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The CNG-run vehicles have to wait in a long queue for refilling CNG at the city’s filling stations which remain closed one or two hours every day due to power outages and low voltage as well.
   Sources in the filling stations said an increase in the number of CNG-run transports is also one of the reasons for such situation.
   Mizanur Rahman, general manager of Anudip CNG filling station at Moghbazar, said due to power disruption, the city’s CNG filling stations face trouble. ‘We have to stop the operation of CNG-filling stations for at least one hour daily due to power crisis,’ he told New Age on Wednesday.
   Sukla Paul, assistant manager of Anudip Motors Limited, said, ‘Not only load-shedding, but low voltage also causes troubles for the CNG stations forcing the drivers to wait in a long queue for hours.’
   Masudul Karim, marketing officer of Navana CNG Ltd, told New Age that apart from the power crisis, an increase in the number of CNG-run vehicles was a reason for the queue in filling stations. ‘The number of filling stations is not increasing in line with the number of CNG-vehicles,’ he said.
   According to the department of explosives under the ministry of energy and mineral resources, there are 107 CNG filling stations across the country mostly in Dhaka. Few other stations are in Chittagong, Comilla, Sylhet and Bogra.
   The department sources said the number of CNG filling stations would be higher than that of the official statistics as many station owners start setting up the stations without taking the licence from the explosives department.
   However, they take the approval of the other departments concerned, the sources added.
   Shafiul Azam, director (operation) of Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL), was not available for knowing the total number of vehicles that converted diesel-run engines into CNG.

Physicians of both private and public sector hospitals should be responsible and sincere in providing the patients with proper treatment to avoid maltreatment, which claims many lives or cause permanent disability.
   The state minister for land, Ukil Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan, inaugurating a three-day medical fair on Wednesday, also urged the physicians to behave well with the patients, whose lives depend on them.
   ‘We don’t want to see anymore maltreatment by the physicians, which cause the deaths of patients and make them disabled permanently,’ he told the function organised at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre, the fair venue.
   The Medical Fair 2006 started aiming to integrate all medical services at a same place, and to help medical professionals, clinic or hospital owners as well as the patients to gather necessary information.
   Two advertising firms –– Shrishty Communications and Parshi Communication — organised the fair media partners of which are New Age, Daily Jugantar and ATN Bangla.
   The theme of the fair, which will remain open from 10:00am to 8:00pm, is ‘Health is the first and prime wealth for being a contributively human being’.
   Different local and foreign organisations, including medical consulting firms, hospitals, diagnostic centres, medical colleges, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment suppliers, NGOs working on health, nutrition and alternative health support, herbal medicines producers, insurance companies and banks are taking part in 70 stalls.
   Different British, Indian and Malaysian organisations and companies are among the participants. Paediatric specialist MR Khan, additional director general of the Health Directorate, Hossne Ara Tahmina, ATN Bangla chief adviser Saiful Bari and chief coordinator of the event Shakhawat Al Mamum also spoke at the function with national professor Dr Nurul Islam in the chair.
   Although the presence of visitors was thin on the inaugural day, the organisers still expect that some 24,000 potential clients, 40 per cent of them foreign, will visit in the fair.
   Two seminars were followed by the inaugural session. The topics were ‘AIDS: A bird’s view in Bangladesh’, and ‘Prevention, management and rehabilitation of heart disease’.

Murtuj Ali, 55, an employee of the Rajshahi court, had a strong desire to ride on motorbike, but he could not buy the vehicle for his abject poverty. Eventually, it came true as he himself made a motorcycle.
   Now Murtuj rides to work on his motorbike from his village home at Bagha, 40 kilometres off his office. Earlier, he used to go to the office on public transports.
   Several months back, he bought a sprayer machine at Tk 5,000 to spray pesticides on his cropland. He later thought that it could be used as an engine of the motorcycle.
   Murtuj set up the tiny engine at the middle of his bicycle and connected a small wheel with the back tyre of the vehicle. Simply he pulls a tape to ignite the engine and the cycle starts running. He also installed a plastic oil tank on the head of the front wheel and a bell as well.
   ‘My dream has come true finally after inventing low cost motorcycle which is also environmentally friendly,’ Murtuj said. ‘It also reduced my travel cost and saved time.’
   The cycle runs 75 to 80 kilometres with per litre petrol worth Tk 56. The vehicle can run 50 to 55 kilometres per hour and emits a puff of smoke with trifle sound.
   ‘The engine-cycle costs only Tk 7,500 while the market price of a new 50 CC motorcycle is not less than Tk 50,000,’ Murtuj said

