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Bangladesh has signed the inter-governmental agreement to join the proposed 80,900-kilometer regional railway network, originating from the Pacific seaboard of Asia and ending up on the doorstep of Europe, said officials.
   The ambassador and permanent representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, Ismat Jahan, signed the agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network, on behalf of the government, at the United Nations headquarters on Saturday.
   Bangladesh’s signing came a year after the agreement was signed by 18 other states of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at its ministerial conference on transport in Busan, South Korea, in 2006.
   The railway network covers 28 countries, including a stretch of 22,600 km in South Asia, Iran and Turkey in the southern corridor. As decided in an expert group meeting in Dhaka in 1999, the southern corridor commences from Kunming in China and Bangkok in Thailand and ends in Kapikule in Bulgaria.
   Initially, Bangladesh failed to sign the agreement on the joining the network, a supplement to the 2005 accord on the Asian Highway Network, because of the previous BNP-Jamaat government kept the matter waiting for the next government as its tenure expired on October 27, 2006.
   No representative from Bangladesh attended the Busan conference that brought the five-decade-old initiative to create a railway version of the Silk Route, the ancient regional trade route, a step closer to completion.
   In 1960 the initial plan aimed at a continuous 14,000-kilometre rail link between Singapore and Turkey, via South-East Asia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Iran.
   Now the projected network will be stretched to 81,000 kilometers and will act as a vital artery in providing regional connection as well as a link with Europe.
   After signing of the agreement, a government hand-out said that the UNESCAP project is meant to create a transcontinental railway network across Europe and Asia.
   ‘This agreement will enable Bangladesh to expand its rail communications to other Asian countries, and subsequently to Europe,’ reads the statement.
   With Bangladesh’s signing the agreement, the number of signatories has risen to 20 by now. India signed the agreement in May this year.
   The council of advisers led by Fakhruddin Ahmed approved the proposal for signing the agreement on the international railway link and asked the foreign ministry to take the necessary steps.
   The objective of the deal was to develop transport communications in Asia and its surrounding countries, gradually connecting the European countries with the trans-border railway which will enter Bangladesh from three directions in the west and exit through a single gateway on the eastern front.
   Railway officials said that Bangladesh needs to set up a rail-track from Chittagong to Cox’s Bazar to connect the country with the proposed railway network. But a project to this end remained shelved for at least five years, reportedly due to fund constraint.
   Railway officials said the project proposal involving, around Tk 1,390 crore for laying a 130 kilometre rail tract from Dohazari in Chittagong to Cox’s Bazar, was sent to the Planning Commission in May 2002.
   The UN experts said that the Trans-Asian Railway is crucial for landlocked countries whose access to the world is heavily dependent on links with the region’s main international seaports.
   Twelve out of the world’s 30 landlocked countries are in Asia, and 10 have signed the agreement for the proposed railway network.
   With 60 per cent of the world’s population generating 26 per cent of its gross domestic product, Asia’s demand for efficient transport is greater than at any time in its history, said the UN’s secretary-general, Ban Ki Moon, after the Busan conference.
   UNESCAP experts believe that the ports’ efficiency can be enhanced by the integration of rail and shipping to avoid port congestion, a key factor in Asia, which is home to 13 of the world’s top 20 container ports.
   The network will stretch through Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam of the South East Asia corridor; People’s Republic of China Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Mongolia, Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation in the North-East Asia corridor; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan of Central Asia and the Caucasus corridor; and Bangladesh, India, Iran, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey in the South Asian corridor.
   The agreement was signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam on November 2006.
   India signed the accord later in May this year.

The government will no longer appoint any consultancy firm to curb corruption in regulation of educational institutions under the education boards as such appointments in 2005 and 2006 have proven but ‘futile’, education ministry sources said.
   Each of the country’s 10 educational boards hired a consultancy firm, officially called independent inspection body, to oversee establishment, recognition and its renewal, and regular academic activities of institutions offering education from Class VI to Class XII. The initiative was taken as per a World Bank prescription to stop alleged corruption of education board officials in these regulatory affairs.
   But, corruption remained rampant even after the appointment and operations of the consultancy firms and allegations of corruption were raised against some of their officials too.
   The education boards have not renewed the contracts with the firms, the last one of which expired in July 2007, or given any fresh appointment following a recent directive of the education ministry, the chairman of a board told New Age.
   ‘We had to pay them for their services from our own coffers but unfortunately their services were not up to the mark and we even got evidence of irregularities and taking bribes by some of the consultants,’ the chairman said.
   ‘Our contract with the firm expired in January, which we have not renewed, rather we have resumed the activities with our own officials,’ he said, adding that he was outside Dhaka to do such a job, though his board is housed in the capital.
   ‘We have submitted to the ministry the evidence of failure on the part of the consultants to do the jobs properly that our own officials did smoothly earlier,’ said the chairman of another board. ‘We have taken some measures to check corrupt practices by our officials,’ he added.
   ‘Following the World Bank prescription, the education ministry issued a circular in December 2003 asking the boards to appoint consultancy firms and pay them from the boards’ funds. But, now we have became astonished to see allegations of corruption being levelled at the consultants themselves,’ said a ministry official.
   He said, ‘The authorities of the boards have been asked to take measures to stop corruption and ensure transparency and accountability… From now on, the ministry will monitor the inspections and follow-up inspections [of educational institutions] made by the board officials.’
   ‘We will inform the World Bank about our decision not to make any fresh contract or renew the contracts with any of the consultancy firms,’ he said, adding, ‘Top officials of the education boards were very much prompt in establishing the irregularities and failure of the hired consultants.’

