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The wholesale kitchen market at Karwan Bazar will be shifted to Mahakhali.
   An inter-ministerial meeting with the LGRD and cooperatives adviser, Anwarul Iqbal, in the chair took the decision on Thursday.
   The Roads and Highways Department will hand over seven acres of land to the Dhaka City Corporation and the construction work on the markets is expected to begin in December after the handover of the land, meeting sources said.
   ‘The meeting has directed the agencies concerned to evict illegal occupants from the land and to hand over the land to the Dhaka City Corporation by 15 days,’ the adviser told reporters after the meeting.
   He hoped that the construction of the market at Mahakhali would begin immediately after the hand over of the land.
   The construction of the market at Mahakhali is likely to be completed by December 2008 and the shifting of the Karwan Bazar kitchen market will begin after that, meeting sources said.
   The BNP-led four-party alliance government as per the recommendation of a high-level committee, led by the then commerce secretary in 2004, decided to construct four kitchen markets in the capital.
   The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the project at the fag end of the alliance government and the Dhaka City Corporation, under the project, decided to construct four wholesale kitchen markets at Tejgoan, Amin Bazar, Lalbagh and Jatrabari on 7 acres, 13 acres, 5.24 acres and 5.24 acres of land respectively.
   The work on the project has already begun and it is scheduled to be completed by December 2010.

The Bangladesh government and the World Health Organisation on Thursday launched the Country Cooperation Strategy 2008–2013 to enhance the quality of health services for all.
   The cooperation strategy is a mid-term framework for WHO cooperation in the country and with other countries, highlighting what WHO will do and how it will do with whom. It acts as a guiding organisation-wide reference for country work for planning, budgeting and resource allocation in the country.
   The South-East Asia Region director of WHO, Samlee Pliangbangchang, the health adviser, ASM Matiur Rahman, and the LGRD adviser, Anwarul Iqbal, launched the country strategy at the Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.
   ‘The development of the cooperation strategy is basically a joint endeavour between WHO and the national health authorities concerned,’ Samlee said.
   The strategy includes seven directions including promotion of access of vulnerable groups to health services, increase in the capacity for the prevention and control of major communicable diseases and diseases targeted for elimination or eradication and strengthen integrated disease surveillance.
   It also aims at promoting healthy lifestyle and cost-effective interventions for the prevention and control of major non-communicable diseases, enhancing equitable and sustainable access to safe water and sanitation, and strengthening multi-sectoral approaches to emergency preparedness, response and recovery at the time of natural disasters.
   The strategy also identified ways to strengthen health systems focusing on health workforce development and equitable access to quality health care and to foster partnership and coordination for national health development.
   Matiur highlighted 6Ms Model — man, machine, material, method, monitoring and management.
   Anwarul said, ‘WHO provided excellent support for the Department of Public Health Engineering to address the challenges related to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.’
   Chaired by the health secretary, AKM Zafrullah Khan, the programme was also addressed by environment secretary AHM Rezaul Kabir, ERD secretary M Aminul Islam Bhuiyan and WHO representative to Bangladesh Duangvadee Sunkhobol.
   The Country Cooperation Strategy 2008–2013 has been developed through an interactive consultation and planning process involving government officials, development partners and other stakeholders.

