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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

A number of provisions in the Emergency Powers Rules, including those related to bail, attachment of property and punishments, were challenged in the High Court on Tuesday.
   The provisions have been made by the emergency rules in violation of the constitution and they cannot have any force of law, argued Rafique ul Huq moving a writ petition challenging some provisions of the emergency rules.
   One Abdul Kuddus Mandal, an accused in an extortion case in Natore, filed the writ petition challenging the government’s move to try his case under the emergency rules.
   The High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, after a short hearing, asked Rafique to submit a list of specific provisions of the emergency rules, which were made in violation of the constitution.
   With the order, the court adjourned the hearing till Thursday.
   Moving the petition, Rafique told the court that a number of provisions were made in the emergency rules in violation of articles 27, 31, 32 and 35 of the constitution which had not been suspended by the Emergency Powers Ordinance.
   The provisions have also violated the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, he argued.
   The rules empower the government to attach property of any suspect even before initiation of any lawsuit against his or her, Rafique told the court and argued that the provision was made in violation of article 42 of the constitution that guaranteed right of the citizens to their property as an inalienable right.
   It also violates article 31 that stipulates, ‘To enjoy the protection of law, and to be treated in accordance with law, and only in accordance with law, is the inalienable right of every citizen.’
   The provision of attachment of property before completion of trial, and even before filing of a case, is a clear violation of the constitution, as no person can be punished before a court convicts the accused, argued the counsel.
   Challenging the provisions on bail in the rules, Rafique told the court that the rules stipulated that no accused in a case, in which the emergency rules were applied, would be allowed to file a petition seeking bail.
   Due to application of the rules, the courts cannot hear any bail petition even in petty cases like extortion, while they are hearing bail petitions in cases of serious crimes like rape and murder, argued the counsel.
   In some cases, the emergency rules stipulate higher punishment than the existing laws stipulate, he said adding that the accused persons in the cases, lodged before the declaration of emergency on January 11, could now be awarded higher punishments applying emergency rules.
   This is the first writ petition filed challenging the Emergency Powers Rules since January 11 when a state of emergency was declared.
   Earlier, in March, April and May, some writ petitions were filed challenging legality of barring an accused from seeking bail.
   On May 24, the Supreme Court, however, stayed the High Court verdict asserting its authority to deal with bail petitions under the apparently unassailable Emergency Powers Rules 2007.
   A full bench of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court comprising chief justice M Ruhul Amin, Justice MM Ruhul Amin, Justice Tafazzul Islam and Justice Hasan Ameen passed the order after hearing a government provisional petition seeking stay of the High Court verdict and permission to appeal against it.
   A High Court bench of Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice SM Emdadul Haque on April 22 delivered the verdict.
   The High Court has the jurisdiction to dispose of bail petitions under Sections 497 and 498 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) even under a state of emergency, and the court has the discretionary power of granting or not granting bail to an accused person after considering the merits of the case, observed the court in the verdict.

The 32nd anniversary of death of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of Bangladesh, will be observed today with the Awami League marking the day as national mourning day.
   President Iajuddin Ahmed and chief adviser to the caretaker government Fakhruddin Ahmed will visit Tungipara, ancestral home of Mujib, and offer prayers and place flowers at his grave. The three forces will present a guard of honour on the occasion.
   The army-led joint forces have taken special security measures in the mausoleum complex area.
   The Awami League, its front organisations and different socio-cultural and political organisations will mark the day as national mourning day. The AL has unveiled a low-key plan for the day since a state of emergency is in force barring all political gatherings.
   Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with most of his family members at his Dhanmondi residence in a bloody military putsch on August 15, 1975. His family members, excepting two daughters — Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana — who were abroad at the time, a number of close relatives and aides were also killed in the pre-dawn carnage. The bloody August 15 events were followed by the killings in the Dhaka central jail of four national leaders three months later on November 3, 1975.
   Fifteen former army officers were sentenced to death in the Mujib murder case 23 years later on November 8, 1998. The High Court eventually upheld the verdict against 12. Of them five are now in the Dhaka central jail, while the rest are absconding.
   After a six-year freeze, the appeal petitions of the five death-row convicts, who are in jail, came up for hearing before a bench of the Appellate Division on August 6. The court continues the hearing.
   Acting president of the Awami League, Zillur Rahman, and its acting general secretary Mukul Bose have asked the party activists to observe the day with due solemnity and dignity.
   Zillur Rahman, in a message on the occasion, urged the people to take a fresh vow to restore democracy and justice and to make the country prosperous.
   The Awami League, its front organisations and different socio-cultural and political organisations have chalked up limited programmes in observance of the day.
   The programmes include hoisting of the national and party flags at half-mast and flying black flags atop party offices and the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at 5:30am.
   The party leaders will place flowers at the portrait of Mujib in front of the museum complex at 8:00am.
   Special prayers will be offered at the graves of Mujib’s family members at Banani graveyard at 8:30am.
   At 1:30pm, prayer sessions will be organised in mosques and food will be distributed among flood victims across the country.
   A team led by the party’s industry and commerce secretary Faruq Khan and central working committee member Abdul Latif Siddiqui will place flowers at the grave of Mujib at Tungipara.
   The Dhaka University Teachers Association will place flowers at the portrait of Mujib in front at the Bangabandhu Museum at 10:00am and organise a discussion meeting at 7:00pm in the university club auditorium.
   Bangladesh Mahila Awami League will hold a prayer session in front of the museum complex at 10 am.
   President and general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, Manzurul Ahsan Khan and Mujahidul Selim and president and general secretary of Worker Party of Bangladesh, Rashed Khan Menon and Bimal Biswas in separate statements demanded immediate execution of the verdict in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman murder case.
   Jatiya Samajtantrick Dal led by Hasanul Haq Inu will place flowers at the portrait of Mujib at the Bangabandhu Museum.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, called upon all irrespective of party affiliation to come forward to fulfil Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s dream of establishing a happy, prosperous, self-reliant and progressive Bangladesh in the greater national interests.
   ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is an ever-memorable name in the national life of Bangladesh. He is a shining star in the sky of the nation,’ said the head of caretaker government in a massage on the 32nd death anniversary of the country’s slain independence leader.
   He said now an historic opportunity had come for the nation to shun the parochial thoughts of personal and party interests and conflict and advance on the path of building ‘meaningful democracy and economic progress with the spirit of patriotism’.
   The chief adviser, by saying so, indicated the radical changes taking place in the interim period against the backdrop of accumulated political problems that culminated in a changeover last January.
   He recalled the late leader’s contribution, saying Bangabandhu had waged his lifelong struggle against ‘colonial and neo-colonial exploitation, injustice and wrongdoing’.
   ‘He was a harbinger in the emergence of independent Bangladesh and great struggle and founder of a new sovereign state. He was source of inspiration and idealism for world’s struggling people for establishing their just rights,’ said Fakhruddin in his tribute to Mujib, whose assassination will be mourned today.