Preparation of the voters’ roll with photographs and national identity cards in 62 areas across the country begins today, according to the Election Commission’s schedule.
   Enumerators, mostly schoolteachers, from today start visiting potential voters from door to door for distributing registration forms and helping the people to fill them.
   The enumerators, during the collection of the filled-in forms, will distribute slips to the eligible voters asking them to visit the registration camps, along with the slips, on a particular day for having their photographs and fingerprints taken.
   The door-to-door visits to collect information about the eligible voters in Dhaka could not be formally started on Saturday as all the three election commissioners are abroad, said sources.
   The Election Commission’s secretariat on Saturday morning issued a fresh circular to the district election officers of Dhaka to remind them that the enumerators will start visiting voters’ homes from November 20.
   A hand-out issued by the government’s Press Information Department on November 5 gave a detailed area-wise schedule of starting the preparation of the voters’ roll from November 10. The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on October 28, at a view-exchange meeting held at Nagar Bhaban said that voters’ registration in the capital would begin on November 20.
   Sources said the election commissioners planned to start listing the voters from November 20, deferring the original schedule of starting from November 10, as all the election commissioners would be abroad on the day. But the district election officers were not apprised of the commissioners’ plan of deferring the schedule till Friday, sources added.
   The CEC on Wednesday left the country for Thailand on a four-day private trip and two other election commissioners — Muhammed Sohul Hussain along with his wife, and M Sakhawat Hussain — left for the United Kingdom on Monday (November 5) to assess the eagerness of the expatriate Bangladeshis to register their names in the electoral roll. They are scheduled to return on November 20.
   The Election Commission’s secretariat on Saturday night issued a press release saying that the door-to-door visits for data collection would start on November 20, and taking voters’ fingerprints and photographs would begin on December 1. The press release, however, did not give any details of the area-wise schedule for starting the enumeration.

Former premier and Awami League president Sheikh Hasina escaped unhurt from the August 21, 2004 grenade attack on the rally held on Bangabandhu Avenue because one of the grenades did not explode, a member of the banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami, Abul Kalam (Bulbul), told the task force while being interrogated.
   Members of the Criminal Investigation Department, assigned to investigate the August 21 case, brought Bulbul and his associate, Mohammad Jahangir, on a 10-day police remand on Thursday, and both of them were being interrogated by members of the Task Force for Interrogation about the attack that killed 24 persons and injured and disabled many others.
   ‘I was assigned to blast Hasina with a grenade but after throwing two grenades I forgot to pull out the pin before throwing the third one, so it did not explode and Hasina survived,’ said Bulbul, according to sources close to the interrogation team.
   The unexploded grenade was found near the makeshift dais on a truck from where Hasina delivered her speech.
   Bulbul said that after throwing the third grenade, he ran towards Paltan, boarded a bus and reached Gabtoli. He washed his hands and face and went to his village in Jhenaidah on an inter-district coach the same night, said the sources.
   Bulbul kept in contact with their leader, Mufti Abdul Hannan, from Jhenaidah until Hannan was arrested at the end of 2005. Bulbul, along with several others, then went into hiding but the Rapid Action Battalion traced them out and arrested Bulbul, Jahangir and four other militants from Jhenaidah on October 28.
   Bulbul said that the plot to kill Hasina was hatched at a house in Anandanagar in Badda on August 19 in 2004.
   Harkatul leader Hannan,
   Ahsan Ullah Kajal, Abu Jandal, Mahmud (Khulna), Liton (Khulna) and two brothers Mursalin and Muttakin of Faridpur held the meeting after maghrib prayer at Bulbul’s rented residence to discuss the next course of action.
   According to the decision, Hannan phoned Kamal Uddin Shaker of Faridpur, Abdur Rahman of Bhanga, Monirul Islam Madina of Jessore and Maolana Abu Sayeed, who was arrested from a madrassah at Uttara in 2006, to immediately come to his residence.
   Hannan called another meeting on August 20 morning where they finalised the attack.
   According to the meeting’s decision, Kajal was given the responsibility to collect funds and grenades for the attack. Kajal and Abu Jandal went to Bangabandhu Avenue to case the scene on August 20. They held another meeting on the morning of August 21.
   They decided that 12 persons would carry out the attack, and Kajal and Abu Jandal were selected as the commanders of the operation.
   After lunch Kajal distributed 15 grenades from his bag to 12 persons, and they decided to meet at the Golap Shah Mazar mosque.
   They also decided that Kajal and Jandal would point out the targets of the attack in and around the dais and Jandal would throw the first grenade after getting the signal from Sayeed, and the others would throw their grenades right after him, the sources added.