Passport seekers are facing various problems in getting passports at the Khulna regional passport office mainly due to the unfavourable location of the office.
   The passport office started activities with 16 officials and employees on October 1, 1962 at a small rented house in the city’s Sonadanga residential area.
   Some passport applicants said they are often subjected to harassment in various ways as the office is located three kilometres away from the city.
   Snatchers often loot money and valuables from them on way to the passport office, they alleged.
   Passport applicants often face various problems although the office opened separate booths for supply application forms and receiving filled-up forms and handing over passports.
   They alleged that officials and employees with ulterior motive take much time to issue passport to them.
   They also said five posts of deputy assistant directors have been lying vacant in the office for long hampering the activities of the office.
   A passport applicant said they have to come to the city to deposit money in the bank and to copy necessary documents and to have their photographs for passports facing hassles.
   Once the people of all the districts in Khulna division were allowed to apply for passports at the office, but now only people of three districts — Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat — are entitled to get the facility.
   Another passport seeker said, ‘We are not given passports in due time despite submitting necessary documents and even in some cases, we have to give bribe to get a passport.’
   The regional office issues 250-300 passports every day, official sources. It earned revenue of over Tk 3 crore in the last three months till October, which is almost double the amount over the same period of the last year.
   When contacted, the assistant director of the Khulna regional passport office, Mohammad Kamal Hossain, said they are facing problems in completing issuing formalities due to shortage of manpower.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha will tomorrow start demolition of 49 unauthorised structures on the area of the planned road between Bijoy Sarani and o Tejgaon, an official of Rajuk said.
   The demolition of authorised structures will begin on completion the process to acquire land and structures, he said.
   The city development agency issued notice to the owners of the illegal structures on October 11, asking them to shift or pull down their structures within seven days.
   Rajuk issued the first notice in August to the owners of 49 unauthorised structures. The owners were also given one week time to shift or demolish their structures.
   ‘We will now demolish the unauthorised structures in the area of the layout of the planned Bijoy Sarani to Tejgaon Road and demolition of authorised structures will be done after acquiring the land and structures,’ said the official, adding that the DC office is doing the acquiring process.
   About 100 day labourers and a bulldozer will be used in the demolition drive, he said.
   Rajuk earlier identified 63 structures, including the 22-storey Rangs Bhaban, 50 of which were constructed illegally.
   The structures include, 32 unauthorised tin-roofed structures, 7 one-storey buildings, eight two-storey buildings, five three-storey buildings, four four-storey buildings, six five-storey buildings (one of them unauthorised), and the 20-storey Rangs Bhaban. Rajuk started pulling down the unapproved upper floors on August 3 following a Supreme Court order and the demolition of the main structure is on.
   The planned road will connect the Old Airport Road at Bijoy Sarani and Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani at Nabisco crossing at Tejgaon.
   Around 3.6 acres of land will have to be acquired from the Bangladesh Railway, Power Development Board, Water Development Board and private owners, including their permanent structures to construct the 2500 feet long and 60 feet wide road from Bijoy Sarani to Tejgaon.
   The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in the last week of August approved the plan to construct a road from Bijoy Sarani to Tejgaon in the capital at a cost of Tk 122 crore.
   The major portion of the fund allocated for the proposed road will be spent for land acquisition, the officials said.
   Of the Tk 122 crore project fund, Tk 49.68 crore will be spent for land acquisition, Tk 27.91 crore in compensations and Tk 2.77 crore for building road.

The commerce secretary, Firoz Ahmed, on Thursday urged businessmen to sell essentials at reasonable rates to keep the prices within the tolerable limit.
   The government is trying relentlessly to remove all hurdles to trade and investment in the country, he said at an exchange of opinion at the conference room of the deputy commissioner of Khulna.
   Senior government officials, business leaders and civil society members took part in the meeting, said a handout.
   Chaired by the divisional commissioner of Khulna, M Yunusur Rahman, the meeting was also attended by the secretary to the chief adviser’s office, Kazi M Aminul Islam, the deputy commander of the joint forces in Khulna, Major M Khurshidul Islam, and the Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Saharuzzaman Mortuza.
   The commerce secretary said the ongoing anti-graft drive of the government had created some temporary problems for the people of different professions and strata, but the people would get the benefit of it very soon.
   Leaders of the chambers of commerce from 10 districts under the Khulna division, leaders of Frozen Food Exporters Association, fertilizer traders and vegetable traders, among others, raised their points at the meeting.
   They demanded gas supply in Khulna, construction of the proposed Padma Bridge, operation of Mongla seaport and expansion of the activities of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
   The two secretaries assured them that their demands would be conveyed to the policymakers of the government.

Goods of a spinning mill were burnt in a fire that broke out in the mill at Kharajora in Kaliakoir upazila on Thursday.
   Witnesses said the fire originated from an electric short circuit in Jahanara Spinning Mill and burnt threads and machines at noon.
   On information, firefig- hters from Savar EPZ rushed to the spot and doused the flame with the help of local
   people.
   The mill authorities estimated the losses caused by fire at about Tk 50 lakh.

Light rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at one or two places over Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and weather may remain mainly dry elsewhere over the country during the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today.
   The night ay temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, Met office said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Thursday, 33.7 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Cox’s Bazar and the lowest, 21.4 degrees Celsius, at Rangpur. The sun sets in the capital today at 5:19pm and rises tomorrow at 6:06am. The Met office on Thursday predicted improvement of weather in the outlook for subsequent two days and slight fall in night temperature over the country in the extended outlook for another five days.

A case was filed with the chief judicial magistrate’s court in Narsingdi on Thursday against five, including the Narsingdi sadar police officer-in-charge, on charge of torturing to death a crime suspect Sunday night.
   The accused are the officer-in-charge S Alam, subinspectors Matiar Rahman and Akbar Hossain, Altaf Hossain Swapan and his wife, Fatema Begum.
   Subinspectors Matiar Rahman and Akbar Hossain were closed to the police lines on Tuesday as the villagers rallied against him. They were suspended on Thursday.
   Local people said the subinspectors had arrested Morshed Rana, 27, at a place near his house at Shah Pratap area in the district headquarters at about 5:30pm on Sunday. He was allegedly tortured to death inside four hours of his arrest.
   The victim’s younger brother Iqbal Hossain filed the case Magistrate Ataur Rahman ordered the police to investigate the case.
   The complainant said the subinspectors arrested Morshed Rana, a transport worker, Sunday evening, suspecting his involvement in lifting a motorbike.
   At the news of his arrest, Masud Rana, the victim’s elder brother, went to the police station and heard the screams of the victim. At one stage, Matiar demanded Tk 1 lakh for his release.
   As Masud declined to pay the amount, Matiar brought Morshed in front of him and started beating Morshed with an iron rod after gagging him.
   Masud instantly went out of the police station and returned to the station with the amount at around 10:00pm. But he did not find the sub-inspectors and his brother there.
   The next morning local newsmen told Masud that the body of his brother was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
   S Alam told newsmen that Morshed Rana was a drug addict and a member of a muggers’ gang.
   Alam said Rana was accused in three cases and died of a heart attack. Alam said some people tried to implicate him in the incident to tarnish his image.

