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The Election Commission in principle decided to take initiatives to separate its secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Office (now Chief Adviser’s Office) and ensure its functional independence.
   The commission is planning to sit with the legal experts who think there is no need for constitutional amendment for the independence of the EC secretariat. The commission will try to find out ways to make the secretariat independent without amending the constitution.
   ‘During the dialogue with eminent citizens, we have found the separation of the Election Commission secretariat becomes a popular issue and we (commission) also decided in principle to ensure the independence. We will sit with the legal experts who think there is no need for constitutional amendment to find out ways to ensure the independence of the secretariat,’ election commissioner Muhammed Sohul Hussain told a group of reporters on Sunday. He said the commission still believed a constitutional amendment is required to make the secretariat independent.
   Election experts, academics and development activists at a dialogue on the Election Commission’s planned reform agenda on Thursday stressed the need for the separation of the EC secretariat from the Prime Minister’s Office and many of them viewed it would not require a constitutional amendment.
   Election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain said they were not willing to see that the independence of the secretariat would exist only on paper.
   ‘It might be possible to make the secretariat independent on paper through an ordinance. But we want functional independence, with financial freedom and appointing authority of its officials,’ he said.
   The commission is looking for ways to avoid a constitutional amendment as there is no parliament now.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Thursday said the interim government was not willing to make any constitutional amendment.

The Election Commission has said it will not back out of its decision to prepare voters’ roll with photographs in 18 months despite demand from the political parties for early polls and issued a challenge to anyone to do the job in a lesser duration.
   ‘We are not going to change our decision to prepare voters’ roll with photograph as we do not want any more January 11,’ election commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain told reporters in an oblique reference to the proclamation of a state of emergency amid political turmoil over the next polls.
   Asked about the demands of the political parties for early polls and their question over the EC proposed 18-month timeline for preparation of the voters’ roll, the election commissioner said ‘…we are working for the people, not for political parties. The people’s views are different than that of the political leaders’.
   Sakhawat said that the EC would welcome ‘if the people who are raising question about the 18-month time frame for voters’ roll preparation, accept the challenge of doing the job in less than 18 months’.
   ‘If anyone comes up with concrete suggestions or is ready to take up the challenge of doing the job in less than 18 months, the commission will certainly consider the suggestions and ask them to do the job,’ he said.
   The election commissioner said that they were planning to compile a database with which it would be able to build an information store so that the task of preparing voters’ roll should not be done every five years.
   ‘The voters’ list will be prepared once that will be updated continuously… this voters’ list will be used not only in one election but in every future election,’ he said.
   He said that the main job of the commission was to prepare the voters’ list with photographs.
   A six-member expert team, which is supposed to prepare a project proposal including tender documents for voters’ roll with photographs and national identity cards in six months, will start working with the Election Commission from May 1. Two members of the expert team joined the commission on Sunday.
   The election commissioner said the team would inform the EC within two months as to what equipment was necessary to implement the project. ‘In the next four months we will collect the equipment trough international tender,’ he said.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on April 5 said that the 18-month time frame for preparation of the voters’ roll would be counted from the day the expert team arrives.

The interim government is thinking of enacting laws to ban partisan political activities by the teachers’ and students’ organisations and the collective bargaining agents who are at present subservient to certain political parties and push their agenda.
   ‘The government is contemplating the introduction of laws to stop party politics by students and teachers on the campuses,’ the adviser to the law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministry, Mainul Hosein, told reporters at his secretariat office on Sunday.
   The authorities concerned have been asked to prepare a draft to separate and keep the student fronts apart from the political parties.
   The students’, teachers’ and workers’ organisations and professional bodies will be allowed only to pursue their own causes. They will not be allowed to pursue the agenda of political parties on the campus or their work places.
   The law adviser said employees of many government organisations are engaged in party politics in the name of trade unions and are thereby spoiling the working environment.
   ‘The government wants to stop politically partisan politics under the cover of trade unions,’ he mentioned.
   Students should build up their careers through study, but practically many of them are being used as muscle-power by major political parties; this should be stopped immediately, the adviser added.
   The law adviser in March, at a seminar in Dhaka University, came up with the idea of banning teachers’ and students’ politics, which sparked protests from the teachers.
   The teachers condemned Mainul’s statement, saying that he should not poke his nose into teachers’ politics, rather he should be attentive to the primary duty of the caretaker administration, which is to conduct the stalled national election as early as possible.
   When he was asked to name the AL and BNP leaders who had suggested that the government impose restrictions on, and exile, the top leaders of the two major political parties, Mainul said it was not necessary to name any persons.
   ‘Everything is obvious. It is very logical that some will want the top leaders to continue to lead the parties, while some will oppose it. But it is a sign of the success of this government that party insiders are now raising proposals for reforms,’ he claimed.
   Mainul, in an interview with a private television channel, said that the government was not concerned whether the two leaders stayed in the country or not.  ‘But the government was told by people from within the parties that if the two leaders stay in the country, the necessary reforms in the parties could not be carried out,’ said Mainul in the interview with Channel i on Friday.
   When asked whether the interim government, as per the Representation of People Order, could enact laws to ban party politics for students’ and teachers’ fronts and professional bodies, he said, ‘These laws can be enacted if the people support the move.’
   ‘It has not been said anytime that student politics will be banned. Our main goal is to bring the students out of submissive and partisan politics. Political parties should be barred from organising any front with the students of any educational institutions. Similarly, teachers should not be allowed to get involved in party politics on the campuses,’ he said.
   Mainul said the government was not in favour of barring students from politics. ‘I have said that student politics should be defined first. We cannot ban student politics as future leadership will come up from the students,’ he said, referring to a proposal that the chief election commissioner ban student politics.

