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Registering a slight fall or remaining steady over a week, prices of most essential commodities increased afresh in the city markets during the past week.
   Spices, pulses, milk, tea, mustard oil, vermicelli and chicken were on Friday selling at significantly increased prices in the kitchen markets at Hatirpool, Kanthal Bagan and Mohakhali.
   Market sources attributed the latest round of price hike mainly to manipulations by a section of traders who have been eying windfall profits cashing the inflated demands for Eid.
   Supply shortage against boosted up demand is also among the reasons for the latest spell of price hike, they added.
   At Hatirpool on Friday, fine grade single cell garlic was selling at up to Tk 110 per kilogram against Tk 90 a week back and Tk 70 a month ago. Price of ginger also increased by Tk 10 per kilogram and it was selling at Tk 70.
   Red chilli continued to be costlier in the week with the fine deshi variety of the major spice selling per kilogram at up to Tk 170 against Tk 150 a week ago, Tk 110 a month and Tk 60 a year ago.
   Prices of cardamom, cumin, clove and different varieties of nuts, mainly used to prepare meats, sweetmeats and other rich foods, increased up to Tk 100 per kilogram over the week.
   ‘Few importers and hoarders at Maulvibazar and Khatunganj, manipulate the supply and prices of these special spices every year,’ a grocer at Hatirpool said.
   Pulses, which have become extremely costly over the months, had fresh increase on their prices.
   Per kilogram of fine verity Indian red lentil was retailed on Friday at up to Tk 70 against Tk 65 a week ago. Gram was selling at Tk 80 per kilogram, up by Tk 10. Instant packed milks of different brands increased between Tk 5 and Tk 10 per kilogram over the week as their sale increased ahead of Eid.
   In the past two weeks, liquid packed milk had became costlier with Milkvita was selling at different parts of the country at up to Tk 38 against its regular price of Tk 32.
   Although the packer company claimed that their supply volume and price remained unchanged, retailers inflated the price since the beginning of Ramadan when milk consumption usually goes up.
   Branded tea also became costlier over the week with the 400-gram packs of branded tea was selling at up to Tk 70 on Friday against up to Tk 62.
   Increasing by around Tk 10 per litre over the week, branded bottled mustered oil was selling at up to Tk 96 on Friday while imported vermicelli in popular 200-gram packs between Tk 20 and Tk 22 against Tk 15 and Tk 18.
   The price of broiler increased by Tk 10 per kilogram over the week and was selling at Tk 96 on Friday. ‘With Eid coming chicken is getting costlier,’ said a poultry trader at Mohakhali.
   Fine varieties of rice, najirshail and miniket, were selling between Tk 26 and Tk 30 per kilogram, sugar between Tk 42 and Tk 44 while packed flour was selling between Tk 21 and Tk 26.
   The vegetable prices also remained high in the week with per kilogram of potato was selling at Hatirpool between Tk 22 and Tk 24, Indian onion at Tk 18, local onion at Tk 24, aubergine at Tk 60, ridge gourd at Tk 32 and green papaya at Tk 10.
   Beef per kilogram was selling at Tk 150, mutton at Tk 220. Among fishes, per kilogram of deshi ruhita was selling at Tk 250, large sized tilapia at Tk 140 and small katchki at Tk 100.

