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More than a thousand farmers of the Barind region on Sunday laid siege to the house of a local BNP lawmaker and the office of the deputy commissioner, demanding electricity supply for irri-boro irrigation.
   The lawmaker, Harunur Rashid, and the DC, Nurul Islam, expressed their solidarity with the demands of the farmers and received a memorandum from them.
   The lawmaker also vowed that he would join the farmers resigning from the parliament if their demands were not met.
   The peasants under the banner Gobratala Union Krishak Samity organised the programme but the farmers of Baliadanga and Jhilim unions also joined it and laid siege to the lawmaker’s house and DC office at about 11:30am.
   Accepting the memorandum from the peasants, Nurul Islam said the situation of electricity supply was slightly improved in the past two days and hoped that it would further improved within a week.
   The farmers said the electricity supply in their region was very much poor due to which they could not prepare their land in time and if the situation persisted, the fields would dry up.
   They said a large number of irrigation pumps have already been damaged due to severe load shedding.
   Admitting to the load shedding, executive engineer of the Power Development Board, Mahfuzur Rahman, told that about 25 megawatt is supplied in the district against the peak-hour demand of 60 megawatt.
   He does not see any prospect of improving the situation in the near future.
   A lineman of the Amnura Palli Bidyut sub-station, Rezaul Karim, said about 400 deep tube-wells cover the Amnura, Bakultala, Gobratala and Chechniya beel areas and each of the tube-wells covers an area of about 300 bigha land.
   The electricity supply in the area is only one megawatt against the demand of 4 megawatts, he said.

Some 150 low-paid Bangladeshi female workers in Kuwait are passing through miserable days as they have been deprived of wages for the last seven months, according to a Kuwait media report.
   ‘The female Bangladesh workers were employed by a private company. But the company, a cleaning firm, did not provide them with proper documents or medical insurance,’ the Kuwait Times in a report said.
   The women arrived in Kuwait one year ago with three-year contract to work as cleaners and they each had to pay KD 140 for their travel ticket and KD 10 for their visa. But they are leading a hard-to-describe a life due to non-payment of salaries.
   A contract was signed between the state-owned Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd and a local cleaning firm for recruitment of 500 Bangladeshi workers, the report said quoting Shahriar Kader Siddiqy, first secretary (labour and welfare wing) at the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait.
   Initially, as per the contract, 150 women came to Kuwait for 11 months, including a three-month probationary period, the report said.
   Shahriar told the Kuwait Times that as one year has expired, they have the opportunity to go back to Bangladesh and return for another two years of employment.
   But the problem now facing the 150 Bangladeshi women is that despite the expiry of one year none of them has a valid iqama (residency visa), civil ID or medical insurance.
   According to the contract, their employer was fully responsible for each employee's medical insurance, accommodation, KD 35 monthly salary and a ticket to return home after 12 months of service.
   Since arrival in Kuwait, these women, mostly from rural areas in Bangladesh, have fallen into a miserable condition as there are being deprived of medical coverage and payment of salaries, Shahriar said.
   He further said this was not an isolated case. Many of 3,000 Bangladeshi workers employed by the company complained to embassy officials about their woes. A good many of the workers have not got salaries for a long time.
   ‘After the first year of their contract, they are sent back home breaching the three-year contract,’ he said.
   ‘If we go home now, we will have to pay a KD 2 per day in fine. But we have no money for that,’ Debby, one of the workers said.