Several hundred BNP leaders and activists on Sunday attended a milad mahfil in Dhaka in the hope that they would meet party chairperson Khaleda Zia at the function.
   But Khaleda, apparently in confinement at her Dhaka Cantonment residence, could not attend the chehlum of the party standing committee member KM Obaidur Rahman as the security agencies did not allow her to go out on security ground, BNP sources said.
   Her family members and associates, however, did not disclose the reason for her absence.
   ‘I know the reason for her absence. But I cannot not disclose it,’ Khaleda’s brother Sayeed Eskandar said.
   The chehlum was held at KM Obaid’s Banani residence.
   The BNP secretary general, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, and the party chairperson’s adviser ASM Hannan Shah, who strained their relations with harsh political comments on each other in recent times, were at the centre of attention of the leaders and activists who were still confused about the possible reforms in the party.
   The two leaders, however, tried to ease the situation by shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. They also exchanged greetings with other leaders but did not make any political comments.
   Asked about Khaleda’s possible visit to Saudi Arabia, both Hannan Shah and Sayeed Eskandar said they knew nothing about it.
   Sayeed Eskandar, however, said, ‘The government tried three times to get a visa for her but failed’.
   ‘They [authorities concerned] have told her that she must collect the visa on her own and leave the country’, he said.
   Meanwhile, the government on April 18 in a press note said it had never exerted pressure on Khaleda for leaving the country and was still not doing so. It also said the government had not imposed any restrictions on her movement.
   The BNP standing committee members RA Gani and Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, chairperson’s adviser ZA Khan, former ministers Shah Moazzem Hossain and Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, Jatiya Party faction secretary general Sheikh Shahidul Islam, and KM Obaid’s family members, friends and admirers were present, among others, at chehlum.
   KM Obaidur Rahman, a former minister, died in the city on March 21.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Sunday said her party would co-operate with the Election Commission in its plan to bring about electoral reforms for ensuring free and fair polls.
   She called on the commission to hold the stalled parliamentary elections at the earliest.
   ‘She [Khaleda] said BNP would co-operate with the Election Commission to bring about electoral reform so that the polls could be held in a free and fair manner,’ former education minister Osman Faruk, who visited the BNP chairperson at her Dhaka Cantonment residence Sunday evening, said.
   ‘Electoral reforms are also necessary in interest of the party,’ Khaleda was quoted as telling Osman Faruk.
   She also called upon to the commission to hold the parliamentary elections at soon as possible, he said.
   The former prime minister also renewed her call to the party leaders and activists to remain united, he said.
   The Election Commission cancelled the January 22 parliamentary polls following the proclamation of a state of emergency on January 11.