Skin and eye diseases as well as respiratory tract infections are spreading fast in the flood-affected areas of the country.
   The control room of the Directorate of Health Services recorded 54,000 such cases caused by contaminated water from July 30 to August 14.
   During the period, seven people died of RTI and 9,208 people suffered from respiratory diseases, 8,840 from skin diseases, 2034 from eye infections, and 31,552 from other diseases.
   Sources at the control room on Tuesday identified 1,520 unions in 216 upazilas as ‘seriously affected’ by waterborne diseases.
   A total of 3207 medical teams are working for flood-affected people, said Dr Raihan, medical officer of health services directorate.
   In the 24 hours ending at Tuesday noon, 1,371 people contracted respiratory problems, 1,371 skin diseases, 268 eye diseases, and 3,410 other problems mainly caused by dirty flood water, said Dr Raihan.
   Abed Hossain Mollah, professor of paediatric department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital told New Age on Tuesday that flood affected people, mostly children, are worst the sufferers.
   ‘Safe water supply must be ensured in the flooded areas to prevent waterborne diseases from spreading,’ he said.
   Tube-wells and ponds in most of the flood-affected unions are either under water or contaminated, making people prone to waterborne diseases, said health services officials.
   Professor of medicine of DMCH, FM Siddique stressed the need of making water purifying tablets or other methods available to flooded areas.
   He said that such patients normally do not need to admit to the hospital.

Flood situation improved further on Tuesday with all major rivers except the Meghna marked fall.
   Rainfall, influenced by the land depression, may delay the recession of flood water in the central and southern districts, flood forecasters said.
   The Jamuna was flowing below its danger mark at all places while the Padma still remained above danger level at Goalundo despite some fall. The river is likely to recede further today, said the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.
   Flood situation in the districts of Manikganj, Munshiganj, Faridpur, Rajbari, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Chandpur and Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas of Dhaka is likely to continue improving, the centre said.
   The flood situation in the districts of Narayanganj, Narshingdi, Brahmanbaria, Kishoreganj and Gazipur will continue to improve further today as the water level of the Meghna also continued to fall on Tuesday. The river at Bhairab Bazar was above danger mark.
   Rivers surrounding Dhaka and Narayanganj also saw fall, but Balu, Lakhya, Turag and Tongi canal were above danger marks.
   The flood situation around Dhaka city, especially in the eastern parts, may improve further in the next two days, the centre informed.
   New Age Correspondent from Gopalganj informed the flood situation in the district deteriorated slightly due to breach in the embankment on river Modhumati at Gobra.
   Nine wards of the municipal area have been inundated, affecting about 30,000 people.
   Sufferings of the people, who took shelter on roads and embankments, increased with inadequate relief activities.
   According to district relief and rehabilitation office, a total of 36 tonnes of rice and Tk 2.10 lakh were distributed among flood victims in sadar, Muksudpur, Kashiani and Kotalipara upazilas till Tuesday.

Flood death toll rose to a staggering 443 with 38 deaths from drowning, snakebites and diarrhoea reported Tuesday from across the country, health office said.
   Central control room of directorate of health services said 394 people drowned in flood water, 27 died from snakebite, seven of respiratory problem and 15 of diarrhoea during the flood that began engulfing the country in mid July.
   It said 34 people drowned, while three died of snakebite, and one died of diarrhoea in 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
   Some 3,962 diarrhoea patients were admitted to government hospitals in different flood-affected districts and 922 others to ICDDR,B run hospital in Dhaka in 24 hours ending Monday midnight. The directorate also informed that more than 44,000 people were attacked by diarrhoea since August 1.
   On the hand, the newly opened diarrhoeal wards in all public hospitals in Dhaka on Tuesday also received some patients.
   According to sources of different public hospital in Dhaka city, 10 patients were admitted to Shaheed Suhrawardy Hospital, 18 to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, one to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, five to the newly set-up clinic at the Haji Camp, one at the Institute of Diseases of Chest and Hospital, nine to the Infectious Diseases Hospital, nine to 30-bed of Matuail Matrosadan and 17 to Mitford Hospital on Tuesday.
   Diarrhoea ward in-charge of the chest hospital, Dr Rafiqul Islam told New Age that patients are not willing to come to other hospitals and prefer the ICDDR,B as people know about the specialisation of that hospital. ‘On Monday, we went to bring some patients from the ICDDR,B, and only one came from there,’ he said.
   With eight mobile hospitals opened on Sunday, a total of 27 makeshift hospitals are now providing treatment for patients in Dhaka, Tangail, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Munshiganj, Gazipur, Narayanganj, Narsingdi and Manikganj districts.
   According to the health ministry statistics, there are 6,54,43,280 pieces of oral rehydration salts in government’s storage, and 56,57,550 of them were already distributed among the flood-affected people in the country.

