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The price of milk powder and butter oil increased further in the city market during the past week due to tight supply while that of vegetables, excepting for onion, declined following increased supply.
   Other essential commodities, which experienced price hike during the past one month, remained somewhat stable at their exorbitant prices.
   In most of the kitchen markets in Dhaka on Friday, retailers were selling one kilogram packs milk powder of major selling brands Diploma or Dano between Tk 475 and Tk 485, up by Tk 30 in a week and Tk 70 in a month.
   ‘Prices of milk powder kept rising. Distributors claim that increased prices at import sources and high duty on locally produces brands have made milk powder costlier,’ said Abu Taher, a grocer at New Market.
   According to a government on Friday, prices of milk powder of different brands have increased by up to 57 per cent over the year.
   Market men said supply shortage also pushed up price of butter oil and a popular 0.9 litre tin of different brands was selling between Tk 380 and Tk 400, up by Tk 50 in two weeks.
   Except onions and potato, city markets experienced fall in the prices of vegetables as green grocers said early harvest of winter produces started reaching markets in bulks.
   The prices of winter vegetables declined by around 25 per cent over the week and per kilogram of bean was on Friday selling between Tk 28 and Tk 36, radish between Tk 10 and Tk 12, small bitter gourd between Tk 24 and Tk 28.
   Down by Tk 5 over the week, a piece of medium-sized bottle gourd was retailing between Tk 25 and Tk 30. Large size of cauliflower started coming to the market and it was selling between Tk 15 and Tk 20.
   Unchanged at their exorbitant levels, onions of different varieties were selling between Tk 56 and Tk 64 per kilogram while potatoes between Tk 22 and Tk 24.
   Green chilli, which remained exorbitant for more than a couple of months and was selling between Tk 80 and Tk 200 per kilogram, became significantly cheaper in the past week. It was retailing between Tk 50 and Tk 60.
   ‘Price of green chilli declined significantly as early the winter harvest started reaching in
   bulks to the market,’ said Julhas Mian, a trader at Karwanbazar agro-commodity wholesale market.
   Among others major essentials, coarse and medium grade parboiled rice was selling between Tk 23 Tk 27 per kilogram while fine rice between Tk 30 and Tk 36.
   Per kilogram of packed atta of different brands was selling between Tk 38 and Tk 40, red lentils of different varieties between Tk 65 and Tk 80.
   Non-packed soya bean oil was selling between Tk 90 and Tk 96 per kilogram while bottled soya bean of different brands was retailing between Tk 87 and Tk 90 per litre.
   The prices of spices remained somewhat stable with per kilogram of garlic of different varieties selling between Tk 34 and 55, turmeric between Tk 60 and Tk 80, ginger between Tk 30 and Tk 60 and red chilli between Tk 130 and Tk 160.
   Beef was on Friday retailing per kilogram for Tk 170, live broiler between Tk 95 and Tk 100 while eggs per dozen was selling between Tk 54 and Tk 57.
   Prices of fishes also remained stable in the week with satisfactory supply of sweet water species and hilsas.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha has decided to develop and beautify the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake and to save it from encroachment and pollution under a mega project of Tk 327.15 crore.
   The city planner in September submitted a revised project proposal to the housing and public works ministry and the ministry sent it to the Planning Commission for the approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council.
   ‘We had submitted the revised project proposal to the housing and public works ministry in September and the project is awaiting ECNEC approval at the Planning Commission,’ said a Rajuk official.
   Of the total project costs, Tk 297.42 crore was earmarked for land acquisition, Tk 13.27 crore for earth filling, Tk 3.79 crore for the construction of walkways, Tk 29.54 lakh for setting up benches and amenities, Tk 11.88 lakh for protection of the banks of the lake and Tk 7.52 lakh for planting grasses.
   Rajuk initiated a project involving about Tk 120 crore in 2000 following the development of Dhanmondi Lake with an integrated approach to save the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake from being encroached and polluted.
   The project cost was later reduced to Tk 72 crore and the revised proposal was submitted to the Planning Commission in early 2003.
   As per the suggestions of the Planning Commission the same year, the city development authority again revised the project cost at Tk 105 crore by including six bridges.
   He said if the Tk 327.15 crore project was implemented, it would beautify the city conserve wetlands, open spaces and natural environment, improve social and civic amenities, and amusement facilities and reduce traffic jam in the area.
   The project does not include the construction of the six bridges and Rajuk has taken an initiative to construct the bridges under another project, the official said.
   Rajuk has already selected a firm as consultant to prepare the detailed designs of the six bridges over the Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara Lake.
   Five of the bridges will connect Gulshan-2 with Baridhara Link Road, Manarat School with Badda Link Road, Gulshan 1 with Badda Link Road, Gulshan Shooting Club with Badda Link Road and Mohakhali with Gulshan 1 Link Road.
   DDC Limited will prepare the designs of the six bridges by six months and it will supervise the construction work, he said, adding that about Tk 78 lakh would be spent for the job.

