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The posts and telecommunications ministry is likely to send the broadband policy to the council of advisers by June for approval.
   The policy aims at facilitating the growth of high-speed internet services at affordable prices.
   Sources in the telecommunications ministry said it hoped to finalise the policy by mid-June and forward it to the council of advisers for approval.
   The final policy draft, which defines broadband as an ‘always on’ data/internet connection with a minimum bandwidth of 128kbps, has targeted to connect every village with broadband internet by 2015.
   At present, about 10 lakh people have access to the internet, provided by more than 50 service providers, with more than 90 per cent through dial-up connections with low bandwidth.
   The policy has set immediate (by 2007), mid-term (by 2010) and long-term (by 2015) broadband penetration targets. It stipulates that by 2007, 50 per cent of the present dial-up internet connections should be shifted to broadband link.
   The policy stipulates that all government offices, local government institutions, colleges, schools, public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives will be connected to the broadband network by the 2015 as part of the long-term target set by the policy.
   All colleges located in district headquarters should be connected to broadband while 25 per cent of high schools in the district towns and 10 per cent of high schools in upazila towns should be connected to the network by 2007 as part of the immediate target.
   By 2010, all colleges situated in upazila headquarters, 50 per cent of high schools in district towns and 35 per cent of high schools in upazila towns should be connected to broadband internet, and 10 per cent of villages and all local government institutions up to upazila level should be brought under the network.
   The policy said private sector involvement in broadband services and public-private partnership will be encouraged. Broadband deployment policies will be technology-neutral with respect to user/service providers’ choice among multiple broadband technology options.
   It also suggests fiscal incentives for broadband deployment which include provision of tax holidays, explicit and targeted subsidies, grants, pilot-project funding, low-interest loans or development funds for the manufacturers of equipment related to broadband services.
   The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will issue licences for providing broadband services to any entity meeting the regulatory terms and conditions set by the commission.
   The existing licensed internet service providers, however, need not to be given new licences for broadband connections until the expiry of the existing licence.
   Regarding the tariff for broadband services, the policy said liberalised tariff policies in the field of telecommunications would be extended to encourage broadband services at a minimum cost.

The nationalised commercial banks are unlikely to get certificates of incorporation today due to complications concerning the number of directors, sources at the banks said.
   The government in April directed the banks to submit their applications for incorporation by April 22 and complete the formalities by May 15.
   As per model memorandum of association vetted by law ministry and attested by Bangladesh Bank, each NCB should have seven directors.
   When the banks submitted their documents to registrar of joint stock companies and firms, the number of Sonali and Agrani Bank directors was six each and five in case of Janata Bank, the sources said.
   Due to lack of directors required at the banks, the registrar’s office informed them that it could not provide them with the certificates of incorporation, said an official of the registrar’s office.
   The government recently has appointed two directors to Janata Bank and one to Agrani Bank but is yet to appoint any to Sonali Bank. The banks are yet to notify the registrar about the new appointments.
   The present board of directors of Agrani Bank is chaired by Siddiqur Rahman Chowdhury, a former finance secretary. The other members are Nasiruddin Ahmed, secretary-in-charge of the Privatisation Commission, Ranjit Kumar Chakrabarty, joint secretary of the textiles ministry, Shamsul Alam Khan, joint secretary of science and technology ministry, Air Commodore Syed Imtiaz Hossain, Zamilur Rahman Khan, a retire captain and former joint secretary, and Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank. Among them, Zamilur Rahman is the latest appointee.
   The directors of Janata Bank are AFM Solaiman Chowdhury, chairman, Mohammad Abdul Mazid, acting secretary of the Planning Commission, Mohammad Al Maruf Khan, managing director of Capital Market Services Limited, Masud Ahmed, additional secretary of establishment ministry, Commodore Mohammad Zarziul Islam, Azizur Rahman, a former additional secretary, and Habib Abu Ibrahim, a former joint secretary. The latter two are the newly appointed directors.
   The directors of Sonali Bank are Ali Imam Majumdar, chairman and cabinet secretary, Shafiqur Rahman Patwary, joint secretary of finance ministry, Sheikh Abdul Hafiz, Humayun Kabir, secretary-in-charge of Election Commission, Brigadier General M Zahidul Islam. Shahiduzzaman, a former additional secretary, was on the bank’s board when the application for incorporation was filed with the registrar’s office, but he has recent been removed from the post. So, the government now must appoint two directors to the bank, said one of its officials.