The government is planning to include the army in the committees that will monitor the post-flood rehabilitation programmes
   — which include reconstruction of buildings, culverts and roads in the affected areas — to check corruption.
   ‘We will include the army in the monitoring committees which will be assigned to supervise the implementation of the government’s post-flood rehabilitation programmes to prevent corruption in reconstruction work,’ the LGRD and cooperatives adviser Anwarul Iqbal told New Age on Tuesday.
   He said all official procedures would be maintained properly and tenders would be floated in time for implementation of the various programmes. ‘The contractors will not get their payments without the clearance of the monitoring committees which will supervise the total implementation of the projects,’ the adviser added. On Monday the army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, reportedly said that the army would work with the civil administration during the post-flood reconstruction work to prevent corruption, as has happened in the past.
   ‘The army will join the civil administration in the reconstruction of each road, bridge and culvert damaged by the flood...We won’t allow any corruption in reconstruction work,’ the army chief told reporters after distributing relief goods to flood victims at Raipura upazila under Narsingdi.
   According to the official record, around seven thousand educational institutes have been damaged in 39 flood-affected districts.
   A total of 2,713 km of roads and 72 culverts were totally destroyed, and the flood left 20,932 km of roads and 1,536 culverts partially damaged, said the official record. The government has already instructed the authorities concerned to complete assessment of the damage caused by floods as soon as possible, and submit the budget for reconstruction work. It has also assured concerned quarters that funds will be released quickly.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to file regular petitions today seeking permission to appeal against the August 7 High Court orders granting bail to Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case and staying Anti-Corruption Commission’s notification for her wealth statement.
   The six-member full court of the Appellate Division, chaired by chief justice M Ruhul Amin, fixed August 16 [Thursday] for hearing the petitions.
   Attorney general Fida M Kamal placed strong plea for staying the High Court edicts. But the court turned down the plea and said, ‘Not now, file the regular petitions first.’
   Tuesday’s court order means that Hasina’s bail in the Tk 5 crore extortion case filed by businessman Noor Ali remains valid until hearing of the government’s petition.
   But the former prime minister and Awami League president, detained since July 16, will not be released, as the full court extended by two days its earlier stay order on her bail, granted by the High Court on July 30 in another extortion case filed by a power company boss Azam J Chowdhury.
   The government on Monday filed a regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the bail order, and the Appellate Division will hear the petition tomorrow.
   The High Court bench of Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury on July 30 directed the government not to proceed further with the case applying the Emergency Powers Rules. This order also was stayed by the Appellate Division.
   The same High Court bench on August 7 granted her bail in the Tk 5 crore extortion case and asked the government to explain within four weeks why placing the case under the Emergency Powers Rules would not be declared illegal.
   The court issued another rule on the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain within four weeks why its notice issued on July 17 asking Hasina to submit her wealth statement would not be declared illegal. It stayed the operation of the ACC notification.
   The government on August 9 filed two provisional petitions seeking permission to appeal against the High Court orders and for staying them.
   Chamber judge of the Appellate Division, Justice M Hasan Ameen, on August 12 referred the three petitions for a full-court hearing.
   The joint forces arrested Hasina at Sudha Sadan on July 16 in connection with a Tk 3 crore extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury, managing director of the Eastcoast Trading.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has said there is no room for hesitation and confusion over holding the parliamentary elections within the declared timeline.
   Fakhruddin said this while inaugurating the voter listing work with photos and national ID cards at Rajshahi Medical College Auditorium in the morning on Tuesday.
   The chief adviser said his government had been giving relentless efforts since assuming office seven months back to implement its final goal to arrange a free, fair and acceptable general election by December 2008.
   He hoped that the Election Commission would be able to accomplish the task by preparing the voter list according to their roadmap for holding the election in time.
   The chief adviser urged the citizens to go to registration centres to become voters and cast their votes to make the country’s democratic future stronger.
   Terming the beginning of the voter list preparation work a milestone in the forward march of the country’s democratic process, he said a flawless voter list was a prerequisite for holding a fair, neutral and acceptable election.
   ‘The procedure now being followed to make the voter list must be easier to update the voter list every year, which will reduce debates on the electoral roll not only in the next election, but also in all future elections.
   Fakhruddin said the Election Commission would start preparing the electoral role in nine municipalities, districts and upazilas, including Khulna City Corporation, within this month and later on voter listing would start simultaneously across the country.
   He said the important role being played by army and armed forces in voter listing would be written in golden letters in the nation’s history of democracy.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, acting mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation Rezaunnabi Dudu also spoke at the inaugural function chaired by the deputy commissioner, Mohammad Khalilur Rahman.
   GOC of 11 Infantry Division Major General Shamim Chowdhury, civil and military officials, local elite and representatives from different professions attended the function.
   The chief adviser said mere holding election was not enough for flourishing a democracy. ‘There is also a need for procedural change in order to ensure political and administrative transparency and accountability to strengthen the foundation of democracy.’
   He said the present Election Commission was very careful and aware, and it had already given indications of the necessity of registration of political parties and possible terms and conditions.
   The chief adviser hoped that the Election Commission would be able to finalise rules and regulations of reforms in the near future in consultations with political parties.
   He said it would be easier to make politics free of pollution and prevent the use of black money and abuse of authority in political arena through setting up an appropriate legal framework and ensuring its application.
   Consequently, he said, honest and dedicated persons would be encouraged to contest in the election apart from reducing election expenses and limiting the scope of criminalisation of politics.
   Fakhruddin said it was undeniable that one prerequisite for truly democratic election was participation of political parties guided by democratic values.
   He said after completing the preparation of the voter list, it would be released on web site. ‘Even the relevant information of the candidates of parliament election could be published on web site.’
   The chief adviser said voters’ information to be collected by the Election Commission would be used for national ID cards.
   He said the government had a plan to set up an organisation soon to ensure proper utilisation of the voters’ database.
   About various institutional reforms taking place under the present government, Fakhruddin said the reconstituted Election Commission would be able to hold a free, fair and acceptable election fulfilling the aspiration of the nation.
   He asked all concerned, including NGOs and other private organisations, to inspire the voters to take photos and give fingerprints at the registration centres.
   The chief adviser hoped that a flawless voter list would be possible only when the task would be done transparently, efficiently and effectively. This will open up a new and golden door of the country’s democratic potentials.
   He urged all sections of the people, irrespective of party and opinion, to join this forward march of democracy for the greater welfare of the nation.
   Later, the chief adviser visited the voter registration centre at Shaheed Mamun Mahmud Police Lines School and College in the city and inspected the digitised voter enrolment where a number of men and women appeared for voter enrolment.
   Earlier, a senior official briefed the chief adviser at the Circuit House on the process of the digitised voter list with photographs and national ID cards.
   The voting registration in Rajshahi City Corporation will be carried out among 2,74,128 voters under 30 wards.
   Later on, the chief adviser flew to Natore in a helicopter where he attended an exchange of views with local elite and government officials at Nawab Sirajuddowla Government College.
   The government has decided to import some essential commodities to keep prices at affordable levels in the forthcoming month of Ramadan, said the chief adviser, announcing a special marketing operation from next month.
   Citing the soaring prices of some essential items due to demand-supply gap on the international as well as domestic markets, he said his government was taking steps to allay the sufferings of the people and listed some of the steps taken.
   The contingency measures include withdrawal of import duties on pulses, edible oil, opening OMS outlets and introducing VGF card from next month.
   He said the government had made a decision to import some eight lakh tonnes of rice in public sector, in view of the price rises of the staple.
   For the marketing of the essentials at fair price, paramilitary BDR and Ansar will conduct a special marketing operation, the head of caretaker government told his audience.
   He urged the business community to take measures ‘spontaneously’ to keep prices of commodities within acceptable limits during the flood situation, showing their ‘social obligation’.
   On floods, he said coordinated efforts were being made through central to field-level administration to mitigate sufferings of the flood victims.
   ‘As overall flood situation is improving, massive post-flood rehabilitation programme must be implemented-firstly, agricultural rehabilitation through supplying seeds and other agri-inputs and loan in time to farmers,’ the chief adviser said.
   He also stressed containing the spread of post-flood diseases.
   Regarding supply of fertiliser, he said distribution of fertiliser must be started from union level to deliver it to the doorstep of farmers and buffer stocks should be built across the country so that the farmers could get the farming input at fair price.
   As there has been a countrywide drive against pervasive corruption, the chief adviser called for building social movement against the vice. ‘It is not possible to eradicate corruption by only enacting law,’ he said.
   Representatives of various professions took part in the exchange of views conducted by the deputy commissioner, SM Ehsanul Kabir.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Tuesday said she wanted to visit the areas affected by flooding and stand by the people in distress but the government did not allow her to do so.
   ‘I had always been beside the people in the time of calamities and will do so in future,’ she said asking the party activists to go to the affected areas and help the people in distress.
   ‘It is time to stand by the flood-affected people…I have sent Hannan Shah [to the flooded areas] to help the affected people as the government has not let me visit the areas,’ Khaleda told her party activists in Narayanganj in a teleconference as her adviser, Hannan Shah, was distributing relief supplies among the flood victims on her behalf. She hoped the people would face up to the calamity with courage and go back to their homes and start life afresh after the flood water receded.
   Hannan Shah accused the government of adopting discriminatory policies allowing some groups to show off and barring others from doing humanitarian aid work.
   ‘A leader of a so-called new party goes to affected areas in motorcade when our leader [Khaleda] is barred from visiting the flooded areas. There cannot be two laws in a country,’ he said after distributing relief materials among the victims in Kashipur and Deobhogh area in Fatullah.