Eminent Indian columnist, Kuldip Nayar, stressed that any problem regarding water crisis that Bangladesh fears due to India’s Tipaimukh Dam construction project should be resolved in a cooperative manner.
   ‘I don’t know the details of the dam, but the officials informed me that it would not be an irrigation project. Rather they have told me it will be a hydro-electric project,’ he said while addressing as chief guest a discussion on ‘Regional Cooperation for Trans-boundary Water Resource Management on Sunday.
   The People’s Initiative for Transboundary Water Cooperation and CARDMA jointly organised the discussion at the National Press Club.
   Chaired by the chief of the twin-forum, Hasna J Moudud, the discussion was attended by the law, justice and parliamentary affairs minister, Moudud Ahmed, as special guest.
   Kuldip Nayar, former member of Rajya Shava and the Indian high commissioner to UK, said Bangladesh could think different way if the Tipaimukh Dam is constructed not for hydro-electric project. But the way of thinking should be cooperative, not confrontational, he added.
   ‘Since it is a power project so far I know, there is no reason to take away water from the upstream,’ he told the function held at a time when protests have been on against the planned dam.
   Protesters fear that the dam could be used for diverting waters of the common rivers, turning Bangladesh’s northeast into wasteland.
   Pointing out that sweet water is a precious element for the world nowadays, Nayar said, ‘We have to think about the welfare of the whole region, including Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.’
   ‘Everybody in the world wants water—it’s not a matter of who is superior or who is not,’ the former Indian diplomat said.
   Nayar also mentioned that there are huge areas in India that have scant water, and even during the Farakka Dam construction, many Indians went against that.
   He emphasised that Bangladesh and India should work together towards common goals. “One day we shall be an economic union,” he said.
   In his speech, Moudud said India is a large country and Bangladesh is small one; India is upper-riparian country whereas Bangladesh is lower. ‘But we have our rights to get our water share from the international rivers.’
   Describing the adverse effects of the Farakka Barrage, Moudud said the Surma and the Kushiara rivers might dry up if Tipaimukh dam was constructed in the upper-riparian Indian part.
   ‘We want to know what the purpose for this barrage or dam is,’ he said, adding that exchange of information is the preliminary element to make a mutual understanding between the two countries.

The city’s notoriously heavy traffic was remarkably light on Sunday as the police put up barricades on every intersection and blocked entry to the capital, apparently in a bid to prevent vehicles from carrying the opposition long marchers.
   Police and ruling party activists obstructed long marchers of the 14-party opposition combine at different places in the capital and elsewhere in the country. Reports say at least 200 people were injured in attacks on opposition processions in the city and other districts.
   Although the government claimed it had taken the steps to ensure foolproof security for the opposition’s rally at Paltan Maidan, in reality ruling BNP cadres chased and assaulted scores of rally-goers right in front of the law enforcers.
   The city dwellers, who came out on the streets, had to suffer a lot in different areas of the city due to police barricades. The areas surrounding Paltan Maidan were made off-limits to motorised transports.
   To Elias, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver, it was a day free from traffic chaos. ‘On similar occasions earlier, I saw traffic congestion, but this time it looks a bit thinner,’ he said.
   The number of private cars on the streets was few with most of the people preferring not to drive their cars fearing troubles centring the long march. Very few women were seen moving on the streets.
   Attendance at educational institutions was also thin.

Experts at the inaugural ceremony of the 8th commonwealth congress on diarrhoea and malnutrition on Sunday suggested that the ways should be found out so that the poor children and women had easy access to modern health facilities.
   They said although re-hydration therapy and antibiotics were invented to prevent many of infectious diseases, child and maternal mortality rate still remains at an abnormal level in many poor countries because of those facilities.
   Sixty per cent of the children below five years of age still die of preventable diseases and most of them are from the poor countries, they said.
   The Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition in collaboration with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh and the DFID Bangladesh organised the three-day congress in the city.
   Professor Muhammad Yunus, managing director of the Grameen Bank, Professor AZM Zahid Hossain of urology department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, country representative of the DFID Bangladesh David Wood, president of Commonwealth Association of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition Dr Tony Nelson, executive director of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Professor David A Sack, Bangladesh, among others, spoke on the occasion.
   The health minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, expected to address the meeting as chief guest, could not attend. His written statement was read out.
   Professor Yunus said they would set a join venture with a Paris-based baby food manufacturer, Danone Company, to produce baby foods in order to meet the nutrition a child usually requires.
   ‘The ICDDR,B will give us guidelines so that the products could be manufactured by ensuring ingredients, which will meet nutritional requirement,’ he said.
   Professor Yunus also called upon the affluent section of the society to set some businesses based on ‘no loss’ principle to help the poor. He cited a Grameen Bank project which started giving loans to beggars. ‘66 thousand beggars received the money, and meanwhile 1000 beggars left begging,’ he said.
   David Wood said the preventive measures, which the modern medical science invented, should be made available to the poor children.
   David A Sack said Bangladesh had achieved good success in the last two decades in reducing child mortality in diarrhoeal diseases using therapy and vaccines.