Afghanistan is interested to recruit manpower from Bangladesh to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
   The new Afghan ambassador in Dhaka, Ahmed Karim Nawabi, expressed the willingness during his courtesy call on the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, at his office Monday morning.
   The chief adviser said Bangladesh would certainly send manpower to Afghanistan which would be win-win deal for both the countries.
   He said Bangladesh wanted to help Afghanistan achieve socio-economic growth and would be happy to help the country. He also mentioned performance of Bangladeshi BRAC, an NGO, in Afghanistan. BRAC is working in various areas including micro-finance.
   Recalling the strong historic, cultural and trade ties between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the chief adviser said Afghanistan could import high quality goods like tea, pharmaceutical items, ceramics, plastic items and leather products from Bangladesh. Likewise, Bangladesh can import dry food from Afghanistan.
   The envoy said Afghanistan wanted to increase trade and economic relations with Bangladesh.
   He said terrorism, drug and narcotics were major problems in Afghanistan.
   The chief adviser said all should work collectively to combat against terrorism for security in this region as terrorism undermines socio-economic growth.
   Regarding opening Bangladesh embassy in Kabul, the chief adviser said Dhaka was seriously considering the matter, the CA’s press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim said.
   The ambassador requested for allotment of a piece of land for building Afghan embassy in Dhaka, assuring that the Afghan government would also provide land for constructing the Bangladesh embassy in Kabul.
   The chief adviser said foreign ministry would look into the matter. The envoy thanked the head of the caretaker government for Bangladesh’s support for incorporating Afghanistan as the new member of SAARC.
   He also thanked Bangladesh for its support for the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.
   The envoy conveyed greetings of the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to Fakhruddin.
   The chief adviser recalled his meeting with Karzai on the sidelines of the last SAARC summit in New Delhi and was happy to welcome Afghanistan as a member of the SAARC.
   Fakhruddin said he was looking forward to Karzai’s visit to Bangladesh.

The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at Dhaka University organised a day-long workshop on Mon-
   day in the capital aiming to develop message for the awareness campaign under Remittance and Payment Partnership project.
   Remittance and Payment Partnership is a project of the Bangladesh Bank aimed at producing measurable impact on the price, speed and growth of remittance in Bangladesh, said a release.
   The RMMRU organised the workshop on ‘commu-
   nication campaign on remittance: content construction’ in Dhaka.
   The RMMRU coordinator, CR Abrar, chaired the workshop session. Richard Boulter, senior private sector adviser, growth team of the DfID-Bangladesh office, attended as special guest.
   DU political science professor Tasneem Siddiqui read out the keynote paper.
   Md Abdul mannan, deputy executive president and head of international banking wing at the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, also spoke.
   Experts from banks, government, private sector, money transaction houses, expatriate welfare ministry officials,
   representatives of national and international NGOs and migration management agencies joined in.

The Jatiya Party chairman, HM Ershad, has said although the caretaker government is performing well but it has failed to contain the prices of essentials.
   Talking to reporters at Parjatan Motel in Bogra he said businessmen being scared of the government actions were not importing goods. It is possible to control the prices if the fear from traders could be removed.
   Ershad who went to Rangpur on a 3-day private visit said the Election Commission should hold the parliamentary election at its convenient time after accomplishing all reforms including voters’ list with photos and removing party men from the administration.
   However, he urged the government to lift ban on indoor politics.
   In reply to a question, Ershad said all cases filed against him were conspiratorial. If the present government does not want, those cases will not be revived.
   He didn’t make any comment on the case filed against Sheikh Hasina.
   Ershad said the state of emergency would remain in force until a new government assumes the office. He said constitutional experts opined that it would not create any constitutional problem.

A two-day national conference on health rights will begin at BIAM auditorium in the capital on June 14 with an aim to sensitise the people of their health rights.
   Some 45 non-governmental and networking organisations will hold the conference titled ‘health is a right, not privilege; it needs to be delivered with equity’.
   This was said at a news briefing organised by the conference preparatory committee at National Press Club on Monday.
   Former vice-chancellors of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Rashid-E-Mahbub and Mahmud Hasan, the chairman of the reception committee Nazmun Nahar and secretary general of the conference Nitai Kanti Das were, among others, present at the meet the press.
   Health Research and Rights Foundation and Population Services and Training Centre are the main organisers of the conference while other 44 organisations including Health Reporters Forum are the co-organisers.
   Rashid-E-Mahbub in a statement said, ‘The conference aims to create awareness among all of their health rights, including treatment facilities, hospital services, health education, eradicating gender disparity relating to health services as well as rights of an individual patient.’
   A number of topics will be discussed at the conference where some foreign experts also to be invited, Professor Rashid said, adding that the conference is a part of their continuous campaign to make public aware of health rights.
   ‘We will make a Dhaka declaration at the closing session on the basis of the recommendations to be made at the conference which will help us to reach our goal,’ he said.
   The interested people are requested to register their names or submit their writings to the conference secretary at PSTC, 103 New Circular Road, Dhaka. The e-mail address is healthrightsconference@yahoo.com.