Ousted billionaire premier Thaksin Shinawatra was facing calls for his extradition from Britain on Tuesday after Thailand’s top court issued arrest warrants for him and his wife.
   Thaksin, who has taken over the Manchester City football club and settled in Britain since being toppled in a coup last year, is under fire with his wife Pojaman for allegedly snapping up prime Bangkok real estate at bargain prices.
   Prosecutors said they would start extradition proceedings if the couple failed to turn up for a new hearing September 25 at the Supreme Court, where they had been requested to appear on graft charges on Tuesday.
   ‘The two suspects acknowledged the charge and received an official summons but failed to appear before court today,’ said Tonglor Chomngarm, head of a panel of nine Supreme Court judges that is hearing the case.
   ‘The court has approved arrest warrants against the two suspects. Both should be brought before the court,’ he said.
   Thailand and Britain have an extradition treaty.
   Thaksin and Pojaman are each charged with two violations of anti-corruption laws. Each could be jailed for up to 13 years and face a fine of up to 200,000 baht (6,250 dollars) if convicted.
   Thaksin is accused of illegally influencing a deal in 2003 to allow Pojaman to buy prime Bangkok real estate from a government agency for the bargain price of 772 million baht (22.7 million US dollars), about one-third its estimated value.
   Both Thaksin and Pojaman have denied the charges.
   Thaksin’s lawyer had asked the court to delay the case until after Thailand holds elections to restore democracy, saying the couple fear for their safety and their ability to have a fair trial under the military-appointed government.
   ‘The warrants issued against them do not mean that they have been found guilty in this case,’ their lawyer Pichit Chenban told reporters.
   ‘This is just the beginning of the court process. I guarantee they are willing to come to defend themselves in court at the appropriate time.’
   But Judge Tonglor rejected the safety concerns as ‘unreasonable.’
   ‘Even though the country is in a post-coup period, the country has an interim constitution and the government has a duty to guarantee the safety of all people,’ he said.
   Thaksin has lived in exile since last year’s coup but has taunted the junta with the possibility of his return, which the generals fear could spark an outpouring of public support among his grassroots supporters.
   But once the government began threatening to arrest him over corruption charges, Thaksin changed tack and began saying he would return only when democracy is restored.
   Investigators are still looking into a dozen other corruption cases against Thaksin.
   The arrest warrants came as Thailand is gearing up for a referendum on Sunday, when voters will be asked to approve a new army-backed constitution opposes by Thaksin’s allies.

A former chief engineer of Roads and Highway Department, who earned huge money through illegal means during the tenure of the past government, has finally been spotted by the central intelligence cell of National Board of Revenue.
   His undisclosed incomes deposited with a number of national and foreign banks exceeded Tk 14 crore, revenue sources said.
   The former chief engineer maintains savings and fixed deposit accounts with Standard Chartered, HSBC and a local commercial bank.
   The revenue intelligence officials realised Tk 16 crore as tax and fine from the engineer last week.
   The roads and highway engineer enjoyed blessings of former communications minister Nazmul Huda, now in jail.
   ‘Commissions from contractors and bribes for postings and transfers in the department were some of the major heads of the engineer’s illegal incomes,’ an insider of the department told New Age.

A Rajshahi court on Tuesday sentenced former BNP lawmaker Nadim Mostafa and 16 others to 10 years rigorous imprisonment in an extortion case.
   The second additional district sessions judge, Rezaul Islam, handed down the verdict after examining evidence and witnesses. The court also fined Tk 13,000 each, in default to suffer 18 more months in jail.
   The other convicts are Durgapur municipal chairman Saidur Rahman Mintu, BNP leader Mominur Rahman, Enamul Haque, Shahin, Tuhin, Shamsul, Gaffar, Montu, Abu Bakkar, Ansar, Aktaruzzaman Labu, Kazi Alif, Chanchal, Bablu, Huda and Zaker.
   Twelve of the convicts, including Nadim Mostafa, also general secretary of the Rajshahi city BNP, were tried in absentia, court sources and police said.
   Five of the convicts are now in jail. They are municipal chairman Saidur Rahman and BNP activists Babul, Ansar, Shamsul and Abdul Gaffar.
   According to the prosecution, the convicts led by Saidur Rahman and Mominur Rahman went to the house of chairman candidate Mollah Imam Faruq on July 14, 2003 and demanded Tk 1 lakh at the direction of Nadim Mostafa.
   As they failed to extort the money, Nadim and his followers beat up Faruq, his brother Jamal Uddin and Sekandar Ali, the prosecution said.
   Sekandar Ali lodged a case with the Durgapur police station on April 24 this year. Sub-inspector Golam Mohammad submitted the charge sheet to first class magistrate’s court on May 18.