A meeting of the Awami League Parliamentary Party is likely to sit in a day or two to fix its date for returning to parliament.
   After disclosing the plan at a public meeting at the city’s Paltan Maidan, leader of the opposition and Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday night discussed the issue with some senior leaders at her Sudha Sadan residence. But she did not fix any date for the parliamentary party meeting.
   The Awami League, which has 56 members in the 345-member parliament, has boycotted the parliament sessions since January 31, 2005.
   Hasina runs the risk of losing her membership if she does not return to the parliament by February 13, on account of her absence of 90 consecutive working days of the parliament. Some other opposition lawmakers are also close to the 90-day mark.
   At the Paltan rally, Hasina on Sunday afternoon said her party would take up the oppositions’ proposals for caretaker administration and Election Commission reform to the parliament.

The police seized six live bombs near a saw mill owned by an Awami League leader under Khoksha upazila in the district early Sunday.
   The police said they conducted a raid on the railway station market at Shamaspur Bazar under Khoksha based on secret information they had received at about 5:30pm Saturday.

One person was killed and 15 others were missing when a ferry capsized in the River Karnaphuli near the Firingi Bazaar Bridge in the Chittagong city on Sunday.
   The deceased was identified as Hanifa Khatun, 45, a resident of Matarbari under Maheskhali upazila in Cox’s Bazar. Three of the missing passengers were Tunku Rani, a peddler of fabrics, Dilip Biswas, a truck driver, and Nawsad, a truck helper.
   Survivors said the ferry Sugandha-28 carrying thirty passengers and nine trucks sailed from the terminal at about 4:00am and sank in the mid-river due to overloading and strong current.
   The ferry having the capacity of 50 tonnes was laden with about 80 tonnes of stone, they said.
   Shortly after the accident, the fishermen rescued the passengers, but some fifteen people were washed away by strong current, said a survivor. A team of the coastguard was conducting the rescue operation.

Members of the Bangladesh Civil Service General Education Association will start an agitation programme wearing black badges and holding protest rallies at all government colleges across the country from today to realise their one-point demand to stop the government initiative of amending the Absorption Rules 2000.
   The government formulated the Absorption Rules 2000 to bring non-cadre teachers of government colleges under a common government rule for members of the education cadre.
   The association, at a meeting held in its office in the capital on Sunday, decided that they will wear black badges and stage rallies at respective government colleges today and tomorrow to press home their demand.
   They also threatened tougher movement if the demand was not met immediately.

