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CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers continue to harass passengers in the Dhaka city by frequently ignoring meter ands declining to go to the destinations of the passengers need.
   Although the government increased the fare and made it mandatory that the drivers must go to destinations of passengers need, most of the drivers decline to follow the meter and go to all the destinations.
   Not only the common people, the staff of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and even the leaders of CNG Auto-rickshaw Owners’ Association are facing harassment on the streets.
   Humyun Rashid Khalifa, director (engineering) of BRTA, told New Age on Saturday that the CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers were still harassing the passengers. ‘No driver is going by the meter despite an increase in the fare.’
   A couple of days back, a BRTA deputy director faced such a situation when a driver refused him to go on meter although the official gave his identity, Humayun said.
   ‘We have recently sent the names of nine CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners to the regional transport committee and recommended cancellation of the registration and route permit of their vehicles for violating the government order,’ he added.
   The transport committee has been formed with the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police as its chief.
   Humayun said they will immediately intensify the ongoing mobile court drive to stop harassment to the passengers by CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers as well as the owners.
   ATM Nazmul Hasan, general secretary of Dhaka City CNG Auto-Rickshaw Owners’ Association, said the drivers charge the passengers on whim.
   ‘We want stern action against the drivers who violate the rules,’ he added, saying that not the passengers but they are also being harassed by the drivers.
   Sources in the association said the meter calibration of all the CNG-run auto-rickshaws has already been done, but the drivers are not abiding by the fare chart.
   As per the revised chart fixed by the government, fare for the first two kilometres had been increased from Tk 12 to Tk 13.50 and from Tk 5 to Tk 5.50 for subsequent kilometers. The minimum fare for short distance had been fixed at Tk 15.
   The daily deposit had also been increased from Tk 300 to Tk 450, but the owners had been taking deposit up to Tk 600 from drivers for long.
   The government in 2001 phased out around 31,500 two-stroke three-wheelers and introduced environment-friendly CNG-run four-stroke three-wheelers in the capital and some divisional and district towns.
   According to BRTA, there are 13,000 CNG auto-rickshaws in the capital city and 5,000 more vehicles will be added soon with the fleet, official sources said.
   The number of CNG-run auto-rickshaws plying the city streets will be much higher than the official statistics, sources in owners and drivers association said.

Robbers looted cash and gold ornaments worth Tk 22 lakh from a house at Mohammadpur in the Dhaka city Saturday evening, a day after another robbery in the city.
   Family members said a gang of robbers entered the residence of one Haji Mohammad Jahangir, a brick trader, at about 6:00pm by cutting open window grilles.
   The gang broke open the cupboard and took away Tk 5 lakh and gold ornaments weighing about 100 tolas, they said.
   The inmates of the house were not present during the robbery as they were out of the residence to visit a patient in a nearby hospital. No body was arrested till Sunday evening in connection with the incident.
   Earlier, robbers looted valuables worth over Tk 22 lakh from the house of a jeweller at Hazaribagh Friday night. The police said five robbers, cladding uniforms of Rapid Action Battalion, came to the Bhagalpur Lane residence of Sukumar Karmakar.

Nirapad Naupath Bastabayan Jote has urged the government to declare July 8 as Safe Waterway Day commemorating deaths of 800 passengers of MV Nasreen that capsized in the Padma-Meghna confluence on this day in 2003.
   The demand came at a news conference organised by the Jote, a platform of civil society working for safe waterways, and Shipping and Communication Reporters Forum at the National Press Club on the fourth anniversary of the tragedy on Sunday.
   Aminur Rasul Babul, national coordinator of NNBJ, reading out a statement also urged the government to formulate a guideline for ‘stability of the river vessels’ in line with the International Maritime Organisation. It is essential for avoiding the accidents, he said.
   He estimated that 20,000 big and small vessels use to ply in different river routes of the country, half of which have no registration. Again, most of the vessels were not built in accordance with the approved design. Vessels with faulty designs have more risks of capsize in the calamity.
   Some 501 launched capsized in last 30 years, 70 per cent of which were not built according to the approved design, Babul claimed.
   Syed Alam, Ashish Kumar Dey and Moinuddin Zulfikar also spoke.
   MV Nasreen, a triple-deck lunch, capsized on this day in 2003 near Chandpur leaving around 800 people of southern Bhola island, whom are mostly from poor families, dead.

The Rajshahi University authorities on Sunday distributed ‘Professor Basak Award’ and ‘Basak Scholarships’ among the meritorious students of the university.
   Agriculture adviser CS Karim distributed the awards and scholarships at a function, organised by the physics department of the university. Peninsula Welfare Trust introduced the award.
   Zakir Hossain of applied physics and electronic and engineering department, who secured first position in the BSc (Hon’s) examination in the science faculty, and Nusrat Jahan, who became first class first in physics department, got the award. Each of them was given Tk 40,000, a crest and a certificate.
   Five students of physics department were given the scholarship. They are Rashedul Islam and Al-Helal of first year, Sumon Chandra of second year, Aftabuzzman of third year and Abdur Rashid of fourth year.
   RU vice-chancellor Altaf Hossain and pro-VC Mamnunul Keramat were present as special guests at the function chaired by Peninsula Welfare Trust chairman and Shahajalal University of Science and Technology vice-chancellor Aminul Islam.
   Eminent scientist Professor Arun Kumar Basak, RU science faculty dean MA Hashem, Peninsula Welfare Trust general secretary Dr Rezaur Rahim and RU physics department chairman Professor Obaidul Hakim, among others, addressed the function. Debika Basak, wife of Professor Arun Kumar Basak, was also present.

The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology will celebrate its 60th founding anniversary on July 28 amid much fanfare, according to a press release.
   BUET will organise a series of programmes to commemorate the ‘Sixty Years of Engineering Education in Bangladesh’ in a befitting manner as part of its celebration programme.
   The series of events, spanning over a period of six months, will be launched at the central auditorium of BUET in the morning.
   The BUET vice-chancellor, Professor AMM Safiullah, is expected to chair the inaugural programme.
   Former BUET vice-chancellors will also attend the six-month long programme on the university campus.
   The erstwhile Ahsanullah Engineering College was the first institution for producing graduate engineers in Bangladesh.
   The college became today’s Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the release added.

Twenty-nine officials at the zonal settlement office in Sylhet have been transferred for their involvement in different irregularities and corruption.
   Fifteen of the officials were transferred to different divisional and district-level offices in Khulna, Rangpur, Faridpur, Noakhali, Jessore and Comilla, while 14 others were sent to their previous workplaces, sources in the settlement office said.
   Abdul Wazed, director of the land record and survey department, visited Sylhet last month to investigate the allegation of corruption, the sources said, adding an order from the higher authorities reached the office on June 26.
   According to the officials, the transferred officials had been working for more than last 15 years, in violation of the government service law as no government employee can work more than three years at the same place.
   These settlement officials pocketed several hundred crore taka illegally from the common people during the land survey in Sylhet division, the sources said.
   They also earned a huge amount of money in collusion with the higher authorities from the process of appointing more than one hundred field-level survey officers in 2005, the sources claimed.
   The transferred sub-assistant settlement officials are: Yousuf Bhuiyan, Suleman Khan, Nazrul Islam, Humayun Kabir, Shafiqul Islam, Abdul Mannan, Druba Ranjan, Abdul Gafur, Nazrul Islam, Nazrul Islam Suhel, Motahar Hussain, Mahitosh Chandar Das, Gias Uddin, Abdul Malik, Abul Kalam Azad, Zakir Hussain, Abdul Hai Gazi, MM Shahi, Ali Akter, Muktar Ahmed, Rafiq Miah, Abdul Hai Azad, Abul Fazal, Asaduzzaman Ferdous, Badrul Amin Chowdhury, Abul Kalam Chowdhury, Gias Ahmed, Mahitosh Das and Zafar Ahmed.
   Admitting the fact Abdur Rouf Bhuiyan, zonal settlement officer in Sylhet, said on Sunday there were a lot of allegations against the transferred officials and the high authorities decided to take action against them.
   Asked, whether the recent transfer is a bid to save the skin of the corrupt settlement officials from the ongoing drive against corrupt government employees, the zonal settlement officer said he was not in such position to answer this question.
   The transferred officials either could not be reached or declined to comment.

National Press Club organised a fruits festival for its members and their families on the club premises in Dhaka on Sunday.
   The festival that witnessed much enthusiasm and spontaneity among the members as well as their spouses and children continued for five hours from 9:00am.
   During the period, they had tasted different indigenous mouthwatering fruits including mango, jackfruits, pineapple, dehwa, latkan, carambola, bangi and guava.
   In the morning, National Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud and general secretary Kamal Uddin Sabuj, deputy managing director of British American Tobacco Company Golam Mainuddin, BFUJ president Mozammel Haque and former NPC president Riazuddin Ahmed along with the club’s office bearers inaugurated the festival.
   The first ever fruits festival at JPC was held in cooperation of the BATC. After the inaugural ceremony, NPC general secretary Kamal Uddin Sabuj and DMD of BATC Golam Mainuddin planted saplings on the club premises.
   One of the visitors said they got an opportunity to have tastes of different types of mangoes produced in different parts of the country. These mangoes are not carbide-treated and they are health-friendly; so we bought mangoes of different varieties from the fair for ours and our relatives, she added.

An official of a water transport company lodged a general diary with the Barisal Kotwali police against the editor of a weekly magazine Saturday night on charge of blackmailing him.
   Police said Habibur Rahman filed the GD against ASB Salahuddin, editor and publisher of weekly Shuva Sakaler Barta.
   He alleged that Salahuddin after failing to get toll from him published a false report against him on June 26 and threatened to publish more reports if the toll is not paid immediately.

Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at many places over Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and at a few places over Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions with moderately heavy to very heavy falls at places during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said on Sunday.
   The day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Sunday, 34.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Ishwardi and the lowest, 24.5 degrees Celsius, in Cox’s Bazar and Comilla.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:50pm and rises tomorrow at 5:18am.

Seven injured
by mob at CU
Seven people, one of them a teacher of Chittagong University, were injured as the local people pelted brick chips on a human hauler they were boarding in the university area Saturday night. The local people turned unruly after a quarrel between a pedestrian and some of the passengers on the Chittagong University level crossing at about 8:30pm. The injured include Professor AFM Aminul Islam of Islamic studies department and Kamal Uddin, a photographer of the information section of the university. The Hathazari police arrested six people in connection with the attack.
— New Age

20 hurt in Khulna road mishap
Twenty people were injured in a road mishap at Shiromoni under Khanjahan Ali police area in the Khulna city on Sunday. The police said a Phultala-bound Nagar Paribahan bus turned upside down at Kalabagan of Shiromoni as a front wheel of the bus punctured at around 1:30am. The injured were taken to a local clinic. Of them, seriously injured Mohshin, Ananya, Shamshur Rahman Gazi, and Mokhter Hossain were taken to Phultala Health Complex.
— New Age