A day labourer was electrocuted in the Rajshahi city on Friday.
   The victim was identified as Inarul Islam of Chapainawabganj.
   According to witnesses, Inarul came in touch of a live electric wire on the roof of Chowdhury Tower in Laxmipur area of the city when he was working there along with his brother Saiful at noon.

Land sellers and purchasers had to pay Tk 4,369 and Tk 4,583 on average as ‘speed’ money or bribe during the registration at land offices, said a survey report.
   Conscious Citizens’ Committee, a body of the Transparency International Bangladesh, released the report at a function in Barisal on Friday.
   According to the report, householders had to pay on average Tk 4,104 each during land survey. It took minimum six months to collect the attested copy of any document while nine months to change the names of land owners after paying lots of ‘speed’ money to officials at land registration, record and revenue offices.
   The survey was conducted on 361 houses at 30 villages under sadar upazila and 20 wards in the Barisal City Corporation between May 2006 and July 2006.
   The respondents expressed their dissatisfaction over harassment by the officials concerned at land office and related departments.
   Manabendra Batobayal, president of Barisal CCC, chaired the programme while its member Kazi Selina revealed the report’s findings.
   Professor Moazzem Hossain, Asadul Haq, retired deputy secretary, Syed Golam Masud Bablu, secretary of district bar association, and Muztaba Mahbub Morshed, programme officer (research and information) of TIB, were present.

The four-day Dhaka International Education Fair 2007 began at Bashundhara City Shopping Complex on Friday, aiming to provide Bangladeshi students with necessary information about higher education at home and abroad.
   Sultana Kamal, former adviser to the caretaker government and executive director of Ain O Salish Kendra, inaugurated the fair.
   Some 55 organisations, including educational institutions, counselling firms, immigration service providers and banks providing education loan, from home and abroad are taking part in the fair.
   Representatives from different universities and colleges at various countries including the UK, the USA, Cyprus, Thailand, India, Ukraine, Japan, Australia, Ireland, Poland and Singapore, are participating in the fair.
   Students can collect information on tuition fees, admission schedules and admission forms for different courses from more than 100 stalls set up in the fair.
   Speaking on the occasion, Sultana Kamal said the students should not go abroad only for earning money and obtaining ‘so-called’ degrees. ‘On completion of their study, they should return home to serve the people in the country.’
   Annisul Haq, former president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, stressed the need for formulation of a regulatory body comprising representatives from respective organisations.
   ‘The regulatory body will help stop money transfer to foreign countries that made in the name of education consultancy,’ Annisul said.
   Eastern Bank Limited sponsored the fair while Channel i, daily Samokal, Radio Foorti
   and Prothom Alo were media partners. The fair will remain open from 10:00am to 9:00pm every day.

The fifth solo art exhibition of Ratan Mojumder began at Gallery Kaya at Uttara in the capital on Friday.
   University Grants Commission chairman Professor Nazrul Islam and writer Hasnat Abdul Hye inaugurated the two-week exhibition, titled ‘Black and White’.
   The exhibition remains open from 11:00am to 8:00pm every day.
   The fifth show of Ratan, organised 15 years after his fourth exhibition, features 56 woodcut prints of limited edition completed between 1976 and 1992. His first solo show was organised in the British Council, Dhaka in 1982.
   After visiting the show artist Qamrul Hasan wrote that Ratan had demonstrated his natural ability and skills over the technical aspect of wood engraving as well as his sincerity and respect for drawing. Ratan efficiently combined the two aspects, Qamrul commented.
   Ratan’s works like still life (ektara), dry leaf, black period (self portrait), the artist & rain (self portrait), pleasure, black butterfly after death, love, portrait of society, distortion of face, garden, who and whatever you say, composition, nature, artist’s studio, portrait of trap, partition, kite, divided society, subconscious, competition and studding play in landscape tell many untold stories of the society.
   His divided society indicates the divisions among the people regarding various religion and economic classes.
   Born in Feni on March
   31, 1954, freelance artist
   Ratan did his diploma in ceramics from the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University in 1978.
   He got the membership of Australian Print Council in 1979.
   His works have been exhibited in many countries like Nepal, India, China, Germany, Egypt, Turkey, Korea, Japan and the United Kingdom.

