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A bus plunged into the River Turag on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway just before getting on the Salehpur bridge
   near Aminbazar at Savar on Sunday.
   The bus helper died and 20 passengers were injured.
   Witnesses said the Dhaka-bound bus from Natore skidded off the road into the river which is dried up.
   More than 20 people, including the bus helper Helaluddin, were injured in the accident.
   The local people rescued the injured.
   Two of the injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the helper was declared dead on his arrival.
   An unnamed man, in his thirties, was under treatment in the hospital. His condition was reported to be critical.
   Others injured were admitted to different hospitals in the city.

The government is likely to change the chairmen and councillors of the three interim hill district councils of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban soon, said sources in the ministry of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs.
   A fresh list of probable persons to be assigned as chairmen and councillors has been made and the government is communicating with them, said the sources.
   All the three local governments in the hills are now functioning as interim bodies as no elections to the councils were held in past 18 years.
   The last election was held on June 25, 1989 for a three-year tenure.
   Successive governments extended the tenure 17 times avoiding election and paying no heed to the demands of the hill people. Party men made their way into the institutions.
   The three Hill District Local Government Councils were formed through elections in an effort to end insurgency in the region that claimed lives of more than 20,000 people.
   After signing of the CHT peace accord with the
   Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti in late 1997, the local government bodies were renamed as Hill District Councils and the number of councillors was reduced to four from 30.

Nine-year-old Muhammad Fazlu Mia has been lying in the child unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital with high fever, chest pain, continuous headache and itch for the last one month.
   A three-year work in a tannery has left him with all these symptoms.
   Fazlu is one of the nearly 500 children engaged in worst forms of labour in about 250 tanneries in Dhaka’s Hazaribagh area.
   They are not recruited as permanent workers and that is why they are deprived of all sorts of facilities, including reasonable wage, health care and education, according to the owners of different tanneries and parents of the child labourers.
   The employers, especially who run the tanneries with small capital, employ the children for ‘cheap labour’ and ‘easy control’, it was revealed after talking with some factory owners in the area. Parents and children informed that they are working either for food or a small wage.
   A 13-year old Jamil Sarker has been working there for last one-and-half-year for a monthly pay of Tk 600. Asked why he works in a tannery factory, Jamil looked surprised. ‘To earn money,’ he replied simply.
   Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association, Harun Chowdhury told New Age, ‘Working in tannery industry is a hard job, which is not possible for children. So far my knowledge goes the trend of recruiting child labourer in tannery is decreasing due to their slow pace of productivity.’
   Child labour does not exist in any of the association’s nearly 200 member factories, the chairman claimed.
   Hazaribagh Tannery Workers Union’s figures, however, tell a different story. There are about 300 children working in Hazaribagh tanneries while the number of unregistered child workers might be even higher, union sources said quoting their own surveys.
   ‘Child labourers are here because they meet their families’ economic needs as well as serve the purposes of factory owners. Most of the time children are sent to work by their parents and guardians,’ said a small tannery owner, Julfiqar Ali.
   Factories tend to engage children because they work for a low wage and are easily controllable, industry insiders said. A child is paid Tk 25 to Tk 30 per day while wage for an adult worker ranges from Tk 60 to Tk 100.
   Large and medium factories, which are more or less export-oriented, are free from child labour, said a member of the association.
   But the small ones, which process hide extracted from animal waste unused by large factories, employ underage workers.
   Most of these children come from poor families and they support their families, risking own health.
   Health problems such as chest pain, respiratory problem, nausea, headache and skin diseases are commonplace for them, said Dr Kamrul Hasan, who is treating Fazlu Mia at DMCH.
   ‘Fazlu was working at a tannery factory for Tk 800 a month. He became so sick one day that he was not in a position to go for work. We brought him to Mohanagar Shishu Hospital and doctors then referred him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for better treatment,’ said Julekha Begum, Fazlu’s mother.
   Working in tannery factory is harmful not only for child, it is also hazardous for adults if they do not use aprons, masks, gloves and shoes to protect themselves from toxic chemicals, salt and strong stink from raw hides, the physician noted.
   About 480 child labourers working in tannery, battery, glass, wielding and boutique factories in the old part of Dhaka city are now getting non-formal education at six centres run by an NGO Aparajeyo-Bangladesh.
   Despite various initiatives taken up by the government, NGOs and international agencies for the welfare of working children, child labour continues to increase due to poverty and unabated migration from villages to urban areas, said Abdullah-Al-Mamun, programme coordinator of child labour and early childhood development programme of the NGO.

