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

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The arbitration committee of the Barisal City Corporation has remained dysfunctional for long, hampering settlement of divorce notices.
   Couples intending to be separated as per the rules are facing problems due to the inaction of the committee, corporation sources said.
   At present, about 100 divorce notices have been lying pending with the committee for settlement, the sources added.
   The arbitration committee was formed in 2002 after the Barisal Municipality had been upgraded to a city corpora-
   tion, and its first meeting was held on November 15, 2005.
   Delwar Hussein, the then secretary of the city corporation, was made chairman of the committee, which received notices of 10 couples for arbitration. Since then the committee has remained inactive.
   The committee was later reconstituted on April 18, 2007 making Yunus Mia, a ward commissioner, its convenor.
   The committee held meetings on May 20, June 12 and June 18. But the committee became completely inactive as its convenor had resigned from the committee.
   Yunus said, ‘We only try to make compromise between a couple seeking divorce after receiving notices. But general people without knowing about our process of work often create problems as they do not abide by our decision.’
   As per the rules, if one residing in city corporation area wants to get separated, he or she will have to send a copy of divorce notice to the corporation office.
   The arbitration committee, after receiving the notice, will call the couple three times to make a compromise between them. If the negotiation effort fails, it results in the separation.
   The BCC acting mayor, Awlad Hussein Dilu, told New Age that both sides usually create pressure on arbitration committee to make decision in favour of them with the help of local ward commissioners and local elites.
   ‘And this situation has forced the committee to become inactive,’ he said.
   The city corporation is now thinking to do the job by the ward commissioners in their respective areas, Dilu added.
   A woman working with a non-governmental organisation said she had served a divorce notice to her husband and sent a copy to the BCC arbitration committee more than eight months ago, but she had received no reply from the committee so far.

A mobile court in Chittagong Tuesday fined a foreign ship for emitting black fumes on the port channel and seized a local vessel for making trip ignoring the weather forecast.
   The court also realised Tk 16.67 lakh in fines from the foreign ship and owners of eight commercial installations and business houses, and jailed 11 bus drivers on various charges.
   The court, led by Chittagong Port Authority magistrate Mohammed Munir Chowdhury, realised Tk 25,000 from the Mongolian flag carrier, MV Maria, for causing environmental pollution through emitting black fumes.
   It detained local vessel, LM Upahar, which plies Kutubdia-Chittagong route, for making a trip risking the lives of about 70 passengers.
   The court realised Tk 16.42 from the owners of SF Chamber, SA Chamber, S Hoque Chamber, Kulsuma Bhila, Amanat Workshop, KK Chowdhury Bhaban, National Industries and Munni Birani House at the Strand Road and at Mazir Ghat for pilfering water through illegal connections with the supply lines of the Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.
   The court sentenced the 11 drivers to two months of jail for reckless driving and possessing fake licenses.
   The drivers are Mohammad Salim, Manjurul Hoque, Mohammad Sharif, Mohammad Abdul Hannan, Mohammad Mafiz, Mohammad Abdul Matin, Abul Bashar, Mohammad Sayed, Abul Kalam, Parimal Nath and Mohammad Ali.

Journalists in Shahjalal University of Science and Technology on Tuesday decided not to cover the university news for an indefinite period as the authorities took possession of the university press club without arranging any alternative space.
   The press club members at a meeting in the afternoon also decided to stage a sit-in wearing black badges in front of the SUST Central Library from 10:00am today, according to a press release, signed by the press club secretary, Sayed Abdullah Jishu.
   The journalists, working in national and regional dailies, said they would go for tougher programmes if the university authorities failed to take any step in this regard by the next 24-hour.
   They earlier staged a sit-in in front of the vice chancellor’s office from 10:00am to 1:30pm to protest at the incident.
   The university authorities took possession of the room allotted for the press club in the morning.
   Jishu said the university authorities had told them that they would use the room allotted for the press club after providing another room.
   ‘But the authorities took possession of the room in the morning without allotting any room for the press club; even without any notice in this regard,’ he said.
   The SUST vice-chancellor, M Aminul Islam, however, told New Age over phone that they had taken possession of the room after allotting a new one for the press club. ‘We have also a plan to provide furniture for the press club.’

The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute director, Lutful Rabbi, on Tuesday said a calibration laboratory of international standard will be set up at the Chittagong BSTI very soon for ensuring quality testing of goods.
   ‘We should uplift the standard of our goods to keep pace with international standard,’ he said while addressing a seminar.
   The seminar on ‘Rule of Metrology in Quality Management System’ was jointly organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries and BSTI at the Chittagong Chamber auditorium in the port city.
   The BSTI Chittagong director, Mohammad Ali, presided over the function while the CCCI president, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, was chief guest.
   With the CCCI director, Mahfuzul Haque Shah, in the chair, the seminar was addressed, among others, by Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, director of the Export Promotion Bureau as special guest.
   A good number of businessmen, public representatives, NGO officials and media men attended the seminar.