The election to the Rajshahi City Corporation will be held in January, first under a new voter list with photographs, as a test case before setting off a series of elections throughout the next year.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, in Rajshahi on Tuesday announced the tentative time of the maiden election in the changed situation, as the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, inaugurated the national task of preparing voter list at a function in the city.
   The CEC said the city corporation polls would be held first under the new voter list with voters’ photograph ‘to prove quality of election under the flawless voter list’.
   He disclosed the Election Commission’s plan while addressing the inaugural function of the voter list with photo plus national ID card at Rajshahi Medical College Auditorium.
   The chief election commissioner said a new journey had started with preparation of voter list and there was no scope for looking back. ‘The journey will end sometime next year when the voter list task will be accomplished.’
   He said the voter list-preparing activities would start massively across the country sometime in October and hoped the commission’s plan for holding the general elections by December 2008 would not be changed.
   Describing the benefits of becoming voter and getting national ID card, he urged all, particularly poor, hapless and uneducated people, to avail of the opportunity. ‘Please do not miss the chance in negligence,’ the chief election commissioner said.
   He observed that there was no problem in introducing or identifying rich and educated people, and national ID card would be a safeguard for poor, hapless and illiterate ones.
   The CEC said national ID card would be required in some 22 important activities like purchasing mobile SIM. And if anyone does not get enrolled in voter list and have national ID card, he/she will have to suffer for getting ID card later on through completing a number of official procedures.
   He urged all to inspire themselves and others to become voter in the new digitised system to take the country onto the path of progress and prosperity.
   He said under the new modern voter-listing procedure none can be voter from two places as duplication would be detected from his or her photo and fingerprint if anybody tried.
   The CEC termed the Sreepur pilot project of digitised voter listing and ID card a success.

Lailatul Barat will be observed in the country on August 29, as the moon of the month of Shaban was not sighted anywhere in the country on Tuesday.
   This was decided at a meeting of the National Moon Sighting Committee at the Islamic Foundation with its vice-president and religious affairs secretary Mohammad Ataur Rahman in the chair Tuesday evening.
   The meeting made the decision after reviewing information received from district administration across the country, head and local offices of Islamic Foundation, Met Office and SPARRSO.

The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Tuesday greeted the countrymen and expatriate Bangladeshis on the occasion of her 63rd birthday today.
   Khaleda has decided not to have any birthday celebrations today and urged leaders, activists and supporters of her party and its front organisations to stand by the flood-affected people.
   She also sought blessings of the countrymen on her birthday today, said a release signed by the party’s joint secretary general, Nazrul Islam Khan.

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion has started inquiring into the wealth and assets of former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, and a graft case will be filed against her detained son Tarique Rahman after being approved by the ACC, said the ACC’s secretary on Tuesday.
   ‘As far as I know, the inquiry into her wealth report has begun…According to the rules, there will be an inquiry for a month followed by investigations for two months,’ secretary Mokhles ur Rahman told reporters at his office.
   BNP’s chairperson Khaleda Zia submitted her wealth statement on August 6 in compliance with the ACC’s directive.
   He said the inquiry into the wealth statement submitted by BNP’s senior joint secretary-general, Tarique Rahman, has been completed and it is now being vetted. ‘A case will be filed after the approval of the ACC.’
   ACC’s deputy director Zahirul Huda submitted the inquiry report on Tarique on July 25, but the ACC is yet to take any decision on it, said inside sources.
   Mokhles said that they take one month for inquiry and if there is a considerable gap between the information provided by the corruption suspect and that obtained by the ACC, investigation will go on for two months. After these three months, a case will become ready for trial, subject to the ACC’s approval, he said.
   The ACC on Tuesday issued notices to four corruption suspects, directing them to submit their wealth statements within seven working days.
   They are former BNP MP Nadim Mostafa, former chief whip Khandaker Delwar Hossain’s son Akhtar Hamid Paban, Doctors Association of Bangladesh’s president Dr MA Hadi and former chief engineer of Roads and Highways Department Faizur Rahman.

Adviser to the food and disaster management ministry, Tapan Chowdhury, claimed that the state of emergency was neither affecting relief work in the flood-hit areas, nor was it responsible for the spiralling prices of essential commodities.
   ‘Everyday life of the common people goes on uninterrupted as the state of emergency does not have any impact on them. Nothing has stopped due to the emergency,’ said Tapan on Tuesday while replying to queries at a regular press briefing on the flood situation at the Press Information Department.
   He claimed that relief operations by the government authorities along with the non-government organisations were continuing smoothly and the state of emergency hardly had any impact on these activities.
   Prices of essential commodities, especially of rice, were rising in line with the rise of prices in the international market, he claimed.
   The adviser said he had received relief materials from the Saudi government for the flood victims. ‘A Saudi team, eager to contribute to rehabilitation of the affected people, has also arrived in Dhaka to help the government in assessing flood damage,’ he mentioned.
   Tapan said the government had allocated a total of 13,765 tonnes of rice as relief to deputy commissioners and Tk 11 crore from the chief adviser’s relief fund had already been allocated for distribution to the worst affected districts.
   ‘Tk 10,000 will be given to each worst affected family while Tk 5,000 will be provided to each partially affected family for their rehabilitation,’ he mentioned.
   When he was asked whether the government was maintaining double standards in allowing political leaders to operate relief work, he replied in the negative.
   The adviser to the health and family welfare ministry, ASM Matiur Rahman, who also attended the briefing, said all government hospitals including the Combined Military Hospital were treating diarrhoea patients as the number of patients at the ICDDR,B [Cholera Hospital] had gone way beyond its capacity.
   According to the official record of the food and disaster management ministry, the flood in 39 districts has affected over one crore people and the death toll has reached 338.
   Differing with the estimate of the disaster management ministry, the health adviser said the death toll had already reached 443.