A daylong workshop for young people, styled ‘youth leadership in social justice’ was held in Sylhet on Friday.
   Dristipath, a Canada-based voluntary organisation, arranged the workshop on the Sylhet International University campus.
   Youths aged between 16 years and 20 years of different institutions in the district participated at the programme.
   Brigadier (Retired) M Jubayer Siddiquee, principal of the Scholars Home School and College, and Zahin Ahmed, executive director of FIVBD, a non-governmental organisation, attended the workshop as guests of honour.
   Appreciating this move by Dristipath, speakers at the concluding session stressed the need for organising such functions which would encourage young people in the country to build up their moral character, and assist in developing them as patriots.
   They also called upon the young generation to build themselves as the worthy citizens of the country
   Professor Akbar Hussain Chowdhury, trustee of the Sylhet International University, and Abu Zayed Mohammed, faculty of the North-South University and Dristipath adviser, attended the workshop as resource persons.
   Oli Md Abdullah and Rumena Begum conducted the workshop where young citizens shared their opinions and experiences on the subject of the workshop.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at one or two places over Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions in the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today.
   Weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country during the period, Met Office said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Friday, 32.1 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Sandwip and the lowest, 18.5 degrees Celsius, at Srimangol.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:15pm and rises tomorrow at 6:11am.

The posts and telecoms ministry has sought opinions of the establishment and finance ministries on certain provisions in the draft ordinance on making the telephone board into a public limited company at the instruction of the council of advisers.
   The telecoms ministry sent the ordinance draft to the two ministries on October 29 to check whether some provisions in the ordinance would conflict with the existing recruitment or other relevant rules.
   The provisions include keeping all the posts at the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board under the telecoms ministry, absorbing the officials into other cadres and the settlement of dues for voluntary retirement.
   The number of officers and employees at the telephone board is 14,575, of which 546 officials were recruited through the Bangladesh Civil Service. The ordinance proposed that board’s officers and employees should be placed under the telecoms ministry when it will become a public limited company.
   The October 6 council of advisers’ meeting presided over by the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, sent back the ordinance draft asking the ministry to take opinions of the two ministries on the issues as the telecoms ministry earlier had not taken opinions of the ministries when it finalised the ordinance draft.
   The council of advisers also asked the telecoms ministry to finish all the procedures in this regard by November 30 to turn the telephone board into a fully government-owned company.
   The board, which has around 11 lakh subscribers, will be renamed as the Bangladesh Telecom Company Limited with full financial autonomy.
   According to the draft, the proposed company will have a nine-member board with the telecoms secretary as its chairman and the company’s managing director as the member secretary.
   The restructuring of the board is aimed at enhancing the operational and service-delivery efficiency of the landline operator and increasing the number of fixed phone connections.
   The board earns Tk 1,500 crore on an average a year, which it deposits with the exchequer.
   It gets an allocation under the annual development programme for its operational costs which, the board officials say, involve a cumbersome bureaucratic process.

The Rapid Action Battalion will on Sunday seek the home ministry permission to deal with the foreign bank draft forgery case, sources in the battalion said.
   A RAB 3 team on Thursday arrested 12 people on charge of misappropriating Tk 4 crore of local banks by forging drafts of foreign banks in seven months.
   The arrested are Akter Hossain, Abhijeet, Jahangir, Belal Member, Abdul Majid, Tara Mia, Osman, Amirul, Mohan, Yameen, Suruj Mia and Abdus Salam.
   Fifty such gangs are on the prowl in Dhaka, Comilla, Naogaon and Bogra which have misappropriated Tk 300 crore in five years, the battalion said.
   The RAB 3 commanding officer, Wing Commander Sultan Mohammad Noorani, told New Age, ‘On approval of the home ministry, we will produce the arrested in court and seek them to be remanded in custody for interrogation. We will send a letter to the ministry on Sunday seeking its permission.’
   He said several battalion teams were carrying out raids to arrest other members of such gangs.
   The battalion said the gang members forged the drafts of foreign banks after collecting them from local bank officials and withdrew money with the help of some account holders or by opening accounts in the name of others.
   The arrested said they had always withdrawn Tk 99,500 or Tk. 99,800 with a single draft to avoid going through the process of approval of the Bangladesh Bank if the amount exceeds Tk 1 lakh.
   They had the drafts forged at a business centre at Dakkhin Khan in Dhaka.