Panthakunja, situated on the western side of the Sonargaon Hotel, has been handed over to private management under the Dhaka city beautification programme, restricting people’s entry.
   An advertising firm, Arkay Group, which had been given the lease of the park three year ago, has restricted entry to the park excepting for a few hours a day.
   The leaseholder has also put barbed wire fence around the 0.96 acre park so that the people cannot enter inside without the entrances, which remain under lock and key most of the times, the local people said.
   Arkay has also placed advertisements of a number of multinational companies in Panthakunja.
   A clock tower, a long structure in the northern corner of the park, is being used for advertisement business with the ad of a multinational company and there is no entry for the people, said a source in DCC.
   The park remains open for all from 5:30am to 9:00am and from 4:00pm to 7:00pm every day, Arkay Group supervisor Mozammel Haq said.
   Two guards in three shifts look after the security of the park, Helal, one of the guards, said.
   ‘A lot of diabetic patients come to the park at dawn and also in the evening as the park environment is fine right now. It is also safe and secured now,’ he said.
   The park was earlier a den of drug peddlers and users and floating sex workers, the guard said.
   ‘We have fenced the whole park for security reason. We are always keeping the park clean,’ Mozammel said.
   Rasel, a schoolboy of nearby Kanthalbagan area, said, ‘We used to play cricket and football here in the park a few years back, but now we cannot use the park for any games.’
   ‘This park is not a playground. People walk, do exercise and take rest here,’ the Arkay supervisor said, adding there are 25 benches where people sit and take rest.
   The footpath on the western side of Panthakunja is in a poor state as the floating people urinate there, causing a public nuisance.
   M Fasiullah, executive officer of zone-6 of DCC, said, ‘As the park is in my zone, I have informed the officials concerned at DCC of the poor state of the footpath and they have assured me of repairing and cleaning the footpaths.’

A woman died as a wall of an under-construction building collapsed on her in the city’s Mirpur area Tuesday morning.
   The deceased was identified as Fatema Begum, 50, wife
   of Abul Miah of Battola in Mirpur.
   The police said the wall of the under-construction building of Opex Garments fell on Fatema when she was passing through the area at about 9:00am, leaving her seriously injured.
   She was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the doctors declared her dead at about 10:00am.

A Chittagong court on Tuesday sentenced three employees of a restaurant to life imprisonment for killing their owner three years back.
   The Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge M Shamsul Alam also fined Alamgir Hossain, Hiron Miah and Zahir Uddin Tk 5,000 each, in default, to suffer two more years in jail.
   The convicts slit the throat
   of Mansur Miah, owner of Cafe AL Mansur in the city’s Sadargaht area, inside the eatery on July 21, 2004 following an altercation over their wages.
   Local people caught the employees red handed from the spot and handed them over to police.

The Department of Social Service on Tuesday disbursed monthly allowance among 197 distressed persons with disabilities in the city.
   The divisional commissioner of Rajshahi, Shafiul Alam, disbursed the allowance at a function at Safawang Community Center in the city.
   The distressed people, who live in the Rajshahi City Corporation area, received their 12-month allowance of Tk 472,800, Tk 200 per month.
   With DSS deputy director Mozammel Haque in the chair, chief executive officer of RCC Korban Ali and One-stop
   Crisis Center chairman Khorshed Ali also attended the program.

Activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir Monday night beat up a Bangladesh Chhatra League activist at Hamid Hall of Rajshahi University Engineering and Technology.
   Sources in the hall said the Shibir activists beat up Shishir at one stage of their quarrel over smoking in the guest room of the hall. Shishir was given first aid at the University Medical Centre.
   The students of the hall criticised the Shibir activities and demanded a ban on Shibir politics in the hall.
   The university unit of Chhatra League demanded punishment for the Shibir cadres.

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at many places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Sylhet, Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna divisions with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said on Tuesday.
   The day temperature may rise slightly over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Tuesday, 34.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Mongla and the lowest, 25.0 degrees Celsius, at Maijdicourt.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:32pm and rises tomorrow at 5:34am.

BRTA files cases against 12 buses
A mobile court of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority on Tuesday realised Tk 19,300 filing 12 cases against buses for plying without necessary documents. The court, led by magistrate M Delwar Hossain, also seized a bus of Swapno Paribahan for plying without route permit. The court conducted the drive in Jatrabari area and filed the cases against 12 buses for not having insurance certificate, renewed fitness certificate, tax token and driving license. The seized bus was sent to the control room of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police for dumping.
— New Age

IU first year orientation held
The orientation programme of the first year honours students of Islamic University in Kushtia was held Tuesday. The IU vice-chancellor, Faez Mohammad Sirazul Haque, was present as the chief guest while the IU registrar, Dr Moslem Uddin, was present as the special guest. Chaired by IU treasurer, Professor Dr ASM Anwarul Karim, the function was addressed, among others, by IU proctor AKM Matinur Rahman, student adviser Professor Dr M Ruhul Amin, Md Mizanur Rahman, Dr Shahid Md Rezwan, Dr Eakub Ali, Dr M Abdul Wadud. Sabuj Hossain and Umme Habiba Liza spoke as the freshers’ representatives.
— New Age