The interim government on Tuesday kicked off a road show to woo potential local and international investors for setting up a 330-450 megawatt independent power plant at Bibiyana.
   Around 75 representatives and local agents of various local and international companies and banks attended the opening conference of the road show at Hotel Radisson Garden.
   Power secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan and energy secretary AMM Nasir Uddin replied to different queries by the participants who wanted details of the proposed power plant, source of energy to be supplied to the power plant and the mode of payment.
   The next conferences of the road show will be held in Dubai on August 15 and in Singapore on August 17, Fouzul told reporters after the conference.
   He said that bids for pre-qualification of the investors interested in setting up the plant would be invited by this month, and the scrutiny of the bids would be completed by November.
   ‘We hope to award the contract for setting up the plant by the second quarter of 2008,’ he said.
   A number of participants in the conference observed that the government would have to pay much higher prices for the electricity produced by the Bibiyana plant than the prices of the existing Meghnaghat and Haripur power plants.
   They also wanted to know from the government whether it could ensure gas supply to the power plant during the agreement period of 22 years as gas shortage would hit the country in a few years.
   When asked about the price of power, Fouzul told reporters that it would be premature to talk about it as the investors would have to bid first and then they would have an idea of the price.
   Nasir told the conference that the government would ensure gas supply to Bibiyana power plant. ‘If we make any commitment to supply gas, we will fulfil the commitment.’
   A number of power sector experts, while talking to New Age, said the road show had been initiated at the insistence of the International Finance Corporation, which was engaged with the power project for technical assistance, and questioned the necessity of the road show.
   They also questioned why the tender process for the Bibiyana power plant was being initiated before those of the 450 MW Sirajganj and 450 MW Meghnaghat-III power plants, and said this was being done due to the pressure exerted by the IFC.
   They observed that no road show was needed for the implementation of two big IPPs in the country — the 450 MW Meghnaghat and 360 MW Haripur plants.
   Fouzul, however, said they had held the road show to induce confidence among the investors, which has been eroded because of certain allegations against the power sector authorities.
   ‘There have been misgivings about IPPs. The investors are sceptical about the implementation of the IPPs as implementation of a number of IPPs faced obstacles,’ he said.
   ‘The investors wanted to know from us whether we really want to implement the projects or whether we had already selected some companies for making the plants before the tender was floated. We wanted to assure them that the tender procedure would be transparent and fair,’ Fouzul said.
   Regarding implementation of the Bibiyana plant before the Meghnaghat and Sirajganj plants, he said, ‘We are not in a race to implement power projects. We will implement the three projects simultaneously. There is no pressure at all from the IFC to stage this road show.’
   The Asian Development Bank is providing technical support for the Meghnaghat and Sirajganj plants.
   Secretary to the chief adviser’s office Kazi Muhammed Aminul Islam, Major General Abdul Wadud, Petrobangla chairman Sheikh Abdur Rashid, Power Development Board chairman Khijir Khan and Power Cell director-general Abdul Jalil were present at the conference, along with others.

Pakistan’s prime minister vowed to stop any ‘foreign power’ from violating the country’s borders as millions of people celebrated 60 years of independence on Tuesday with parties, fireworks — and much introspection.
   ‘I want to make it clear that not under any circumstances will we allow any foreign power to enter Pakistan’s territory,’ the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, said at a traditional flag-hoisting ceremony in the capital Islamabad to mark Independence Day.
   Aziz’s comments came amid signs of growing unease in Pakistan over questions in the United States whether president Pervez Musharraf’s government was doing enough to battle al-Qaeda and pro-Taliban militants on its border with Afghanistan.
   Some US politicians recently said the United States must be willing to strike al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan even without Islamabad’s permission — drawing rebuke in the country.
   The president, George W Bush, also signed into law a bill requiring him to confirm Pakistan’s progress in fighting Taliban and al-Qaeda before releasing future aid, disturbing many Pakistanis sensitive to what they see as excessive US demands.
   The controversy added to a difficult time for Musharraf, who faces major problems securing a second term with allies wavering, approval ratings slumping, a Supreme Court that might uphold constitutional challenges, and rising Islamist violence.
   The extent of Musharraf’s problems were shown this month by reports the president had considered declaring a state of emergency.
   In past years, streets in Islamabad would have been festooned with flags and illuminations. But because of the chronic security situation, it has become a low key affair in the capital.
   Paramilitary troops were on standby to maintain order. The police checked vehicles in and around Islamabad, where two suicide bombings killed at least 26 people last month.
   Pro-Taliban militants have stepped up attacks across Pakistan, mainly in the conservative northwest tribal region, after a bloody military assault last month on Islamabad’s Red Mosque to dislodge a pro-Taliban movement based there.
   More than 200 people have been killed in attacks across the country while another 102 died during the siege and assault on the mosque.
   Several thousand people gathered for a midnight firework display in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, called Islamabad’s twin city. People waved national flags and danced to the tune of patriotic songs.
   In the eastern city of Lahore, troops hoisted the national flag at the Wagah border with India, as up to 200 people present at the ceremony raised ‘Long-live Pakistan’ slogans.
   Newspapers were packed with opinion pieces analysing Pakistan’s 60 years. Many focused on what one commentator called an ‘orgy of pessimism’ surrounding Pakistan’s troubled years of military rule and struggles with democracy.
   ‘True, we have made blunder after blunder, committed terrible crimes against our own people,’ Dawn newspaper said in one editorial.
   On Monday night Musharraf, who came to power in a 1999 coup, dismissed threats of any US action inside Pakistan, and said president Bush telephoned him and gave guarantees with regard to Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Finance ministers of the South Asian nations are scheduled to meet in New Delhi on September 14 for operationalising the SAARC Development Fund (SDF) of $300 million, finance ministry officials told New Age.
   The fund was created because the members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation had pledged in 2005 to support projects to alleviate poverty and improve the status of the peoples of the region.
   The Delhi meeting, to be preceded by a meeting of the finance secretaries of member nations on September 13, will mainly focus on finalising the recommendations on the charter and by-laws of the fund, financial issues related to the roadmap to the SAARC economic union and development of the regional capital market, the officials added.
   The SDF, the first-ever umbrella fund under the regional grouping, did not come into effect due to the reservations of a member country, which argued that it should not allow actors outside the region to be associated with the funding process.
   ‘Such a stance taken by a powerful member-country has created problems in developing mechanisms to involve bilateral or multilateral donors in the funding projects,’ an official observed.
   Experts comprising officials of finance and foreign ministries as well as the central government are scheduled to meet in Kathmandu on August 21-22 to finalise their recommendations on the SDF’s charter and by-laws.
   A separate experts’ group is also scheduled to meet in the Nepalese capital on August 24-25 for making their recommendations on greater economic integration, leading to the SAARC economic union.
   A finance ministry official said that the August 24-25 meeting would come up with their recommendations on investment promotion, service sector development and formation of a regional customs union.
   An official said that Dhaka strongly favoured the process of developing a capital market, arguing that the linkage of capital markets mobilises funds for the domestic markets.
   ‘If we have such a mechanism, an aspirant Bangladeshi company can easily register itself in any of the regional stock markets and try to get operational funds,’ added the official.
   The proposed SAARC development fund will have three windows, namely social, infrastructural and economic.
   The social window, with an initial amount of $300 million, is expected to fund poverty alleviation programmes and projects among others. Through the infrastructure window, funds will be mobilised from within and beyond the region to finance infrastructure projects, while the economic window will fund other non-infrastructure commercial projects.
   In 2005 the SAARC countries decided to reconstitute the existing South Asian Development Fund (SADF) and establish a SAARC Development Fund, an umbrella organisation for all SAARC development funding.