About 5,000 homeless people have been facing enormous sufferings under the open sky following a devastating fire that razed homes and factories at Water Works Road on Thursday in Lalbagh area.
   Rain in the morning on Friday intensifies their woes. Some slum-dwellers were found rebuilding their shanties in the ruins.
   Local Ward Commissioner distributed some foods among the affected dwellers Thursday night while Hazi Selim, an Awami League leader and former lawmaker of the area supplied breads and helped restore electricity supply temporarily in the area throughout the night.
   ‘He also opened a relief camp near the site,’ Mamun, a street vendor, told New Age.
   Local lawmaker Nasir Uddin Pintoo visited the spot
   along with Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf, minister for disaster management and relief Friday morning and distributed some cloths among the dwellers.
   Women went on frantic searching for belongings in the rubbles.
   Helpless Marium slapped her daughter on the back and warned her little son Sharif to stop crying as she could do nothing for them.
   ‘I cannot bear it anymore, my two kids could not sleep since the incident,’ said Hanufa with tears, rolling down from her eyes.
   More than 1000 families were rendered homeless and 50 small factories, mostly plastic units, were burnt to ashes in Thursday’s fire.
   The fire originated at a plastic factory, TS Trading, located on the 3rd floor of a building, 69/7 on Water Works Road, opposite the Ershad Colony at around 1:30pm, and immediately engulfed the adjacent factories and shanties.
   Shishir, local Juba Dall leader told New Age, ‘Our MP Pintoo Bhai will provide all kinds of support to the affected people.’
   ‘Pintoo Bahi will arrange more support from the relief ministry, but he is yet to do it due to public holiday on Friday,’ Shishir added.
   Some of the fire victims, however, alleged that they did not get any relief from the local lawmaker till Friday afternoon.
   ‘Some local people provided us with rice, but we do not have any oven to cook foods,’ said elderly Ainunnesa.
   With a blank look at the debris, another elderly woman Suriya Begum said her three grandchildren are yet to eat any meal as they are unable to take dry foods.
   ‘I was just speechless looking at the fire and my husband was busy saving my 14-year-old daughter not only from the fire, but also from the hands of miscreants as some miscreants continued looting and criminal activities during the fire,’ another fire victim Masuda said.
   Meanwhile, riot police were deployed in the area to avoid any possible trouble.
   A representative of local lawmaker said that they will arrange enough relief to meet needs of the fire victims and they already sought relief for the affected people from the disaster management and relief ministry soon after the incident.

A lion at the Rajshahi zoo died at night on Thursday due to the alleged negligence of the authorities.
   Sources at the zoo said the lion had fallen sick Wednesday night and died Thursday night
   The zoo authorities tried to bury the lion hurriedly at the zoo compound but it some how came to the knowldge of the local poeple who rushed there to see the dead lion.
   The zoo authorities, however, made abortive attempts to prevent the people and the newsmen from entering the zoo.
   The zoo veterinary surgeon, also a Rajshahi University veterinary science department teacher, said the lion died of heart failure and old age complications.
   ‘A lion in cage usually lives for 14 years while the lion at the zoo had survived for 16 years’, the surgeon said.
   The only lioness at the zoo is also ill, sources at the zoo said.

A woman died and assets worth about Tk 20 lakh were burnt in a fire that raged at least 50 houses and seven small industries at Boubazar in the Chittagong city early Friday.
   The Fire Service and Civil Defence officials said the fire originated at Sentu Colony from a short circuit at around 12:45am and soon engulfed the adjacent houses. The fire officials said seven of their extinguishing units brought the fire under control at around 3:30am.
   The officials said that they had recovered the charred body of a women identified as Ratna Begum, 35, from the rubble after the inciden.

   Robbers looted Tk 3.0 lakh in cash and kind from the house of a businessman at Mirpur in the Dhaka city on Friday.
   Three armed youths entered the residence of Shafiuddin at section 12 pressing the calling bell when the male members went to mosque for jumma prayers and took away Tk 30,000, 15 tolas of gold ornament, a camera, three mobile sets and other valuables holding the inmates hostage at gunpoint.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at a few places over the Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions and at one or two places over the Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions with moderately heavy rainfall at places till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Friday.
   Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged. The highest temperature on Friday, 34.4 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Jessore and the lowest, 24 degrees Celsius, in Rangamati.
   The sun sets in the capital city today at 5:33pm and rises on Sunday at 5:56am.
   The Met Office predicted a little change in the outlook for the subsequent two days.