The police blocked opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from visiting Pakistan’s deposed chief justice on Saturday and the president, Pervez Musharraf, resisted US calls to end emergency rule.
   Pakistan freed Benazir from house arrest late Friday, hours after she was blocked by the police from leading a rally against emergency rule in the crisis-hit nation.
   ‘It has been withdrawn,’ interior secretary Kamal Shah said, referring to the house arrest order, according to a report from Agence France Presse.
   Benazir tried to approach former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s home where he is being detained.
   The police parked trucks on the road to block her path.
   After imposing emergency rule and suspending the constitution a week ago citing a hostile judiciary and rising militancy, Musharraf sacked most of the Supreme Court’s judges and has since replaced them with more amenable ones.
   ‘He is the chief justice, he is the real chief justice,’ Benazir blared over a megaphone, demanding all the judges be reinstated.
   Critics say army chief Musharraf imposed the emergency to get rid of the independent-minded Iftikhar and other top judges in a Supreme Court regarded as hostile to the president since he tried to dismiss Iftikhar in March.
   The court was set to rule on challenges to Musharraf’s October 6 presidential election victory, which might have been declared invalid as he stood for re-election while army chief.
   Benazir will defy Musharraf and go ahead with a pro-democracy motorcade from Lahore to Islamabad next week, after the police scotched a protest by her Pakistan People’s Party in the garrison town of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad on Friday.
   On Friday, the police used batons and teargas to break up small protests in several parts of the country, but demonstrations have been relatively small by Pakistani standards.
   Pakistan’s slide into political uncertainty has accelerated over the past week with military chief Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule scaring foreign investors and domestic markets. Thousands of Musharraf opponents have been arrested.
   The United States is worried the turmoil will hamper its nuclear-armed ally’s efforts against terrorism. Pakistani forces are battling a growing Islamist insurgency along the Afghan border — where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
   Benazir, the Pakistani politician most able to mobilise masses, was due to meet foreign diplomats later in the day.
   She briefly joined journalists protesting outside the offices of a television channel against a blackout on private news broadcasts. BBC and CNN are also off the air, though newspapers are publishing freely.
   Benazir is due to head to Lahore today (Sunday), and has said Musharraf can defuse the protest if he restores the constitution, removes his army uniform and calls elections by mid-January.
   Musharraf has said elections will be held by February 15, about a month later than they were due. He also said he would quit as army chief and be sworn in as a civilian president once new Supreme Court judges struck down challenges to his re-election.
   Musharraf briefed army commanders telling them the emergency had been a very difficult decision but necessary to ensure effective governance, maintain efforts against terrorism and provide for a stable political transition, the military said.
   Political analysts say Musharraf still has the vital backing of the military but big anti-government protests might begin to undermine the support.
   Officials say Musharraf will likely keep the emergency short. The attorney general, Malik Abdul Qayyum, said it would end in a month or two, depending on the law and order situation.
   Benazir has been holding power-sharing talks with Musharraf for months and political analysts say cooperation between the pair — which the United States has been quietly encouraging — is still possible.
   The United States kept up pressure on Musharraf, who took power in a bloodless 1999 coup and is regarded as a close ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, calling on Friday for an end to emergency rule.
   The president, George W Bush, has said Musharraf cannot be army chief and president at the same time. The United States, which has long urged free and fair elections, also called for the release of political party members and peaceful protesters.
   The government says 2,500 people had been detained since the emergency was declared, though Benazir’s Pakistan People’s Party say 5,000 activists have been picked up over the past few days.

