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Farmers are exposed to a severer power crisis in the coming peak irrigation season than in previous year as around 18 worn-out power units, out of 68, have remained shut due to mechanical troubles while shortage of gas and coal supply may affect few others.
   Officials fear that the irrigation season, which runs between December and March, could see a maximum electricity shortfall of about 1500MW, if gas and coal supply shortage becomes acute.
   Power officials, who have been frantically trying to find a way out to keep power supply uninterrupted during irrigation season, said that power supply would be ensured for eight hours in the irrigation areas by cutting supply to urban areas in the Boro cultivation season.
   Power secretary ANH Akhtar Hossain held a meeting with officials of Power Development Board and different electricity agencies on Wednesday to work out a way to manage power supply for irrigation.
   Earlier on Monday, energy adviser Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury discussed with electricity officials the state of power generation and condition of different power units.
   The PDB projected that they would be able to supply 3200MW electricity against the highest demand for irrigation of 3800MW during December-March period. However, in the last irrigation season, the power agency could generate around 3300MW against the peak demand of around 4200MW.
   PDB sources feared that supply shortage of gas and coal, and fall in water level of Kaptai Lake could limit the total generation for irrigation season to 3000MW, while the demand may peak to 4500MW.
   The current power generation stands around 2850MW against the average demand for 3800MW.
   The power secretary at Wednesday’s meeting directed officials of Rural Electrification Board to carry out a survey immediately to assess the demand for electricity in irrigation areas during the Boro cultivation, which would reach at its peak in mid-January.
   In last irrigation season, the demand for electricity for irrigating 46 lakh hectares of land was around 760MW.
   The meeting also decided that PDB would assess whether liquid fuel (diesel or furnace oil), instead of coal, could be used for power generation at the coal-based Barapukuria plant, which is set to face acute coal shortage.
   Coal production at Petrobangla’s Barapukuria field has remained suspended for more than one month because of maintenance work, and production might start in mid-January.
   At present Petrobangla has around 35000 tonnes of coal in reserve, which would be consumed by one unit of the Barapukuria power plant in 30 days. Sources in the division claimed that coal shortage prevented them from operating the other unit even it was repaired after being tripped on November 2.
   If this coal reserve is consumed in the next 30 days, there would be coal crisis during the peak irrigation season, the meeting was told.
   ‘We are considering the option of using liquid fuel to operate the plant at present and use the current reserve of coal during the 15-day peak irrigation season in mid-January,’ said a division official.
   He said PDB had been directed to assess the cost and availability of liquid fuel for running the plant under a stopgap arrangement.
   The PDB had also been directed to run only one out of three operating units of Kaptai power plant so that water level could be kept steady for running the country’s sole hydroelectricity plant in the peak irrigation season.
   The meeting directed the grid sub-station level committees, formed last year, to tighten monitoring as power production would be less this year compared to last year.
   Officials said around 20 units out of 68 units of 26 power plants have remained out of operations for three days to six years because of tripping, scheduled maintenance works and ‘old-age complications’.
   Of those, seven Shahjibazar units that tripped between 2000 and 2006 might never come to operation, as the units are more than 30 years old.
   One 210MW Ghorashal unit came to operation on Wednesday and other will be made operational in next few days.
   One 225MW unit of private Meghnaghat power plant will come to operation on December 2, while the 80MW Tongi power plant will start generation some time in December.
   The 80MW fifth unit of Ashuganj plant will be ready for operation in 15 days while the fourth unit may resume generation in February.
   But gas shortage might continue to affect production in Raujan power plant in Chittagong, officials said.
   The PDB has been getting only around 60 million cubic feet of gas against the demand for 90 mmcfd in Chittagong for the last few days, because of declining production in Sangu gas field in the Bay of Bengal.
   The gas production is not likely to increase before February when the Bibiyana gas field is scheduled to come to operation.