A move to seek the High Court’s order asking the government not to arrest or harass former prime minister and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina on her return turned abortive on Sunday despite repeated efforts.
   Two High Court benches refused permission for filing the petition as the power of attorney, given by Hasina to her former protocol officer Manzila Faruque for taking legal action on her behalf, was not in order.
   ‘We could not file the petition… the court did not permit us to file it for weakness in the power of attorney,’ Hasina’s counsel Shafiq Ahmed told reporters after a meeting of her counsels held after the failure of the repeated move.
   Shafique Ahmed, Mahbubey Alam and Abdul Matin Khasru went to the High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury Sunday morning and sought its permission to file the petition based on the power of attorney.
   The power of attorney appears not to be in order, the court told them refusing permission.
   Being refused, they went to another bench comprising Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui but this bench also refused permission.
   According to the rules, any power of attorney, if awarded by a person staying abroad, has to come through the diplomatic mission of Bangladesh in that country and with authentication of the mission.
   Hasina’s counsels claimed that the power of attorney had come through courier service.
   Shafiq Ahmed, however, said that they would try again to file the petition before her return correcting the power of attorney.
   On April 9, chief executive of Westmont power plant, Kazi Tajul Islam Faruq, filed a Tk 3 crore extortion case against the former prime minister. Later on April 11, the police submitted charge sheet against Hasina and a big band of leaders of the AL-led alliance in the case of October 28 killings at Paltan, filed by Jamaat-e-Islami.
   The extortion case was filed and subsequent developments took place when Hasina had been abroad on a private tour. Later a warrant for the arrest of the AL chief was issued. The warrant was, however, put off later.
   On April 18 the home ministry issued a press note barring Hasina from return claiming her presence in the country might worsen law and order, disrupt stability, endanger public life and jeopardise national economy.
   The British Airways on April 22 refused to issue her a boarding pass for her return home by the scheduled flight.
   The interim government, however, retracted the embargo on April 25 in the face of widespread criticism both at home and abroad.

The government is likely to double the amount of farm subsidy in the next budget to help the farmers make up for their losses due to the recent price hike of diesel used for irrigation, said finance ministry sources.
   A meeting of the resource committee of the finance ministry on Sunday also asked the agriculture ministry to finalise the modality to distribute the subsidy for diesel-run irrigation pumps among the farmers.
   Though the government earmarked an amount of Tk 1,100 crore as agriculture subsidy in the current budget, no cash support is being given to minimise the cost of diesel used for irrigation. However, a 30 per cent rebate is provided to farmers for using electricity for irrigational purposes.
   The exact amount of subsidy is yet to be fixed and the issue is kept out of the purview of the medium-term budgetary framework under which the agriculture ministry enjoys some budget-making autonomy, finance ministry officials said.
   ‘The government may more than double the subsidy amount to help the farmers reduce their production cost from using diesel for irrigation. The amount will be fixed centrally as a priority of the interim government,’ an official of the finance ministry told New Age.
   It will require approximately Tk 775 crore to provide subsidy to about 94 lakh farmers who use diesel for irrigational purposes, according to the agriculture ministry’s earlier estimate based on a much lower diesel price.
   After the latest diesel price hike, the average production cost of unhusked rice has inched up by Tk 0.16 per kilogram, according to the estimate of the ministry.
   The agriculture ministry earlier sent a formal proposal to the finance ministry for distribution of farm subsidy on diesel but the then finance minister, M Saifur Rahman, turned it down. The government now gives farm subsidy mainly for fertilisers.
   In the modality it worked out, the agriculture ministry proposed involvement of public representatives at the union parishad-level and officials of upazilas and districts, besides field officers of the Department of Agriculture Extension, in identifying farmers, distributing the money, and monitoring the entire process.
   Currently, there is no parity in determining the production costs of rice by using diesel-run pumps and electricity-run ones. It requires Tk 17,199 to irrigate a hectare with diesel-run pumps compared to only Tk 5,785 by electricity-run ones.
   The number of diesel-run shallow pumps in use in the country is 10,19,389, deep pumps 3,564 and low-lift ones 91,025.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Sunday pressed charge sheets against former state minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, former state minister Amanullah Aman, his wife Sabera Aman, former state minister Mir Mohammad Nasiruddin and his son Mir Helaluddin for submitting false wealth statements and having assets disproportionate to their legitimate incomes.
   The commission chairman, Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, told journalists on Sunday that the trial of the cases would start in the special judges’ courts within seven to ten days. The ACC was also preparing the charge sheets in other graft cases it filed so far, he added.
   Meanwhile, the Uttara police submitted charge sheet to the same court in a case filed against former state minister Redwan Ahmed on charge of keeping three bottles of liquor at his residence.
   The three charge sheets in graft cases were placed in the court of magistrate Jagannath Das Khokon.
   Mohiuddin, state minister of Awami League government, Mir Nasir and Aman, state ministers of immediate-past BNP-Jamaat government, and Helal were detained in prison while Aman’s wife Sabera remained absconding.
   The ACC deputy director, Sharmin Ferdousi, submitted the charge sheet against Mohiuddin to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ Court in the afternoon stating that he (Mohiuddin) submitted wealth statement to the commission concealing Tk 1.17 crore, deposited with Karwan Bazar Branch, IFIC Bank.
   A total of twelve people were named as witnesses in the case, filed by another ACC deputy director Jibon Krishna Roy against him with the Tejgaon police station on March 6.
   Mir Nasir and his son Mir Helal were charged with concealing Tk 3,22,11,000 in their wealth statements submitted to the ACC while they own property worth Tk 2,25,06,999. Nasir individually owns property of Tk 25.72 crore, said Abdullah Al Zahid, the investigation officer of the case.
   He also revealed that Nasir and Helal operated joint accounts at different banks. Helal illegally transferred Tk 2,08,33,195 elsewhere from their accounts after his father was detained by the joint forces on February 4.
   A total of 21 people were named as witnesses in the case, filed against them by ACC deputy director Sharmin Ferdousi with the Gulshan police station on March 6.
   Aman and his wife Sabera were accused of hiding information about their wealth worth Tk 8,28,47,232, which is far beyond their legitimate incomes.
   The ACC deputy director, Abdullah-al-Jahid, lodged the case against them with the Kafrul police station.
   The investigation officer, Jibon Krishna Roy, in the chare sheet said that Aman had Tk 3.73 crore while he mentioned to possessing Tk 1.2 crore in his wealth statement. His wife owns Tk 6.72 crore but she submitted a statement of Tk 1.8 crore to the commission.
   A total of 21 people were named as witnesses in the case filed by Abdullah-al-Jahid against the couple with the Kafrul police station.
   On the other hand, Redwan was charge sheeted for possessing of liquor that was seized by the forces from his Uttara house during a raid on March 8. He was not at home during the raid, said sub-inspector Abdul Baten, the investigation officer of the case.
   Baten also appealed to the court to issue arrest warrant against Redwan as he went into hiding after the case was filed against him. The police named 15 people as witnesses in the case filed by sub-inspector Giasuddin of the Uttara police station.

The finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, on Sunday dismissed any question of a constitutional crisis in budget-making by the non-elected interim government after a gap of more than two decades.
   ‘I do not see any constitutional crisis. The parliament passes the budget as an act; in absence of the parliament it will now pass through a presidential ordinance,’ he told reporters after a pre-budget meeting at the finance ministry.
   Budget is the financial document of the earnings and expenditures of the nation, the adviser maintained.
   Set to author the national budget for fiscal year 2007-08, Mirza Aziz felt that it would be formulated in the same way as other matters pertaining to law were being dealt with through presidential ordinances by this government.
   However, Article 83 of the constitution says, ‘No tax shall be levied or collected except by or under the authority of an act of the parliament’ and Article 87(I) reads, ‘There should be laid before the parliament, in respect of each financial year, a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditures of the government for that year, in this part as referred to as the annual financial statement.’
   The last time a non-elected government formulated an annual budget was in 1985. That year M Syeduzzaman, as the finance minister of HM Ershad’s martial law regime, authored the budget, which was not rubberstamped by any parliament. But all the activities of the martial law regime were later indemnified by the parliament in 1986.
   Professor Wahiduddin Mahmud also prepared a three-month budget as a stop-gap arrangement during the caretaker government led by Justice Muhammad Habibur Rahman in 1996. But, subsequently, the elected government of Awami League passed a complete annual budget.
   The current interim government led by Fakhruddin Ahmed is going to prepare a full-year budget in a context where the Election Commission has ruled out the possibility of holding the general elections in one and a half years.
   Meantime, Mirza Aziz informed the press that the meeting of the resource committee on Sunday decided to ensure more transparency and accountability in spending public money.
   Accordingly, the official website of the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Planning Commission will be regularly updated and more windows opened to receive online feedback from the stakeholders.
   The finance adviser also said that the interim government would try to address the regional imbalances in the public-sector spending so that their benefits reached the commoners.
   He made another projection that the government’s revenue earning, which is currently suffering a shortfall, would mark a 12 per cent growth by the end of the current fiscal year.
   The government has fixed the gross domestic product growth rate at 7 per cent and inflation rate at 6.5 per cent for this fiscal year, and on this basis the tax-GDP ratio would be reviewed in the process of the budget-making, Mirza Aziz added.