Almost all (800 out of 812) permanent labourers of state owned Alim Jute Mills at Atra industrial belt in Khulna have applied for voluntary retirement to the project head of the mill on Monday fearing permanent closure.
   Besides labourers, 51 staff and seven officers of the mill also applied for voluntary retirement on the same day.
   According to the sources, among the seven running jute mills in Khulna, the Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation have allocated Tk 8 crore for six mills of the zone to buy jute in the ongoing jute season. Only Alim was barred from receiving money to buy jute, they said.
   As the mill was not allocated any funds, the labourers and staffs thought that the mill would be shut down permanently and thus the employees decided to go on voluntary retirement, responding to the call of jute mills corporation to retire under its voluntary retirement scheme, said Abdus Salam, Shahbuddin and a number of labourers.
   The corporation earlier in late June called the labourers, staff and officers for going into retirement under its scheme and August 13 was the last date of application but the corporation extended the date for 20 days effective from August 14, said official sources at the mill.
   According to the sources, the corporation allocated Tk 2.62 crore for Crescent Jute Mills, Tk 1.99 crore for Platinum Jubilee Jute Mills, Tk 1.23 crore for Star Jute Mills, Tk 0.60 crore for Eastern Jute Mills, Tk 0.91 crore for Jessore Jute Industries and Tk 0.46 crore for Carpeting Jute Mills of Khulna region.
   Alim Jute Mills, the only profitable mill in the country presently, was established on 46 acres at Atra in Khulna district in 1968 and was nationalised in 1972.
   The mill has a total of about 2000 employees, including its permanent and irregular labourers, staff and officers, said mill sources.
   The mill project head, Md Monowar Hossain, confirmed about receipt of applications for voluntary retirement.

Thousands of refugees still occupy this forgotten and forlorn camp close to the Bangladesh border in a terrible testimony to the bitter legacy of the partition of India.
   Gauranga Das, 80, has lived at Cooper’s Camp for almost 60 years and can find nothing to celebrate as India marks six decades of independence.
   As the sub-continent shook with the bloody aftermath of partition and the migration of some 14 million people, Das fled his riverside home at Barishal in the newly-created Muslim-majority nation of East Pakistan for what he hoped would be a new life in India.
   He was part of a late exodus of Hindus under pressure to abandon their homes to Muslim immigrants heading east from India.
   As the steam train chugged into Petrapole station, Das and other passengers were led to 40 funnel-shaped warehouses named after an English missionary called Cooper who ran a hospital nearby.
   ‘The corrugated tin sheds at Cooper’s Camp were built to store the army’s food grains and ammunition in British India,’ Das told the news agency.
   ‘But they became a temporary shelter for nearly 100,000 refugees from East Pakistan after the partition.
   ‘I came to the camp on 11 March, 1950,’ said Das, one of about 200 of the original thousands of refugee families who are still stuck in limbo in this last outpost of the partition tragedy.
   The site lies 80 kilometres from West Bengal state capital Kolkata and is one of dozens used to house refugees who came after the initial slaughter of the August 14-15, 1947, partition.
   British India was carved up to create Muslim West and East Pakistan separated by majority Hindu India.
   While many of the estimated one million deaths caused by one of the greatest migrations in human history happened within weeks on the north-western side of the subcontinent, the trauma lingered here in the east.
   In the west, mainly via the rich farm state of the Punjab, Hindus who came from West Pakistan to India and the Muslims moving the opposite way clashed in a bloodbath that lasted weeks.
   But migration was drawn out between West Bengal and the new East Pakistan. Tension between the two states culminated in 1971 when India sent in troops to aid Bengali independence leaders who fought West Pakistan domination.
   The war led to the creation of Bangladesh — still tied by language, food and culture to West Bengal — but the two states remain uneasy neighbours, especially over the issue of refugees.
   Many of the original refugees at Cooper’s Camp took offers of Indian citizenship in exchange for agreeing to move to the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
   But others like Das asked to be allowed to stay in West Bengal, which the state and federal governments have refused.
   ‘We are neglected, ignored. It seems that not only the Indian federal government, but that time has forgotten us as well,’ Das said, leaning against a rusted tin shed.
   ‘Thousand of refugees from here were sent to Andaman and Nicobar islands. Those who refused to go there have been denied Indian nationality,’ he said.
   ‘After staying in the camps for six decades they are in constant fear of being sent back to their homeland.’
   The federal government stopped grants for the camp in 1990. Today remaining refugees receive some rice, grain and 400 rupees (10 dollars) each month from the West Bengal state government.
   ‘We are appealing their cases with the ruling communist government of the state,’ said Das, who is also vice-president of the United Central Refugee Council, a left-leaning forum spearheading refugee rights.
   ‘The government has failed to honour its promises to give employment and financial support to unemployed youth, the third generation of refugees in the camp,’ he charged.
   Minto Sanyal, 22, who was born at the camp, said it wad slowly falling into irrelevance, even though as many as 7,000 others like him call it home.
   ‘The only hospital in the camp has been shut nearly a decade ago. A post office still functioning with three staff may close its doors and four primary schools in tin sheds are virtually closed due to lack of students,’ he said.
   Kiranbala Saha, an elderly woman who can’t remember her age said: ‘We are living in a hell.’
   ‘Rainwater seeps from the tin roof. Clogged drains swamp my room. We spend sleepless nights during the monsoon,’ said Kiranbala, who lost her husband about a decade ago.
   ‘Only death can give me relief from the daily suffering. I am waiting for that,’ she said.

