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The Sayedabad and Chandnighat water treatment plants may turn useless in near future if the pollution of Buriganga and Sitalkhya goes unabated, sources in the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority said.
   A high official of the water authority said if the water pollution continued in the present rate, toxicity would go beyond the level of purification making the plants useless within 10 years and ultimately creating an acute crisis of water in the city.
   ‘Due to the excess pollution of the Buriganga and Shitalakhya, we have to use excess chemical to treat the water in the plants, which create bad smell in the supply water,’ he said adding, ‘It also increase the water treatment cost.’
   He, however, appreciated the recent initiative of the Department of Environment to force the industries to use effluent treatment plant.
   ‘It’s a positive sign. It will check industrial wastes and thus prevent water and environment pollution,’ he said adding that if the DoE could ensure the use of effluent treatment plants in all industries, pollution of water in Buriganga and other rivers and canals would reduce significantly.
   Industrial wastes contain toxic like chromium, mercury and lead, a certain level of which can be treated in the plants, but continuation of the Buriganga and Shitalakhya in the present rate will make the water untreatable within a decade, he added.
   Underscoring the need for strengthening the DoE drive, another WASA official said the industrial toxicity was still under control, but it would be quite impossible to use water for the plants within 10 years if the pollution continues at the present rate.
   Pollution of the city canals and the River Balu has to be reduced to control Shitalakhya pollution, he said.
   Pollution of Buriganga is turning grave because of untreated domestic and industrial wastes, said sources in WASA adding wastes of the tanneries in Hazaribagh and Jigatala area were mainly responsible for the pollution.
   The Sayedabad and Chandnigaht water treatment plants respectively supply about 22.50 crore and 4 crore litres of water against the total WASA supply 176 crore litres a day and rest of the water comes from 454 deep tube-wells. The daily demand for water in the Dhaka city is 200 crore litre.
   Sayedabad Water Treatment Plant uses Shitalakhya water while Chadnighat Water Treatment Plant uses Burignaga water to treat.
   According to the sources, a number of canals in the Dhaka city carry a large quantity of swage, industrial and other wastes into the River Balu that flows into the Shitalakhya.
   The pollution level of the river Buriganga is also very high due to the discharge of sewages and industrial and other wastes, mainly from of tanneries.
   Wastes from WASA sewages in Moghbazar, Sayedabad, Mugda, Manda, Basabo, Madartek and adjoining areas flow into the Debodholai and Narai canals, which fall into the Sitalakhya through the Balu, WASA officials said.
   Industries in Tejgaon and Mahakhali also dispose of wastes into the river Balu through the canals, and in other means, they said.
   Besides, most of the industries on both sides of the Shitalakhya do not have effluent treatment plants, they added.

Prices of cooking oil, milk powder and red meat increased further while that of broiler, vegetables and spices declined in the kitchen markets of the Dhaka city in the past week.
   Prices of cooking oil, especially the non-packed soybean and palm, increased significantly and the grocers were selling loose soybean per kilogram between and Tk 70 and Tk 72 and palm between Tk 58 and Tk 60.
   Bottled soybean of different major selling brands was up by Tk 2 per liter over the week with the popular 5-liter bottles was on Friday selling between Tk 240 and Tk 260 from their earlier prices ranging between Tk 230 and Tk 250.
   ‘A supply shortage from importers and refiners caused significant price hike of cooking oil at wholesale level during the past two weeks,’ said Moyeen Mia, a grocer at Mohammadpur Town Hall Bazar.
   Retailers said the distributors of few branded packed milks pushed up further the prices of their products.
   Grocers said prices of per 400-gram packs of Marks and Fresh brands of powdered milk increased by nearly Tk 4 in the week.
   Bird flue cautions among the consumers pushed down consumption of broiler as chicken retailers in the city told New Age that their sales declined by around on third over the week.
   Per kilogram of broiler was selling between Tk 80 and Tk 90 on Friday against Tk 100 and Tk 105 a week ago while farm grown eggs per dozen was selling between Tk 45 and Tk 48 against Tk 54 and Tk 57.
   Lower consumption of chicken, meantime, beefed up demand of red meats and fishes pushing up their prices. Per kilogram of beef was on Friday selling at different city markets between Tk 170 and Tk 180, up by Tk 10 per kilogram.
   Prices of many fishes were also increased between Tk 20 and Tk 50 per kilogram over the week and on Friday at Mokhali Bazar, per kilogram of shol was selling between Tk 200 and Tk 220, rohita of different varieties between Tk 160 and Tk 250 while small fishes like kachki and mola between Tk 140 and Tk 160.
   At wholesale markets, supply of vegetables increased over the week pushing down their prices and agro-produces became cheaper between Tk 2 and Tk 6 per kilogram at retail level.
   At Nakhalpara Bazar, per kilogram of onions of different varieties were selling between Tk 16 and Tk 22, tomato between Tk 10 and Tk 16, aubergine between Tk 16 and Tk 22, small bitter gourd between Tk 16 and Tk 20 while okra was selling at Tk 16.
   Among spices, prices of red chili, garlic and ginger declined between Tk 8 and Tk 20 per kilogram as, traders said, new stocks started reaching the markets.
   Price of rice remained stable in the week as lata, a coarse variety of rice, was selling at Tk 21 per kilogram, medium quality pari between Tk 22 and Tk 23 while fine variety najirshail between Tk 24 and Tk 26. Among other major essentials, red lentil was selling between Tk 54 and Tk 72, packed atta between Tk 25 and Tk 26 and sugar between Tk 33 and Tk 34 per kilogram.

