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A few months before midsummer, dwellers of Dhaka have started facing frequent power outages which are intensifying their sufferings from mosquito bites during power outages.
   The capital city suffered a power shortage of around 626MS on Saturday in the area covered by the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority and the Dhaka Electric Supply Company.
   A Power Development Board official said they could supply around 1,374MW on Saturday against the demand for about 2,000MW in the peak evening hours. The official figure for the demand, however, is 1,586 MW, he said.
   Residents of all parts of the city such as Rampura, Khilgaon, Basabo, Gendaria, Jatrabari, Pallabi, Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Moghbazar, Kazipara and Mohammadpur have expressed their dissatisfaction over the government initiatives which failed to control mosquito menace and reduce power outages.
   Students, who are taking preparation for the SSC and HSC examinations, garment workers and employees of private offices working at night are the main sufferers. Besides, security guards and floating people are easy victims of mosquito.
   ‘I am facing difficulties in taking preparation for my HSC examinations because of the power outage which intensifies mosquito menace,’ said Farzana Mishu, an HSC candidate in the Rampura area.
   ‘Even during the daytime, I have to burn mosquito repellent coils or use hand spray to save me from mosquito bites,’ said Sharmin, an SSC candidate in the Mirpur area.
   Shahid Ahmed, a resident of Mohammadpur, said although his doctor had advised him not to climb stairs, he was forced to use stairs to reach his sixth floor flat on Saturday as the lift of the building became inactive for power outages.
   The city corporation drive to clean ditches and water bodies, especially the breeding ground of mosquitoes, proved failure as the drive was not conducted regularly, the city dwellers alleged.
   Nasim Ush-Sheraj, a senior insect control officer, said the mosquito bites in the city was less this year compared with that of the previous years.
   He said they had been using larvicides in the breeding grounds of mosquito from the very beginning of the season of Culex mosquito and were now using both larvicide and adulticide every day.
   Sheraj said a total eradication of mosquito was not possible because of some problems as there are places where it is impossible to use larvicides, such as surface drains covered by slab.
   There are a large number of breeding places in houses and factories in the city, which remain out of reach, he said.
   There is also a huge area out of the jurisdiction of the corporation, but which is the breeding ground of mosquito.
   The areas include Manda, Kamrangirchar, Nandipara, Tripura, Uttar Khan and Dakkhin Khan.
   There are a large number of breading grounds from where mosquitoes come to the corporation area as a mosquito can fly about a mile, he said.

The sales of science fictions in the Ekushey book fair showed the genre became popular among the young people and it also attracted the grownups.
   The publishers are becoming more interested in publishing science fictions to catch the young readers.
   The catalogues of the major publishing houses list at
   least one science fiction published during the Ekushey book fair.
   The readership comprises students of both genders. They have been buying science fictions since the time the genre became popular with the writing of Muhammad Zafar Iqbal early 1990s.
   His success made publishers interested in publishing science fictions by others and translations of famous science fiction titles.
   Publishers feel lucky if Zafar Iqbal approaches them with science fiction manuscripts. Three of the five titles published on the occasion of the book fair this year are science fictions.
   Rahat, a school student, bought two of Zafar Iqbal’s science fictions — Chhayalin and Ruhan Ruhan.
   A fan of Zafar, Rahat roamed about inside the fair ground looking for a chance to meet the writer and take his autograph.
   Translations of famous science fictions have also arrived in the fair. The salespeople at the Oitijjhya stall said science fiction titles, in translations, by Issac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke were on high demand.
   Publishing house Sandesh also brought out the translations of the two famous writers.
   The works of Soviet writer Alexander Belayev sold well. He has been popular among Bangladeshis for the translation, Ubhachar Manab, of his Amphibian Man.
   Among the Bangladeshi writers, Hasan Khurshid Rumi, Zakaria Swapan, Asrar Masud, Sajjad Kabir, Russel Ahmed, Rabiul Hasan, Mizanur Rahman Kallol are prominent.
   Most science fiction titles, other than by Zafar Iqbal, in this year’s book fair are written or translated by them, said an attendant at Unmad stall.
   Hasan Kurshid translated Asimov’s science fiction stories, published as Part 6, and Russian science fiction stories, published as Part 2. Asrar Masud translated Asimov’s the Pebble in the Sky.
   The publishers are trying to bring out all their titles before Ekushey, hoping for good sales on February 21.
   The fair information centre reported the arrival of 45 titles on the day. Thirteen of them were volumes of poems and nine were novels.
   A number of books were released on the day. Writer Selina Hossain released Sajjad Arefin’s volume of poems, Nihata Habar Apekshay Jege Thaki.
   The publishers went out on demonstrations against the increase in paper prices. They brought out a silent procession and held a rally demanding immediate reduction of price and withdrawal of the duties imposed on paper import. Saeed Bari, Osman Gani and Robin Ahsan addressed the rally.
   Books were stolen from the stall of Bangabandhu Memorial Museum Saturday night. The stall attendants found the stall open and the books went missing. They lodged a complaint with the academy authorities.
   The Bangla Academy held a discussion on Dewan Mohammad Azraf. Anisuzzaman read out the keynote paper.
   Abdul Gafur, Al Mujahidi, Shah Kowser Mustafa Abul Ulayi joined in the discussion.