People from all walks of life laid siege to the Barisal office of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines and locked it on Sunday demanding immediate resumption of the flight operation on the Dhaka-Barisal route.
   The agitating people under the banner of Barisal Bibhag Unnayan Parishad also formed a human chain and held a protest rally in the area.
   During the programme, the agitators locked the office keeping its officials and staff inside the chamber following an altercation between them and Mezbahuddin, security in-charge of the Biman office.
   ATMG Mustafa, manager of Biman Barisal office, admitted the fact. He said that they have nothing to do as the decision to suspend the flight operation was taken by the higher authorities in Dhaka.
   Speakers at the rally threatened to paralyse the region, if their demand is not met
   immediately. They also demanded cancellation of the rotation system introduced by launch owners on the Barisal-Dhaka route.
   Chaired by the organisation president, Golam Mawla, the rally was addressed by its secretary Advocate Nazrul Islam Rajon, Muktijoddha Sangsad joint convener Nurul Alam Farid, former secretary of Nagarik Parishad Enayet Hossain Chowdhury, Barisal Nagarik Parishad secretary Dr Mizanur Rahman and former secretary of Barisal Reporters’ Unity Nasimul Alam.
   Later they handed over memorandums to the district administration, launch owners’ association and Biman officials.
   The authorities concerned suspended the flight operation on the Dhaka-Barisal route on November 16, and the launch owners’ association introduced the rotation system in June, 2005.

The government will implement a Tk 800 crore project for development of secondary level education from January 2007, sources in the education ministry told New Age.
   The project titled ‘Secondary Education Sector Development Project (SESDP)’ has been taken aiming to reform the secondary school certificate examinations, revise curricula of Class IX and Class X, introduce school-based assessment system and decentralise secondary education management.
   Asian Development Bank is expected to finance Tk 5.95 crore to the project while the rest Tk 1.98 crore will
   come from Bangladesh government.
   The SESDP goals also include implementation of decentralised education management information system, functional specialisation of the education cadre and review of the female secondary stipends’ programme.
   Immediate-past prime minister Khaleda Zia in early October approved the project, whose implementation would require about 500 new recruits to be supported by about one hundred in-service first class officers.
   Under the new project, some 56 schools will be established and two new class rooms will be set up in each of the 250 schools.
   Moreover, 30 model madrassahs will be equipped with science laboratories, ICT laboratories and new class rooms.
   There are about 16,000 junior secondary and secondary level schools and nearly 7,000 secondary level madrassahs in Bangladesh.

Acid victim Mahmuda had died three-and-half years back, but criminals’ mission seemed still unfinished as the family accused of throwing acid on her launched a fresh attack on her poor father’s home, leaving two sisters injured.
   Even the cowshed, built with donations given to her for a livelihood, was not spared when members of a neighbouring family swooped on Abdullah Mia’s Bhader-Deul village home under Kamalganj upazila Saturday morning and chopped his two daughters. The two have been admitted to upazila health complex.
   Family sources said the attackers were from Nasir Mia’s family, which has an old
   enmity with Abdullah’s
   family over land. Dalim, a member of Nasir Mia’s family, was accused of throwing acid on Mahmuda, the school-going daughter of Abdullah, on July 18, 2002.
   The incident got wide media coverage as Bangla daily Prothom Alo launched a campaign against the violence and prompted Acid Survivors’ Foundation to take care of her treatment in Dhaka.
   The daily gave her a cow and built a cowshed to help the acid-burnt girl live to support her father, a wheelbarrow man.
   Luck betrayed her again, as a road accident took her life on her way home from Dhaka on June 18, 2003.
   But her death failed to end the enmity between the two families.
   Mahmuda’s parents — Abdullah Mia and Torika Bibi — told this correspondent
   Sunday that the criminals were still torturing them in many ways.
   ‘They had burnt Mahmuda with acid. They had filed false cases against us, and lastly injured our two other daughters,’ said Abdullah, suspecting that the Saturday’s attack might be an act of vengeance of Nasir Mia’s family which lost a legal fight.
   Kamalganj police said none had lodged any case regarding the attack on Mahmuda’s family.

