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Speakers at a press meet at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity on Thursday stressed the need for adherence to the Bangladesh National Building Code during building construction to reduce casualty in earthquake.
   The Dhaka Reporters' Unity and the Bangladesh Earthquake Society organised the press meet.
   The programme was addressed, among others, by Professor Jamilur Reja Chowdhury, Professor Aftab Alam Khan, Professor Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, Md Ali Akbar Mollick, disaster manager Abu Sadek, Moshiur Khandaker and reporters' unity president Shafiqul Islam.
   Emphasising the need of preparedness on earthquake, Jamilur Reja said Bangladesh did not have sufficient preparedness on earthquake and other disasters such as cyclone, flood and tidal surge.
   Mehdi Ahmed Ansary said if building code is followed in the construction of new buildings, the casualties will reduce but some parts of the urban areas are yet to adopt building codes.
   The large number of existing structures built as per outmoded codes is a significant hazard to life, he said.
   In addition to improved construction practices, approaches to casualty, better risk management, emergency preparedness and response training are also necessary, said Ansary.
   Mollick said damage in earthquake depends on three factors - magnitude of earthquake, distance of earth quake and preparedness of earthquake. Journalist can play vital role in the campaign of awareness programme, he said.
   Underscoring the need of proper planning, Abu Sadeque said vulnerability in the Dhaka city was much for unplanned urbanisation, he said.
   A plan to form disaster management committee in every ward of the Dhaka city corporation is going on.
   Underscoring the need of observatory, Aftab Ahmed said observation of earthquake could not be done properly for lack of observatory in the country.
   He urged the government to take proper steps to implement the plan of constructing four observatories in the country.
   Moshiur said one third portion of different streets and footpaths had been occupied illegally, which could make obstacle in the post earthquake rescue work.
   He urged the corporation to take effective steps to make the streets and footpaths free from the illegal occupiers.

A mobile court seized huge quantity of artificial colours, fruit and butter flavours, rotten eggs and arrowroot from the Muslim Sweets and Bakery at Dhanmondi in the Dhaka city on Thursday.
   Eleven mobile courts on the day found unhygienic condition in different private clinics, restaurants selling adulterated food stuffs and residential hotels engaged in anti-social activities.
   The court ordered to close down two establishments, sent six persons to jail, filed 38 cases and realised Tk 9.09 lakh as fines.
   Magistrate AKM Tariqul Alam found the Muslim Sweetmeats and Bakery using artificial colours, banana and butter flavour, soda, arrowroot, saccharine and rotten eggs as raw materials for manufacturing sweets and bakery items, including cake, biscuits etc.
   The court also found unhygienic environment, stale syrup and sweets at the factory and issued search warrant against owners of the factory and sent six of its employees to jail for three years' rigorous punishment.
   The court also sealed off the factory and fined it Tk 5 lakh and, in default, additional three years' jail.
   'The factory was earlier fined by Tk 1.22 lakh on the same allegation', said the magistrate to New Age.
   Magistrate Abu Sayeed Mohammad Noman found date expired drugs at several drug shops in the Mitford area, filed eight cases and fined them Tk 50,000.
   Magistrate Saiful Islam detected some private clinics - AK Atahar Ali Clinic, Rupnagar General Hospital, Anirban Clinic and Doctor's Chambers at Mirpur and Rupnagar area - running without city corporation license while some of them had no doctors, nurse and trained technologists and used date expired drugs. The court filed six cases and fined them Tk 65,000.
   Magistrate Tapan Kumar Biswas raided Green House Residential Hotel on Topkhana Road and found almost 60 persons including clients and call girls inside the hotel involved in anti-social activities. The court ordered to close down the hotel, fined 60 persons Tk 500 each and sent four employees of the hotel to jail for fifteen days. The court also issued search warrant against the owner of the hotel.
   Magistrate Fazlul Haque found Progati Homeo Laboratory at Malibagh manufacturing drugs manually and without chemists. The court also filed five cases and fined Tk 1.05 lakh while conducting drive at sweetmeat shops, biryani house, confectionary and a residential hotel of the area.
   The court found fifteen clients and females inside the hotel, fined them Tk 500 each or jail for fifteen days in default.
   Magistrate Shah Rezwan Hayat filed six cases and fined Tk 75,000 as the court found filthy environment, stale foods being sold by restaurants and fast food shops at Gulshan.
   Magistrate Faisal Shah filed ten cases and fined Tk 21,500 as the court found filthy environment inside the restaurants and footpath occupied construction materials at Badda.
   Magistrate Abdus Sabur Chowdhury filed two cases and fined Tk 55,000 as the court found filthy environment and stale food stuffs being sold at different restaurants at Tikkapara.