The government is yet to announce the distribution method for the submarine cable for the Internet service providers, although the submarine cable service is expected to be commissioned for the public in March.
   This was revealed at roundtable, ‘what do we expect from the submarine cable line’, held in the city on Saturday. The Bangladesh Friendship Education Society along with the Association for Progressive Communication organised the roundtable.
   Abu Yusuf, director of IT, Prime Minister’s Office, said the government would announce the submarine cable policy on February 23 and Monwar Hossain, director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Project, said the submarine cable service is likely to be commissioned in March .
   The IT experts expressed concern about the management and maintenance for the submarine cable, and the failure to establish cyber law in the country when the law minister, Moudud Ahmed, promised to place the issue in the parliamentary in January.
   They criticised the government for leasing out the fibre optic cable connectivity to a single mobile phone operator.
   The country would receive a bandwidth of 10 gigabits with the submarine cable linked from Cox’s Bazar to Dhaka through fibre optic cable.
   The total cost for the infrastructural setup has been $110 million while the government has paid SEA-ME-WE-4, the consortium a hefty $35 million for the submarine cable link.
   ‘The government is spending millions on submarine cable and fibre optic connectivity, but it is not giving any concern to the IT-enabled services,’ said TIM Nurul Kabir, BASIS vice-president.
   Monwar Hossain, director of Bangladesh Submarine Cable Project, assured the internet service providers that the per megabit bandwidth price would be much lower than the existing solution through very small aperture terminal that takes around $2,000Mbps.
   VSAT had been opened for the public only in Bangladesh resulting in illegal voice transmission and a huge loss of revenue to the government, he said. ‘Prior to legalising voice over internet protocol (VoIP), it has to be considered how the government will have its control over the service.’
   Karar Mahmudul Hasan, former secretary of the science and ICT ministry, was critical about the government decision to lease out the fibre optic cable connectivity to a single mobile phone operator, Grameen Phone, arguing that it would create an opportunity for monopoly in the business. The most of the discussants echoed Hasan.
   Syed Marghub Morshed, former chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, moderated the discussion, while Mizanur Rahman Shelley, chairman of the Centre for Development Research, Bangladesh, Mostafa Jabbar, an eminent IT personnel and Reza Salim, associate director of BFES took part in the discussions.

The Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University began a two-day IBA Career Fair 2006 on Sunday for students to have a look at career opportunities offered by leading corporate houses.
   The university vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz, opened the fair as chief guest. The Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce president, Latifur Rahman, attended the opening as guest of honour.
   Faiz appreciated the initiative of holding the event which would facilitate the students with internships and placements.
   Latifur Rahman said the institute’s cooperation was crucial in expanding corporate market.
   The institute director, Iftekhar Ghani Chowdhury, said the participating corporate houses in the fair had no commitment towards selection and recruitment of students.
   The fair will give an opportunity for business graduates to know of and to communicate with the corporate houses, he said.
   The internship and placement programme chairman of the institute, Golam Mohammad Chowdhury, spoke on the difference between a job and a career fair, saying in career fairs, students can get ideas to develop their career.
   Around 200 corporate guests of 18 leading corporate houses such as GrameenPhone, Aktel, Siemens, CityCell, Standard Chartered Bank, British American Tobacco, Prime Bank, Novartis, BRAC, Beximco, Marico, ACI, EBL and the STS Group have joined the fair.
   The fair is restricted only to the present and former students and graduates of the institute.

Election to the Jahangirnagar University Teachers’ Association will be held on February 28 in which about 330 teachers of the university are expected to cast their votes. Hectic campaign is going on the campus, centring the election.
   The sources said 33 teachers in three groups will take part in the election for 15 posts.
   Ninety-eight teachers primarily submitted their nomination papers by February 16 but 65 candidates withdraw their nomination papers by Sunday, the last date for withdrawal of the nomination papers.
   Ajit Kumar Majumdar of statistics and Mahbub Kabir of chemistry will vie for the post of president and secretary from the incumbent panel
   The leftist panel could not give a full fledged panel.

Rain or thunder shower accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at one or two places over the Sylhet division and the regions of Rangpur, Dinajpur and Mymensingh till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Sunday.
   Weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky elsewhere during the period. Night temperature may remain mainly unchanged.
   The highest temperature on Sunday, 34 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Chuadanga and the lowest, 18 degrees Celsius, in Dinajpur and at Srimangal.
   The sun sets in the capital city at 5:27pm today and will rise at 6:28am on Tuesday.

The Dhaka city mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, on Sunday directed the concerned authorities to take immediate steps to ensure writing of signboards of different organisations and shops in Bangla alphabets by February 21.
   The directive was given after Khoka received a memorandum in on Sunday from the leaders of Banglabhasha O Sangskriti Rakkha Andalon.
   Khoka asked the concerned department of the corporation to take necessary steps in this regard by February 21.
   The memorandum was submitted to the mayor by a BOSRA delegation led by Dr Ferdous Ahmad Koreshi and professor Abul Kashem Fazlul Haque after a human chain programme in front of Nagar Bhaban on the day.
   BOSRA has been agitating since long, to realise their six point demands that include writing every signboard in Bangla script, necessary steps by the government in establishing Bangla at equal status in every sector of national life, banning Bangla writing in Roman letters, stopping fabricated and distorting use of the language in advertisement and taking proper steps to enrich the national culture.

Use of Information Technology has become essential to make the use of Bangla effective in all spheres and to keep it a living language.
   Computer scholars mostly at their own initiatives are pursuing research in Bangladesh, West Bengal of India and other Bangla speaking areas, but their efforts require coordination with clear objectives so that a uniform Bangla softwares and interfaces can be developed.
   This observation was made at the first 'international conference on computer processing of Bangla 2006', organised by the Independent University, Bangladesh on its campus on Friday.
   The objective was to provide a platform for IT scholars, researchers, engineers and linguists for exchange of ideas and share their research outcomes.
   The seminar was inaugurated by Professor Abul Kalam Manzur Morshed, director general , Bangla Academy in which thirty one research papers were presented.
   The chief guest emphasised on the need of coordination of works between linguists
   and computer scholars and suggested that the drives should not be left with the government only.
   Professor M Lutfor Rahman of Dhaka University and Syed Akhter Hossain of East West University presented the keynote papers titled 'research on Bangla computational linguistics in Bangladesh' and Professor BB Chaudhuri of Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata presented a paper titled 'design of efficient spell-checker for Bangla Language'.

A seminar titled 'the influence of Iranian sufi poets on the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam' was organised by the departments of Persian and Urdu language of the University of Dhaka and Nazrul Institute on February 5 at the Nazrul Institute Auditorium.
   The seminar was attended by Syed Ahmadul Haque. Secretary of the cultural ministry Md Ataur Rahman chaired the seminar while poet Abdul Hai Shikder, managing director of Nazrul Institute, delivered the opening speech.
   Dr KM Saiful Islam Khan, chairman of the departments of Persian and Urdu language of the University of Dhaka, presented the summary.

Professor Ake Bergman and Maria Athanasiadou of the department of environment chemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden called on Dhaka University vice-chancellor SMA Faiz on Sunday on DU campus.
   Mosihuzzaman and Nilufar Nahar of the department of chemistry of Dhaka University were present on this occasion.
   During the meeting, they discussed matters of mutual interest, especially the progress of ongoing collaborative research programme on Organic Population between Dhaka University and Stockholm University.
   They also discussed about the Organic Populations Research Centre to be opened by the Dhaka University vice-chancellor on Monday, February 20, said a university press release. SMA Faiz thanked the guests for their interest in its academic activities.

The twenty-five member new central committee of Jatiya Nirman Sramik Federation was formed with Shafiuddin Ahmed as president and Rabindranath Roy as general secretary.
   The committee was formed at the first council session of the organisation held at Asad Auditorium in the capital on Friday and Saturday.
   Eminent labour leader and Jatiya Sramik Federation Bangladesh president Abul Basher on Friday opened the council. The organisation presidium members Rabindranath Roy, Alauddin Alal and Sahabuddin Khokan chaired the opening sessions.

Freshers' orientation for the spring semester, 2006 of the Eastern University was held at the Russian Cultural Center, Dhanmondi on Saturday.
   The minister for communication, Barrister Nazmul Huda MP, was chief guest of the programme while the University Grants Commission chairman, Professor Dr M Asaduzzaman, was special guest.
   The Eastern University vice-chancellor, Professor AK Fazlul H Shah, presided over the programme while Professor Nurul Islam, dean of arts faculty, delivered the welcome speech.
   Dr SM Rahman, registrar of the university, offered vote of thanks.

British High Commission closure
The British High commission in Dhaka and its office in Sylhet will remain closed to the public on Monday on the occasion of International Mother Language Day, said a release.

Human chain against hospital
irregularities
Social organisation Citizens’ Rights Movement formed on Sunday a human chain near the National Eidgah in Dhaka demanding an end to alleged irregularities in government hospitals. Former Dhaka University proctor ASM Atikur Rahman presided over the programme. The forum convener, Tushar Rehman, Ruhin Hussain Prince, Bina Sikdar, and Sharifuzzaman Sharif spoke.

NDC team visits defence ministry
A 38-member team of the National Defence Course 2006 visited on Sunday the Ministry of Defence as part of the training curriculum, said an ISPR handout. The team includes senior directing staff (navy) of the college, Commodore Khondker Moyeen Uddin Ahmed, three faculty members, 14 officers of the Bangladesh Armed Forces of the rank of brigadier general or equivalent, seven joint secretaries, one DIG and 10 overseas officers of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Qatar, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates.
— New Age