A special mobile court led by magistrate Rokon-ud-Doula unearthed a depot of fake toiletries and cosmetics in the Dhaka city on Wednesday.
   Fake shampoo, lotion, face wash, hair oil and body spray were being supplied from the store, AR Rahman & Sons, situated at 148, Chawk Mugaltuli in Old Town.
   Acting on a tip-off, the mobile court went to the spot and caught the seller red handed while he was sticking fake labels on the containers.
   Empty containers of toiletries and cosmetics, all of famous brands, were found at the depot. The empty containers were of Nevea, Dove, Sun Silk, Clinic Clear, Pantene Pro-V, Head & Shoulder, Feather, Ponds, Johnson & Johnson baby lotion, and Himtaj, Vatika and Dabur hair oil and all sorts of body sprays and perfumes.
   Fake labels of market price and manufacturing and expiry dates were found at the shop.
   The court fined the shop owner, Haji Mohammad Habibur Rahman, Tk 1 lakh. The court also sentenced him to four years’ rigorous imprisonment and sealed off the shop.
   The dates of manufacturing and expiry along with market price were being printed with indelible ink on the containers of original products, said KM Hanif, a field supervisor of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, who was with the drive.
   Four other mobile courts realised Tk 1.53 lakh in fines.
   Another mobile court led by magistrate Sarder Mohammad Keramat Ali unearthed a fake ice-cream factory, Sonia ice-cream factory, at 2/Walter Road in Sutrapur.
   The factory was producing ice cream without taking the licence from the BSTI. Dye, non-food graded poly pack and non-distilled water were used to make ice cream. The court found two cartoons of dye and four barehanded workers making ice cream.
   The court sentenced the factory owner, Bablu Mia, to one month rigorous imprisonment.
   Besides, a court led by magistrate Abdul Jalil fined Tk 3,000 a fast food shop, Yummy Yummy, at Awlad Hossain Market in Farmgate.
   The court fined VIP Restaurant of Rajlaxmi Complex in Uttara Tk 10,000 for not renewing licence and unclean kitchen.
   The court also fined two sweetmeat shops, Bismillah Mishti Mukh and Ali Baba Sweets, at the place and Tk 5,000 each for not using covers on cakes.
   Another mobile court led by magistrate Narayan Chandra Debnath fined Tk 10,000 Anwara Diagnostic Centre at 42/2, West Panthapath. Physician of the National Cancer Institute, Dr Golum Mostafa, is the owner of the centre. The centre lacked the licence of the DG Health, technologists and technicians.
   Samples collected from the patients for biopsy three to four years back were still in the store for examination which can be stored maximum for a year.
   The court fined Tk 10,000 Monojagat Centre at Road No 4, House 5 at Dhanmondi. The director of National Mental Health Institute, Dr AH Mohammad Firoj, is the owner of the centre.
   The centre was running without trade licence for the last three years. Al Shifa Diagnostic Centre at 20/10, West Panthapath was also fined Tk 10,000 for keeping date expired reagents, poor ventilation at x-ray room and unskilled technicians.