The home ministry will go for action against Pitchblende University of Science and Technology for continuing with the enrolment of students in different departments defying the government directives for closure.
   The education ministry requested the home secretary to take action against the university, sources in the home ministry said on Thursday.
   A letter, signed by assistant secretary Abdur Rashid, said the so-called university had been taking admissions of students in medical, dental, and the other departments. 'We request you (home secretary) to take necessary step against the university authorities for illegal enrolment of students in different departments.’
   The university did not get approval from the education ministry, said the letter issued on April 30.
   ‘Ousted from the main campus at Uttara in Dhaka, the university authorities rented a suite in a residential hotel at Purana Paltan, and were taking admissions in different disciplines of science and arts and even in doctor of philosophy,’ New Age investigation found.
   The authorities are also putting advertisements in some newspapers for admissions and using the suite at Grand Azad Hotel as their admission office.
   The university takes admissions in bachelor's degree in pharmacy, medicine, microbiology, computer science and engineering, and diploma and short diploma in medicine, dentistry, laboratory technologies, and nursing. It also offers master’s courses in business administration, law, science, and medicine and even doctor of philosophy degree.
   Earlier, the education ministry in March 2004 asked the university, which has been running illegally at Uttara since 2002, to stop its functioning.
   In November 2003, it also requested the University Grants Commission to form a committee to investigate into allegations of cheating the students and running the university without lawful authority.
   A probe committee formed by the commission, which controls the private and public universities, visited the university at Uttara in December 2003 and submitted a report recommending that the government should not approve the university.
   The authorities of the university on Thursday claimed that it has affiliation with different educational institutions in India and Canada. ‘Neither the UGC nor the education ministry has any right to direct us for closure,’ said MN Huq, who claimed himself the vice-chancellor of the university.
   ‘The so-called university was declared ‘errant’ and asked several times to be closed,’ said the UGC chairman, M Asaduzzaman. ‘A number of students have complained to us about cheating of the university,' he said.

The British High Commission should make the migration process easier to stop illegal migration from Bangladesh to UK, speakers said at a dialogue on Thursday.
   The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit of Dhaka University in collaboration with the British Council and British High Commission organised the dialogue on 'Migration to UK from Bangladesh: Opportunities and Constraints' at the British Council.
   Higher status of a UK degree in Bangladesh and other countries, access to international job market, desire to settle permanently on completion of study, intention to work on arrival, multiculturalism of British society, advantage of being able to travel in EU countries, and historical link between Bangladesh and UK were found out as motivations to study in UK.
   Siobhan McPhee, research fellow of RMMRU, in her paper on 'avenues for regular migration to UK' recommended firmer bilateral agreement between the governments of Bangladesh and UK.
   She also suggested strengthening the Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training, Bangladesh Overseas Employment and Services Ltd through more funding and better facilities.
   Penelope Anthias, another research fellow of RMMRU, in her paper on students' migration to UK said many Bangladeshis try to enter UK on student visas to work, and they are facilitated by 'bogus' UK colleges which are usually in East London and many students drop out of public universities on arrival.
   Dr Nurul Islam, director (research monitoring and computer) of BMET, suggested one-stop centre so that the students could get genuine information to study in UK.
   KM Mazharul Islam, operation manager at London Metropolitan University, stressed on coordinated efforts of the British High Commission and the British Council to reduce the number of fake students at UK.
   Dr Tasneem Siddiqui moderated the dialogue. Richard Sunderland, deputy director (exam), the British Council, Jon Verney, deputy head of visa services, British High Commission, and Raiqah Ripa Walie, education promotion and marketing manager, the British Council, were also present.