The government will seek financial assistance from South Korea to purchase 300 CNG-run buses for Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation and to replace and modernise the signalling and interlocking system of Bangladesh Railway.
   ‘The assistance will be sought during a scheduled visit of the foreign adviser in the first week of June,’ said a top official of the communications ministry.
   The foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, is likely to visit South Korea from June 5-6 to discuss bilateral issues, including economic cooperation and transport, sources in the foreign ministry said.
   Earlier, the communications ministry outlined the project to buy 300 CNG single-decker buses at a cost of Tk 230 crore of which it decided to seek Tk 218 crore from Korea.
   The ministry also decided to seek around Tk 194 crore from Korean government for replacement and modernisation of the signalling and interlocking system of 14 stations in railway west zone and rehabilitation of Saidpur railway carriage and wagon workshop.
   The Korean government recently also showed interest to provide loans for purchasing buses from South Korea under the South Korean Economic Development Cooperation Fund’s loan.
   According to the officials, the EDCF would charge 0.5 per cent interest rate on its loans, repayable in 30 years with 10 years of grace period.
   Some officials in the communications ministry, however, said that it would not be feasible for the government to procure such buses for the losing corporation which is plagued by mismanagement, corruption and inefficiency.
   The finance ministry was also not in favour of providing any fund to BRTC, apparently because of its huge accumulated losses and liabilities.
   The state-owned transport corporation, which has a fleet of 741 buses and 170 trucks, incurred a loss of around Tk 30 crore in the fiscal year 2005-06, Tk 35 crore in 2004-05, Tk 42 crore in 2003-04, Tk 33 crore in 2002-03 and Tk 24 crore in 2001-02.
   On the other hand, communications ministry sources claimed that the cost of each bus would be much higher if the government awards the procurement contract to a company of the lending countries through limited competitive bidding.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion is still trying to find out whether the investigation of the Tk 3 crore extortion case against Awami League president and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina falls in its jurisdiction.
   The investigation officer of the case, Jan-e-Alam, also the officer-in-charge of Tejgaon thana, went to the ACC on Sunday to discuss the matter.
   Additional commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police M Maniruzzaman, joint commissioner Mili Biswah and joint commissioner of the Detective Branch Abdul Jalil also went to the ACC.
   ACC chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury told reporters, ‘We discussed whether the ACC has the jurisdiction to investigate the extortion case against Sheikh Hasina.’
   ‘We are still examining the matter,’ he said when asked whether the ACC would investigate the case.
   Tajul Islam Faruque, chairman of Westmont Power Company, on April 9 sued Hasina and Manu Majumdar, her personal aide, on charge of extorting Tk 3 crore from him in 1998.
   On the following day OC Jan-e-Alam was assigned to conduct an inquiry into the case and the court ordered him to submit the investigation report on May 10.
   Adviser MA Matin on April 10 told reporters that the case against Hasina would be investigated by the anti-graft taskforce under the supervision of the ACC.
   Jan-e-Alam, on April 12, apprised the court that the investigation of the case has been handed over to the anti-graft taskforce. He also informed the court that police have sent a proposal to the home minister to attach the extortion case to the Emergency Powers Rules 2007.
   Jan-e-Alam, however, refused to talk to reporters on Sunday when he was leaving the ACC.
   Other police officials, who visited the ACC on Sunday, said that they discussed field-level cooperation between the ACC officials and the police.

Questioning the commitment of president Pervez Musharraf to the war on terror, former Pakistan prime minister Banazir Bhutto has said the forthcoming elections are perhaps the only chance of the country staying away from the path of Talibanisation, reports the Press Trust of India on Sunday.
   ‘The Pakistan People’s Party of Benazir and I are worried that despite general Musharraf’s declarations of support in the war against terrorism, the situation domestically in Pakistan is worse than it was following the events of 9/11,’ she said in an interview to ‘The Washington Times’.
   The religious parties, she said, ‘have risen to power for the first time in the country’s history, suicide bombings have occurred, again for the first time in Pakistan’s history. Moreover, the then-defeated and demoralised Taliban have now re-established themselves in tribal areas of Pakistan. Further, it appears that they have established a safe haven from where they collect taxes, dispense their form of justice and run an irregular army.’
   Elsewhere in Pakistan, more militias hiding under the name of madrassah have been established since 9/11, she said, adding the Jamia Hafsa madrassah in Islamabad is one example.
   ‘The general elections of 2007 could turn out to be a last chance to save a moderate Pakistan from the creeping Talibanisation that is taking place,’ the self-exiled former prime minister said.
   Meanwhile, deposed former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif urged the army generals to choose between the country and general Pervez Musharraf, alleging that the ‘dictator’ was bent upon destroying the army as an institution.
   Sharif said the army generals must choose between Pakistan and Musharraf, alleging that the ‘dictator’ was out to destroy the army as an institution. He said the country needed leaders, not dealers at this juncture.
   Lashing out at Musharraf, Sharif said time was fast approaching when those responsible for banishing his popular government would be looking for sanctuaries in foreign countries.
   The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader said he would never cooperate with those who had violated the Constitution and peoples mandate (by overthrowing an elected government).
   In a telephonic address from London to party leaders and workers in Islamabad on Saturday, the exiled premier said Musharraf had committed an unpardonable offence because of which a deal with ‘the dictator’ was ‘unthinkable’, the Dawn daily reported.