Firoza Hossain, wife of Awami League presidium member Amir Hossain Amu, died in Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore Thursday night.
   Firoza had suffered from cancer and had been under treatment in the hospital for more than two years.
   She had been on life support and died at 8:24pm Bangladesh time.
   The body is likely to be brought home this evening, the family said.

The Khulna City Corporation on Wednesday sued its chief engineer and another official on charge of misappropriating the money of a project fund.
   The corporation’s revenue officer SKM Asaduzzaman lodged the case against chief engineer Md Liakat Ali Sharif and municipal services project assistant SM Hafizur Rahman. Liakat and Hafizur have been temporarily suspended.
   In the first information report, Asaduzzaman said the officials had misappropriated more than Tk 44.56 lakh of the project and an inquiry committee found that the officials were indeed involved in the misappropriation. Liakat was project director and Hafizur project manager.
   The mayor, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, meanwhile, issued notices to the officials, asking them to explain why they should not be sacked on charge of misappropriation.
   Hafizur Rahman Monday night filed a general diary with the Khulna police accusing the mayor, public relation officer Sardar Abu Taher, the mayor’s private assistant Isharat Ali and contractor Shawkat Hossain in connection with their alleged corruption between 2000 and 2007.

The Scholastica on Thursday accorded a reception to its students who secured best results in the GCE ‘0’ Level examinations, 2007.
   Seven students of the school scored highest marks in different subjects in the country as well as in the world. Of them, five students obtained highest marks in the world and three in the country.
   The world’s highest scorers are Syed Sabir Salman Al Musawi in Accounting, Anika Tabassum and Sanjida Sultana in Bangladesh Studies and Rehnuma Jahan Islam in Economics and Bushra Sameeha Anwar in Economics.
   The students, who scored highest in the country, are M Ehsanul Haq in English language and Shevda Al Fuad in Art and Design and Bushra Sameeha Anwar, in geography and English literature.
   The Scolastica chairperson, Yasmeen Murshed, congratulated the students on their brilliant results. The head of operations and deputy chairperson, Wasima Parveen, the executive director-SPEED, Madiha Murshed, the principal, Shabnam Huda, the senior vice- principal (academic administration), Khadija Afzal, were present on the occasion.
   Teachers and a good many parents also attended the programme held on the Scolastica’s Uttara campus.
   At the function, certificates were awarded to seven students who obtained merit scholarship in the scholarship exam of the School.
   The recipients are Syed Sabeth Salwa, Sakib Rezaul Haque, Murtaza Arshad Jilani, Atif Saffat Anwar, Sami Tahsin and Ibtesam Ahmed.

The fifth founding anniversary of the Northern University Bangladesh was celebrated with various programmes on Thursday.
   The programmes taken up to mark the occasion included cake cutting and bringing out a procession.
   All deans, heads of different department, teachers and students welcomed the vice-chancellor, Professor Shamsul Haque, by showering flowers on his arrival on the campus.
   Officials of the University Grants Commission, former Privatisation Commission chairman, vice-chancellors and officials of different universities, among others, took part in the celebration programmes.

Bangladesher Samajt- antrik Dal on Thursday condemned the government’s
   decision on disinvestment of three nationalised commercial banks.
   The party convener Khalequzzaman in a statement said hundreds of workers would lose jobs due to denationalisation of Sonali, Janata and Agrani banks.
   The government was also planning to appoint new managing directors with huge salaries, he said and urged the government to refrain from taking such decision.

SAARC Youth Camp to be held at Savar in Dec
The first SAARC Youth Camp will be held at the National Youth Centre at Savar in December, said the youth and sports adviser, Tapan Chowdhury, at a function organised on the occasion of National Youth Day 2007. The idea of the first SAARC Youth Camp was mooted by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, during the 14th SAARC Summit in New Delhi. All the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation appreciated the proposal.
— BSS

Two held with
acid in Gazipur
The police on Thursday seized 205 barrels of acid and arrested two persons at Baniarchala village in Gazipur sadar upazila. Tipped off, a police team raided a godown and seized the acetic acid. The owners failed to show any documents regarding the acid, which is used for dyeing. The police arrested Farhad Hossain and Habib in this connection.
— New Age