The police are looking for a dark-brown briefcase, a diary and two aides of the detained Khulna City Corporation mayor, Sheikh Tayebur Rahman, to gather more proofs of his corruption and links with criminals.
   They are also on a hunt for five KCC ward commissioners for abetting the mayor in committing the alleged offences, police sources said.
   Tayebur was remanded on Thursday in police custody for three days in an arms case filed with the Khulna sadar police. He was earlier remanded in police custody for five days in an extortion case.
   The sources said Tayebur used to always carry the briefcase and the diary, in which he kept records of all his activities. The police are trying to trace the mayor’s assistant personal secretary Didar and caretaker of his residence Aziz, who used to carry the briefcase and the diary.
   Tayebur named five the KCC ward commissioners the police are looking for as his accomplices, the sources said. All of them have gone into hiding.
   The mayor, meanwhile, has given confessional statements before a Khulna court in five extortion cases.
   A total of 17 persons have been accused in seven cases filed against the mayor since November 2.

Tens of thousands of protesters massed outside Malaysia’s royal palace on Saturday, facing off against riot police in defiance of a government ban on the rally calling for clean and fair elections.
   The demonstrators, an alliance of opposition parties and civil society groups, had marched in the driving rain to the palace, chanting ‘Election Reform’ and ‘Justice’.
   The prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had vowed to suppress the demonstration, backing police who said they feared riots could break out.
   But the rally went ahead despite efforts to close down the centre of Kuala Lumpur, with a heavy police presence and roadblocks that caused traffic snarls.
   ‘There are close to 30,000 protesters here at the moment. We have agreed to have them sit down in front of the palace and have four representatives present a petition’ to the palace representative, a senior police officer said.
   Some 400 police in riot gear were deployed at the palace, including dozens armed with automatic weapons and several with tear gas launchers. Two water cannons were set up behind police lines.
   ‘The Malaysian public must be allowed to express their opinions and views,’ parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said at the palace gates before going in to deliver the petition.
   ‘It is not fair for the government not to issue a permit for this rally to take place as it is only the voice of the people being expressed here,’ he said.
   Organisers had planned to hold the rally at the city’s Independence Square but were forced to shift the venue after police sealed it off.
   New York-based Human Rights Watch has slammed the government’s stance on the mass rally and urged it to support free speech as the nation heads towards elections expected to be called early next year.
   ‘If Malaysia wants to count itself a democracy, it can begin by upholding constitutional guarantees of free speech and assembly. The way the system works now, only the ruling coalition can get its messages out,’ it said.
   Human Rights Watch said Malaysian elections have been sullied by vote-buying, the use of public resources by the ruling parties and accusations of bias against the Election Commission.
   Former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was heir apparent to former premier Mahathir Mohammad until his sacking in 1998, when he was jailed for six years for sodomy and corruption, was due to address the rally.

Pakistan has ordered three journalists from British broadsheet the Daily Telegraph out of the country for using ‘foul and abusive’ language about the country’s leadership, state television said on Saturday.
   The expulsions come a week after military ruler president Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule, suspended the constitution and slapped a ban on any coverage deemed to humiliate him or his government.
   ‘Three foreign journalists have been given 72 hours to leave the country,’ the deputy information minister, Tariq Azim Khan, said. ‘They were using foul and abusive language against Pakistan and Pakistan’s leadership.’ He said he did not know which publication the journalists worked for.

