Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Textile and garment manufacturers want that the government install for them several central effluent treatment plants in and around Dhaka.
   The environment department officials, however, observes the idea of installing such plants is absurd as dying units are scattered over different areas.
   The environment and industries ministries after a meeting on March 22 asked such industrial units to set up such plants by October. The units have been given April 7 to submit installation plans to the environment ministry and April 30 to open letters of credits regarding plant installation.
   ‘We want the government to set up and run the central effluent treatment plants in different areas for industries to have their wastes treated,’ the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association president, Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury, told New Age on Saturday.
   Sources concerned told New Age that the owners of the dying and finishing units, identified to be contributing to industrial pollution, had been lobbying with the Board of Investment so that the government sets up at least one central effluent treatment plant on the city outskirts where several dying units are closely located.
   The investment board has convened a meeting with the representatives of the textile mills, and dying and washing units on Monday to discuss the proposal and work out a possible solution.
   ‘Dying and washing units are scattered over different areas so installation of central effluent treatment plants is quite unrealistic,’ said a senior environment department official.
   The official said, ‘The industrialists can build their own plants with no import duty on the equipment required.’
   The official said the department found that less then 100, out of 478 industries in and around Dhaka that produce hazardous wastes, have such plants.’
   But the industrialists run almost no of such plants to save on cost and drain out the wastes into wetlands and rivers, he said.

Human rights activists on Saturday demanded prompt action for formulating a regional taskforce to implement the SAARC convention for combating women and children trafficking.
   They also urged the government to place the issue in the upcoming SAARC Summit scheduled to be held on April 3-4 in India.
   The activists made the call at a news briefing organised by the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association and Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children at the National Press Club.
   Salma Ali, the executive director of BNWLA, said that Bangladesh had worked and achieved a lot to combat the women and children trafficking since the SAARC convention on trafficking had been formulated and ratified by all the member countries in the previous summit held in Dhaka in 2005.
   Apart from internal works of the country, she said, regional cooperation needs to implement the SAARC convention that should be emphasised in the upcoming summit.
   Human rights activists also highlighted the need for establishment of the SAARC secretariat office to implement the action plan against trafficking, protocol for rescue operation and smooth repatriation system in the trafficking cases among the member countries.
   Fawzia Karim Firoz, acting president of BNWLA, said mutual legal assistance is necessary due to high possibility of such trafficking among the SAARC countries.
   A good number of victims has been languishing in other countries’ jails as there is no mutual legal system among the member countries to help them, she said stressing on bilateral and multidimensional dialogues and action plan for proper care for and support to the trafficked women and children.
   Fawzia said lots of men, women and children cross the border for seeking better fortune and sometimes they were used and tortured inhumanly.
   ‘Trafficking is not an individual problem for a country, it has become an international issue,’ she said, adding that without cooperation among the neighbouring countries, it would not be possible to fight against trafficking.
   Masud Ali, the executive director of Incidin Bangladesh, and Binoy Mollick, the executive director of Action against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, also spoke at the briefing.

The SAARC People’s Forum on Saturday put out a call for South Asian governments to increase cooperation among the people of the region.
   People’s fundamental rights, livelihood and movements within the SAARC states should be ensured, the people’s sovereignty declaration adopted by the forum said.
   The participants from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka met in the fifth SAARC People’s Forum in Tangail during March 28–30 where the declaration was adopted, Shalini Bhutani from India who participated in the meeting said at a news conference the National Press Club on Saturday.
   The states should ensure the security of the people, not the corporations, the Ubinig chief, Farhad Mazhar, said.
   ‘It is becoming obvious that the security of the states is in fact nothing but the security of private corporations and the rights being given to them by the state to plunder the earth and repress the people’s struggles,’ Farhad said.
   The forum will send a recommendation to the participants in the SAARC Summit, scheduled during April 3–4 in New Delhi, to adopt effective measures to eliminate violation of human rights of all forms.
   The forum always stands against the privatisation of biological resources and traditional knowledge through intellectual property rights, such as patents and plant variety protection rights, Shalini said.
   The declaration urged all the SAARC nations to ratify the UN convention on Migrant Workers 1990.
   Shree Ram Shrestha of Nepal, Ranjit de Silva of Sri Lanka, Krishna Kumar, Samuel, and Joseph Alexander of India, Qamar Mahiuddin of Pakistan and Farida Akhter of Ubnig attended the briefing.