The government has taken up a two-year project involving Tk 10 crore for infrastructure development in the Kuakata tourism zone under the Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation.
   The project includes the development of two Buddhist temples, construction of a motel and a youth tourist centre and purchase of vehicles. The government is also considering another project involving Tk 60 crore for the construction of three bidges and a motel at the Barisal link point.
   The tourism zone at Kalapra in Patuakhali is 108km off the Barisal city. But people need to use five ferries to go to Kuakata from Barisal. Three of the ferries are in service along a 22km of stretch at Kalapara.
   Mojibul Alam, general manager (words) of the corporation said the project work was expected to be completed by June 2009. Tender procedures have already been completed. The Public Works Department will develop the Buddhist temples at Kuakatta and Mistripara at a cost of Tk 1.2 crore.
   The tourism corporation will carry out the remaining jobs, including the construction of a 50-bed motel, a 200-bed tourist centre and purchase of two air-conditioned luxury coach, he said.
   A Parjatan Corporation holiday home was set up at the place at a cost of Tk 1.2 crore during 1995–1996 financial year. The home was inaugurated in 1997 and the prime minister of the time declared Kuakata an exclusive tourism zone. In 1995, a high-level meeting of the ministries concerned at Kuakata decided to make some infrastructure development in the area. But the plan was later dropped.
   The proposal for the construction of three bridges and a motel in Barisal at a cost of Tk 60 crore was later cancelled.

Amid gradual decline in revenue earning and a surge in applications seeking to surrender land-phone lines, Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board’s Rangpur office initiated desperate move to realise Tk 8.45 crore in phone bill arrears.
   Government offices shared the half of the unpaid bills.
   Of the amount, over Tk 38 lakh was defaulted by 16 former lawmakers of the region,
   who were among the 38
   ex-MPs recently sued by the board for realising unpaid phone bills, revenue officials said.
   Several hundred connections were snapped during the last four months to force the users clear the arrears and the move helped the state-run telephone board to realise about Tk 4 crore.
   According to the BTTB’s Rangpur revenue office, there were about 26,000 land phone connections in greater Rangpur- Dinajpur districts.
   The demands for land phone lines have marked a steep fall in recent times as the people find mobile phones more user-friendly and cost effective, officials said.
   Moreover, existing users are opting to hand over their BTTB land lines.
   The local office meanwhile received about 600 applications seeking to surrender their land phone lines and the number of such users is increasing fast, sources disclosed.
   Of the total arrears of TK 8.45 crore, government offices in eight districts of the region owed TK 4.32 crore, while the rest Tk 4.13 crore is lying with different non-government offices and individual subscribers.
   The district-wise break-up was Tk 92.85 lakh in Gaibanda, TK 1.89 crore in Nilphamari, Tk 2.32 crore in Rangpur, TK 70.42 lakh in Lalmonirha, TK 77.43 lakh in Kurigram, TK 88.79 lakh in Dinajpur, TK 68.55 lakh in Thakurgaon and TK 26.56 lakh in Panchagarh.
   Nurul Islam, revenue and accounts officer of BTTB, Rangpur office said that the board took some initiatives for realising the arrears soon after the caretaker government took over power.
   It also realised TK 3.75 crore from the defaulters during the last three months serving notices and disconnecting the lines. The rate of recovery is higher than any time in the past, the official said.
   Rafiq Sarker, a land phone user, who applied for surrendering his connection, said that he felt using mobile phone was more comfortable and cheaper than land phone.
   “I have to pay line rent
   even if I do not talk over land phone in a month”. High
   line rent of BTTB is responsible for the huge outstanding
   bills, he said, suggesting
   that BTTB should curtail its line rent if it is to stay in the business.
   As part of its vigorous drives to realise unpaid bills, the Rangpur office of BTTB filed cases against 38 former members of parliament at different times during 2006 and 2007 for realising around TK 53.33 lakh. Of them, 22 paid over Tk 20 lakh, but the rest 16 were yet to clear their arrears.
   T&T Rangpur sources said, the defaulters were the
   lawmakers of 5th, 7th and
   8th parliaments. The department earlier issued them
   several notices which they ignored.
   Karim Uddin Bharsa, former lawmaker of Jatiya Party, topped the defaulters’ list with Tk 12.75 lakh lying unpaid against his two telephones.
   Abdur Rashid Sarker,
   former JP MP from Gaibandha, owes Tk 6.70 lakh in unpaid phone bills, followed by Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhontu, also an ex JP lawmaker, with Tk 3.75 lakh.
   The other defaulters include Begum Shaheeda Sarker Reba owing Tk 2.24 lakh,
   Poritosh Chakkraborti Tk 84 thousand, Hafizur Rahman
   Tk 34,600, Amjad Hosen Talukder Tk 79, 690, Moklesur Rahman Tk 85,395, Joynal Abedin Tk 58,506,
   Shahajahan Sarder Tk 53,164, Ahsan Ahmed Tk 2.34 lakh,
   NK Alam Choudhury
   Tk 60,256, Bharoti Nandi Tk 37,204, Noor Mohammad Mondol Tk 4,812, Hafij Uddin Tk 40,714 and Satish Chandra Tk 3, 935.
   Accounts officer of BTTB’s Rangpur office Nurul Islam filed the cases with the courts of the respective districts.

A Magura judges’ court lawyer, Md Aktar Hossain Mridha, was killed in a road accident at Pajakhola on the Magura-Narail Road at 11:00am on Saturday.
   Three more, including Aktar’s wife, Shahida Khatun, were injured in the incident. The injured were admitted to Magura General Hospital in a critical condition.
   The police said Aktar was going going to Nikorhata along with his wife in a motorcycle.
   Another motorcycle collided head on with Aktar’s motorcycle. Aktar Hossain died on the spot.
   The rider of the other motorcycle, Aslam Uddin, of Chhoto Kalamdhari, was injured. He was also admitted to Magura General Hospital.

Tanvirul Islam Joy, one of the 23 most wanted criminals of Bangladesh, was arrested Saturday noon by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department in India at Rajarhat in Kolkata.
   Anandabazar Patrika of West Bengal in its online version published a news item on Sunday which said the Criminal Investigation Department of India arrested Joy at an
   apartment in the Rajarhat
   area.
   Joy, who went into hiding after October 2001, was being treated at AMR Bangur Hospital in police custody.
   The Indian CID officials said in the Alipore court that they could not produce him in the court as he was being treated in the hospital and he would be produced in the court when he would be discharged from the hospital.
   Joy, the second-in-command of the Seven Star Gang, went into hiding with his associates after the Bangladesh home affairs ministry on December 27, 2001 announced a bounty of Tk 1,00,000 on information on the whereabouts of Joy.
   The Bangladesh inspector general of police, Noor Mohammad, told New Age, ‘We are yet to receive any official information on Joy’s arrest. We will take steps when we know of it officially.’
   On November 19, 2002, the Kolkata police arrested Liakat, Arman, Nitel and Kala Jahangir in possession of firearms, on information provided by their rival gangsters.
   The police released Nitel and Kala Jahangir the next day having failed to establish their identities, but Liakat and Arman were produced in court and the court remanded them on bail after 12 days.
   Joy is accused in more than a dozen criminal cases, including murder, extortion and rioting, in Bangladesh.
   The police had been on a continuous hunt for him for more than six years.
   Most of the wanted criminals went into hiding in Kolkata after the law enforcers intensified their hunt for them after the immediate-past BNP government had assumed office in October 2001.

The chief adviser to the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, has condoled the death of governor of Makkah Prince Abdul Majid bin Abdul Aziz in the United States on May 5.
   In a message to King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia, the chief adviser said, ‘I, on behalf of the government, the people of Bangladesh and on my own behalf, convey our heartfelt condolences to your majesty and through you to the government and the people of Saudi Arabia at his passing away.’
   He said the late prince would be remembered throughout the Ummah for his great wisdom and philanthropic acts.
   The chief adviser prayed to Almighty Allah to grant eternal peace to the departed soul and his family and friends the courage and fortitude to bear with their irreparable loss.

The BNP chairperson and former prime minister, Khaleda Zia, has expressed her deep shock at the death of governor of Makkah Abdul Majeed Bin Abdul Aziz.
   In a condolence massage on Sunday, Khaleda prayed for the salvation of the departed
   soul and conveyed her sympathy to the bereaved family members.
   Makkah governor Abdel Majid, also the stepbrother of Saudi King Abdullah, died at a hospital in Washington of USA on Saturday.

India’s Border Security Force abducted two Bangladeshis from near the Jothpara border at Atwari in Panchagarh Sunday morning.
   The victims are Hamidul Haq, 25, and Ansarul Haq, 20, of Courtganj of the upazila.
   The Bangladesh Rifles officials said the Indian border guards picked the two up when they were cutting grass near the border at about 10:00am.

Two were killed and seven injured in a road accident on the Cox’s Bazar-Chittagong Highway at Chakaria on Sunday.
   The deceased were Shakera Begum, 65, of Bhoramuhuri, and Nizamuddin, 20, of Badarkhali at Chakaria in Cox’s Bazar.
   The police and local people said the accident had taken place at about 5:30pm when a Chittagong-bound bus from Cox’s Bazar collided head-on with a truck at Uttar Harba of Chakaria.
   The local people sent the injured to the local health complex.
   The police sent the bodies to the Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue for post-mortem examination.
   Both the vehicles were seized.