Convicted people admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as patients, and remain in custody, do not get proper treatment, said a hospital source.
   Many of them die due to inadequate treatment and the rest suffer for long in the absence of nursing and non-cooperation of the jail and hospital authorities.
   Julfikar Ali, alias Manik, a young convict, was referred to the hospital on February 10. According to the record book and his case history, he was suffering from jaundice and was unconscious when admitted. Apparently physicians found that Manik was in a critical condition.
   But the jail referral note without any doctor's signature, said he was suffering from jaundice and general weakness. He was diagnosed as a patient of hepatic failure and died 12 days after his admission due to negligence of the jail authorities and the hospital authorities.
   Ahsanul Karim, a medical officer of medicine ward 22, said, 'It is difficult to diagnose a patient without proper referral and most of the times, it is difficult to provide proper treatment.'
   Normally, a patient with a serious disease cannot provide his case history. Moreover, being in custody, there are no relatives around to bring the case history. 'So the entire treatment is flawed from the very beginning', said the Ahsan.
   However, the physicians, nurses and ward boys in hospital also do not provide proper the required service to these patients, complained patients in custody and their attendants.
   Such a patient, Jainal, was admitted to the medical college hospital recently and was placed in the veranda of ward 22. He was not able to walk up to the toilet but he was not even provided with bedpan.
   'It is very difficult to stay at the ward. It smells foul. But the ward boys or the sweepers are in no hurry to clean the waste,' said a patient's attendant.
   The physicians gave them some food and medication, but not nearly enough to cure the disease, said a source.
   Patients in a critical condition like Manik need intensive nursing, constant monitoring, biochemical investigations and medication. But the care he had received was inadequate. He was poor and had no attendant.
   Patients in custody often lie unconscious or semi-conscious, guarded by two policemen. Since the convict and their guards create problems for the medical staff and other patients, they are always given beds in the corridor, not in the ward room.
   Abdul Alim, 36, was a patient of ward 4. He was suffering from some spinal cord related injury or disease. Although he was too weak to move, he was fastened to the bed with cuffs around his hands and legs.
   Although the hospital is supposed to supply all medicine to all its patients, it does not even give convicts a vitamin tablet most times, alleged sources.
   'Medicine sent by the jail authority takes three days to one week to reach the patient going through a long and winding process,' said a physician Harun Ur Rashid.
   The attending physician has to provide a drug requisition which needs approval of the jail authority. Then the medicine is bought and supplied to the hospital, said an on duty police officer.
   He said the supply in most cases is delayed. 'If the police constables on guard are non-cooperative, the patient hardly gets any medicine at all,' he said.
   In most cases, patients in custody do not have money to buy medicine on their own. The police constables do not share the responsibility of treatment, as their job is only to guard the patients, said Jahangir Alam of ward 22.
   The guards are posted by rotation. All the guards accuse the guards posted earlier of irresponsibility. Since they work in shifts, they do not develop any feeling for the patients either, he said.
   Since treating these patients in custody is difficult, physicians treat them as a burden. There are allegations that some convicts get admitted by unfair means. They pay a handsome amount of money to the jail authority in exchange of being referred to the hospital, according to sources. And they call their relatives and friends by giving money to the policemen on guard.
   A convict sentenced in a murder case got admitted to the hospital, in ward 22, two months ago. He was suffering from simple urinary tract infection, said Jahangir. 'He did not cooperate with us when we wanted to collect his urine for diagnosis. That would make it impossible for him to remain admitted.'
   The director of the hospital, Sarkar MA Matin, declined to comment.

Forty-five leading painters of the country have vowed their support to fight and bring an end to child hunger by 2015.
   The artists at a programme on Wednesday evening in Dhaka agreed to donate their works for the painting exhibitions to be held in Dhaka and Geneva, jointly organised by Gallery Kaya and Management and Resources Development Initiative, on the occasion of annual global demonstration called 'Fight Hunger: Walk the World'.
   The demonstration is an initiative of the United Nation's World Food Programme and its partners, to raise awareness and support for the hungry children across the globe.
   It will be held on May 21 across the world and on occasion of the event, WFP Bangladesh will hold a cultural programme on May 18.
   In Bangladesh the event is expected to raise support for WFP's ongoing school feeding activity - Nutrition for Education, being implemented in the poorest and most food-insecure areas.
   With an annual expenditure of Tk 1,300 per child, the activity at present covers about 7,00,000 primary school children of the country.

Rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at one or two places over the Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and the regions of Comilla, Noakhali, Chittagong and Rangamati till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Thursday.
   Weather may remain mainly dry elsewhere over the country with the day temperature nearly unchanged.
   The highest temperature on Thursday, 38.6 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Mongla and the lowest, 21.3 degrees Celsius, in Sylhet.
   The sun sets in the capital city today at 6:29pm and will rise at 5:21am on Saturday.

Australia has announced a new scholarship programme — the Australian Leadership Awards — targeting current and future leaders from the Asia-Pacific region.
   The programme is aimed at enhancing mutual understanding, knowledge and innovation and building partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region.
   The awards will offer exceptional educational opportunities in Australia to those who demonstrate the capacity to influence policy reform and development outcomes in the Asia-Pacific region.
   Following the announcement, the Australian high commissioner, Douglas Foskett, said, ‘The award will provide opportunities for Asia-Pacific countries and Australia to build people to people linkages. The programme opens an exciting new arena of development assistance with an aim to build human resource capacities of 34 countries from the Asia-Pacific, including Bangladesh.’
   Applications for the 2007 Australian Leadership Awards intake opened on 1 May and will close on 31 July 2006.
   Further information is available at www.australianscholarships. gov.au and www.ausaid.gov.au/ scholar. The program will be managed by AusAID in Australia.

Travel agency robbed in Ctg city
Robbers took away Tk 8 lakh and 5 thousand in cash from a travel agency at Kotwali in the Chittagong city early Thursday. The police said robbers entered the Concord Travel Agency at the Kotwali crossing through cutting a portion of wall sometimes after the mid night. Mahfuzur Rahman, manager of the agency, told New Age that the robbers took away the amount through breaking open the lockers. They also took away 847 air tickets of different airlines and some passports and other documents, the manager added. A case was filled with the Kotwali police in this connection.
— New Age

Muktakantha Abriti Academy to hold poetry recitation
The Muktakantha Abriti Academy will hold its 48th poetry recitation programme titled 'maa' at the National Museum in the Dhaka city at 7:00pm on Friday on the occasion of World Mother Day, said a press release.
— UNB