The Dutch ambassador in Dhaka, Bea Ten Tusscher, described the current state of Bangladesh, characterised by reforms, as ‘interesting crossroads’ and said there was a public realisation that the country needed change.
   ‘It is the people who should set the pace to create a better future for their children. I see that willingness here and a drive for change is there,’ she said, adding that the present government had to take some primary steps and prepare the ground for the next government to continue with the transition process towards a deeper and fuller democracy.
   In a recent exclusive interview with New Age, Tusscher was enthusiastic about the acknowledgement of corruption as a new, unique reality in the Bangladesh context. ‘The people at higher level really admit that there is corruption. This is a major change in outlook and you [Bangladeshis] should grab that opportunity.’
   Asked whether the
   elections can be truly representative and successful without the participation of major political camps, she said there should be no democracy without political parties, but the parties should reform themselves to cope with the changing scenario.
   The Dutch envoy felt it would be helpful for the political parties to adopt internal changes. ‘When the political parties manage to transform themselves, become more democratic internally, and put in place more checks and balances on the controls of their financial situation, it is healthy.’
   Although Tusscher said political parties always had a struggle for legitimacy in any country, she strongly believed that politicians here would contribute to the change in the future of the country.
   ‘Politicians here, with all their experiences, will find a way to see the future and create a vision for their political parties to contribute,’ she said.
   Touching on the issue of the government’s role in dealing with the cases of two former prime ministers, she echoed the declaration of the European parliament, saying, ‘We [EU] hope that the two ladies [Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina] will get free and fair trial.’
   Tusscher, who joined her assignment in Bangladesh in September, indicated that the European community and her government were impressed at the rule of the present government for its resolute stance on curbing corruption to prepare a level playing field for the next elections.
   She said, ‘We have in the past expressed our concerns about the declining standards of accountability, corruption. We now see that there is a determined government, the caretaker government, which looks after some problems, especially corruptions, preparing for the elections, and holding dialogues with political parties. We see that the government has a full commitment to bringing about democratic changes.’
   The Dutch diplomat in Dhaka, however, admitted that the country needed time to get rid of the problems of governance, accountability and corruption, saying, ‘You do not change a situation overnight. When bad governance has prevailed in a country for many years, it becomes impossible to change that in a year. This government has taken some good steps. They should be helped by the people, by the press and the political parties.’
   Tusscher also feels that despite some visible improvements in human rights situation, there are still causes for concerns in view of the violation of rights in the Bangladesh society today.
   ‘We have asked the caretaker government for clarification and it has sent us some reports. These reports were not necessarily satisfactory,’ she said, adding that it is in the interest of the country to address any human rights issues to build confidence in international investors about the business climate. ‘Entrepreneurs these days feel obliged to look into this when they want to invest in a country because consumers demand this.’
   She said it was important for the government, people, diplomats and investors to analyse how ‘labour rights, child rights, women rights, and human development through education and health are being dealt with.’
   ‘Otherwise, they [investors] will not come up with investments,’ she said.
   Tusscher stressed the need for monitoring the activities of the security forces to make progress in rights situation, although, she said, ‘it is always difficult for any army and police to admit that they have made mistakes.’
   On the issue of bilateral relations, Tusscher said Bangladesh and the Netherlands had enjoyed an excellent bilateral relationship since the establishment of diplomatic ties immediately after the independence of Bangladesh.
   ‘We have given development support to Bangladesh since its independence which amounted to a billion and half euros in total. We have also consistently increased the budget over the years and now we are giving 65 million euros to Bangladesh for sectors such as education, health, water and sanitation,’ she said.
   Dwelling on the issue of further improvement in Bangladesh-Netherlands ties, Tusscher said she would put special emphasis on trade and economic sectors to for strengthen the relationship between the two countries during her assignment in Dhaka.
   ‘This country has so much to offer. My task is to promote trade and economic relations between our two countries. I would also like to give some inspiration on regional integration,’ she said.
   The Netherlands ambassador expressed her hope that Bangladesh would play a key role in South Asia. ‘The Dutch experience is that regional cooperation needs to start with trade. Because that creates confidence and interest in the business sector and that way you build the basis among the people and politicians to proceed.’

The BNP faction led by Saifur Rahman and Hafiz Uddin Ahmad on Tuesday said that it would contest the upcoming parliamentary and local government elections.
   Its rival Khandaker Delwar Hossain-led faction, however, kept the decision on polls participation pending as the party chief, Khaleda Zia, was in jail.
   ‘The BNP will contest the next national elections. We are also planning to take part in the local government elections, including the city corporation polls,’ Hafiz, who was made acting secretary general at the October 29 standing committee meeting of the party, told journalists at his Banani residence. ‘We are planning to nominate honest, popular and clean candidates in the polls.’
   Hafiz, who was jute,
   water resources and commerce minister in Khaleda’s 2001 cabinet, called on the government and the Election Commission to ensure a congenial atmosphere so that popular and honest candidates could contest the polls.
   He suggested that the government should start food rationing to arrest price hike of essential commodities.
   Referring to the rationing system in the West Bengal state of India, he said the government could introduce a similar system in Bangladesh to benefit the poor and low-income people.
   Asked to comment on Hafiz Uddin’s announcement, Rizvi Ahmed, acting office secretary of Delwar-led faction, said, ‘We are yet to take a decision on whether to participate in the polls as the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, is in jail.’
   ‘The party high command will take the decision in time…We, however, believe that the government and the Election Commission should follow the constitution as regards holding the polls,’ he told reporters at Delwar’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar residence.
   ‘We will continue to carry out our activities under the leadership of the detained party chief, Khaleda Zia,’ he said.
   Rizvi, a former student leader, demanded unconditional release of Khaleda. ‘Her freedom is a must for free, fair and credible polls.’
   He recalled that Noor Hossain, who was killed by police on November 10, 1987 during the autocratic rule of HM Ershad, had laid down his life for restoration of democracy.

India Saturday dispatched 1,000 troops to a farming region where seven people have died this month in growing protests against plans to build a massive industrial park, officials said.
   The decision came after a protester died Saturday and amid allegations local police are turning a blind eye to attacks by left-wing activists on protesters opposing the planned industrial park in Marxist-ruled West Bengal.
   United News of India and residents put the number of protesters killed Saturday at three and 30 injured but the report could not be immediately confirmed.
   ‘Considering the overall situation in West Bengal, the central government has decided to send one battalion (1,000 soldiers) of the Central Reserve Police Force,’ a federal home ministry spokesman said.
   Saturday’s violence sparked a fresh exodus of hundreds of frightened families from the lush district of Nandigram, police said.
   Analysts say it is part of a turf war between the communists and the opposition Trinamul Congress party, which has made huge political gains in Marxist-ruled West Bengal.
   Since March, 21 people have died in clashes between the Marxists, who want to set up the industrial enclave called a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and Trinamul-backed villagers who oppose the acquisition of 14,500 acres (5,900 hectares) of land for the park.
   Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi condemned the violence.
   ‘A large number of armed persons from outside Nandigram have forced themselves into villages for territorial assertion,’ Gandhi said in state capital Kolkata.
   ‘Thousands of villagers have consequently been intimidated into leaving their homes and no government or society can allow a war zone to exist without immediate and effective action,’ Gandhi said.
   India’s ruling Congress party urged Bengal’s Marxist regime to tackle the growing unrest.
   ‘It’s time this human problem is addressed by the state government,’ party spokesman Abhisekh Sangvi said.
   The Marxists, who prop up India’s Congress-led coalition government, hope to hand over the land to Indonesia’s Salim Group to set up a petrochemical hub.
   There are already 149 SEZs in India, employing 41,000 people, and the government hopes they will generate 25 billion dollars’ worth of exports in 2008-2009.
   Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee resigned her seat in the national parliament Saturday saying she found the violence ‘repugnant.’
   ‘This Marxist government has crossed all boundaries and I find this politics of bloodshed repugnant,’ she said.
   Kshiti Goswami, a West Bengal state housing minister, also said he was resigning his job to protest the violence.

Epidemiologists of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research are suspecting the ‘unknown disease’, which recently broke out in Gaoinghat and Companyganj upazilas of Sylhet and claimed at least 18 lives so far, is probably encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain.
   Thirteen persons of two villages of these upazilas died of the disease, which was symptomatised by vomiting and convulsion, in the last two weeks.
   A five-member team headed by Dr Abdul Malek, senior scientific officer of the IEDCR which is under the Directorate of Health Services, collected samples from the patients and the affected area of Gowainghat.
   ‘We have already completed the biochemical tests of the samples, and it seems that the disease is encephalitis,’ said the IEDCR’s director, Professor Mahmudur Rahman.
   He also said it would not be possible to ascertain the cause of the disease until clinical tests are conducted on the samples.
   Another team that went to Companyganj is yet to return with the samples, so we need this week to confirm the cause of the disease, he said.
   Mahmudur Rahman also said that encephalitis is acute inflammation of the brain, commonly caused by viral infection. Sometimes encephalitis can result from a bacterial infection, such as bacterial meningitis, or it may be a complication of other infectious diseases like rabies (viral) or syphilis (bacterial).
   Certain parasitic or protozoal infestations, such as toxoplasmosis, malaria or primary amoebic meningo-encephalitis, can also cause encephalitis in people with compromised immune systems. Brain damage occurs as the inflamed and expanding brain pushes against the skull, which can lead to death.
   Patients with encephalitis suffer from fever, headache and photophobia (fear of light), with weakness and seizures also common. The symptoms of encephalitis are caused by the brain’s defence mechanisms that are activated to fight, and get rid of, the infection. Another symptom of encephalitis is hallucination.
   The government has taken all the necessary steps to provide treatment to the patients, claimed Dr Mahmudur Rahman.

The government needs to be prompt in deciding on and implementing electricity generation projects to bridge the widening demand and supply gap, currently estimated at 1200MW, speakers said at a roundtable discussion in Dhaka Saturday.
   Electricity agency officials informed that planned three large units would add 1300MW by 2008, but others feared that the government would drag its heels over these projects also as it did in the previous years.
   The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and The Daily Star jointly organised the roundtable meeting on ‘Power for All by 2020’ at the DCCI auditorium.
   Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam said by 2020, Bangladesh would require several thousand megawatts of electricity, which calls for huge investments as well as successful bidding, negotiation and implementation of power projects.
   He pointed out that the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission was not working efficiently.
   Power Division secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan said 300MW electricity would come from rental power plants and 200MW from other sources by March 2008.
    The national grid will have 1350MW electricity more when three 450MW plants at Bibiyana, Sirajganj and Meghna Ghat would be completed by December 2008, he added.
   He suggested that future coal-fired power plants should be set up near ports and based on imported coal as the Barpukuria plant was getting only 20 per cent of its demand from the local coal mine.
   Electricity demands stand at 5200MW against the maximum supply of 4200 MW, while the government is now working on projects with proposed production capacity of 4000MW, official figures showed.
   DCCI president Hossain Khaled said achieving the goal of ‘electricity for all by 2020’ remains a challenge given the history of government’s negligence and inordinate delays in taking decisions on generation projects.
   He stressed reduction in system loss, smooth supply of coal to Barapukria power plants, allowing small power plants in the private sector and enhancing regional co-operation in using Himalayan water resources for power generation for mutual benefits.
   Touhidul Islam, managing director of Summit Power Company Limited, urged the government to take prompt decision on large power projects to offset severe power supply crisis feared in coming years.
   Daily Star city editor Shahrier Khan presented the keynote paper at the discussion, addressed, among others, by MH Rahman and MA Momen, past presidents of DCCI.