Workers of the UMC Jute Mill, the country’s largest jute mill, called for an indefinite strike at the factory on Tuesday, demanding their outstanding salaries and allowances.
   After a daylong demonstration on the mill compound in the morning, the agitating workers called the strike in the afternoon to realise their arrears.
   Earlier in the morning, over 2,000 workers, mostly of the morning shift, gathered in front of their general manager’s office and tried to ransack it.
   They chanted slogans against the management, alleging that over 4,000 workers of the mill did not get their medical allowances for the last 14 months while salaries for the past 10 weeks.
   On information, police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. The workers later got back to their work at the request of the law enforcers.
   At noon, another 2,000 workers of the second shift came out of the mill and announced the wildcat strike.
   Asked about the labour unrest, general manager of the mill Abdul Malek told the news agency that there was no plan to close the factory and they would try to persuade the workers to get back to work.
   He said they would take steps to clear the outstanding salaries and allowances of the workers.

The government has fixed fees for cable television subscribers from the last month under the cable television act-2006.
   Cable TV operators could not charge more than Tk 300 monthly for 60 channels along with 30 pay-channels from the subscribers in Dhaka and Chittagong cities, an official handout said on Tuesday.
   The decision was made at a recent meeting in Dhaka to establish discipline in the country’s cable TV operation. Information secretary Mohammad Didarul Anwar chaired the meeting.
   Tk 250 has been fixed for 50 channels, including 25 pay-channels, for the subscribers of Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet, Barisal, Faridpur, Mymensingh, Patuakhali, Comilla, Noakhali, Jessore, Kushtia, Pabna, Bogra, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Rangamati and Tangail districts.
   The subscribers of other districts have to pay Tk 200 per month for 40 channels, including 20 pay-channels. Besides, upazila level subscribers will pay Tk 150 for watching 30 channels, including 15 pay-channels.
   It was decided at the meeting that if any operator charged more than the fixed amount, the cable TV subscribers of Dhaka city could complain to the Controller of License of BTV and the district level consumers to their deputy commissioners, the handout said.

Business leader Abdul Awal Mintoo was shown arrested in an extortion case filed by Abdus Sattar, a resident of the city’s Bhuter Goli, Monday accusing Mintoo of demanding Tk 50 lakh as toll.
   The case was recorded at 11:45pm Monday, the police said.
   Sattar alleged that Mintoo demanded Tk 50 lakh from him at Anchor Tower at Sonargaon Road on May 25. Sattar claimed that he instantly gave Mintoo Tk 50,000.
   Mintoo was granted bail by High Court on August 7, and the government would appeal against the order.
   The army-led joint forces arrested Mintoo on May 30.

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to seek the court’s permission to appeal against the bail granted to business leader Abdul Awal Mintoo by the High Court on August 7.
   The six-member full court, chaired by chief justice M Ruhul Amin, ordered attorney general Fida M Kamal to file today regular petition seeking permission to appeal against the High Court order, and fixed Thursday for hearing the petition.
   A High Court bench on August 7 granted Mintoo bail and stayed his detention order.
   The government on August 9 filed two provisional petitions seeking permission to appeal against the High Court order and for staying it.
   Chamber judge of the Appellate Division, Justice M Hasan Ameen, on August 12 referred the petition to full court.

Angry flood victims looted food from relief camps, assaulted officials and held them hostage in eastern India on Tuesday, as fresh rains brought more misery to tens of thousands of people in South Asia.
   The death toll in eastern India rose to 83 and thousands more were marooned as rains lashed the region.
   Authorities across South Asia, where nearly 800 people have drowned in the past month, or died from snakebites, hunger or waterborne infections, said they were struggling to keep diseases at bay.
   In the impoverished Indian state of Bihar, hundreds of villagers clashed with police demanding more food in over a dozen places, officials and witnesses said.
   Incidents of flood victims looting food and taking officials hostage until victims were given food and other supplies, were also reported.
   ‘The fear of losing whatever little food we have has even robbed us of our sleep,’ villager Ram Uday Singh said at a relief camp in Bihar’s Begusarai district.
   Torrential rain triggered by a storm flooded new areas in the state, including its capital Patna, officials said.
   In Kolkata, eastern India’s biggest city, rain water continued to flood homes. At least 30 cases of chikungunya — a viral fever caused by mosquitoes — have been reported from the city, authorities said.
   Health workers were clearing storm water and spraying insecticides in the congested city to kill mosquitoes.
   ‘We are desperately trying to control an outbreak by increasing our vigil and undertaking preventive measures,’ state health services officer Sanchita Bakshi said.
   In neighbouring Orissa, a highway connecting the mineral-rich state with the rest of the country was flooded. At least five people were swept away by surging rivers and hundreds of houses collapsed in overnight storms.
   In the northern Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, five more people were killed since late on Monday as the death toll caused by landslides and flash floods rose to 31.

Professor Shaymal Kanti Biswas has been appointed vice-chancellor of the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology on a temporary basis.
   Dr Biswas, professor of mechanical department of CUET, will perform administrative, financial and academic duties of VC along with his own duties till the appointment of a regular VC.
   Earlier, the president, Iajuddin Ahmed, also chancellor of the university, accepted the resignation letter of CUET VC Professor Mir Shahidul Islam.

A passenger train derailed on Monday between Moscow and Saint Petersburg due to what may have been an explosion, leaving some 60 people injured, railway officials and Russia’s emergency ministry said.
   ‘Due to an illegal interference in railway operation there was an accident on the Burga-Malaya Vishera link, with 12 carriages going off the rails’ in the Novgorod region, Russian Railway agency said.
   The agency’s spokeswoman Natalya Akafyeva was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the accident was possibly due to an explosion, but gave no further details.
   The police and witnesses quoted by Russian news agencies said that there was a clapping sound immediately before the accident, and a hole that appeared to be made by a blast was found beneath the rails. It was not immediately clear if there were any more foreigners on board.