A panel of discussants at a roundtable on Monday stressed the need for constitutional amendment to ensure the people’s participation in preparing the national budget.
   They made this observation while speaking at a discussion on ‘Gender sensitised budget’ organised by the Steps Towards Development, an NGO, at the CIRDAP auditorium. They said that quite a few problems will have to be identified and solved to sensitise the budget. ‘Then priority issues can be focused on accordingly’, they added.
   Programme officer of the NGO, Mamunur Rashid, presented the keynote paper. Among others who spoke were former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan, chairman of Shamannay Atiur Rahman, researcher Kaniz Siddiqui, deputy editor of Samakal Mozammel Hossain and Action Aid’s representative Shoaib Siddiqui.

Terminal handling charges (THC) on export and import consignments at the country’s prime seaport are set to be virtually eliminated, according to a decision taken on Monday by a taskforce formed by the government.
   The concerned authority and port users decided that from May 20 the consignees would have not to pay THC, as the shippers pay that as a part of freight charges.
   A meeting the concerned authorities and port users, held in the port’s premises, was presided over by Brigadier General Hasan Nasir, local commander of the joint forces and head the taskforce assigned to improve services at the port. CPA officials, BGMEA leaders, freight forwarding agents, customs agents and ship operators attended the meeting. On May 3 the same authority reduced THC by around 40 per cent, from $43.40 to $195 for different sizes of containers.
   In the meeting representatives of the garment exporters argued that THC on containers would have to be borne by the shippers as importers or exporters pay them freight charges that include THC.
   ‘For years, before May 3, garment exporters spent between $80 and $150 as port charges for handling a container,’ said BGMEA president Anwar ul Alam Chowdhury Parvez.
   Annisul Huq, former president of the BGMEA who attended the Monday’s meeting, said, ‘Forwarders were exploiting exporters and importers by imposing unreasonably high charges, mainly billed as miscellaneous fees, for handling containers.’
   Businessmen involved with shipping lines, however, said elimination of THC would compel shippers to raise freight charges.
   ‘The ship operators will not incur losses by bearing extra costs for handling containers at the port,’ said a senior official of a shipping agency.
   He feared that shippers would immediately increase containers’ freight rates, which would have to be borne by buyers of Bangladeshi goods and also the Bangladeshi importers.

Three former officers of the Fatulla police station and two officials of Abul Khair Group were charge-sheeted in the bribery scam on Monday.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission deputy director and investigation officer of the case, Benazir Rahman, submitted the charge sheet to the district magistrates’ court of Hasna Jahan Khanom. The accused are former officer-in-charge of Fatulla police station, Ashraful Islam, sub-inspectors Enamul Haque and Miraz al Mahmud and Abul Khair group officials Mustafizur Rahman and Zakir Hossain.
   The Narayanganj district administration officials, led by magistrate Jasimuddin, on January 19 seized a huge quantity of rotten and substandard wheat, worth about Tk 19 crore, from two ships and warehouses at Aliganj under Fatulla police. Two officials of Abul Khair Group, which owned wheat, on January 20 bribed the policemen Tk 15 lakh to reduce charges. But the army-led joint forces caught the five red handed and seized the bribe money.

The office of the Anti-Corruption Commission in Tangail on Monday asked Krishak Sramik Janata League chief Abdul Kader Siddiq and 10 others to submit their wealth statements.
   The ten others are former state minister Lutfor Rahman Khan Azad, former vice-chancellor of Maulana Bhasani Science and Technology University Dr Khalilur Rahman, former lawmaker Abdur Razzak, Tangail municipality chairman Aminur Rahman Miran, Madhupur municipality chairman Sarkar Shahid, Kader Siddiq’s brothers Murad Siddiq and Azad Siddiq, Tangail BNP treasurer Helalur Rahman, Tangail Awami League general secretary Shamsur Rahman Khan Shahjahan and Khondoker Iqbal Hossain.
   Mafidul Islam, deputy director of the ACC, Tangail told the news agency that the commission served notices on 11 people, asking them to submit their wealth statements within seven days.
   He said the commission found that they owned property disproportionate to their income.

At least 30 were injured when two groups clashed centring on a water body at Balli uner Khaliajuri in Netrakona on Monday.
   The police and witnesses said the clash began at about 9:00am when two groups — one led by Abu Hanifa and another by Abul Kashem — tried to take control of the water body, Chawtara.
   Both the groups attacked each other during the clash in which at least 30 were injured, they said.
   Five of the injured, Fakrul Islam, Abdul Malek, Abul Hossen, Sajibul Islam, and Julhas Mia were sent to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.