A crime suspect was killed in a shootout with the Rapid Action Battalion at Nagar Mohammad-pur in the Kushtia district headquarters Saturday night, taking to 8099 the number of such death after June 2004.
   The deceased, Nabir Hossain alias Boma Nabir, 42, was military commander of of the crime gang Salam Bahini, the battalion said.
   The battalion said one of its teams raided a house on information on a gathering of criminals at about 6:00pm.
   As the law men reached the place, the criminals fired on the battalion, forcing them to fire hack. The shootout lasted for half an hour.
   At one point, the criminals got away into a nearby maize field and another fight took place between them at about 9:00pm.
   Nabir was caught in the shootout and died on the spot, the battalion said. His other associates managed to run away.
   The battalion seized a light gun and two bullets from the spot.

The posts and telecommunications secretary, Mia Mushtaq Ahmed, has been transferred to the Privatisation Commission as member and the chairman of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corpora-tion, Shiekh Khurshid Alam, has been made acting secretary posts and telecommunications secretary.
   The establishment ministry issued a gazette notification to this effect on Sunday.

Three minor boys were injured in the blast of an abandoned bomb at village Anandapur under sadar upazila in Munshiganj on Sunday.
   Two siblings — Hashem, 10, and Hossain, 8, and their mate Aminul, 11, —wounded in the blast at about 3:00pm were taken to a nearby clinic.
   Locals said they found the ball like bomb while playing in the field. It exploded as the boys toyed with the bomb leaving them wounded.
   Sadar thana duty officer Asaduzzaman said a police team rushed to the spot did not return till 8:00pm.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is very likely to send its organogram to the government with the proposed amendments, raising the number of its staff from 650 to over 1,250.
   ‘Yes, the commission is working on the organogram to raise its manpower from 650 to 1,257. It is very likely that the organogram after having been finalised by the commission will be sent to the cabinet division within this week,’ a highly placed source told the news agency Sunday evening.
   He said the commission was closely looking into all aspects, including its posts and job descriptions, before putting forward to the government.
   Having received the proposed organogram, the source said, the cabinet division would involve ministries of finance and establishment before it goes to the secretaries’ committee.
   He said the organogram might also need to be approved by the National Implementation Committee on Administrative Reforms.
   Replying to a question, he said if the organogram went to the NICAR, it might take more than a week while it might take much shorter time if the process ended with the secretaries’ committee.

The authorities concerned expelled two students from Sergeant Zahurul Huq Hall of Dhaka University on Sunday reportedly for forcing a first year student to be involved with religion-based politics.
   Shikder Mazid and Tofazzal Hossain, residents of Room 165 and 167, and also leaders of Islami Chhatra Shibir, student front of Jamaat-e-Islami, were expelled after the residential students staged demonstration in protest against the activities of Shibir men.
   A first year history student Abrar Hossain sought security from the hall provost as Shibir activists allegedly forced him to join their organisation.
   He said that they asked him to study several Islamic books, authored by Syed Abul Ala Moududi and Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, and to take oath to be an activist of the organisation.
   The authorities formed an inquiry committee to investigate into the matter. The police raided four rooms of the hall and seized 20 books authored by Moududi.

A trader was found dead in a room of the Hotel Tiger Garden on KDA Avenue at Sonadanga in Khulna on Sunday. The police recovered the body in the evening.
   The deceased was Sheikh Jamal Uddin, of Patkelghata under Patkelghata in Satkhira. He owned a number of business establishments in Satkhira.
   The Sonadanga police and the hotel employees said Jamal had checked in Saturday afternoon for an overnight stay.
   As the family members made phone calls to him and he had not responded, they visited the hotel and wanted to meet him. As he did not respond to the knock on the door, they inform the police of the matter, the police said.
   The police broke open the door and found him hanging from the ceiling fan with a towel.
   The police said he might have committed suicide early morning.

The Rapid Action Battalion in Rangpur detained on Sunday three passport staff, including an assistant director, on charge of taking bribe from passport seekers.
   The arrested are assistant director Nurul Hoque, upper division assistant Khairat Hossen, and night guard Qaiyum.
   The battalion said its officials had received allegations that the brokers and the staff of the Rangpur passport office were harassing people and demanding bribes to get things done. No passports are issued on time without bribes. The battalion officials said a team conducted a raid on the passport office and arrested Nurul Hoque when he was taking a bribe of Tk 2,000 for four passports from a man.