Several hundred students of Rajshahi University’s Matiher Hall went on the rampage at the provost’s office on Wednesday, demanding reconstruction of the oldest students’ dormitory at the university.
   They also set fire to furniture dragging those outside the office and threatened with greater movement to realise their demand soon.
   The students have been demanding renovation of the hall, which is now in a tumbledown state, for the past few months.
   The students demand took the form of agitation after they had found a snake in a room on Monday. The students killed the snake.
   The students alleged that they had also found a snake beside the pillow in a bed a few days back, and at least 13 snakes had been killed in hall in the past one year.
   On Wednesday, the students brought out a procession and held a rally in front of provost’s office demanding reconstruction of the hall at about 10:00am. They alleged that despite repeated assurances, the university authorities had taken no initiative to reconstruct the hall.
   Angered by the non-appearance of the provost during the demonstration, the students ransacked chairs, tables, file cabinets, carpet, medals and documents, and set fire to those bringing outside the hall. They later locked up all rooms of the hall.
   The situation came under control at about 2:00pm when the students’ advisor Jahid Hasan, proctor Enamul Haque and the provost had come to the spot and assured the students of placing a proposal for reconstruction of the hall in the next syndicate meeting.
   The provost said he was aware of the vulnerable condition of the hall and placed the issue to the university authorities several times.
   ‘The hall could not be reconstructed or renovated due to fund crunch,’ he said adding ‘I shall raise the issue again in the next syndicate meeting.’

At least 90 telephones go out of order at Mirpur in the city every day due to rampant stealing of cables causing immense sufferings to T&T subscribers.
   Officials in Mirpur Telephone Division told the news agency on Wednesday that 100-200 meters of telephone cable are stolen almost every day disrupting about 100 phones in the zone, which causes much trouble to the subscribers and also too them.
   ‘Despite our good intention, we cannot render better service to our subscribers. There is an organised gang of cable thieves. We approached law enforcing agencies, including the RAB, for stern action, but all our appeals fell into the deaf ears of the authorities concerned. We badly need their help for ensuring better telephone service,’ an official said.
   He said they had sent letters to high officials of the law enforcing agencies and local ward commissioners, but to no effect.
   He also said 100 meter cable cost the T&T about Tk one lakh. The thieves reportedly sell the stolen cables at a nominal price and those ultimately go to a factory located in Savar.

Publishing house Oitijjhya will begin a fortnight-long book festival at the Central Public Library today, marking its seven years of publication.
   Books will be sold on attractive discounts, ranging between 20 per cent and 70 per cent, till the stock exits, Oitijjhya chief executive Arifur Rahman Nayeem said Wednesday.
   About 500 titles published by the house in the last seven years will be on display, including complete works of Rabindra-nath Tagore, Sharatchandra Chattapaddhya, Manik Bando-paddhay, Jibananda Das and Bibhutibhushan Bandopaddhay.
   In a special package, all the works of the five writers in 49 volumes and 36,077 pages will be at Tk 8000 during the festival.
   The festival will remain open till August 26 without any break from 9:00am to 8:00pm, said a release.

Armed robbers looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables, worth about Tk 5 lakh, from an apartment in a government quarters at Azimpur on Tuesday.
   The police said the robbers entered the second floor residence of Mohammad Salimullah at 27/L, Azimpur Colony when the inmates responded to a doorbell at about 3:30pm.
   Immediately, the robbers made the inmates hostage at gunpoint and confined them in a room.
   The robbers then took away Tk 2 lakh in cash, gold ornaments, mobile phone sets and other valuables.
   No one was arrested till Wednesday evening.

Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at many places over the Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and a few places over the Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna divisions with moderately heavy rainfall at places till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Wednesday.
   Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged during the period. The highest temperature on Wednesday, 36.3 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Jessore and the lowest, 24.3 degrees Celsius, at Sandwip.
   The sun sets in the capital city today at 6:36pm and will rise on Friday at 5:32am.