Robbers looted gold ornaments worth about Tk 50 lakh from two jewellery shops after doping up the security guards of a multi-storey shopping mall in the Sylhet city early Friday.
   The police detained five persons, including the managing director of a security company, for interrogation.
   The detainees were managing director of the Bandhan Security Service, Moniruzzaman Khan Jiban, electrician of the shopping mall, Bikash Barman, security guard Nikhil Ovi, Tera Miah and Chan Miah.
   The doped security guard Nizam Uddin, Luthfur Miah, Muhit Miah and Luthfur Rahman were admitted into Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital for treatment, the police said.
   The Kotwali police said a gang of miscreants committed robbery at the Ahmed Jewellery and Dolly Jewellery located on the third floor of the Millennium Market of Zindabazar area in the city on Friday hours.
   The burglar doped the security guards and looted more than 200 tolas of gold ornaments kept for display in the shops worth about Tk 50 lakh, after breaking open the shutters of the jewellery shops. The robbers, however, could not open the safe volts of the shops, the source said.
   Being informed, the Kotwali police reached the spot in the morning and took the senseless security guards to the Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital for treatment.
   Later the police detained the managing director of the Bandhan Security Service, which supplied security guards for the market, one electrician and three more security guards of the shopping mall.
   The police said four security guards of the shopping mall remained absconding since Friday.

The Rajshahi unit of Sushasoner Jonno Procharabhijan (SUPRO) on Friday demanded holding of a special session of the civil society members of SAARC countries parallel to the SAARC summit meetings in order to focus people’s grievances and aspiration.
   The SUPRO members made the demand while exchanging views with the journalists in the city.
   The meeting focused on the united efforts of India, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh to overcome the crisis of water sharing of the common rivers flowing from the Himalayas and generation of hydro-power to meet the growing need of the region.
   They urged the Government to develop Mongla port to meet the growing need of land locked Nepal and Bhutan and also called upon the Pakistan government to create special arrangement to extend seaport facility to land locked Afghanistan.
   The meeting, held at GDRC auditorium entitled ‘Peoples Voice in SAARC Meet’, was presided by SUPRO-Rajshahi President Professor Fazlul Haque where the keynote speaker was its General Secretary Hasan Millat.
   It was addressed also by local journalists Liakat Ali, SMA Kader, Abdullah Al-Masud Bablu and Tasiqul Islam,  SUPRO VP Mustafizur Rahman Khan, Mahila Parishad general secretary Kalpana Roy, BWJS President Manjuara Khatun, BLAST-Rajshahi Coordinator Advocate Abdus Samad.

About 37 per cent of people in the country have been suffering from thyroid-related diseases, including hypothyroidism, and 0.02 per cent of them are attacked with thyroid cancer.
   The president of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, MA Karim, said this at the inaugural session of the 12th national conference of the organisation on Friday.
   Karim, also a former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, highlighted the importance of nuclear medicine in treating people affected by thyroid-related diseases.
   Diagnosis, treatment and management of thyroid-related diseases are being done applying mainly nuclear medicine, he told the conference held at the auditorium of the commission at Agargaon in the city.
   ‘There is no organ of the human body, where there is no application of nuclear medicine these days,’ Karim said.
   Use of nuclear medicine in diagnosis, therapeutic treatment and management of various diseases continued to be expanded following its recent developments in the country.
   Addressing as the chief guest, national professor Nurul Islam urged the government to introduce full-fledged nuclear medicine unit under supervision of qualified nuclear medicine specialists in every medical college hospitals right now and in all government-run general hospitals in phases.
   The nuclear medicine unit, if introduced, will enable the physicians of different departments of a hospital to consult the nuclear medicine specialists for proper treatment and management of complicated diseases, he observed.
   The chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Shafiqul Islam, said the commission was producing isotopes used in nuclear medicine and it would be able soon to produce all required isotopes.
   The general secretary of the society, Faridul Alam, said the nuclear medicine department of the commission had already undertaken a project for diagnosis, treatment and management of neonatal hypothyroidism.
   If the neonatal hypothyroidism of a baby is not diagnosed and treated within a year after its birth, the baby is very much exposed to becoming abnormal in the future, he said.
   The inaugural session was also addressed, among others, by vice-presidents of the society MF Kabir and Rokan Uddin.
   Twenty-two scientific papers were presented at the daylong conference.