Assailants stabbed a taxicab driver to death at Dakkhinkhan in the Dhaka city early Sunday.
   In separate incidents, extortionists shot at two people in the city’s Mirpur and Jatrabari areas on the day, leaving them injured.
   At Dakkhinkhan, the police recovered the body of cabdriver Mohammad Harun, 30, and seized his taxicab from near Udayan School at Mollartek at about 7:30am.
   The assailants stabbed Harun to death sometime early in the morning, the police said. Motive behind the murder could not be known. The body was sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.
   At Mirpur, three extortionists entered an under-construction apartment on Road No 2, Block C, Section 2 at about 1:45pm and opened fire on mason Shafiq, 30, as he failed to inform them about the whereabouts of the engineer.
   In addition, some extortionists shot at small trader, Nayan, 20, at the Jatrabari intersection while he was going to Shyampur by a rickshaw at about 3:30pm. They also snatched valuables from the victim.
   Both the injured were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Changes in attitude and mind-set are needed to integrate the physically-challenged people into the mainstream of the society, speakers told a discussion Sunday marking the World Disabled Day.
   They also urged all quarters to extend adequate support to make the people with physical and mental disabilities self-reliant, instead of leaving them with mercy.
   The discussion on ‘franchise of physically-challenged people’ was organised by Action on Disability and Development (ADD), Rangpur unit at the central Shahid Minar of the town to sensitise people on disabled.
   Earlier, the organisation arranged a rally in the morning participated by about 350 disabled boys and girls, who paraded the main roads of the town.
   Presenting a paper, Aziz Ahamed Romel, co-ordinator of ADD, Rangpur unit told that the election commission should ensure appropriate measures so that the disabled people can exercise their voting rights. He also demanded 10 per cent quota for the disabled people in the job market.
   Kallol Kumar Chakrobboti, ADC (general) of the district, said unfavourable attitude of the society prevents people with disability from utilising their full potentials.
   Expressing concern over the violence against women and children with disabilities, he underscored the need for more advocacies at different levels to change the attitude towards them.
   Abdur Rouf Manik, chairman, Rangpur Municipality, told that it would be impossible to reduce poverty by half by 2015 unless disabled people are brought into the development mainstream.
   Disabled people live in an unfriendly and hostile environment, and encounter non-cooperation, ill-treatment and neglect in family, society and government levels. ‘This sort of mentality needs to be changed for the sake of development,’ he added.
   Akbar Ali, president, Disabled Foundation, Rangpur unit and Asif Iqbal, principal, Visually Challenged People’s School, Rangpur, spoke on the occasion.
   Later, a painting competition was held and a drama, “Amader Chawa,” was staged, seeking social resistance against domestic violence on disabled women.

Hemayetullah Awarangazeb, a former law maker for the Shariatpur 2 constituency, joined the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, presenting a bouquet to the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, at Hawa Bhaban in Dhaka on Sunday.
   Khaleda, welcoming him, said the people would give a befitting reply through ballot in the January 21 parliamentary polls to those causing sufferings to people by enforcing blockades.
   Sarwar Mollah, a former secretary and ambassador, and Habibur Rahman Azad, a former chairman of Kalkini council in Madaripur, also joined the BNP at the same function.
   Khaleda, also the immediate-past prime minister, welcomed the newcomers.
   Awarangazeb, associated with the Awami League politics for long, said he was annoyed at the party president.
   The BNP standing committee member, KM Obaidur Rahman, also addressed the function.

A lighter vessel, laden with 800 tonnes of cement clinker, submerged in the outer anchorage of Chittagong port Sunday.
   The Chittagong Port Authority said the MV Sea Master, heading towards the port jetty, submerged at the curly point at around 4:00pm.
   Sources said the accident took place owing to a crack which developed on the deck of the ship, adding that the fishermen had rescued all the crew.

Seven deputy secretary-level officials were made officers on special duty. The establishment ministry issued on Sunday separate gazette notifications to this effect antedated on November 30.
   The seven are Directorate of Land Records and Survey deputy directors SM Golam Faruk and Dilip Kumar Das, BG Press deputy controller Latifur Rahman, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation secretary Abdul Kuddus, National Institute of Mass Communication director AKM Nesar Uddin Bhuiyan, Disaster Management Bureau director Mujibar Rahman, and Jamuna Multi-Purpose Bridge Authority additional director Mujibur Rahman.

A daylong strike was enforced in the Tahirpur municipality area on Sunday in protest at the killing of Chhatra League leader Ahsan Habib Babu, who died in an ‘encounter’ with the Rapid Action Battalion Friday evening.
   The Durgapur unit Awami League will enforce a daylong strike at Durgapur today.
   No motor vehicles could move at Tahirpur and educational institutions and shopping centres remained closed during the hartal hours on Sunday. Black flags were also hoisted.
   Several demonstrations and rallies held where the speakers demanded exemplary punishment for the people responsible for the death of Ahsan Habib.
   The Tahirpur municipality unit Awami League president, Monsur Rahman Mridha, Habib’s father Afsar Ali Molla, also an Awami League leader,, Shilmaria union council chairman Sazzad Hossain, Durgapur unit AL president Nazrul Islam, general secretary Tafazzal Hossain joined the programmes. The Rajshahi city unit Awami League also brought out a procession in the city in protest at the killing.
   Tahirpur unit Chhatra League leader Habib, a third-year history student of the Rajshahi Government College, was killed in an encounter with the battalion Friday evening when he was chatting with his friends in a shop.
   The Tahirpur unit Awami League announced a three-day mourning programme.