Leaders of components of the Awami League-led 14-Party Alliance on Sunday urged for establishing a pro-people, secular and democratic government in the country.
   They were addressing the post long march rally of the alliance at the Paltan ground.
   Terming the present government ‘dysfunctional’, the Gana Forum president, Dr Kamal Hossain, said, ‘We want to
   form a government which will fulfil the demands of the people.
   The Awami League presidium member, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, said the people of the country were ready to unseat the government.
   She criticised the BNP-led four-party alliance government for allowing two war criminal ministers of Jamaat into the cabinet and urged the government to immediately withdraw them from the cabinet.
   The Awami League presidium member, Abdur Razzak, alleged that the ‘BNP-Jamaat’ alliance government had patronised the ultra Islamist militant groups and turned Bangladesh into a militant country in the world.
   Another presidium member Tofail Ahmed said the people of the country were waiting for a people’s upsurge like 1969 to compel the government to step down.
   General secretary of the Awami League, Abdul Jalil, said, ‘We are fighting to establish a non-communal democratic government’.
   The Workers Party of Bangladesh president and 11-Party Alliance leader, Rashed Khan Menon, said the people of the country had given their verdict against the alliance government during the countrywide long march.
   He strongly criticised the role of the alliance government in killing 10 persons at Kansat in Chapainawabganj.
   The Chittagong City Corporation mayor and Awami League leader, Mohiuddin Chowdhury, said the Awami League-led opposition alliance was formed to foil the conspiracies of the ‘BNP-Jamaat’ alliance government.
   The Awami League presidium member, Suranjit Sengupta, said, ‘The defeat of the ‘BNP-Jamaat’ alliance
   candidates in the recently held by-elections proved that
   government had lost its popularity’.
   Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal faction president Hasanul Haq Inu, AL leader Motia Chowdhury, Mohammad Nasim, Gana Forum general secretary Saif Uddin Ahmed Manik, Workers Party general secretary Bimal Biswas, Ganatantri Party president Mohammad Nurul Islam, Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal general secretary Syed Zafar Sajjad and a faction of the National Awami League central leader Enamul Haque also addressed the rally.

Speakers at a seminar on Sunday said women migrant workers were the worst victim of the present overseas employment process which is tougher for poor women job seekers than for men.
   They said the process should be made easier so that the country could benefit more from the migration of workers.
   ‘Overseas employment for women could be a potential sector to boost remittance which accounts for the lion’s share of the country’s GDP. But women often fall prey to illegal human trafficking which often throw them into extreme misery barring a few cases’, speakers
   noted at the seminar organised by the Bangladesh Obhibashi Mohila Shramik Association (BOMSA).
   The seminar on ‘Contribution of Female Migrant Workers in National Economy’, was held at the BOESL .
   Dr Tasneem Siddique, professor of the Department of Political Science at the Dhaka University, said the draft of the overseas employment policy should be approved without further delay to ensure a safe and smooth migration process especially for women.
   Ali Haider Chowdhury, secretary general of the Bangladesh Association for the International Recruiting Agents (BAIRA) expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in approving the policy and urged the government to be more serious about manpower export issue which contributes the most in the country’s economy.
   The speakers stressed the need for implementation of a proper pre-departure orientation and training, institutional care for the families and children left behind, communication and language skills and training in specialized services such as nursing and care, for the women going abroad with jobs.

Despite a serious illness, Achhia Begum arrived at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court Sunday morning to have her son, Bashir, released. He was arrested in the ongoing government crackdown ahead of the opposition’s grand rally in the capital.
   Bashir, a rickshaw-puller, was detained by the police from near the Shiya Mosque in Mohammadpur when he was returning home with medicine for his sick mother at about 8:00pm Saturday.
   Acchia looked for her son till midnight as he had gone missing. ‘Later, we came to know that Bashir was at the Mohammadpur police station and would be produced before the court in the morning.’
   Failing to find her son, Achhia was desperate and paid Tk 100 to a middleman to see her son.
   The middleman then asked her to pay Tk 5,000 for Bashir’s bail. Achhia could manage to bring down the amount to Tk 3,000, which she borrowed on high interest from a money lender in Mohammadpur.
   But Achhia’s efforts were of no avail and she completely broke down when Bashir’s bail prayer was rejected and he was sent to the Dhaka Central Jail. The police had apparently
   implicated Bashir in a pending theft case filed with the Adabar police.
   Acchia kept why her son was in prison, what his crime was, unable to hold back her tears of desperation. ‘We have committed no crimes except that of being poor. That is our only crime.’
   Acchia went back to her shanty in Adabar after a whole day’s futile attempt.
   Bashir is among the 4,500 persons arrested and sent to the Dhaka Central Jail during the crackdown of the last three days. And Achhia was among hundreds of such mothers weeping at the jail gates.