National youth convention will be held in Dhaka on Monday with a call to strengthen the movement for ensuring equal rights and dignity of all.
   Around 500 youths from across the country will attend the convention being organised by the Youth Social Forum Bangladesh, a platform of 23 social and political organisations.
   Noted writer Selina Hossain will inaugurate the convention at the Planning and Development Academy at Nilkhet.
   The convention will focus on the adverse impacts on the poor countries caused by the negative role of some large international agencies like the World Bank, World Trade Organisation and the International Monetary Fund, the organisers told a press briefing at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on Friday.
   It will raise various issues like social insecurities, unemployment in poor countries and urge policymakers concerned to protect the interests of the country by saving the state-owned industries, companies and other public property like ports, they said.
   NGO leader Khushi Kabir, playwright Mamunur Rashid, Zakir Hossain, Professor MM Akash and Rashed Ahmed Titumir will take part in discussions on ‘domination of products, cultural aggression and the youths’ ‘globalisation, privatisation of the service sectors and commercialising of education.’
   The objective of the convention is to create awareness among the students and the youths of the country of the role of international money-investing institutions on various important national issues.
   The convention will also draw the attention of the regional leaders on the eve of SAARC summit beginning in New Delhi on Tuesday towards protecting interests of the member countries.
   The forum will organise such convention in divisional and district towns. It also will organise an international youth convention in Bangladesh next year.
   The forum leaders observed that the youths of the country were not free from the harmful effects of globalisation.
   The World Bank and the IMF are imposing development prescription on the weak countries like Bangladesh. As a result, the poor are becoming poorer and rich countries richer,’ the organisers told the briefing.
   For worldwide social movement, the World Forum started its activities in Brazil in 2001. Such activities of the forum in Bangladesh began in 2003. However, it had its organisational shape in February this year.
   Juba Nagarik Odhikar, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Bangladesh Juba Union, Chhatra Moitree, Juba Moitree, Green Voice, Mukta Shishu O Nari, Nari Sramik Federation, Banchte Shekha, Juba Samajer Pradip, Jatiya Juba Jote, Textile and Garments Workers’ Federation, Nari Odhikar Sangrakshan and Pawa are among the 23 organises that form the forum.

The next episode of the BBC World Service’s Bangladesh Sanglap will be held today, said a BBC press release.
   The programme, to be presented and moderated by Kamal Ahmed of the BBC Bangla Service, will take place at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre at 5.45pm.
   This segment’s scheduled panel members are Gana Forum president Dr Kamal Hossain, former member of Anti-Corruption Commission Moniruzzaman Miah, Blue for Peace campaigner Asma Kibria and executive director of UBINIG Farida Akhter.
   It will be broadcast on BBC Bangla radio service at 7:30 pm on Sunday and on Channel i at 8:00pm on Monday.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with temporarily/partly cloudy sky over the country till 6:00pm today, Met Office said in a forecast on Friday.
   The day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Friday, 37.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Rajshahi and Jessore and the lowest, 17.0 degrees Celsius, at Srimongal.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:14pm and rises tomorrow at 5:51am.

2 women held with cannabis in Khulna
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested two women drug traffickers with one kg of cannabis from Daulatpur area of the Khulna city on Friday. Tipped-off, a RAB team arrested the women—Saleha Begum, 40, wife of Abdur Rob, and Jesmine Akhtar, 30, wife of Kanon Khan of Maniktala slum—and seized one kg of cannabis from their possession. Another RAB team arrested a gang leader of muggers, Moyen Morel, 56 of Baikali Bazar under Khalishpur thana, from a tea stall Friday.
— BSS

Housewife raped in Keraniganj
A housewife was gang raped at Bamonsur village midnight Thursday night. Local sources said the victim, aged about 22, along with her husband and brother-in-law went to the house of Khalek Dewan at Bamonsur village from Faridpur district at night to attend a religious programme. But in the midst of the programme, a group of miscreants picked up the housewife at gunpoint and took her to Panchdona High School ground. They, later, gang raped her. Being informed, the police rushed to the scene and rescued the victims in an unconscious state. She was admitted to Mitford Hospital. The police arrested two people.
— UNB