A Dhaka court on Sunday issued warrants for arrest of the editors and the publishers of daily Janakantha, Inqilab and weekly Saptahik 2000 in a defamation suit filed by BNP leader Mirza Abbas.
   Some reporters of the newspapers and the weekly also face warrants of arrest in the same case.
   The magistrate of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court, Mizanur Rahman, issued the order.
   Meanwhile, lawyers questioned the transparency of the warrants saying they had been issued without regular summons and in the absence of plaintiffs.
   The former public works minister Abbas filed 10 defamation suits against four broadsheets and two weeklies in the court on November 9.
   A number of journalists including editors and publishers of daily Bhorer Kagoj and Jugantor surrendered before the court and were granted bail.
   Sources said the documents of the case show that the editors and publishers were not summoned properly. In the summons report, it was said the summon notices had been hung at the newspaper offices showing a pedestrian as witness and the report carried the signature of Ajitullah as the summons server, sources said.
   However, Abdul Quader, a court employee, said that he had written the report sitting in his office while Ajitullah alleged that Quader had forged his signature.
   Dhaka CMM Jalal Ahmed also acknowledged ambiguity in issuing the warrants. He said serving summons in so many cases was not possible by only six persons. He said any irregularity should be scrutinised by magistrate Mizanur Rahman.

The president and chief adviser, Iajuddin Ahmed, has called upon the political parties concerned to call off the blockade saying his caretaker government has taken all possible measures to hold the next general elections in a free and fair manner.
   The president made the call when the Japanese ambassador, Masayaki Inoue, called on him at Bangabhaban on Sunday and discussed the ongoing political crisis over electoral issues.
   Terming the relations between Bangladesh and Japan ‘excellent’, the president said Japan was working as a partner of Bangladesh for its development.
   He also hoped that SAARC would be strengthened further as Japan has become observer of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
   During the meeting, the Japanese envoy mentioned joint work of Bangladesh and Japan in different forums, including the United Nations. He said, ‘Cooperation of Japan would continue for the development of Bangladesh.’
   He reaffirmed Japan’s support to the interim government of Bangladesh.
   The envoy also voiced concern over the recent political violence in Bangladesh and said, ‘If the violence continues, it may affect Japanese investment and cooperation with Bangladesh.’
   The president and the ambassador both hoped that the political violence would be stopped forthwith and the upcoming election held with participation of all the political parties.
   Mokhlesur Rahman Chowdhury, adviser to the president, the foreign secretary and other high officials were present at the meeting.

Fund constraint has delayed the beginning of the land acquisition and rehabilitation process of the proposed Padma Bridge which was scheduled to be completed by the year end.
   Earlier, the government has decided to acquire around 900 hectares of land at a cost of Tk 320 crore at the Mawa-Jajira point, the proposed construction site for the Padma Bridge. It has also earmarked about Tk 306 crore for paying compensation to around 80,000 people to be affected for the implementation of the project.
   With the communications minister, Nazmul Huda, in the chair, an inter-ministerial meeting in June decided to complete the process of land acquisition, resettlement and compensation by December.
   The meeting also decided not to allow any construction of any illegal structures at the site of the Padma Bridge.
   The ministry officials said though the ministry has already sent the proposal of land acquisition to the local administration to take necessary steps, it failed to mobilise necessary funds to begin the work.
   ‘We have failed to mobilise any fund due to resource constraint,’ said a senior official of the communications ministry adding that a proposal of allotting Tk 3.5 crore for the project of laying foundation stone at the site has also been lying in the planning commission for a month for approval.
   The official also said the possibility of mobilising funds for the land acquisition is very thin during the regime of the caretaker government.
   According to the communications ministry, the construction of the 5.58 kilometres road-cum-railway bridge would begin in 2009, if the government could arrange the funds.
   The cost of constructing the bridge has been estimated at around Tk 8,500 crore, and the government is trying to get a major portion of the amount from the donor agencies, said the officials.
   They, however, said at the request of the government, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank for International Cooperation have already given indication to co-finance the Padma Bridge Project.
   ADB has included the project in the lending pipeline for 2009. It has also kept provision of $25 million in the lending pipeline for 2007 as engineering technical assistance loan.
   The bridge will take maximum 54 months to be built. On completion of the project, the bridge will provide a direct road link between the south-western region and the rest of the country as well as boost the economic activities.

