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The import duty on 3,346 items including a number of essentials is set to drop by one per cent but on all kinds of vehicles to mount by about 10 per cent in the new budget, official sources said.
   In the budget for 2006-2007 the finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, tables at the Jatiya Sangsad Thursday, supplementary duty on a number of items is also likely to be slashed by about five per cent, sources said.
   Of the 3,346 items, the import duty on 1,483 ones that currently is six per cent is likely to be proposed at five per cent in the budget. The 13 per cent duty on the remaining 1,863 items is likely to be reduced to 12 per cent
   The duties are to be reduced mostly on essential commodities like rice, onion and garlic, and industrial raw materials. The essential items also include dried chili, cereals, wheat, salts, cashew nuts, fresh fruit, cow, cocoa beans, chocolate, and wool.
   Besides, animal hair, cotton and yarn, about 50 kinds of chemical elements, metals used in the industry, about 30 kinds of organic chemicals, pharmaceutical raw materials, oils for perfumery, raw materials for soap industry, photographic goods, and polymers for plastic industry are also to get one per cent import duty reduction.
   The duty slash would benefit the local industries and appease the multilateral donors like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, sources said.
   The WB in early 2006 asked the government to reduce the existing duty by two percentage points and eliminate the para-tariff barriers.
   However, the current ceiling of 25 per cent import duty would not be changed, sources confirmed. With the possible changes in the current import duty rates, the slabs are going to be fixed at 5, 12 and 25 per cent, which are now 6, 13 and 25 per cent.
   According to sources, duties on vehicles irrespective of size are likely to be increased by about 10 per cent in the ensuing budget. So, both new and reconditioned vehicles would be costlier.
   Currently 101 per cent duty – including import duty, supplementary duty, infrastructure development surcharge and advance income tax -- are charged for importing vehicles up to 1649CC, 149.19 per cent for vehicles from 1649CC to 3,000CC, and 194.50 per cent for vehicles above 3,000CC.

The finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, is set to present on Thursday a Tk 69,740 crore budget, the last of the incumbent government, for the next fiscal year.
   The outlay is about 14 per cent higher than the current revised one, finance ministry sources told New Age. The Tk 64,300 crore outlay for FY06 is expected to be trimmed to Tk 61,200 crore, they said.
   The new budget projects an ambitious Tk 53,200 crore revenue earning. Sources said, as the government is going to shrink the revenue receipt for the current financial year to Tk 44,570 crore, the revenue target for FY07 would be 17.50 per cent more that the current revised one.
   Of the total projected revenue generation in the new budget, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is likely to be assigned to gather Tk 41,500 crore, which is about 20 per cent higher than its current target likely to be revised at Tk 34,456 crore. The original NBR revenue target for FY06 was Tk 35,650 crore.
   The election year budget proposes a Tk 26,000 crore Annual Development Programme, which is Tk 4,500 crore or 21 per cent more than the revised ADP and Tk 1,500 crore or 6.00 per cent more than the original ADP of FY06.
   The Tk 24,500 crore current ADP has already been trimmed down to Tk 21,500 crore, with Tk 14,375 crore coming from local sources and the rest, Tk 7,125 crore, from abroad.
   Of the ADP allocations for FY07, Tk 14,812 crore or 57 per cent will be collected
   from local sources and the remaining Tk 11,188 crore is expected to come from external ones.
   The FY07 ADP allocates for 937 development projects, of which only 51 are new, while 685 are unapproved.
   General and religious education sector receives the
   largest share of the new ADP pie -- Tk 3,861.60 crore or 14.85 per cent. Commu-nications comes next with Tk 3,308.76 crore or 12.73
   per cent, power Tk 3,160.86 crore or 12.16 per cent, rural development Tk 3,138.89 crore or 12.07 per cent, and health, nutrition, population and family welfare sector Tk 2,494 crore or 9.59 per cent.

The ceiling for tax-free income will not be raised in the budget for 2006-07, but the high-income group is likely to get tax rebate if their income increases from that of the current fiscal year, finance ministry sources told New Age.
   The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and other major trade organisations have demanded that the ceiling should be raised to Tk 150,000 from Tk 120,000, given the inflation and the wage hike both in the public and private sectors.
   The average inflation from March 2005 to March 2006 was 7.20 per cent, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
   The budget for fiscal year 2006-2007 will introduce the rebate for only those who pay tax at the rate of 25 per cent or earn more than Tk 10.20 lakh per year, the sources said.
   A person who has earned over Tk 10.20 lakh in the current fiscal year and paid about Tk three lakh in income tax at the rate of 25 per cent will be entitled to a rebate if his or her income increases in the next fiscal year.
   For example, if one earns Tk one lakh more then the
   previous fiscal year he or
   she will pay 15 per cent tax, instead of 25 per cent, on the additional amount, sources said.
   The total income of the government accrued from
   individual taxpayers was Tk 230 crore in 2004-05, about 60 per cent of which was generated from individuals earning more than Tk 10.20 lakh per annum.
   According to sources, the existing four-tier tax slabs and tax rates for individual taxpayers will remain unchanged in the next budget.

The eighth parliament goes into its last budget session this afternoon with the participation of the main opposition Awami League.
   The session, 22nd of the present parliament, is scheduled to begin at 5:15 pm. The finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, will place the national budget for the fiscal 2006-07 before the House on Thursday.
   It will be the fifth budget of the incumbent alliance government and the 12th placed by Saifur Rahman as the finance minister.
   The acting speaker, Akhter Hamid Siddiqui, will preside over the session, as the speaker, Jamir Uddin Sircar, has
   been made the acting
   president due to illness of the president, Iajuddin Ahmed who is away from the country for treatment.
   It will also be the final budget of the four-party alliance government as the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, is expected to hand over power to an interim caretaker administration in the last week of October before the national election scheduled for January, 2007.
   The revised budget for the fiscal 2005-06 will also be placed, discussed and passed during the session.
   The business advisory committee will sit in a meeting at 4:30 pm today to finalise the duration of the session, the parliament sources said.
   Sources said that a total of 11 bills, including a new ‘anti-terrorism bill-2006’, would be placed before the house during the session.
   A total of 22 notices have been deposited under section 71 of the rules of procedure while the members of the main opposition, Awami League, have submitted 89 adjourned motions for disposal.
   Seventy-one questions have been finalised for the question-answer session of the prime minister while 1,427 questions were deposited for answer from the other ministers.
   Meanwhile, the main opposition Awami League on Tuesday decided to hold its parliamentary party meeting on June 12 after reviewing the budget speech.
   ‘We have decided to hold our parliamentary party meeting at 3:30 pm on June 12 after reviewing the budget speech of the finance minister,’ the chief whip of the opposition in the parliament, Abdus Shahid, told New Age.
   He also said that the AL would participate in the session from the beginning.
   The opposition chief
   whip, however, declined comments on whether the AL members would resign from the parliament during the session or not.
   The House is likely to
   experience heated debates on various issues during the session with the participation of the lawmakers of the Awami League.
   The issues, which are expected to take centre stage, include the new budget, flare-up of labour unrest in garment factories in and around Dhaka,
   voters roll, crises of gas, water and electricity, proposed reforms of the Election Commission and the caretaker government and corruption of the ministers and high-ups in the government.

Factories in the Dhaka export processing zone, which have remained closed since Saturday in the wake of a fresh surge in labour unrest, will resume operation on Thursday, after the authorities assured investors of security and protection from vandalism by outsiders.
   The decision came at a closed-door meeting between the new executive chairman of the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority, Brigadier General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, and leaders of the Bangladesh EPZ Investors’ Association on Tuesday.
   ‘Investors have agreed that operation at DEPZ units will resume on Thursday,’ he said when briefing journalists after the three-hour meeting.
   The chairman of the association, Kihak Sung, joined the meeting at the BEPZA complex in the capital city through the video conferencing system. Some 50 foreign and local investors attended the meeting.
   Ashraf Abdullah claimed that the investors had agreed to meet 90 per cent of the workers’ demands, which are already there in BEPZA rules but not complied with by owners of some fact- ories.
   He did not list the demands the investors had agreed to meet but said owners of EPZ factories would pay workers their wages and arrears by Monday.
   Ninety-two factories, especially readymade garment units, in the exclusive zone have remained closed since Saturday when workers and protesters forced disruption of production.
   The workers raised allegations that many factory owners have long been depriving them of proper wages, allowances, overtime bills and legitimate facilities such as weekly holidays and maternity leaves.
   Ashraf Abdullah, who took over after his predecessor Brigadier General Zakir Hossain had been sacked with three of his colleagues for failing to ensure security for the industries and settle grievances of the workers, said the government would arrange for enhanced security at the exclusive zone.
   Besides, he said, the investors will put in place their own security mechanism.
   He insisted, however, that the recent incidents had not been so serious as to require army deployment.
   ‘We are satisfied with the outcome of the meeting.
   ‘If any violence erupts in the EPZ, it has serous impact,’ said Kihak.
   He urged workers to be respectful to lawful demands and negotiations and advised his fellow investors to comply with BEPZA laws on workers’ welfare.
   He iterated that outsiders with the help of ‘a section of unruly workers’ had instigated the violent protests, forcing suspension of operation at the factories.
   Some investors refused to recognise the outburst as a labour movement but agreed that some owners did flout the BEPZA rules on workers’ welfare.
   Ashraf Abdullah told the meeting that he will meet representatives of the workers on Wednesday to discuss their demands.

The government has undertaken an initiative to create a separate police wing called the Industrial Police Force to maintain peace and order in the country’s industrial belts.
   The police department sources say the force would be stationed in the industrial belts in Dhaka, its suburbs, Ashulia, Tongi, Gazipur, Narayanganj and Chittagong.
   The recent workers’ violence which spread like bonfires through clusters of garment factories at Ashulia, Tongi, Gaipur and the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, prompted the authorities to raise a separate force for industrial belts.
   A deputy inspector general of police will lead the 3,953-strong force while three additional deputy inspectors general and nine superintendents of police will assist him in maintaining order in the industrial zones.
   ‘Their first and foremost duty will be ensuring peaceful environment in all industries and factories across the country for uninterrupted production,’ a senior police official told New Age on Tuesday.
   He said recruitment for the force would start after creating new posts.
   The decision to form the Industrial Police Force was taken at the last inter-ministerial committee meeting on law and order held at the home ministry on May 22, the day industrial riots flared up at Ashulia.
   Understanding the urgency of the problem, the meeting, chaired by the local government, rural development and cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, decided to raise a new police unit for the industrial belts.
   The home ministry officials said the authorities had faced difficulties in tackling violence in the industrial zones in the past due to lack of adequate forces.
   ‘Once the force is formed, they will be deployed there to maintain order,’ said an official.
   He said the government was very serious about raising the new force so that the country’s garment sector, which was the highest foreign exchange earner, faced no further disruption of production in future.
   Sources said the force would also be responsible for ensuring law and order in industrial belts. If any problem arises, they will act quickly, talk to both owners and workers and solve it.

Most factories around the Dhaka Export Processing Zone at Savar resumed operation on Tuesday, but workers at some factories continued work abstention and clashed with law enforcers to push for their 11-point demands.
   The law enforcers at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone are on ‘red alert’ from Saturday, but they did not set up any check-post.
   Some workers roamed about near the main gates of the export processing zone hoping to draw their salaries in the morning. Some workers at Ashulia, Jamgora and Gazipur continued agitation.
   Several hundred workers of Oshin Garments in front of the Fantasy Kingdom went to join work in the morning only to find the factories closed for an indefinite period.
   ‘The authority requested us to complete the shipment and we worked till 3:00am Tuesday. They assured us we would be paid, but they closed the factory,’ alleged Asma, a machine operator.
   The workers went on the rampage and damaged some offices by pelting stones. The police and the Rapid Action Battalion charged at them with batons in which 20, including three women, were injured.
   The demonstrators calmed down after the authority had assured they would resume work on Wednesday morning fulfilling their demands.
   Hundreds of workers of Sonia Sweater Factory, Shade Fashion, P&O Apparels, Shade International, and Rine Fashion, meanwhile, went out on demonstrations in front of their factories.
   The police and the battalion personnel stopped them from doing any damage.
   The authorities later in the presence of high battalion officials held a meeting with the workers’ representatives and the management.
   The workers left the place after the authorities had assured them to fulfil their demands by this month.
   The authorities of the Hot Dress Limited claimed some workers had attacked their production manager and injured him until the police came to his rescue.
   The New Age correspondent in Gazipur said most factories in Gazipur resumed operation on Tuesday morning.
   Korean Hey Chung Corporation at Kaliakoir resumed production in the morning, two days after the authorities had closed the factory for an indefinite period.
   At about 11:00am, the management and the workers’ representatives sat in a meeting to resolve the issues.
   As the news sprayed that the management did not agree to meet their demands, the workers went on the rampage. The police and the battalion tackled the situation.
   The workers later joined work at around 2:30pm after the management had assured them to meet their demands.
   Radiant Garments, RK Garments, Tasnia Fabrics Limited, Multi Fabs Limited and ARN Sweater factory resumed production in the morning after the management had met their demands.
   Garment workers began agitation on May 22.

Beijing is willing to revive the issue of establishing a road network between China and Bangladesh to increase the volume of bilateral trade.
   The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, expressed the interest when the Bangladesh foreign minister, M Morshed Khan, called on him in the Chinese capital, a foreign ministry release said.
   The Chinese premier also instructed relevant departments to look into the issue of reviving the road network between the two countries, the release said.
   The Chinese leader reaffirmed further deepening of a comprehensive partnership of cooperation with Bangladesh in future.
   Expressing his continuous support to promote bilateral relations, Wen said China would actively consider further preferential measures to increase its imports from Bangladesh.
   Morshed Khan requested for enhanced Chinese support in expanding bilateral trade, investment and connectivity.
   He said China should look at Bangladesh as the gateway between South Asia and Southeast Asia, pointing out that Bangladesh could provide much easier access to the world market for the south-western and western regions of China.
   Morshed welcomed China within the fold of SAARC saying, 'SAARC was born in Dhaka in 1985 and after 20 it was reborn in Dhaka with the inclusion of China'.
   The Chinese premier appreciated his views and hoped that China's active involvement would add further dynamism in the process of regional cooperation in South Asia.
   Later the Bangladesh foreign minister had official talks with his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing, and discussed the entire range of bilateral relations.
   Bangladesh sought Chinese assistance and know-how for building greenhouse centres.
   The two ministers underscored the need for early implementation of the Chinese technical assistance programme in Bangladesh and discussed the possibility of building cooperation in energy security.
   The Chinese premier visited Bangladesh in April 2005 to mark 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Hundreds of youths from the capital Dhaka are routinely flocking to the Indian state of West Bengal, especially Kolkata, for meetings with fugitive most-wanted criminals that may guarantee them favourable positions in the crime world.
   The emerging criminals, aged between 15 and 22, usually take the route through the Benapole land port to reach Kolkata and stay there for several days for a meeting with the underground crime lords.
   ‘It has become a practice for us these days,’ a young man, who returned from Kolkata, last week, said. ‘On an average, half a dozen young men cross the border every day.’
   The ultimate objective of the trips is to prove their worth to the crime lords, who fled Bangladesh a couple of years ago in the face of a heightened anti-crime operation and now find it difficult to return to and stay in the country difficult, according to some up-and-coming criminals.
   The window to the world of crime and assert control in certain areas of the capital city opened for the teenaged criminals when the most-wanted criminals fled the country amid widespread killings of suspected criminals by the Rapid Action Battalion.
   ‘A rat race is on among the youths, still to be known to the police department, to fill up the void,’ a young man, who is trying to consolidate his position in the Moghbazar area, said.
   Several gangs have sprouted in the crime-prone areas of the capital city, as more and more teenagers are joining the crime world, officials in the police department say.
   Young men, who have recently been introduced to the world of crime, are now trying to grab the top slots in different gangs, they say.
   ‘The signs are quite ominous and the situation has to be dealt with special attention,’ a senior police official said. ‘Only a few arrests will not resolve the crisis.’
   The Detective Branch of police has recently prepared a list of emerging criminals and launched a series of raids for their arrest without much success.
   The police officials say the emerging criminals are responsible for the recent killings, extortions and other crimes in the city.
   Sources in intelligence agencies say more than 200 youths, who have established telecommunications link with top criminals in India and been acting for them, had been to Kolkata in the past two months.
   ‘It’s now a passion for those who have the zeal to rule the crime world like their fugitive bosses,’ another teenaged criminal said.
   ‘You won’t find any problem to visit them since they arrange everything for you,’ he said. ‘They bosses arranged for passport, visa and transports.’
   On arrival in Kolkata, the youths find everything – hard drinks and disco – available for their enjoyment.
   They return home full of inspiration after meeting their bosses, who, the intelligence agencies say, are also in a race to collect followers to strengthen their hold in Dhaka.
   Subrata Bain, Khandakar Tanveer Islam Joy, Molla Masud, Haris Ahmed Haris, Kamrul Hasan Hannan (younger brother of Liakot Hossain now in prison), Prakash, Imam Hossain, Aga Shamim, Moshiur Rahman Kochi and Jafar Ahmed Manik are among those staying in Kolkata and adjoining areas. They maintain communications with their men over telephone.

The police continued wholesale arrest of people in the city ahead of the AL-led 14-party opposition’s Dhaka siege on June 11, detaining more than 300 people in 24 hours ending at 6:00am Tuesday.
   The lawmen have detained some 250 people on an average daily since the mass arrest of the opposition activists began a week ago, according to the police records.
   Most of the detained persons were shown arrested in pending cases and others detained under Section 54 of the Criminal Code of Procedure or under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Act. Earlier, the High Court issued an order upon the police not to arrest anyone under Section 54 or the article 86 of the DMP Act.
   But lawyers said that the police were harassing the citizens in the name of arresting the opposition activists and most people detained over the last few days were innocent.
   A lawyer, Majnu Naznin, said the police detained her client, Sirajul Islam Khan, from Mirpur and produced him in court on Sunday showing him arrested in a case filed in 2004.
   As Sirajul was granted bail, he was again shown arrested in three more pending cases one after another whenever he got bail. The court finally released him on bail on Tuesday.
   Two others, Alamgir Hossain, detained by the Kafrul police, and Abul Hashem by the Lalbagh police, were each shown arrested in three pending cases and they were in jail custody till Tuesday, their lawyers said.
   Shaheed Ahmed Siddiq, a resident of House 32 on Road 8, Sector 5 at Uttara, was detained by the police on Monday, and sent to jail as he was denied bail by the court of metropolitan magistrate, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, on Tuesday.
   The police told the court Shaheed was mobilising people for the siege of Dhaka on June 11.
   ‘He was provoking people to carry out destructive activities on June 11,’ sub-inspector Tofazzal Hossain told the court.
   The police appealed to the court to detain Shaheed in jail custody until the opposition’s programme was over.
   The Awami League alleged from late Monday night to Tuesday morning, the police raided different city places, such as Lalbagh and Kamrangirchar, and detained local AL leaders.
   Lalbagh police conducted door-to-door raids in search of AL leaders and activists since Monday night and arrested Lalbagh AL organising secretary, Jalal Ahmed, and ward-level leaders, Babul Bhandari and Chunnu Chowdhury.
   The police also detained AL activists — Nabu Hossain Molla, Mohammad Swapan, Mohmmad Jahangir, Rubel, Rajon and Noor Mohammad—at Kamrangirchar.
   The local AL leaders said the police had detained them without any warrants.
   Dhaka City AL general secretary, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, joint secretary, Hazi Selim and advocate Kamrul Islam condemned the mass arrest.
   They called on the government to stop repression and mass arrest of the AL leaders, activists and innocent people in the capital.

No law courts are likely to be established in three hill districts during the tenure of the alliance government, as the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reorganisation did not approve the proposal on Tuesday.
   The 93rd meeting of the committee, apparently the last for the present government, however, approved the much-awaited organogram of the Anti-Corruption Commission to carry out its function with 650 staff to be fully recruited by the commission, said sources present.
   The meeting, held on Tuesday at the international conference centre of the Prime Minister’s Office with its chairperson, the prime minister, Khaleda Zia in the chair, approved a total of 16 agendas out of 18 placed at the meeting.
   According to the sources, a number of ministers, including the law minister, Moudud Ahmed and the health minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, came down heavily on the secretary committee for administrative reorganisation, which had proposed that the appointments to 21 top posts of the Anti-Corruption Commission, including its secretary, five directors general and 15 directors, should be made from the bureaucrats on deputation.
   The meeting observed that such provision would frustrate the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004 that ensured independence of the commission.
   With the observation, the meeting rejected the proposal and decided that the commission would have absolute jurisdiction over appointing all its staffers and the secretary, directors general and directors of the commission would be appointed directly or through promotion of its officials, said the sources.
   According to the sources, the draft organogram of the commission did not mention anything about appointment of the chairman and members of the commission.
   The draft organogram, approved by the secretary committee, mentioned that the chairman and the members of the commission would be appointed on contract, though the law stipulates a detailed provision for the appointments.
   The commission, however, had earlier sent a draft organogram for approval of the government proposing 1,376 posts of officers and staffers for the commission.
   After the meeting, the law minister, Moudud Ahmed told New Age that the government felt that the present 650 staff would be enough for the commission.
   ‘If it needs more manpower and comes up with a proposal for that in the future, the matter would be considered by the government,’ he said.
   The NICAR meeting sent the proposal for establishment of district and sessions judge’s courts in the three hill districts — Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban — to the finance ministry for further scrutiny upon a demand raised by the ministry to do so.
   About 14 lakh people of Chittagong Hill Tracts have virtually no access to justice, as there are no law courts in the three hill districts.
   There are court buildings at Khagrachari, Rangamati and Bandarban district headquarters, but no district and sessions judges, though the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2003 was enacted on September 21, 2003 making mandatory provisions for establishment of district and sessions judge’s courts in the three CHT districts.
   The amended law, however, is yet to be given effect, as the NICAR has not yet approved the proposal for the establishment of the courts.
   The meeting also approved formation of four new upazilas— Kabirhat upazila with one pourasava and seven unions dividing Noakhali sadar upazila, Dakhhin Sunamganj with eight unions dividing Sunamganj sadar upazila, Kamalnagar upazila dividing Ramgati upazila of Laxmipur and upgradation of Dhanbari thana of Tangail into an administrative upazila.
   It also approved setting up of two police investigation centres at Char Shashibhushan Bazar in Charfashion upazila of Bhola and at Baniajuri adjacent to Dhaka-Aricha highway in Manikganj and relocation of Rajakhali police investigation centre in Pekua upazila of Cox’s Bazar to Matamuhuri of Chakoria upazila.
   The meeting approved setting up of upazila secondary education offices and transfer of 43,540 posts of completed development project and family planning service under the health ministry, into revenue.
   It also approved creation of the posts of assistant engineer, additional engineer and additional executive engineer for upazila offices of the Local Government Engineering Department and shifting of the headquarters of the newly reorganised Bogra sadar upazila.
   The finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, the local government, rural development and cooperatives minister, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, the law minister, Moudud Ahmed, the health minister, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the industries minister, Matiur Rahman Nizami, the communications minister, Nazmul Huda, the telecommunications minister, Aminul Huq and the state minister for home, Lutfozzaman Babar, attended the meeting in which secretaries concerned were also present.

Residents of the capital Dhaka are bracing themselves for interruption in power supply during the World Cup of football, which begins in Germany on June 9, despite frenetic efforts by the power supply authorities to minimise outages.
   As the load-management plans of the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority and the Dhaka Electric Supply Company show, power supply to about a third of the city will be in and out between 7:00pm and 11:00pm – when the World Cup fixtures will be played – if the power agencies get an allocation of 1,200-1,300 megawatts of electricity.
   The supply situation in many areas has been good in the past three days, as the power agencies could do without load shedding because of an increase in power generation and monsoon.
   Twenty of the 48 first-round matches will continue from 7:00pm to about 9:00pm, 8 from 8:00pm to about 10:00pm, 11 from 10:00pm to about midnight, and nine from 1:00am to about 3:00am. The power agencies consider 5:00pm-11:00pm as peak hours when load shedding takes a severe turn.
   Four of the eight second-round matches will be played from 9:00pm to about 11:00pm and the rest from 1:00am to about 3:00am. Two of the four quarterfinals will be played from 9:00pm to about 11:00pm and the rest from 11:00pm to about 1:00am.
   The two semi-finals are scheduled to start at 1:00am, the final at midnight and the third-place play-off at 1:00am.
   The Power Development Board has been generating around 3,600-3,700MW of power during peak hours over the past few days against the total demand for around 4,500MW. The total production hovered around 3,200-3,300MW last week. The demand, however, increases to around 4,800MW in summer.
   The Dhaka Electric Supply Authority has been getting an allocation of around 1,400MW during the evening peak hours against the demand for around 1,500MW. It got an allocation of around 1,200MW during peak hours last week.
   As a number of out-of-operation power units resumed operation this week, the power production has increased.
   Although power officials are hoping to maintain the
   production at around 3,600-3,700MW during the World Cup, which will end on July 9, it may fall anytime, as has happened in the past few months, due to tripping of age-old power units.
   DESA and DESCO have already chalked out a load management plan for areas under around 450 feeder lines in the capital, based on three possible power-supply scenarios.
   DESA, which also provides power to DESCO and seven Palli Bidyut Samitis of the Rural Electrification Board, will get an allocation of 1,100 megawatts, if the Power Development Board generates 3,000MW. It will get 1,200MW if 3,200MW is generated, and 1,300MW or more, if 3,400MW and more is generated.
   The load-shedding plan of DESCO show that load shedding will occur for one hour from 7:00pm to 8:00pm at areas under 21 feeders including Monipur, Bhashantek, Mirpur Ceramic, Kalapani, Gulshan Central West, TB Gate and New DOHS, if DESA gets an allocation of 1,200MW. DESCO has 70 feeders.
   Twenty-four feeders will face one-hour load shedding from 8:00pm, 23 feeders from 9:00pm and 19 feeders from 10:00pm.
   If DESA gets 1,300MW, 21 feeders of DESCO will face power outage at 7:00pm, 23 feeders at 8:00pm, 20 feeders at 9:00pm and 18 feeders at 10:00pm.
   Power officials said DESA areas would face similar load shedding between 7:00pm and 11:00pm and in some areas like Demra and Dania situation might get be if DESA gets an allocation of 1,200-1,300MW.
   The power secretary, ANH Akhtar Hossain, said DESA has been getting an allocation of around 1,400MW of power for the last few days and as a result there has been no load shedding in the city.
   ‘We hope that the total generation will be at around 3,600-3,700MW and DESA will continue to get 1,400MW of power during the World Cup matches. Besides, it is monsoon now and the demand is slightly low,’ he told New Age on Tuesday.
   When asked what if the production come down to around 3,200-3,300MW, Akhtar said, ‘DESA and DESCO will then shed power as planned. If that happens we will not supply additional power to the city as we have to think about our consumers in rural areas and at the district level.’
   Authorities, meanwhile, have taken a number of steps so that a large number of people can watch World Cup matches without disruption of power.
   Power agencies will form 34-team to oversee power distribution till 3:00am during the World Cup matches and executive engineers of the respective zones will have to be present at their stations.
   Power will be supplied to cable operators by special arrangements.
   The Dhaka City Corporation and the National Sports Council will install about 30 big-screen televisions at different city wards where there will be no power outages.

Nepal’s Maoist leader has warned that the rebels will go back to war unless Nepal is made a republic following constituent assembly elections, local media reported Tuesday.
   The new government and rebel Maoists have observed a ceasefire for over a month, after King Gyanendra was forced to end his total rule in April after weeks of anti-royal protests.
   ‘There is no political way out unless the country opts for a republican setup. If the parties are not ready to accept republicanism as per the aspirations of people...we are ready to wage the final war,’ Prachanda said at a meeting in Morang district in eastern Nepal, the Nepali language daily Samacharpatra reported.
   The new government has agreed to a key Maoist demand, for elections to a body that will rewrite the constitution, and both sides have agreed on a ceasefire code of conduct.
   Since the king handed back power to parliament in April, his powers have been dramatically clipped, he has lost his control of the army and has been removed from politics.
   The Maoist leader, whose name means ‘the fierce one,’ warned that there were people in the new government trying to undermine the fragile peace process.
   ‘Some of the ministers in the present government are brokers of America.
   ‘They are working to make the talks unsuccessful, sideline us and take all the credit for themselves,’ the Nepali Language daily Samacharpatra quoted Prachanda as saying.
   The rebels have been fighting a ‘people’s war’ for the last decade, during which at least 12,500 people have been killed.
   The current ceasefire is the third between the government and the Maoists.
   The previous two broke down plunging the country back into violence.

Grassroots leaders of the Awami League on Tuesday called for selecting the candidates in the upcoming general elections, taking into account their
   popularity and acceptability among the local people and leaders.
   The field level leaders made the call while they were exchanging views with the party chief, Sheikh Hasina, at her Dhanmondi office.
   They also made complaints against some of the possible candidates, who had contested and won the last general elections, for discontinuing their contact with the local leaders and people.
   As part of the ongoing meetings with the grassroots leaders, Hasina sat with the party leaders of Mymensingh and Kishoreganj on Tuesday. She is scheduled to sit with the leaders of Faridpur, Rajbari, Shariatpur, Madaripur, and Gopalganj on Friday.
   Hasina, also leader of the opposition in parliament, called upon the grassroots leaders to accept and work for the candidates who would be nominated by the party for the next general elections.
   She asked all to work together in greater interest of the party. 'If anyone goes against the party decision, organisational measures will be taken against him or her,' she warned.
   The party chief assured that the Awami League, if voted to power, would consider the contribution of those leaders who would fail to get the party tickets. She also assured that nominations would be finalised as per the opinions of the local leaders and some surveys of the party.
   The leaders of the two districts pointed out various problems in the party and put forward their proposals for the nominations of party candidates in the next general elections scheduled for early 2007, meeting sources said.
   AL central leaders, including party general secretary Abdul Jalil MP, were also present at the meeting.
   Before the beginning of the closed-door meeting, Hasina said the prime minister had deceived the primary schoolteachers and misbehaved with them breaking her promise.
   The prime minister during her election campaign prior to the last general elections had promised to nationalise the jobs of non-government primary teachers, Hasina said.

MNH Bulu, a director of the private television channel Baishakhi who is now detained in connection with three criminal cases, was hospitalised on Tuesday, as he fell sick after the police had produced him before the chief metropolitan magistrate's court in Dhaka.
   He was admitted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital in the afternoon and his condition was stated to be critical.
   The police produced Bulu, also a director of the Dhaka Bank, before the court of metropolitan magistrate Shamsul Alam at about 4:30pm at the end of his one-day remand for interrogation in connection with the third case filed by a shopkeeper of Baitul Mukarram Market, Noor Hossain, with the Motijheel police station on June 2. The police also sought a further five-day remand.
   As the hearing of the remand petition began, Bulu fell sick on the dock and the magistrate asked the authorities concerned to send him to a nearby hospital.
   Bulu was taken to National Medical College Hospital but on-duty doctor AKM Khaleq referred him to BSMMU Hospital. He was undergoing treatment at the coronary care unit of the hospital.
   His lawyer Kamruzzaman Mahbub told the court that the police had severely tortured Bulu.
   The Gulshan police arrested Bulu from his Gulshan residence early May 31 within a few hours of filing two cases against him - one by his estranged wife Hosne Ara Naznin and another by one Abdus Salam.
   Hosne Ara filed the case under the Women and Children Repression (Prevention) Act, accusing Bulu of dragging his second wife Sanjida Kashem into 'flesh trade' and forcing her to hand over shares of the Dhaka Bank in his (Bulu's) favour.
   But Bulu's four children at a press conference on Monday denied the second marriage of their father and accused Hosne Ara of having an extra-marital affair with former student leader Moinul Mushtaq.
   In the other case, Salam, alleged that Bulu had issued death threats on him and took away Tk 50,000 from him when he went to the residence of Bulu for outstanding payment of Tk 2.43 crore for a 19-katha plot of land he had sold to him for Tk 4 crore.
   Both cases were filed within five minutes on the night of May 30. Bulu was placed on a one-day remand on May 31 in connection with the case filed by Salam.
   The third case was filed by Noor Hossain, owner of New Star Electronics at Baitul Mukarram Market, and he accused Bulu and 12 others of issuing death threat and stealing on May 20.
   Earlier on May 30, Bulu filed a case with the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate court accusing the public works minister, Mirza Abbas, who is also a director of the private TV channel and the Dhaka Bank, and Kazi Shahidullah, managing director of the television channel, of issuing death threat on him for withdrawal of his share.

The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh will sign a contract with GrameenPhone by this month to lease out its unutilised capacity of fibre optic cable built over power trans- mission lines to the mobile operator.
   The Bangladesh Telecommu-nications Regulatory Commission last week approved the deal allowing the power grid com-pany to lease out its 248-kilometre fibre optic cable between Dhaka and Chittagong to Grameen.
   Grameen, the largest mobile operator, will pay around Tk 3.5 crore as annual rent.
   In addition to the line fees, the mobile phone company will also have to pay Tk 1 crore as bank performance guarantee.
   'The contract will be initially for five years with the scope of renewal after expiry,' said an official of the power company Monday.
   'We are finalising the procedures for signing an agreement by June,' said the official.
   Earlier, the power company invited tenders for leasing out its fibre optic lines and GrameenPhone made the highest bid, among the four companies, which had participated in the tender.
   The other bidders were mobile phone operator AkTeL, Concord Group and Bangladesh Rural Telecommunications Limited.
   The power grid company currently uses less than 10 per cent of its optical fibre network's capacity. Officials hoped that leasing out the cable would help boost the country's information and communications technology.
   Meanwhile, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board will also enjoy the facility of the power grid company's fibre optic cable and will have to pay the same amount as GrameenPhone.
   The telephone board will use the cable as a back-up for its existing underground cable along the Dhaka-Chittagong highway which is often cut by the Roads and Highways Division for road maintenance work, cutting out Chittagong.
   'The optical fibre network of the Power Grid Company is more reliable than other optical fibre networks as its optical network has been installed over the high voltage trans- mission lines, which makes it free from most of the unwanted interruptions,' said a telephone official.
   The power grid company has installed about 448km of fibre optic network over its power grid lines across the country with a plan to expand the existing line to 2,100km by 2010.

A report on trafficking in persons released by the US government said, Bangladesh made significant progress in its trafficking prevention efforts throughout the year through broad public awareness campaigns and specialized training.
   It stated the government of Bangladesh sustained efforts to punish traffickers in 2005, prosecuting 87 cases and convicting 36 traffickers - 27 of whom received life sentences.
   Although the number of prosecutions increased over 2004, the number of convictions declined in Bangladesh, the report said.
   It mentioned that Bangladesh is a source and transit country for men, women, and children trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, involuntary domestic servitude, child camel jockeying, and debt bondage.
   But it also stated that Bangladesh continued to face a significant internal and international trafficking problem and the country should assign greater priority and resources to its law enforcement response to trafficking.
   The US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the report on June 5.

US troops Tuesday faced fresh accusations of unlawful killings of civilians in Iraq.
   The Iraqi Islamic Party, the main Sunni Arab political party, accused US forces of murdering more than two dozen Iraqis in a series of incidents across the country in May.
   'The US forces have violated human rights many times across Iraq,' said Omar al-Juburi, spokesman for the human rights department of the party which is led by the vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi.
   In the latest in a string of allegations against US forces, Juburi said 29 Iraqis were killed in May in separate incidents involving US forces in the towns of Latifiyah and Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad, and in the capital itself.
   'On May 13, US forces launched an air assault on a civilian car in Latifiyah and killed six people inside the car,' Juburi told reporters.
   'On the same day US forces attacked with aircraft the house of a civilian, Saadun Mohsen Hassan, and killed seven of his family members.'
   The new accusations come after a string of charges of atrocities by US forces in Iraq, including the alleged killings of 24 civilians by marines in Haditha in November and another 11 civilians by soldiers last March in Ishaqi.

The World Bank on Tuesday expressed its apprehension of a worsening governance scenario in the coming months and said it might pose serious challenges to the country's development pursuits.
   Referring to the allegations of a move to recruit 14,000 teachers on political considerations, the lending agency's country director, Christine Wallich, termed the lack of good governance the main obstacle to the national progress.
   She was speaking at a press conference at the end of a two-day workshop on the millennium development goals. The workshop criticised the centralised system of governance and emphasised improving governance through devolution of power down to the union parishad level. It also underscored the need for transparency and accountability of government and non-government organisations to achieve the MDGs.
   On whether the funds the lenders provide are enough to achieve the UN goals of eliminating poverty, illiteracy and gender disparity, the WB bureaucrat said, 'Money is not a binding constraint. Real challenge is good programme. Money would come [if] Bangladesh has good programmes.'
   She claimed that the donors and lenders had given adequate supports for the programmes in Bangladesh and there was no shrinkage of foreign aid for the South Asia region as a whole. She, however, mentioned that infrastructure was one major area that needed to be addressed for achieving the development targets.
   Academics, NGO activists, government officials and representatives of donors and lenders participated in the workshop, which concluded that if MDGs are to be met, the government and donor-funded programmes in health, education and infrastructure need to be implemented more effectively.
   It stressed providing the poor and the extreme poor with opportunity to raise and make their voices heard in determining the services that they require. 'Users of the service at the bottom can ensure accountability,' Kaiser Khan of the World Bank told the press.

The British police were under pressure Tuesday to clear up the confusion over last week's massive anti-terror raid or risk seeing angry Muslims 'take the law into their own hands,' a Muslim community leader warned.
   The left-of-centre newspaper, The Independent, said the high-profile swoop had led to fears among local people about being branded extremists and many Muslim families were now considering leaving Britain.
   The right-wing Daily Mail said quoting one unnamed security source 'the most dangerous thing we have found is aspirin' during the four-day search.
   The Muslim Council of Britain's new leader Muhammed Abdul Bari said 'trust could break down' if the police failed to explain why they launched last Friday's raid, which has turned up nothing of a reported chemical weapons plot.
   Relaying the sentiment that he heard during a visit late Monday to the east London neighbourhood which was raided, Abdul Bari said 'the message is the confusion, it's the frustration and to some extent anger.'
   Police arrested Bangladeshi origin Mohammed Abdul Kahar, 23, and his brother Abul Koyair, 20, during the raid on their home at dawn by 250 officers. Abdul Kahar, who was shot and wounded, and Koyair have vehemently denied involvement in terrorism.
   'People want to know what exactly happened and about the intelligence-is it genuine information, is it flawed-these are the questions police have to answer as soon as possible,' Abdul Bari said.
   The Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner Andy Hayman said police had 'no choice' but to launch the raid as they worried about public safety after receiving specific intelligence of a terrorist plot.
   But Hayman, who declined to comment on reports by security sources that they were looking for chemical or biological weapons, admitted that 'we have not found what we went in there to look for.'
   Sir Paul Lever, the former chairman of Britain's Joint Intelligence Committee, which advises government on national security issues, said not following up suspicions could be 'potentially horrendous'.