent themselves in the important decisions that affect their lives, development initiatives will have limited success.
   The project focuses on developing the skills of organisations from or representing the most vulnerable groups in Asia to better communicate the issues affecting their lives.
   The project so far trained 350 organisations from all corners of Asia using initiative and participatory approaches.

The inter-area cultural competition 2005 of the Bangladesh Army concluded at the Senakunja auditorium Saturday evening at Dhaka Cantonment under the supervision of the 14 Independent Engineer Brigade.
   Adjutant General of the Army Major General Sina Ibn Jamali attended the function as chief guest on the concluding day and distributed prizes among the winners.
   Over 400 competitors of 12 teams of the Army took part in the seven-day meet in 14 vocal and instrumental music competitions.
   The six independent ADA Brigade team became the overall champion with 931.77 points while the Bogra Area team was the runner-up with 922.11 points. Besides, the Savar and Jessore Area teams with 897.82 and 853.06 points trailed behind.
   Sainik Md Ashraful Alam of the Bogra Area team was adjudged the best artiste and awarded two gold medals for Lalon and folk songs.
   Senior officers of the Bangladesh Army, including local area warrant officers and a large number of soldiers, were present at the function.

Shamsul Huda, former principal of Tularam Government College and former director of the Press Institute of Bangladesh, died of old age complications Saturday night at BIRDEM Hospital in Dhaka. He was 73.
   His janaza was held at DIT near the railway mosque after the zohr prayers on Sunday.
   The janaza was attended by advocate Abul Kalam MP, former lawmaker Afzal Hossain, deputy commissioner SM Harunur Rashid and members of the Narayanganj Press Club and teachers and employees of Tularam College.
   He was buried at Masdair graveyard. President of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalist Gias Kamal Chowdhury condoled the death of principal Shamsul Huda and extended his sympathy to the members of the bereaved family.

The prize giving ceremony of Pran Khule Ghor Shajan - a consumer promotion of Pran Cola and Pran mango juice, has taken place at the National Press Club on Sunday.
   Two winners of the final phase of the competition were Israt Jahan of Comilla, who won the ‘Wedding Bonanza’ and Farida Parvin of Savar, who won a washing machine.
   Executive director of Pran group Elias Mridha, general manager of marketing Kamruzzaman Kamal, deputy general manager Nazrul Islam and brand manager Javed Iqbal were present on the occasion.

The 12th death anniversary of Jubaier Chowdhury Rimu, former student leader of Bangladesh Chhatra Moitri of Rajshai University, will be observed today.
   He was killed by Shibir activists on the university campus in 1993.
   Bangladesh Chhatra Moitri will observe the day by hoisting black flag at the party central office early in the morning.
   The party activists will show respect to the slain at Sahid Minar at 9:00am and then hold a protest rally on the Dhaka University campus, demanding trail of Jubaier’s killers.

The minister for environment and forest, Tariqul Islam, on Sunday called upon the experts concerned to find out the specific reason for massive top-dying disease of Sundari trees in the Sundarbans mangrove.
   The minister at a meeting with botanical scientists in the conference room of the ministry emphasised taking a project to carry out a research to get rid of the problem.
   The attending botanists held the Farakka Barrage largely responsible for the disease, saying increase of salinity in soil, reduction of normal flow of water and ecological disorder are causing the disease.
   Dr Mohammad Abdur Rahman of Khulna University presented a research report on the top-dying disease of Sundari trees.
   Secretary of the minister Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, among others, attended the meeting.

Tk 2.5 lakh snatched in Chittagong
Snatchers took away Tk 2.5 lakh of a business man at Khatunganj in the Chittagong city on Sunday. The police said three snatchers intercepted Mohammed Elias, manager of business house M Hossain and Brothers, in front of the post office lane at around 2:00pm while he was going to his business office on foot from the Khantunganj branch of United Commercial Bank Limited after drawing the amount. The snatchers took away the money from Elias at gunpoint and fled, the police said. A case was lodged with the Kotwali police.
— New Age

CMP arrests 100 persons
The Chittagong Metropolitan Police in separate drives recovered a local made SBBL gun and arrested 100 people from different places in the city in 24 hours till 4:00pm on Sunday. The police said they recovered the gun from Firozshah Colony in the Khulshi area at around 1:00pm in an abandoned condition. Of the arrested 100 persons, 62 were fugitives for long in different cases, the police said. Meanwhile, the Karnafulli police said they had recovered the body of a man aged about 58 to 60 years from the farmhouse of Mohammed Harun in the locality Friday evening.
— New Age

Workshop on AIDS for law-enforcers
A workshop on HIV/AIDS and gender disparity began in the Sylhet city on Sunday to create awareness among the members of law-enforcing agencies. A total of 20 policemen and 10 delegates from BDR, Ansar, prison department and fire service are taking part in the workshop. The Sylhet range Deputy Inspector General of police, AKM Mahfuzul Haque, inaugurated the workshop as chief guest.
— BSS

Photo exhibition on Gandhi Sept 22
A photo exhibition on the life of Mahatma Gandhi will be held at the Indian Cultural Centre, house 24 (new), road 2 in Dhanmondi. Organised by the Indian high commission in association with Gandhi Ashram Trust, Noakhali and Bangladesh Bharat Sampriti Parishad, the exhibition will be inaugurated by shipping minister Akbar Hossain on September 22. The exhibition will remain open from September 23 to 29 from 10:00am to 5:00pm.
— BSS

US embassy closure for Shab-e-Barat
The American embassy offices, including the American Centre, Information Resource Center and the student counselling service, will remain closed on Tuesday to observe Shab-e-Barat, a press release said on Sunday.
— New Age