An intelligence agency in its investigation found that two cleaners of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines and a security personal of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh were directly involved in an attempt to smuggle out of foreign currency foiled by the customs department on July 27.
   The investigators warned that some CAAB officials guarding the scanning machines at the main gate of the airport and the boarding bridge have developed an unscrupulous relationship with the smugglers.
   Customs officials, acting on a theft, recovered 10 packets of foreign currency that included 1,362,950 Saudi riyal, 87,800 dirham, 20,550 Qatar riyal, 20,550 pound sterling and $ 25,000 hidden under a commode of the toilet of an Emirates flight EK-585.
   The customs officials seized the foreign currencies equivalent to about Tk 3 crore from the Dubai-bound flight at Zia International Airport on July 27.
   Home ministry sources said that the intelligence agency report accused cleaners Yunus and A Hossain of carrying the packets inside the aircraft in connivance with CAAB’s armed security guard, Jiban Kumar Hawlader, who was guarding the emergency exit of the plane.
   The report has recommended interrogation of 12 other cleaners and five members of the Biman Flying Catering Centre who were also on-duty during the incident in order to unearth the whole story and find out the big fishes involved in.
   The report also pointed out that the customs department did not file any case with the police in this regard for which the real culprits could not be identified.
   They said that a case should be filed and police investigation should be started in this regard.
   The agency also suggested that the custom officers should also be appointed at the scanning machine points.
   Earlier on July 6, the customs officials seized foreign currencies amounting to Tk 2 crore from the luggage of a Singapore-bound passenger.

The information secretary, Muhammad Haider Ali, on Wednesday said called upon all people to work unitedly for prevention of dowry, early marriage and spread of AIDS.
   He also stressed the need for united efforts of the people of all walks of life to expedite smooth implementation of government development programmes like empowerment of women, sanitation and education.
   He said this while exchanging views with local journalists and elite at the conference room of the deputy commissioner here.
   Organised by the Sherpur district information office, the meeting was presided over by the director general of mass communication, Md Abdul Mannan.
   Haider said the government had enacted laws to curb social vices like dowry and early marriage. Social leaders have to play pivotal role in this regard, he added.
   He underlined the need for motivating people against child traffickers and make the society free from abuse of drug and deadly disease HIV/AIDS.
   Haider also urged all to motivate the people to become self-reliant by taking the opportunity of education stipend, micro-credit and allowances provided by the government.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, inaugurated the newly-built complex of the Judicial Administration Training Institute in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   The seven-storied building with a foundation for a 12-storied one was constructed on 1.08 lakh squire feet of land at a cost of Tk 12.32 crore with assistance from the World Bank under a legal aid and judicial capacity building project.

Five contestants from each of the two categories, amateur and professional, have been nominated for taking part in the final round of the Monitor-Totalgaz Chef of the Year-2006 competition, which will take place at the Sonargaon Hotel on August 12.
   A nine-member jury committee, headed by renowned nutritionist Professor Siddiqa Kabir, made selections from among five thousand recipes, received from across the country.
   Travel publication Bangladesh Monitor has organised the competition in association with Totalgaz, Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Rabeya Flour Mills and Emirates Airlines.

Agrani Bank Wednesday gave Tk 20 lakh to Dhaka Ahsania Mission for the construction of its cancer hospital in Uttara in the city.
   The chairman of Agrani Bank, Mohammad Fazlur Rahman, handed over a cheque for the amount to president and chief executive of Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Kazi Fariqul Alam, at a simple ceremony in the conference room of the bank.

CMP arrests
111 people
The Chittagong Metropolitan Police in separate drives arrested 111 people, including a gang leader of the port-based criminals, from different parts of the city in 24 hours till 4:00pm on Wednesday. The police said a detective branch squad arrested Hossain alias Galakata Hossain, who was engaged in passing out photo films worth Tk 20 lakh and cardamom worth Tk 25 lakh illegally from the port recently, from the New Market area. The police said that Hossain had confessed his involvement with passing out different goods from the port through submitting false documents in connivances with a section of officials and clearing and forwarding agents.
— New Age

DU introduces master’s in
governance studies The Dhaka University authorities have decided to introduce a two-year professional degree styled as ‘master’s in governance studies’ under the political science department. The decision was made at a meeting of the Academic Council, the highest academic body of the university, with vice-chancellor Professor SMA Faiz in the chair on August 7. University sources said the two-year course would commence from September next. About 40 students will be admitted in each academic session. The course will have four semesters and 60 credits.
— BDNews