Speakers at a discussion meeting on Saturday emphasised the importance of instant update on a contingency plan to avert the widespread devastation of the avian influenza in the country.
   The government will always have to keep on its preparations to successfully control the bird flu epidemic as the viruses change their strain continuously, they said at the discussion on ‘Bird flu in Bangladesh: Mitigation and Prevention’ organised by Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan in the city.
   Under the new contingency plan, the government has to stockpile new drugs for at least three months, they added, saying that otherwise it would not be possible to prevent the deadly disease.
   Dr SK Roy, senior scientist of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh, chaired the programme while entomologist Dr Md Mahbubar Rahman of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University read out a keynote paper.
   Quoting the recommendation of the Food and Agricultural Organisation, they said the possibility of the contamination of avian influenza is likely to be lessened while production of different species of poultry chicks in a certain place.
   The FAO also stressed on the rearing of local chicks along with the farm chickens to reduce the risk of avian influenza.
   The country is following a technique to detect the avian influenza virus which is time-consuming and risky for the country, Dr Mahbub said, adding that the FAO and International Atomic Energy Commission have recently developed a laboratory to do tests on the virus quickly.
   Professor Md Mizanur Rahman, national coordinator of avian influenza programme, claimed the country is now free from bird flu. Avian influenza breaks out in a certain place, he said.
   The avian influenza had so far been detected in 14 farms in Gazipur, Narayanganj, Jamalpur, Tangail and Bagerhat and 56,198 poultry chicks culled till March 29.
   Technical advisor of the Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association Dr MM Khan, associate scientist of ICDDR,B Dr Jahangir Hossain, research officer Farzana Yasmin, government officials and representatives from different non-governmental organisations also addressed the discussion.

Speakers at a function on Saturday stressed the importance of free movement of labours to combat human trafficking.
   They said this while addressing the launching ceremony of ‘training programme for the lawyers’ organised by International Organisation for Migration in collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Legal Education and Training Institute of Bangladesh Bar Council.
   The law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser, Mainul Hosein, said, ‘Human trafficking is the modern version of slavery.’ Mentioning to horrors of human trafficking, he said that some 2.5 million people across the world were the victims of human trafficking.
   ‘Victims of human trafficking are mostly poverty-stricken who are desperate to escape from economic miseries,’ he pointed out adding that rich countries are main destinations where cheap labour and services are exploited under the humiliation of illegal immigrants.
   ‘In Bangladesh, we have to make our efforts to alleviate poverty with the inclusion of the poor and the unemployed into the development process. The worst victims are the girls who are coerced into prostitution,’ the law adviser added.
   Richard Daziger, chief of counter-trafficking of the Geneva-based IOM, in his keynote paper said that it was essential to ensure legal defence of the victims and assist them with their testimony.
   ‘The SAARC Convention on Trafficking is to be fully implemented by all parties,’ he said adding that regional cooperation in combating human trafficking is an essential element in achieving results.
   Supreme Court Bar Association president Amir-ul Islam underscored the need for protection and prevention to deal with human trafficking.
   Bangladesh Bar Council vice-chairman Rokanuddin Mahmud said human trafficking is not only problem of human rights but also a criminal offence.
   The law adviser also unveiled the cover of a book titled ‘Training Manual for Lawyers on Combating Trafficking in Person’ by Professor Mizanur Rahman and Adilur Rahman Khan.
   Attorney general Fida M Kamal and IOM country representative Shahidul Haque also spoke at the inaugural function chaired by home secretary Abdul Karim.
   The training programmes will include 54 workshops in 18 districts for about 1,350 members of bar councils, public prosecutors and lawyers.