The government has begun work on the second phase of the Teesta Barrage project, nine years after the completion of the project’s first phase.
   The work on the first unit of the second phase began on April 10 involving an estimated Tk 227.21 crore and the work is expected to be completed in three years, said an official of the Rangpur zone Water Development Board.
   The first unit work of the project is funded by the government as foreign fund could not be managed, the board official said.
   The total estimated cost of the second phase is Tk 166.66 crore — Tk 396.70 crore to be provided by the government and Tk 769.96 crore by foreign agencies.
   ‘We have decided to complete the second phase after dividing it into three units following the decision of the executive committee of the National Economic Council made on January 21, 2004,’ he said.
   The work on the second and third units of the second phase will begin after the completion of the first unit, said an official of the water resources ministry.
   The components of the project’s first unit include 63km major secondary canal, 95.97km secondary canal, 38 bridges, 160 culverts and 60km retention canal re-excavation.
   A total of 1,11,406 hectares of land comes under irrigation under the first phase of the project while 4,48,778 hectares in Rangpur, Gaibandha, Bogra and Jaipurhat will come under irrigation facilities under the second phase.
   A total of 96,575 hectares will come under irrigation facility under the project’s first unit of the second phase, said the board official.
   The areas which will come under irrigation facility under the first unit are Badarganj, Parbatipur, Taraganj, Mithapukur (partial), Saidpur, Phulbari (partial), Kishoreganj (partial), and Chirirbandar.
   A total of 1,76,607 hectares will come under irrigation facility under the second unit and 1,75,596 hectares under the third unit.
   The areas under the second unit include part of Mithapukur, Pirganj, Phulbari (partial), Nawabganj, Birampur, Hakimpur, Ghoraghat (partial), Sadullapur, Palashbari (partial) and Panchbibi.
   The areas under the third unit Ghoraghat (partial), Palashbari (partial), Gobindaganj, Jaipurhat, Panchbibi (partial), Khetlal, Akkelpur, Shibganj, Adamdighi, Gabtali, Dupchachia, Kalai, Sonatala and Kahalu.
   The Teesta Barrage project was undertaken in 1979 and its first phase was completed in 1998 at a cost of Tk 969 crore.
   The project cost was estimated to be Tk 1498.39 crore, but because of unavailability of fund, the government of the time decided to complete the project in two phases.
   Twenty-two upazialas of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Niphamari, Jaipurhat and Bogra were brought under the project area.
   In the first phase, 91,226 hectares of 12 upazilas of Nilphamari, Rangpur and Dinajpur have come under the irrigation facilities.
   Although the project areas under the first phase are 1,11,406 hectares, about 20,000 hectares are yet to come under the irrigation facility for lack of funding, maintenance and motivation of the farmers, said the water board official.
   The first-phase works include 80km flood protection embankment, a barrage (615m long and 12.20m wide), 33.67km main canal, about 74.85km major secondary canal, 215.24km secondary/branch canal, 325.24km sub-branch canal and 250km retention canal.
   Because of the irrigation facility in 12 upazilas of Niphamari, Rangpur and Dinajpur under the first phase, additional crops worth about Tk 500 crore grow every year, said the official.