Some jurists, educationists and cultural activists in Dhaka and freedom fighters in Moulvibazar on Friday called on the government to take steps to try the 1971 war criminals in special tribunals.
   The call was put out when the leaders of Prajanma 71, an organisation of the sons and daughters of the martyred war heroes, and Sammilita Sanskritik Jote, exchanged views with the leaders of Ekatturer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee at the house of national professor Kabir Chowdhury.
   Justice KM Sobhan said the war criminals were tried in special tribunals in other countries as there was no scope for holding trials under conventional laws.
   ‘The government can form a commission to prepare a list of war criminals and collecting evidence,’ Kabir said.
   The speakers demanded that Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Ali Ahsan Mujahid and its joint secretary general Abdul Quader Mollah, and Shah Abdul Hannan for their audacious remarks on the war of independence.
   Nirmul Committee leader Shahriar Kabir, Prajanma 71 president Jahid Reza Noor, Sanskritik Jote general secretary Golam Quddus, Robiul Hossain, Muntassir Mamoon, Shyamali Nasrin Chowdhury, Ferdousi Priyabhashini and others took part in the programme.
   New Age Moulvibazar correspondent adds: Local freedom fighters have demanded punishment of war criminals of 1971 and urged the people to resist those anti-state elements.
   They also condemned the remarks of Jamaat-e-Islami secretary Ali Ahsan Mujahid and former bureaucrat Shah Abdul Hannan downplaying the wartime offences and the war of independence.
   In a statement, the liberation war heroes said people of the country would never pardon the Jamaat’s killer forces—razakars, al-badars and al-shams, who collaborated with the Pakistani occupation army and took part in genocides and rapes during the nine-month war of independence in 1971.
   ‘We are still alive and ready to face the collaborators again,’ the statement said.
   Crimes committed against the nation by Jamaat men were not secret and the wartime reports published in their mouthpiece Daily Sangram would give enough proofs of their heinous role, it pointed out.
   They said Jamaat leaders have no right to talk about the liberation war and to do politics in independent Bangladesh.
   The freedom fighters have urged to people to boycott those evil forces and demanded that the government take legal steps against Jamaat leaders for their war crimes.
   Local war veterans, who signed the statement, include former district commander of Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad Dewan Abul Khayer Choudhury, freedom fighters AK Sujaul Karim, Dewan Abdul Wahab Chaudhury, Anu Miah, SM Mujib, Jamal Uddin and Syed Mohsin Ali.

The BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, on Friday dismissed as false fugitive convict Khandakar Abdur Rashid’s claims that Ziaur Rahman was involved in the killing of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
   He also demanded that the Channel-i, a private satellite television, should seek apology and express sorrow for its ‘condemnable act’ of airing the interview in which Rashid made the claims.
   ‘The remarks of Rashid in a television interview on November 7 were absolutely false, fabricated and politically motivated,’ Delwar said in a statement.
   ‘The plotters of August 15 coup d’etat, including Rashid, had claimed the responsibility for Mujib killing. In an interview with journalist Anthony Mascarenhas, later included in his book “Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood”, Rashid said Zia refused straightway to get involved in the plot when they approached him,’ Delwar said.
   ‘It raises question why Rashid is trying to confuse the people by giving contradictory information after 20 years. The people quite understand why such things are being done in the present situation’, he said. ‘People believe that Rashid’s statement is part of a ploy to tarnish the image of Ziaur Rahman.’
   ‘It surprised us that Channel i aired the controversial interview on the National Revolution and Solidarity Day, the day which is associated with the nation’s sovereignty. It was a conspiracy aimed at kicking up debates on Ziaur Rahman,’ he said.
   ‘Everyone knows that Rashid is a fugitive convict. Nobody knows his whereabouts. It is a big question how Channel i found Rashid and interviewed him. It appears that the interview was planned and aired on November 7 in a bid to make Ziaur Rahman controversial,’ Delwar said.
   ‘People believe that a clique is hatching conspiracies to mar the spirit of November 7, 1975 and the controversial interview was aired as part of the plot,’ he added.
   ‘Channel i has shocked the nation by airing the interview. It has raised question if Channel i has been used as a tool by any particular quarter to serve their interest,’ he said.
   ‘We want to say it clearly that such hate campaigns cannot malign Ziaur Rahman who had won people’s hearts by proclaiming the independence of Bangladesh and making it a modern country,’ Delwar concluded.