The 39th World Standard Day will be observed in Bangladesh as elsewhere in the world today with a view to maintaining the quality of the local products at the world class standard.
   The main theme of the day of this year is ‘standards: big benefits for small business.’ The acceptance and the demand for goods depend on its quality. Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution, the country’s sole authorities of maintaining the quality of local goods, has chalked out special programmes to observe the day.
   On the occasion, the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, and the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, have given separate messages. The industries minister, Matiur Rahman Nizami, also gave a message on the occasion.
   In his message, Iajuddin said in this age of free economy, maintaining the overall standard of the local products was inevitable to make them sustainable in the global competition.
   He said attaching importance to small and medium enterprises in the progress of national economy and development of human life-style this year was a time-befitting decision.
   He hoped that the day of this year would be observed with a strong commitment of maintaining standard of all kinds of goods and services in the country.
   Khaleda in her message termed the main theme of the day as a right choice and said Bangladesh had already put its all efforts toward progress of small and medium enterprises to achieve its industrial development goals.
   She said the government had already undertaken measures to set up SMEs foundation in the country aimed at developing small and medium scale industries.
   The prime minister said the key-base of sustaining in business and trade in this age of free market economy and efforts were being continued for up-gradation of products and services.
   On the occasion, the national dailies will publish special supplements and electronic media, radio and TV, will air special programmes.
   Besides, BSTI will hold a discussion in its auditorium at 3.15pm on the day. The industries minister, Matiur Rahman Nizami, is expected to attend the discussion as the chief guest.

The Awami League-led opposition leaders on Friday said that the speeches of the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, at different public meetings were contrary to the spirit of the dialogue.
   ‘We want solution to the political crisis through the dialogue’, AL presidium member Tofail Ahmed said at a press briefing after the meeting of the alliance leaders at the party’s central office. If power is handed over to the caretaker government headed by KM Hasan, the opposition will start all-out movements including non-stop hartal and Dhaka siege programme, Tofail warned.
   The opposition alliance extended its support to the 24-hour industrial strike and six hors road, railway and river way blocked programme on October 15 called by Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad.

Workers Party general secretary Bimal Biswas on Friday said the chief of the caretaker government should be non-partisan and acceptable to all.
   Terming Justice KM Hasan a controversial man, Bimal said he was directly involved with the BNP politics.
   So the people would not allow him as chief of the caretaker government, Bimal said at a party activists’ meeting at Dimla upazila in Nilphamari on Friday.
   Chaired by party leader Munir Uddin Ahmed, the meeting was addressed, among others, by politburo member Mahmudul Hasan Manik and party secretary of the district unit Noor Mohammad.
   He called upon all the opposition political parties to caste vote in favour of the Awami League-led opposition alliance candidates.

An honors final year student of Rajshahi Government College was killed and 10 others injured in a clash over land dispute at village Joynagan of Durgapur police Thursday night.
    The deceased was identified as Enamul Haque, son of Azimuddin of the village.  

Two Bangladeshi nationals were abducted by the members of the Border Security Force of India from a border area in Charghat upazila of Rajshahi early Friday.
   Local sources said BSF troops took away two Bangladeshis — Lal Mia and Jasim Uddin of Gopalpur village in Charghat upazila — from the River Padma while they were going to a char area by boat.
   BDR personnel of Rajshahi-10 Rifles Battalion sent a letter to the BSF demanding return of the two Bangladeshis through a flag meeting.
   The BSF did not respond to the letter till filing of this report at 5:00pm.

Qul khwani of Alpha Ali, daughter of the late Akbar Kabir, was held in her residence on 44 Park Road at Baridhara in Dhaka after asr prayers on Friday.
   Alpha Ali died of a cardiac arrest on October 8 at the age of 65.
   She is survived by her husband, daughter and son.
   She was the eldest sister of the late Dara Kabir, advocate Sigma Huda, Khushi Kabir, Dr Selim Kabir and Dr Babar Kabir.

Ershadunnesa, mother of Shykh Seraj, director and head of news of Impress Telefilm Limited and Channel i, died of cardiac arrest on Friday at Ibrahim Cardiac and Research Centre in Dhaka. She was 78. She had been suffering from various ailments, including diabetes, for long.
   Ershadunnesa is survived by four sons and four daughters.
   Qul khwani of the deceased will be held on October 15 after the asr prayers in the deceased’s Khilgaon residence in Dhaka, said a release of the Impress Telefilm.

Sonargaon Hotel arranges home delivery of iftar
items
Pan Pacific Sonargaon, the premier five-star hospitality property of the country, which is well known for its widest array of iftar items at Cafe Bazar, has arranged for home delivery for its delicious halim and zilapi. The price of per kilogram of zilapi is Tk 400 and halim per large bowl at Tk 650, according to a press release issued Thursday. Transport charges will be waived for an order of minimum five kilograms of zilapi or five bowls of halim. For further details and order one can contact: 8111005, Extension 4024 between 8:30am and 1:00pm every day.
— New Age