The Bangladesh Civil Service Coordination Committee demanded cancellation of all the contractual jobs and other appointments made on political consideration.
   Emerging from an executive committee meeting of the organisation on November 29, the leaders of the civil servants also demanded punishment for those who were responsible for politicisation of the government departments including secretariat, directorate, corporations, boards of directors of nationalised commercial banks, institutions and also the missions abroad.
   They also called for reinstatement of those who had lost their job and were deprived of promotions because of political discrimination during last few years in different sector of the public administration.
   The committee members urged the advisers Dr. Sufia Rahman and Dhriaj Kumar Nath to take necessary steps for keeping civil service departments free from politicisation. They also demanded that the authorities activate the independent anti-corruption commission aiming at curbing corruption in the country.
   The executive committee president, Mohammad Nurul Huda, presided over the meeting. Among others secretary general of the committee Md Nazrul Islam and joint secretary Dr. Mosaddek Ahmed were present at the meeting.

The body of one of the two lawmen, who went missing after Friday night’s gunfight with the pirates in the confluence of Mongla and Passur rivers, was recovered from Mongla River Sunday afternoon.
   With the recovery of the body of Kabir Hossain, an officer of coastguard of Mongla Zone, the death toll rose to six.
   Four pirates and a coastguard member, Amirul Islam, were killed in the gunfight that took place after a team of coastguard and RAB had arrested a gang of 10-12 pirates in a trawler and the gang members later pounced on the lawmen.
   Kabir and RAB member Kanchan fall in the river at one stage of scuffles with the pirates.
   Official sources said the joint team of the battalion and coastguards conducted the operation at around 10:30pm Friday acting on a tip-off that a ‘consignment of arms’ was being sent in to the haunts of gunrunners in the vast mangrove forests of Sundarban.

The Gano Forum president, Dr Kamal Hossain, on Sunday suggested constitution of a national security council with the army to overcome the on-going political crisis.
   ‘The defence services could be constituted into a national security council to exercise their functions in accordance with the constitution and to ensure their non-partisan role in safeguarding national security’, said a written statement of the Gano Forum chief.
   Dr Kamal, an eminent jurist of the country is now in England. His statement was read out by Zillur Rahman at a seminar on ‘finding a way to overcome the national crisis.’ The Young Professionals organised the seminar at Spectra Convention Centre in the city.
   He also suggested formation of a consultative body with representatives of political parties and civil society. He said the body should be available to the caretaker government for consultation.
   Dr Kamal, who is highly critical of the president’s taking over as chief of the caretaker government, said he (president) should hand over the responsibility of caretaker government chief to a non-party man.
   About the intervention of diplomats in the domestic politics, Maj Gen (rtd) Moinul Hossain Chowdhury said, ‘activities of the diplomats are clear violation of the Vienna Convention’, and suggested the politicians to refrain from involving them.
   Referring to the prevailing situation, Maj Gen (rtd) Mohammad Ibrahim said, ‘Someone has to act for the good of the people even it violates the constitution…You have amended the constitution for fourteen times. You can go for the 15th amendment.’
   Kazi Firoze Rashid of the Jatiya Party spoke in favour of army intervention to resolve the crisis. ‘They (army) will prepare flawless voters’ list, recover illegal arms, take stern action against black money holders before embarking on election to make it free, fair and impartial.”
   The CPD executive director, Debapriya Bhattacharya, former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru, BNP leader Nitai Chandra Roy, former BGMEA president Annusul Huq, Barrister Rokon Uddin Mahmud, CPB leader Monzurul Islam Khan and former FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo also spoke.

The president and chief adviser, Iajuddin Ahmed, expressed deep shock at the loss of lives caused by typhoon in the Bicol region of the Philippines.
   In a condolence message to president of the Philippines Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Iajuddin also conveyed his sympathy to the bereaved families.
   He hoped that the people would be able to recover quickly from the aftermath of the disaster.

A housewife was killed allegedly by her husband and in-laws for dowry at sadar upazila in Pabna early Saturday.
   The police said the victim, Sima Rani Ghosh, 22, of village Bonagram in Pabna sadar, was married to Gopal Chandra Ghosh, 27, of village Sagarkandi under Bera upazila in the district.
   Gopal Ghosh and his family members used to torture Sima Rani Ghosh for dowry since their marriage. They tortured Sima and after a break of several hours they poured kerosene on her body and set her on fire at about 1:30am on Saturday.
   She was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a critical condition where she died.
   The Matijheel police recovered the body from the hospital and sent it to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue.