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The Chittagong City Corpora-tion has decided to reintroduce tax on outdoor advertise- ment hoardings from the current fiscal after a break of about 12 years that caused the corporation an estimated loss of Tk 30 crore.
   According to sources in the corporation, hoarding was under the tax net from the very beginning, but the mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, who is now in prison, withdrew tax from it in 1995 in line with his election pledge.
   There are more than 90,000 business enterprises in the city, most of which have more than one billboards on the roadsides, CCC sources said adding that they were enjoying the tax holiday.
   The CCC is being deprived of nearly Tk 3 crore a year due to exemption of the outdoor-advertisement tax, sources at the corporation’s revenue department said.
   Acting CCC mayor M Manjur Alam Manju said the mayor had exempted hoarding from tax on a verbal directive.
   ‘As the billboard tax was not exempted officially, there is no legal complexity in realising it,’ he added.
   He also said they had fixed Tk 25 for each square foot of billboard and Tk 50 for a square foot of liquid-crystal display with light adding that it would be realised during issuing of trade licences to the business enterprises.
   The acting president of
   the Chittagong Shop Owners Association, Mohammed Shahabuddin, said, ‘As the elected mayor had exempted the billboard as per his
   election pledge, from realising tax from them would not be ethical.’
   He also said the association had urged the acting mayor to reconsider imposing tax on outdoor advertisements.

At least eight students were injured when activists of the Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked the general students of Broja Mohon College in Barisal early Sunday.
   Campus sources said the Shibir activists swooped on the general students at about 1:00am following an altercation over a Shibir gathering at the gate of Sergeant Fazlul Huq Hall.
   Shibir activists first beat up a residential student of the dormitory and then they in a large number from different halls attacked the general students injuring at least eight, the sources said.
   They also vandalised four rooms of the hall.
   Four of the injured students were identified as Rubel, Rajon, Sumon, Rezaul were injured in the attack. The injured were admitted to hospital
   Bellal Hussein, superintendent of the dormitory, went to the spot and brought the situation under control with the help of the police.
   Later, at about at about 10:00am both groups chased and counter-chased each other. The college authorities with the help of the police calmed situation.
   Following the incident, the college authorities held a discussion with the rival groups at the dining hall of the hostel at about noon with Bellal Hussein in the chair.
   College teachers Sardar Akbor Ali, Shah Sajeda, Abdus Sabur, Ali Ahmed and, Fazlul Huq of Detective Branch of Police were present.
   But the meeting discontinued after a Shibir leader Lokman Hussein made a provocative speech, sources said.
   Meanwhile, the academic council of the college at a meeting on Sunday night decided to form a probe body to investigate the incident. Leaders of the Shibir Barisal city, district and college units in separate statements held the Bangladesh Chhatra Leauge activists responsible for the incident.
   They claimed that the BCL activists had attacked them and vandalised the four rooms of Shibir activists. They also demanded investigation into the incident and punishment for those responsible.
   The academic council of the college at a meeting Sunday night decided to issue show cause notice.

Six journalists of different national dailies were assaulted by a group of activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League on the Dhaka University campus on Sunday.
   Campus sources said around 20 activists of the DU unit of the BCL attacked the six journalists in front of the Dhaka University Central Students Union building at about 1:30pm.
   The BCL activists swooped on the journalists as they requested the BCL activists to make a queue, instead of violating rules, for collecting lunch items at the DUCSU cafeteria, the sources said.
   The assaulted journalists are Arup Kumer Shaha, staff reporter of Jaijaidin, Palash Sarkar, DU correspondent of Jaijaidin, Mazharul Anwar Shipu, DU correspondent of Daily Janakantha, Habibullah Mizan, staff reporter of New Nation, Anu Anwar, DU correspondent of Prothom Alo and Khomeni Ihsan, DU correspondent of Banglabazar Potrika.
   The attackers included Wasim Jewel, a BCL leader and activists Roni, a third-year student of English department, Ershad, second-year student of the history department and Shamimm and Tipu of the political science department.
   Khomeni Ihsan on behalf of the victims filed a case with the Shahbagh police station in connection with the incident.
   When contacted, the university proctor Professor Aka Firoz said the authorities will immediately take steps against those involved in the incident.

Samples of water and fishes, which died at the Gulshan-Banani- Baridhara Lake last week, have been sent for laboratory test to determine the reasons for the death of the fishes.
   Rajdhani Unnayan Kartri-pakkha, which owns the lake, on August 15 sent the samples of water and the dead fishes to Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research for the test.
   A good number of fishes died in the lake for what environmentalists claimed continued pollution due to the lack of effective measures by the authorities concerned.
   ‘We have collected water and some of the fishes which were found floating on the lake on Tuesday and sent those to BCSIR, also known as Science Laboratory, for test,’ said an official of Rajuk.
   Poor people usually collect the dead toxic fishes of the lake and consume them only to run the risk of being affected by different diseases, said Abu Naser Khan, convener of Save Environment Movement. A physician of Dhaka Medical College Hospital said as the water in Gulshan Lake is being polluted in different ways, consumption of its fish is harmful to the human body with both short-term and long-term effects.
   He said people may instantly contract intestinal diseases like diarrhoea due to the consumption of the fishes from the lake, he said adding that under the long-term effect, it may gradually damage the kidney of a man and cause problems to heart, liver and even nerve system for the consumption of toxic fishes of the polluted lake.
   The Rajuk official informed that about 95 per cent of the sewers from the residences of Badda and Baridhara find way into the lake and was one of the main reasons of the pollution of the lake water.
   ‘We have issued a letter on Wednesday to the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority to introduce own disposal system in their areas where there is no sewerage line of WASA like that of Baridhara and Badda area and also requested to take effective steps stopping the overflow of sewerage lines in Gulshan and Banani areas,’ said the official.
   Abu Naser also said a large amount of untreated chemical and toxic waste from different industries in Tejgoan and Pragati Sarani areas is being dumped into the lake everyday, which is one of the main reasons for pollution of the lake water.
   As the lake has been contaminated, its fishes may pose threat to human health, he warned.
   A ban on fish farming should be imposed until the water of the lake is treated, Naser said and demanded immediate steps to put an end to the dumping of industrial and human wastes into the lake.
   General secretary of Gulshan Society Anwarul Alam in March suggested Rajuk to take immediate steps to shift the sewerage lines from the lake and the house owners should build septic tanks as an alternative to sewerage lines until the WASA construct proper utility system.
   An initiative was taken to stop dumping of the sewers into the lake in 2003 and many sewerage lines from Baridhara were disconnected at that time, he said.

Swadhinata Stambha has given the historic Suhrawardy Udyan a new look as the park has been opened for public after about 10 years due to delayed construction work on a renovation project.
   Fencing around the Swadhinata Stambha, an independence war monument, was removed in June, but entry to half of the lush green park still remained restricted.
   At present, there are 3,463 trees of 104 species in the Suhrawardy Udyan, an official of the Public Works Department, which owns the park, said quoting a census conducted early this year.
   People of all ages come to the park for jogging, taking other physical exercise and passing time in the 67-acre park, which also has an age-old temple, Ramna Kali Mandir. The mandir was re-established in the park in 2001.
   People also visit a memorial stone, adjacent to the mandir, which is inscribed with the names of persons killed by the Pakistani invaders on March 27, 1971. Names of 194 martyred freedom fighters of Dhaka district along with their village homes have been inscribed there.
   A police control room and the Shahbagh Children’s Park, renamed as Shaheed Zia Shishu Park, are also on the land of the Suhrawardy Udyan.
   There is also a pond in the park, adjacent to the mandir. Although the pond has long been remaining uncared for, some floating people use its water for taking bath and for other works.
   Akkas Ali Mollah, director of the Swadhinata Stambha Project, said the project had been taken in 1997 and a large section of the Suhrawardy Udyan, which was earlier named as race course ground, was fenced up for the project work.
   ‘The Swadhinata Stambha has given the Suhrawardy Udyan a new look, and a large number of people visit the stambha every day,’ Akkas said.
   People of all ages, teenagers and young couples from adjoining Dhaka University and other educations institutions in particular, now come to the park especially between 9:00am to 4:00pm while elderly people usually visit the park at dawn and in the evening.
   It’s a good place to pass some moments in front of the artificial lake surrounded by greeneries, said a young couple.
   The long-waited work of Phase I of the Swadhinata Stambha Project completed in June, said Akkas, also a superintendent engineer of Public Works Departments.
   An open stage with the capacity of 2,000 people, a mural work depicting the achievements from 1947 to 1971, an underground liberation war museum and a 157-seat auditorium are among the things completed under the Phase I of the project.
   A fountain and a lake have also been made under the first phase and they have already been opened for people, project officials said.
   The underground museum and auditorium, however, have yet to be opened for the people.
   ‘We have not yet opened the underground museum and auditorium for people. We will decorate them with objects relating to the war of independence, furniture and other necessary things under Phase II of the project,’ the Swadhinata Stambha project director said.
   The second phase of the project will also include construction of a 150-feet high independence monument tower.
   The authorities also established Shikha Chirantan (eternal flame) in the park to rekindle the spirit of Bangladeshi nationalism.
   The Ministry of Liberation War Affairs has got the responsibility of the Swadhinata Stamba Project from the public works ministry.
   Suhrawardy Udyan, formerly known as the Race Course Maidan, was selected for the memorial work of Swadhinata Stamba as the Pakistan Army surrendered here on December 16, 1971.
   Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding president of the country, had delivered his historic March 7, 1971 speech on this ground urging all to prepare for a fight to free the country.

Women rights leaders denounced the reported sexual harassment of a female garment worker by a member of law enforcing agency in the city and demanded punishment to the offender.
   Hena Das, president and Ayesa Khanam, general secretary of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad in a media release on Sunday expressed deep concern over the incident and urged the government to take necessary steps to stop oppression of children and women.
   In a separate statement Karmojibi Nari demanded punishment to assistant sub inspector Abdul Mannan, who allegedly violated a female garment worker at her rented house in the Dhaka city’s Mirpur area early Saturday.

A Rajshahi court on Sunday sentenced two persons to 10-year rigorous imprisonment each for killing a baby two years back.
   Judge of the special session court-1 Sajedul Karim handed down the verdict against Nurul Islam, 40, and Sazerul Islam, 38.
   The court also fined them Tk 5,000 each, in default, six months more RI.
   The convicts were locked in an altercation with Fatema Begum Mukti, the first wife of Sazerul Islam, following a family feud. At one stage, Nurul Islam tried to beat Mukti, but their nine-month child Kushum fell prey to the attack, leaving her critically injured on November 12, 2005.
   After the five-day of the incident, Kushum succumbed to her injuries at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at many places over Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna divisions and at a few places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions with moderately heavy falls at places during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said on Sunday.
   The day temperature may rise slightly over the country, it said. The country’s highest temperature on Sunday, 34.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Sylhet and the lowest, 24.1 degrees Celsius, in Cox’s Bazar.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:28pm and rises tomorrow at 5:36am.

Road accident kills one in Khulna
A man was killed and 10 others were injured in a road accident on Sonadanga-Natun Rasta Bypass Road near Khulna metropolitan police line in Khulna city on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Ashraful Islam, 30, helper of the bus. The injured persons who were admitted to different local clinics include the passengers of the bus, the rickshaw puller and passenger of the rickshaw. The police said a Jessore-bound passenger bus hit a rickshaw around 9:00am leaving the rickshaw puller and the passenger injured. The bus then hit electric pole, leaving its helper dead.

Seminar on education held at DU
A seminar on chemical education held at Dhaka University Sunday with Professor Emeritus of Tokyo University Yoshito Takeuchi as the main speaker. Organised by the faculty of science, the seminar was held at the conference room of Center for Advance Research in physical, chemical, biological and pharmaceutical science, a press release said. With dean of science faculty Professor Tazmeri SA Islam in the chair, the seminar was attended by DU vice-chancellor SMA Faiz as the chief guest while pro-VC Professor AFM Yusuf Haider was present as special guest. Yoshito Takeuchi in his speech highlighted the progress of the chemical education and research in Asia.
— New Age