The Workers Party will strengthen the alternative political force through class struggles and mass uprising taking leads from the Russian Revolution, said the party leaders on Friday.
   They made the comment at a discussion meeting at the Asad Auditorium marking the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.
   The Russian Revolution took place in 1917, and was
   the inspiration for all revolutions, the party’s politburo member Haider Akbar Khan Rano said.
   The working class established its rule defeating the ruling class in Russia through this revolution, he said.
   The leftists of Bangladesh should imbibe the spirit of the revolution to overcome the present crisis of the country, the party’s general secretary Bimal Biswas said.
   Party leaders Nurul Hasan, Azizur Rahman and Quamrul Ahsan also spoke at the discussion chaired by Bimal Biswas

Election to the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity executive committee will be held on November 30.
   The last date for submission of nomination paper is November 21 and for withdrawal of nomination November 23, said a DRU news release on Friday.
   The four-member election convening committee headed by daily Jugantar editor Golam Sarwar will publish the final list of candidates on November 24. The other members of the committee are Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists president Manjurual Ahsan Bulbul, National Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud, and daily Destiny deputy editor Abu Taher.
   The committee held a preparatory meeting on Friday and announced the election schedule.
   As per the schedule, a draft voters’ roll will be published on November 14 and the final roll on November 18.
   Voting will start at 9:00am in the morning and continue till 5:00pm with a one-hour break from 1:00pm for Jumma prayers.

The Adivasi Adhikar Andolan, a rights group of the indigenous peoples, on Friday demanded immediate rehabilitation of
   and compensation for 17 families of a Santal village in Patnitala of Naogaon district, who had suffered an attack on November 4.
   Local terrors attacked the Santal village at Kazipara on November 4 and set fire to the homes of 17 ethnic minority families. More than 15 persons were injuries in the attack aimed at occupying the lands of the Santal community, leaders of the organisation told a news briefing at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.
   The demanded arrest and trial of the attackers.
   HKS Arefin, Mesbah Kamal, and Adivasi Forum general secretary Sanjib Drong were present at the briefing, where Rakhi Mrong read out a report on the attack.
   Besides rehabilitation of the affected families, the Andolan leaders also demanded
   permanent settlement of lands owned by the indigenous communities and allocating public lands to the landless among them.
   They also demanded that a land commission should be formed to resolve the
   land disputes of the indigenous communities living in the plains.

An MA student of Islamic history at Chittagong University was beaten by the physicians and staff at Chittagong Medical College Hospital over the treatment of a patient early Friday.
   The student is Mohammad Azim Uddin of Sitakuda.
   Sources said Azim entered into an altercation with ward assistant registrar Harun and medical officer Mostafa when they directed him to take away his patient from the X-Ray room at around 12:05am.
   When Azim voiced his protest, Harun and Mostafa with the help of others assaulted him in which he was critically injured, the sources said. Law men later rescued Azim. The students of Islamic history and culture of the university demanded punitive measures against the physicians and staff responsible for the incident.

The 57th anniversary of birth of Ahsanullah Master, former lawmaker for Gazipur-2 constituency, was observed in the district on Friday.
   He was born at Hyderabad village under sadar upazila on November 9, 1950 and shot dead by some miscreants on the premises of MA Mazid Mia High School at Tongi on May 7, 2004.
   To mark the birth anniversary, milad and doa mahfils were arranged at different mosques in Tongi area after juma prayers. Zahid Ahsan Russell, elder son of late Ahsanullah Master, and other members of the family took part in the programmes.
   In the afternoon, they placed wreaths at the grave of Ahsanullah Master at Hyderabad village.
   Ahsanullah Master was elected as member of the parliament two times in 1996 and 2001. He was also elected chairman of Gazipur sadar upazila in 1990. Apart from the chairman of Pubail union two times, he was president and general secretary of Sramik League.

The 24th anniversary of the death of Manabendra Narayan Larma, one of the founders of the Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti, will be observed today.
   The national committee on the observance of MN Larma’s death anniversary has chalked up programmes to mark the day.
   The programmes include a blood donation camp at the National Press Club at 9:30am and a discussion meeting at 10:00am.
   Zillur Rahman Siddiqi is the convener and Syed Abul Maqsud member secretary of the national committee.

Abdul Kader, former public relations officer to the Office of the President, died of old age complications at his residence in Dhaka on Thursday. He was 80.
   He is survived by three sons and one daughter. Kader was buried in Banani graveyard on Friday.