A significant portion of rice meant for open market sales in Dhaka is allegedly being misappropriated by the dealers everyday and slipped into the black market, making the government’s subsidised programme less effective, officials involved with the programme told New Age on Saturday.
   The misappropriation could account for half of the OMS rice as most of the dealers in the capital city tend to benefit from the gap between the government rate and market price, which is about Tk 7 per kilogram, estimated a number of schoolteachers, engaged to supervise the drive.
   The government launched the OMS rice sale programme from shops owned by about 10,600 dealers across the country on March 18. On April 18 it asked some headmasters of government primary schools in Dhaka, along with officers of the Department of Food, to supervise the OMS programme in different centres.
   In Dhaka city the government has so far appointed 230 dealers to sell the rice, mainly to the poor people, according to officials of the food department.
   ‘According to the government’s decision, some 680 kilograms of rice should be sold from an OMS sale centre everyday. A single person is not supposed to be sold more than 5 kilograms,’ said a headmaster who was engaged in supervising the sales centre in Tejgaon on Thursday.
   ‘I went to the OMS centre at 9:00am on Thursday, the scheduled time of starting the selling of rice. The selling began, but suddenly I observed that the names of 59 persons were enrolled in the sale register book within five minutes only, which is impossible,’ said a teacher.
   ‘I asked the dealer about the inclusion of fake names in the sale register book, but the rice dealer remained indifferent and did not bother to reply,’ said the teacher.
   A teacher, quoting another such dealer, told New Age on Saturday ‘The dealer said that I should leave the centre just after his shop began selling rice and see how much of the stock is left the next day.’
   ‘A rice dealer in Tejgaon area advised me to be tight-lipped about his misappropriation on Thursday,’ said another headmaster.
   ‘Actually the dealers sell at best 300 kgs everyday and the rest of the rice is retained and sold in the black market by them,’ he said.
   ‘The quality of rice is quite good and it is being sold at Tk 15 per kg from the OMS centres. In the local market per kg of such rice can be sold for up to Tk 22, which is the reason for misappropriation of more than half of the rice everyday by the dealers. The lure of such high profit is just too great a temptation for them,’ he added.
   ‘Besides, there might be an underhand deal between the inspectors of the food department and the OMS dealers,’ the teacher added.
   Abdul Baten, a dealer of Shantinagar Bazar denied the allegation and said, ‘Headmasters do not always tell the truth.’
   Moshiur Rahman, an inspector of the Department of Food of Tejgaon zone, told New Age that due to manpower shortage they are unable to supervise the programme properly.
   Elahi Daad Khan, director (supply, distribution and marketing) of the Department of Food, on Saturday said, ‘It is the responsibility of the joint forces to monitor the OMS programme.’

A pump operator of the Platinum Jubilee Jute Mills, injured on April 21 during police raids at the mill colonies, died at Khulna Medical College Hospital early Sunday.
   The deceased, Abdur Rahman Munshi, from Jhalakati, had been an employee of the factory for about 27 years and had three more years before retirement.
   Family members said Abdur Rahman was badly injured when he fell down while trying to flee from the law enforcers, who were chasing workers at about 2:00pm on April 21.
   Rahman managed to haul himself to the quarters of his son-in-law where he lived and remained indoors till 3:45pm that afternoon, when the law enforcer returned for a second raid.
   Fearing for himself and apprehending that the police might take away his grandson as well, Rahman broke a window grill and jumped out of the quarters, hurting himself in the chest.
   The family members, also afraid that he might get arrested, got him admitted to a local clinic secretly. But they did not have the required funds to pay for his medication.
   ‘We could not pay for his medication and could only look after his needs once the management paid his dues on April 26,’ said Rozina, Rahman’s only daughter.
   The family said he was shifted to Khulna Medical College Hospital on Saturday at 10:00am and died there at around 4:00am Sunday. He was buried at Goalkhali graveyard after Zohr prayers.
   ‘The authorities gave his dues after verifying that he was really injured and admitted to a local clinic,’ said Abul Kalam Zia, Rahman’s son-in-law, also the organising secretary of Platinum Jubilee Jute Mills trade union.
   The family members said they demanded full compensation for Rahman as an employee of the mill.
   Although the citizens’ group, a coalition of rights and legal aids organisations, demanded full cost of treatment of the workers injured in the police raids, no such announcement has come from the government.
   MM Akash, speaking on behalf of the citizens’ group that included the Labour Security Forum, Ain O Shalish Kendra, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, Karmojibi Nari, and Bangladesh Institute of Labour Institutes, said on Friday, ‘We demand compensation for the wounded workers and that the government pay for all treatment of the wounded workers.’

Two cases were lodged against the immediate-past deputy minister for land, Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, and former BNP lawmaker for the Natore 4 constituency, Mozammel Haq, in Natore on Sunday.
   Entaz Ali of Sonapatil in the district headquarters filed a case with the Naldanga police against Ruhul Kuddus on charge of patronising militants and collecting tolls, saying on February 7, 2004 after Dulu’s nephew Gamma had been killed, Dulu brought Bangla Bhai to Naldanga and organised Jamaatul Mujahideen with BNP and Jamaat activists and set up seven torture cells.
   Entaz said on June 4 he was captured and taken to the house of Rahman where he was tortured and Jamaatul Mujahideen forced him to pay a toll of Tk 10,000.
   A case regarding appropriation of money and fraud was filed by Maulana Mohsin Ali of Jogendranagar of Gurudaspur against Mozammel Haq with the Natore cognizance court on Sunday.
   He said Mozammel had taken Tk 2 lakh from Mohsin promising him a licence on May 18, 2002.
   Mozammel later misappropriated the money, without giving him the licence.

Britain’s Prince Harry has admitted that he is a ‘nervous wreck’ ahead of his deployment in Iraq but maintained he wants to ‘get out there and serve my country’, reports Press Trust of India on Sunday.
   The News of the World, a weekly tabloid, on Sunday reported that the third in line for succession to the British Throne told his friends at a farewell speech ahead of his much publicised posting to Iraq that he is ‘prepared to do anything they throw at me.’
   The report also claimed that Harry has, under orders, already written out a will detailing the disposal of his personal fortune, estimated at 13 million pounds.
   Harry’s regiment, the Blues and Royals, where he is a 2nd lieutenant, is due to begin a six-month tour of duty in Iraq within weeks.
   A spokesman of Cla-
   rence House, Harry’s father Prince Charles’ London office, would not comment on the report, saying only that ‘what he does in his private time is private.’
   The spokesman said reference should be made to a speech made last year by Harry to mark his 21st birth- day.
   In it, the young prince said he would not have gone through the rigors of officer training at the elite Sandhurst military academy ‘then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country.’
   According to the tabloid, the 22-year old royal repor- tedly told a group of 20 close friends at a London nightclub that he would be honoured to serve the country in any capacity required, adding that a final decision is yet to be made.

Burglars took away Tk 1,000 in cash, a laptop, three mobile sets, two cameras and a DVD player after breaking into the house of the Indian deputy high commissioner in the Baridhara diplomatic zone in Dhaka early Sunday.
   The Indian diplomat, Sarbojit Chakravarty, filed a case with the Gulshan police in this regard.
   He said burglars broke into the house, at 30, Park Road, some time after midnight past Saturday when the family members were asleep.
   ‘I woke up at 7:45am and detected the burglary,’ Sarbojit told newsmen at his house. ‘At this moment, I cannot figure out the loss in terms of money.’
   Two police guards were posted at the entrance of the house. ‘They perhaps were asleep at the time,’ he said.
   The Gulshan zone deputy commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Mir Rezaul Karim, told reporters, ‘We are working to find out how it happened. We cannot say anything before the investigation is completed.’
   The authorities suspended the two policemen posted there as guards.

The Bangladesh Biman Corporation on Sunday dismissed Captain Lutfur, a pilot of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines, for assaulting a woman member of the cabin crew in Riyadh, official sources said.

A long-cherished aspiration of the Bangladeshi-origin Britons has been fulfilled as the ruling Labour Party nominated Roushan Ara Ali from Bethlan Green and Bow constituency in the Bangladeshi-dominated East London for election to British Parliament.
   The next parliamentary elections in the UK will be held in May 2009.
   The Bangladeshi Britons had been seeking nomination from the Labour Party for a long time, but internal disputes and conflicts among the Bangladeshi-origin candidates frustrated their aspirations.
   As many as six candidates vied for nomination from this constituency dominated by the Bangladeshi diaspora. However, the Labour Party finally nominated Roushan Ara Ali Saturday to contest the next election from this seat.
   If elected, the Oxford-educated Roushan Ara will be the first-ever MP of the British Parliament (House of Commons) from the Bangladeshi community.
   She serves in the British Home and Foreign Office and is an associate of Young Foundation, a research outfit of the Labour Party.
   Around half a million British people of Bangladeshi origin live in the United Kingdom.

The High Court on Sunday directed the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission not to bar the private television channel ETV from airing programmes through satellite till Thursday.
   The High Court bench of Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam Siddiqui passed the order after hearing a writ petition filed by ETV challenging the BTRC order that suspended the allocation of its frequency. The court posted the next hearing in the petition for Thursday.
   The telecoms regulatory commission on April 22 suspended the allocation of ETV’s frequency for alleged non-payment of tariff of Tk 30,09,26,400.
   Pleading for ETV, its counsel Shafiq Ahmed told the court that the commission was demanding inflated tariff from ETV. ‘We have also paid the due tariff by bank cheque.’
   The BTRC’s counsel Anik R Haque, however, told the court that the commission was not demanding any undue tariff.
   ETV sent to the commission a cheque for Tk 1 lakh only and the cheque was sent two days after the suspension of the frequency, he said.