Two children were killed in a fire in a Faridpur village Friday night.
   The children were Sabbir,3, son of Ayub Ali, and Adri, 7, daughter of Sekendar Ali of village Panchuria under Buraich union of the Alfadanga police station in Faridpur, the police said.
   Three others, including a child, also suffered injuries.
   The Alfadanga police sub-inspector, Awlad Hossain, quoting locals, said a mentally deranged daughter of their neighbour Quashem Ali torched their house and the fire soon spread to the surrounding homesteads.
   The fire destroyed at least 44 houses. Fifteen goats and over 300 chicken and ducks were roasted alive, locals said.
   Fire fighters struggled for three hours to douse the fire.

A man convicted to life imprisonment died of a cardiac arrest in the Rangpur central jail Friday night.
   Jail officials said the deceased, Makbul Hossen, 65, a resident of Hakimpur in Dinajpur, was convicted life imprisonment in a murder case.
   The Dinajpur jail authorities recently sent him to the Rangpur jail. He was admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital with complaints of chest pain Friday night where he was declared dead.
   The body was sent to his village home after a post-mortem examination.

At least 80 people were injured in a series of clashes between two groups at village Shreeghar under Nasirnagar upazila in Brahmanbaria on Friday and Saturday.
   Local people said the trouble began Friday noon over taking bath in a pond of the village.
   At one stage, the two rival groups attacked each other with sharp weapons, injuring at least 30 people. They were locked in a fresh clash Saturday evening over the issue, leaving 40 others injured on both sides.
   Three of the injured were admitted to local hospital.
   Later, the police went to the spot and brought the situation under control and arrested a number of people in connections with the clashes.

A suspected spy acting for India was held at Doulatpur border village in Benapole when he was talking to an officer of the Border Security Force over cell phone Saturday afternoon.
   BDR intelligence marked Yunus engaged in lengthy talks by phone and held him on the spot. On check, phone numbers of certain senior officers of the BSF were found saved in his cell phone set with Indian SIM card.
   On interrogation Yunus revealed some significant information, said a BDR official. Son of Mokshed Ali, Yunus, 30, is an inhabitant of Gitiara village. He was handed over to Benapole port thana in the evening.

Gana Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain has underlined the need for formation of a national commission to investigate the militancy in the country.
   He was speaking at Bangladesh Sanglap organised by BBC Bangla Service and BBC World Service Trust at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre on Saturday.
   Former member of Anti-Corruption Commission Professor Moniruzzaman Miah, artist Asma Kibria and executive director of UBINIG Farida Akhter also took part in the dialogue moderated by Kamal Ahmed, senior producer of BBC Bangla Service.
   Discussants said the government should make public the information given by the top militant leaders who had been hanged recently.
   In reply to a question about whether the country is heading for constitutional crisis after the incumbent president’s tenure ends in June, Kamal said that the country would not face any constitutional crisis over the matter.
   The incumbent president, Iajuddin Ahmed, will act as the president until a new president is elected through the next parliament, he added.
   ‘As per the constitution, if the issue regarding the state of emergency is not placed at the parliament within 120 days, it automatically abolishes when there is parliament. But when there is no parliament, the emergency sustains up to 120 days of a new parliament,’ Dr Kamal clarified.
   Moniruzzaman, also a former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University, said people’s confidence in the present interim government would increase, if it makes public their agendas in holding the next elections.
   Farida expressed her apprehension whether the state of emergency continues in the country for a longer period.

A five-member committee has been formed to probe the wildfire in Sundarban that is yet to be extinguished even after 12 days since it began.
   Forest office sources said the fire broke out in Panchakaralia region under Chandpai range of the forest’s east division on March 19, which destroyed valuable trees like sundari, garan and gewa over several kilometres of the world’s biggest mangrove forest.
   Two fire-fighting units from Bagerhat and Morrelganj fire stations with the help of forest officials and local people tried to bring the raging fires under control after frantic efforts for 12 days.
   ‘Fire-extinguishing operation is being hampered severely as there is no water source within two kilometre of the area,’ said Bagerhat Fire Station officer M Zakir Hossain who is leading the operation.
   ‘We had to set up shallow pumping machine to lift water to douse the blaze,’ he said.
   Divisional conservator of forests, Sundarban, Sheikh Mizanur Rahman said the firefighters had cut-off the ‘Line of Fire’ to check further spread of the blaze.
   The committee, headed by the assistant conservator of forest, Bagerhat sadar range, Saleh Mohammad Shoeb Khan, was formed on Friday night to find out the reason for the fire and also to determine the extent of damage.

The finance and commerce adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, on Saturday said stakeholder benefit was a must to strengthen regional cooperation.
   He made the observation at the inaugural session of the seventh international forum on regional economic cooperation comprising Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar.
   The Centre for Policy Dialogue organised the forum at the BRAC auditorium in Dhaka.
   Noting that a myopic view was an impediment to regional cooperation, Azizul Islam said, ‘We must overcome this lack of foresight to strengthen regional cooperation.’
   Deputy secretary general of Yunnan provincial government of China Che Zhimin, former Indian ambassador Eric Gonsalves and CPD executive director Debapriya Bhattacharya also spoke at the meeting chaired by the centre chairman, Rehman Sobhan.
   Azizul Islam said a country would not be interested in regional cooperation if it did not benefit from it.
   ‘So creating public policy is needed for all stakeholders to have an opportunity from the cooperation,’ he added.
   The finance adviser also said the security notion should be reconsidered regarding regional cooperation.
   Eric Gonsalves emphasised multidimensional cross-border connectivity, including the Asian Highway and railways. He said different types of cross- border connectivity were benefiting many countries in terms of trade.
   Citing the example of the European Union, he said cross-border connectivity also reduced transportation costs to a minimum level.
   Rehman Sobhan said if China joined BIMSTEC, regional cooperation would be effective.
   He said the Chittagong port should be developed in such a way so that it could be used as a natural port by Nepal, Bhutan, northeast India, Myanmar and Yunnan province of China.
   Voicing frustration, Che Zhimin said the regional forum did not seem to be working although seven international forum meetings had been held so far.
   He said if market linkage developed within the region, the world’s fastest growing markets, China, South East Asia and South Asia, would develop their market linkages.

The Dhaka City Corporation has saved Tk 1.57 crore between January and March from the expenditure of fuel provided for the corporation’s motorised vehicles, officials said.
   On the basis of three months’ average savings, the corporation could have saved Tk 6.28 crore annually and Tk 31.40 crore in the five-year tenure of a mayor.
   ‘This was possible because the authority has transferred some of the corrupt employees in the transport department soon after the present caretaker government took power,’ a top official in the DCC’s Transport Department told the agency Thursday.
   The manager (transport) of DCC, Khandaker Millatul Islam, against whom there are lots of allegations of fuel pilferage, said ‘Now we have become sincere. It has proved that if we become serious we can save money.’
   Some Tk 22 lakh was saved in January, Tk 63 lakh in February and so far in March it is Tk 72 lakh, according to Khandaker Millat.
   The official said the expenditure for fuel was Tk 2.61 crore in January and Tk 2.16 crore in February.
   According to transport department record, the DCC spends on an average Tk 2.80 crore to Tk 3.0 crore per month for fuel.
   There are some 750 vehicles excluding 300 motorbikes in the corporation for which the transport department manager issues fuel.
   Earlier, a Japan International Cooperation Agency study report submitted to the corporation in 2005 also detected huge pilferage in fuel expenditure and asked the DCC to address the issue.
   JICA has been working with the DCC on waste management since 2000.
   The DCC secretary, Mojibur Rahman, refused to comment.

Armed robbers looted cash and valuables from the house of army personnel at Mirpur in the Dhaka city Saturday evening.
   The police, quoting family members, said at least seven gunmen, impersonating policemen, entered the house of Chand Mia Bepari at about 6:00pm.
   They took Chand Mia’s wife Nazma Akter hostage at gunpoint and looted Tk 55,000, gold ornaments and other valuables. Chand Mia is in Kuwait in the UN peacekeeping mission.

One hundred twenty six pieces of corrugated iron sheet of prime minister’s relief fund were seized from the houses of two BNP leaders and they were arrested by the joint forces in Noakhali on Saturday.
   The arrested were ward commissioner Belal Hossain, and the BNP leader Shid Ullah of Senbagh upazila in Noakhali on Saturday midnight. Tipped-off, the joint forces raided the house of Belal Hossain and seized 79 CI sheets and another 47 CI sheets from the house of Shid Ullah.