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The Sylhet City Corporation has planned to issue 5,000 rickshaw licences soon to ease the existing transport crisis caused by a ban on the movement of illegal rickshaws on the city streets.
   The corporation authorities decided to issue the licences among the families of poor, widow, person with disability and freedom fighter of the city and its outskirts.
   Of the total, 4,000 licences would be issued by the city corporation while the rests by union councils and municipalities on the city outskirts, sources in the corporation said.
   A committee, comprising the officials of the corporation, district and police administration, had already been formed to monitor the process so that the eligible families could get the licences, the sources added.
   Meanwhile, the authorities had invited applications from the persons eligible for the number plates through the proper channel. Later the applications would be sent to the district administration for verification and finally the number plates to be issued to right persons.
   According to the sources, more than 40,000 rickshaws out of 50,224 had been plying the city streets illegally for a long time as the authorities stopped issuing any number plate since 1979.
   Taking the advantage of transport crisis, a syndicate reportedly in association with some employees and officials of the corporation and municipalities gave false number plates to rickshaws that resulted in nagging traffic congestion on city streets till the end of January.
   Earlier, the authorities concerned tried several times to phase out illegal rickshaws from the city, but they failed due to pressure from influential political quarters and syndicate of illegal rickshaw owners, the sources said.
   The city corporation took a fresh initiative to phase out the illegal rickshaws after the interim government, led by Fakhruddin Ahmed, took over the office on January 12.
   As part of a primary step, the city corporation frequently announced its decision to evict illegal rickshaws during the last week of January.
   But during the eviction drive, the authorities stopped illegal rickshaws at the main entrance to the city from different outskirts areas instead of seizing them for having false documentations, the city dwellers claimed.
   ‘Owners of the unauthorised rickshaws are observing the situation and they may again launch their rickshaws on the streets when a political party will form the government,’ said Shafi Ahmed, a businessman of the city’s Jallarpar.
   The Sylhet mayor, Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, told New Age there was no need to continue the drive against illegal rickshaws as they had already disappeared from the city.
   ‘The city corporation will resume the drive, if illegal rickshaws reappear on the city streets,’ Kamran said.

Three mobile courts unearthed unlicensed bakeries, lubricant and first food shops during their drives in different areas of the capital on Monday.
   A mobile court against adulteration on Monday unearthed bakeries and confectionery, producing foods using harmful food additives and selling products without BSTI licence.
   The court, led by magistrate ABM Abdul Fattah, raided Shahen Shah Food Products in city’s Jurain area and found the factory operating without BSTI licence. They are also using harmful colour in the foodstuffs.
   The court filed two cases against its owner Rafiqul Islam under the BSTI ordinance and Pure Food Act and realised Tk 50,000 in fines.
   The court also raided Badsha Bakery on Madrassah Road at Jurain found the bakery producing confectionery in dirty and unhygienic environment and selling them without BSTI approval.
   The court also filed two cases against its manager Akhter Hossain and fined and realised Tk 55,000 for the offence.
   The same court also sealed off a food processing factory Meghna Food Products for producing foods in unhygienic atmosphere, and selling products without BSTI licence.
   The court also filed three cases against its owner Noor Uddin and issued an arrest warrant.
   Another mobile court led by magistrate Rokon Ud-Doula unearthed three engineering shops selling substandard lubricant from city’s Postagola.
   The court filed three cases against the factories under the Dhaka City Corporation ordinance and issued arrest warrant against its owners.
   The court raided the Samad Mobil of Abdus Samad at Rajarbari at Postagola, Diamond Engine Works of Anil Sirker at Karimullaharbagh, and Khokaner Mobil Ghar of Ishak Mia Khokan.
   The court ordered to destroy 90 drums of lubricants of Khokoner Mobil Ghar and also issued arrest warrant against its owner and the owner of the house Abdul Wahab.
   Another mobile court, led by magistrate Towfiqul Alam, filed two cases and realised Tk 55,000 from two fast food shops from city’s Banani and Uttara area.

Uncertainty looms large over the implementation of a Chittagong Port Authority project for dredging of the River Karnaphuli due to fund constraint.
   The CPA sources said they would not be able to implement the project if the shipping ministry did not give them a fresh guideline with necessary fund.
   The CPA, meanwhile, postponed the bidding process of the project, which was scheduled to be held on February 7, port sources informed.
   The project director of CPA, MA Sabur, told New Age that fund crisis prompted the CPA to postpone the bidding and other process relating to the project.
   ‘We got Tk 74 crore against the project cost of Tk 250 crore. So it is not possible to implement the project with such an insufficient amount of money,’ Sabur said.
   The shipping ministry steering committee will review the project in its next meeting and take decision on the project, he added.
   He, however, failed to say the schedule of the meeting.
   The bidding date was earlier deferred twice though some foreign companies were pre-qualified, port sources said.
   The pre-qualified companies included Jan De Nul NV of Belgium, MT Hojgard of Denmark, Larsen and Toubro Ltd of India, Sinohydro Corporation of China and Van Oord of the Netherlands, the sources said.
   The latest bid was called after the CPA had cancelled the tender won by a Chinese firm, China Harbour Ltd., they added.
   The CPA took the project as huge siltation over a stretch of 2.7km from Sadarghat was seriously hampering navigation, port sources informed.

Shortage of power and water in the Rajshahi city has reached the peak in recent days, causing frustration among the city dwellers.
   The water supply division of the Rajshahi City Corporation has failed to supply drinking water to the city dwellers for power failure and load-shedding, corporation sources claimed.
   An official of the RCC water supply division, Pervez Hasan, said all the deep tube-wells were operative, but they were being failed to extract water for power failure.
   ‘We decided to operate pumps round the clock when power is available,’ he said adding ‘We have also requested the power division officials to keep the power supply uninterrupted to the pumps.’
   The city people are receiving a scanty amount of water through pipeline, supplied by the corporation during the past 15 days. There is almost zero supply of water to many high-rise buildings, residences of Sagarpara alleged.
   The amount of water supplied through the pipelines is so low that one has to wait 15 minutes to fill a bucket with water in the residential areas, locals alleged.
   Meanwhile, city dwellers of Rajshahi are suffering miserably due to frequent power outage, voltage fluctuation and load-shedding. Official activities, industrial production and household work are being disrupted drastically.
   Ahmed Shamim Sohag, a businessman in Shaheb Bazar area of the city told New Age that their production was being hampered seriously due to the water and power crisis.
   Nazirul Islam, an executive director of Barind Multipurpose Development Authority said many power pumps in the project area had gone out of order due to frequent power outage.
   Rajshahi PDB sources said they had been receiving 40 per cent electricity against their demand.
   Monjur Faruque Chowdhury, general secretary of Bangladesh Sericulture Industry Owners Association said they had to face similar crisis last year and the then government failed to relieve them of the power setback.

The arrival of new titles in the Amar Ekushey book fair are less this year compared with the previous year as the publishers could not take full preparation amid political unrest before the emergency.
   Including the Monday’s 56 new titles, the total number of new titles reached 729 in the fair this year when it was 1,209 last year this time.
   Publishers and writers at the book fair said they were uncertain about what would happen during the unrest and for this reason they could not take full preparation.
   They also blamed high price of papers and printing materials, adding that a good number of new titles were in the pipe line.
   ‘We were really anxious about the book fair this year but now we are happy as the fair environment is peaceful. No one feels insecured as emergency is going on’ Osman Gani, proprietor of Agamee publication, told New Age.
   The Amar Ekushey book fair passed its 12th day on Monday, with the arrivals of 56 new titles, including 7 novels, 4 story collections, 4 collections of essays, 18 collections of poems, when the new arrivals were 67 last year this time.
   The Banngla Academy organised a discussion on ‘use of folk ingredients in Bangladeshi Novels’.
   Researcher Sahida Khatun presented the keynote paper while Professor AKM Shahnewaz, Professor Shahidur Rahman and researcher Mahbub Azad joined in the discussion chaired by the Banngla Academy fellow Kazi Azhar Ali.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan and Khilgaon Samajik Sangshta on Monday urged the government to cancel its housing plan on open space in Khilgaon residential area in Dhaka.
   The two organisations at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity also demanded to protect the Chowdhurypara Children Park at Khilgaon.
   Gazi Ashraf Hossain Lipu, BAPA convener of the committee to protect open space, playground and park, presided over the conference and Khilgaon Samajik Sangstha general secretary M Hafizur Rahman Moyna read out the written statement.
   Moyna said when the government is being lauded for its drive against illegal establishments the Ansar-VDP at the same time has grabbed the 47-year-old children park.

Examinees of the Bangla department of Chittagong University on Monday ransacked the office and few other rooms of the institution as an outburst of frustration for not being able to appear in the second year final examination for the last 20 months.
   Sources said the student of 2003-’04 session have been waiting for the second year exam for nearly two years as the authorities deferred the exam for three times since November 2006.
   The exam was first scheduled for November 19, 2006 then to January 22 and again to February 18. The students were, however, assured that the examination would be held at the earliest.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind may occur at one or two places over the Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and the regions of Jessore, Kushtia and Comilla till 6:00pm today, said the Met Office in a forecast on Monday.
   Weather may remain dry elsewhere. Light fog may occur over the river basins during late night till early morning.
   Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged. The highest temperature on Monday, 30 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Chittagong and the lowest, 13.2 degrees Celsius, in Rangamati and at Srimangal.
   The sun sets in the capital city today at 5:52pm today and rises on Wednesday at 6:33pm.

Speakers at a discussion in the city on Monday urged the Election Commission to identify the disabled voters and introduce separate identity cards for them.
   They also demanded that the EC should arrange the necessary measures and services to facilitate the disabled voters exercising their franchise in the upcoming general elections.
   The Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed, Institute of Hazrat Muhammad (SAW), Action on Disability and Development, Muslim Aid, and Salvation for the Deserving jointly organised the
   discussion on ‘enabling the disabled to vote’ at the National Press Club with CRP founding member Valerie Taylor in the chair.
   The discussants suggested some facilities including separate queues for disabled voters and setting up access ramps for the physically disabled at the polling stations as well as permitting them to come there by vehicles, and introducing tactile ballot papers for the visually impaired ones.
   Nasir-Ur-Rahman Sinha, chairman of Salvation for the Deserving, himself a physically challenged person, presented the keynote paper, in which he suggested introducing not only voter ID cards but also nationality ID cards of different colours denoting the categories of their disabilities. For example, red cards for intellectually handicapped, white for visually impaired, yellow for the deaf and the mute, green or blue for physically challenged persons, etc.
   Monsur Ahmed Chowdhury, director of Impact Foundation, stressed the need for training election staff including the polling agents and other people involved in the balloting process on how to help the disabled citizens cast their vote.
   The importance of such training was apparent, said Democracy Watch executive director Taleya Rahman, as ‘In the past few elections, we hardly saw any physically challenged voters coming to the
   polling centres or the polling agents to properly assist them in voting.’
   National Democratic Institute resident director Owen Lippert, Rashid Uz-Zaman of Muslim Aid, Monwar Hosain of IHM (SAW), and Mojammel Huq of
   Action on Disability and Development were among the other participants who made noteworthy contributions at the discussion.

A memorial lecture and memorial award ceremony will be held at business faculty auditorium of Dhaka University on February 24, marking the birth and death anniversary of the late Professor Ahmed Sharif, a towering scholar and researcher of Bengali literature.
   Born in February 24, 1921, Ahmed Sharif died on February 13, 1999. A press release issued by Swadesh Chinta Sangha said that renowned writer and Professor Jatin Sirkar will deliver the memorial lecture. Writer and journalist Faiz Ahmed and novelist Professor Shawkat Ali have been selected for this year’s award.

The Bangladesh Coast Guard personnel seized foreign wine worth about Tk. 70 lakh from the outer anchorage of the Chittagong port on Sunday.
   The drive, led by Lieutenant Commander Mostafizur Rahman in cooperation with customs officials, raided MV Shwe Zay Yar Aung of Myanmar in outer anchorage and found the ship loaded with 2928 bottles of foreign wine which were imported, evading government taxes.

Pacific Motors Limited in a statement Monday said that it had supplied motor vehicles to the police and Rapid Action Battalion as per the government purchase rule.
   The police purchased a total of 3,005 vehicles, while the firm supplied only 431 after winning competitive tender. Although it took part in a number of bids, it was not given the work orders as other bidders quoted lower prices, said the statement.
   The firm denied the allegation of influence by its founder and former foreign minister M Morshed Khan in the tender process, as labeled in a report published by a Bangla daily on February 11.
   ‘Pacific Motors was among many other firms which took part in the bids,’ it said.

A conference of editors of SAARC countries has exhorted all governments of South Asia to allow freer movement of journalists by issuing multiple entry long term visas and dismantle all border barriers to enable easy exchange of news media products, reports Associated Press of Pakistan on Monday.
   The conclave also decried ‘continuing intimidation’ and ‘attacks’ on journalists in the region by ‘agencies of the state, extra-constitutional authorities, self-appointed cultural custodians, religious and political press-gangs, and criminal elements acting in collusion with law enforcement agencies.’
   The conference ‘urges the governments of the SAARC states to enable freer movement of journalists in the region by issuing multiple-entry long erm visas to all bonafide journalists and other news media personnel without
   restrictions on the areas they want to travel, ‘a declaration adopted at the end of two-day meet said.
   It also asked the governments of the SAARC countries to ‘dismantle all border barriers to free flow and exchange of news media products in the region.’
   SAARC comprises Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and India.
   Expressing concern over harassment of media persons, the conference asked the governments to intervene ‘immediately and decisively’ in every instance to protect journalists and the media from attacks and threats from any quarter.
   The SAARC countries were asked to bring in necessary legislation or amendments to respective national constitutions to make media freedom in the fullest sense an explicit, inalienable, fundamental right that cannot be tampered with in any manner.

Project Dyouth: Put Your Heads Together, the first ever business competition in Bangladesh, started its journey in September last.
   The winning team will be the first ever ‘project Dyouth team’, the youth ambassadors of Bangladesh.
   Two teams, out of the selected 37, have reached the final of the competition. The teams are: Lobdhi of BUET and Sobyosachi of IBA of Dhaka University.
   Lobdhi, formed by eight friends of BUET, entered the competition with a simple yet noble business plan- to design and produce an exciting board game based on the liberation war of 1971; which can convey the spirit of ‘Muktijudhdho’ to the youth in an interesting and stimulating way.
   The initial business idea of Sobyosachi was to establish a Pitha Ghar and popularise Bangladeshi food. The final challenge is to arrange a concert at Bashundhara Convention Centre, Baridhara on February 14, starting from 4:00pm.
   It will be called ‘the Dyouth concert’ and fund raised from the concert will be handed over to the Acid Survivors’ Foundation.

Shilpakala Academy team attendig festival in Canberra
A 13-member cultural team of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy is participating the ongoing two-week National Multicultural Festival which began in Canberra on February 5, said a press release. The team will take part in three segments of the festival scheduled to end on February 18. The team will perform on February 13-14 during the lunch hours at the central location in Canberra and the final performance will be held at the Street Theatre on February 15 where the ACT minister for housing and multicultural affairs, John Hargreaves, is expected to attend. Over 150 countries are attending the festival.
— New Age

Fire in Khulna Shilpa Bank building
A fire broke out on the eight floor of the Khulna Shilpa Bank building in the Khulna city Sunday night. Fire brigade sources said the fire originated at around 10:25pm and burnt the switchboard of mobile phone operator Aktel housed on the floor. Informed, fire fighters from the nearby stations brought the blaze under control after a 55-minute fight. The extent of the damage is yet to be assessed, the sources said
— BSS