The World Bank has predicted that energy demand in the South Asian region may grow annually in the range of 6.6 per cent to 11.5 per cent during the next 15-20 years, underlining the need for tapping newer sources of energy to fuel steadily growing economies.
   In a report released ahead of the 20th World Energy Congress, getting underway in Rome next week, the multilateral lending agency warned that lack of adequate and reliable energy in South Asia is emerging as a key constraint to sustaining recent strong economic growth.
   ‘Energy-thirsty countries such as India and Pakistan have energy demand growth far outstripping domestic supply,’ says the World Bank report.
   It suggested that widespread cross-border electricity and gas trade -not only within South Asia but also with its neighbours in the west (Central Asia and Iran) and in the east (Myanmar) - could provide significant relief from energy constraints to rapid economic growth in the large energy-importing countries.
   The report mentioned that gas and electricity networks in the South Asian countries are largely isolated from one another.
   ‘There are no gas pipelines crossing the national borders - within South Asia or between South Asia and its neighbors,’ the WB report pointed out.
   The World Bank observed that the region is enjoying an unprecedented economic growth.
   The growth, however, is becoming constrained by
   significant shortages in energy supply. And unless corrective steps are urgently initiated and implemented, it may be difficult to sustain such high growth rates. Key solutions to this problem involve fostering cross- border energy investments and promotion of regional energy trade in order to take full advantage of the energy resources available within the region and around.
   The report describes the potential and identifies the main opportunities for development of regional trade in electricity and gas.
   It also prescribed the policies that the governments should pursue to promote cross-border energy trade and described the supporting role of the international financing institutions.

The first hajj flight is scheduled to leave Dhaka on Monday morning with the Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited still uninformed about the total number pilgrims this year and hajj agencies yet to manage visas and accommodations in Saudi Arabia for passengers intending to perform hajj under private management.
   Initially, Biman will have to cancel two flights Monday, the inaugural day, and another two on the following day, according to official sources. The inaugural hajj flight of Biman will leave Dhaka for Jeddah with 543 hajj passengers Monday and the last flight is scheduled for November 26.
   ‘We are yet to know the
   exact number of hajj passengers from the religious affairs ministry. Initially, we are not getting sufficient number of hajj
   passengers and that is why we will have to cancel some flights which may lead to a crisis,’ Biman managing director and chief executive director MA Momen told New age on Saturday.
   Secretary to the religious affairs ministry Md Ataur Rahman said that the total number of non-ballot hajj passengers this year was 41,000 which might finally come down to 37,000.
   He, however said, it was the responsibility of the hajj agencies to inform Biman about the number of hajj passengers before announcement of the hajj-flight schedule.
   The secretary admitted
   to the fact that the agencies were yet to make sure the accommodations and visas for intending hajj pilgrims. ‘So far as I know, around 1,400 visas were ready for non-ballot passengers,’ he said.
   As of Friday, only 162 non-ballot hajj pilgrims got visas, according to official records.
   On Friday, religious affairs adviser ASM Matiur Rahman inaugurated the Hajj Programme-2007 at the Hajj Camp near the Zia International Airport.
   Meanwhile, Biman has offered reduction in the airfare by $ 70 on hajj flights from November 12 to 15 and $ 40 up to November 20 to attract passengers.
   The number of ballot pilgrims [those going to perform hajj under government management] stands at 5,583 this year while the number of non-ballot pilgrims is expected to be about 37,000.
   President of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh Mohammed Faruque also admitted that till Saturday they could not rent houses and hotel rooms required for accommodation of the pilgrims. He, however, claimed they have ‘enough time to complete things’. ‘Hopefully, everything will
   be alright by this time,’ he added.
   The airfare for each hajj passenger–ballot or non-ballot–has been raised to $ 1,250 this year. In 2006, the government
   raised Dhaka-Jeddah airfare for hajj passengers to $ 1,200 from $ 950 and $ 1,050 respectively for ballot and non-ballot
   pilgrims in a bid to minimise the financial losses of the national flag carrier- Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which has now turned into a public limited company.
   Of the total hajj passengers this year, Saudi airlines will carry 10,000.

Retailers of perishables in Dhaka on Saturday warned the government of boycotting the city wholesale markets for three days at each of the markets if manipulation by wholesalers were not stopped by November 15.
   They blamed manipulations such as giving short measure and charges for weighing produces by wholesales for increase in the prices of commodities on consumers’ end.
    ‘Fish retailers need to pay the wholesalers Tk 10 on each kilogram of fishes as koyali [a local term for the amount charged for weighing products by wholesalers]. The charge for weighing vegetables is Tk 5 on a lot of five kilograms or 10 per cent of the value of the vegetables,’ said Anwar Hossain Sikdar, president of the Dhaka Metropolitan Fish and Perishables Traders’ Association.
   The association, which claims to represent 50,000 small retailers of fish and vegetables in 150 city kitchen markets, protested at charging by wholesalers for weighing the products, saying it significantly adds to the increase in commodity prices.
   It said if such practices were not stopped by November 15, its members would stop buying products at each of the 11 wholesale markets of perishables in the city for three days at a time.
   Anwar also alleged giving short measure by the wholesalers. ‘We get at least half a kilogram less in each lot of 10 kilograms.’
   He said a September 12 meeting of retailers and wholesalers, chaired by the food adviser, Tapan Chowdhury, was told that the system of koyali would be stopped; but nothing has so far happened in this regard.
   ‘Such practices are now widely practiced by wholesalers as monitoring by the law enforcement agencies eased after Ramadan,’ said Anwar, alle-ging that the retailers are often harassed by the wholesalers in case of protest at such incidents.

The chairman of the National Board of Revenue, Mohammad Abdul Majid, on Saturday warned the tax officers against any negligence of duty.
   At a meeting attended by about 50 tax officers from across the country, the NBR said any sort of negligence in revenue collection would not be tolerated.
   Majid told the news agency by phone that he had convened the meeting on Saturday although the day was a government holiday. ’Everybody at the meeting was directed to carry out their responsibilities with integrity taking the challenge of achieving the revenue collection target. They were asked to be careful so that no taxpayer was harassed during payment of taxes.’
   ’Setting a target is not the end. We have to take it as a challenge to achieve that goal. Taxpayers have to be inspired to pay tax and a friendly environment has to be created,’ Majid said.
   He also stressed the need for strengthening monitoring to increase tax collections.
   ’In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, revenue collection exceeded the target. Against the target of Tk 9051.46 crore, collection was Tk 9301.05 crore, up by Tk 250.”
   The NBR chief hoped the trend would continue.
   ’We want to have a friendly relationship with the taxpayers and ensure that they pay without any hassles.’

The communications ministry will allot the registrations of 5,000 more CNG-run auto-rickshaws in a lottery to the drivers of such vehicles having valid driving licences in Dhaka.
   The communications ministry, ignoring a recommendation of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, has asked the road transport agency to allot the registrations only to auto-rickshaw drivers.
   The agency has recommended that any person not below 18 years of age, either having a business in the capital city or living in the city, will be eligible to apply for the registration to own a CNG-run auto-rickshaw, the chairman, ABM Shahjahan, said.
   The agency also proposed that the registrations should be allotted to 5,000 individuals so that people of the lower-middle class could own auto-rickshaws to earn their living.
   The ministry in the past week asked the agency to allot the registrations only to people who now drive CNG-run auto-rickshaws.
   With the addition of 5,000 more auto-rickshaws, the number of such vehicles on the city roads will stand at 18,000.
   The agency’s director (engineering) Humayun Rashid Khalifa said the allotment process would begin soon and in keeping with the government notification, the registrations would be allotted only to the drivers.
   The road transport agency earlier proposed that the winner of the registration in the lottery will be barred from selling the vehicle ownership inside three years of allotment.
   The Dhaka City CNG Auto-Rickshaw Owners’ Association general secretary, ATM Nazmul Hasan, protested at the move and urged the government to allot the new registrations to the auto-rickshaw owners who were affected because of the ban on two-stroke three-wheelers in 2001.
   He said such an agreement was reached with the previous government, but nothing has happened in this direction.
   A road transport agency committee, headed by the agency chairman, in July sent its recommendation on process to the communications ministry.
   The communications ministry towards the end of June decided to allow 5,000 more CNG-run auto-rickshaws in the city and asked the road transport agency to go on with the process.

Experts as well as local people apprehend that the entire Mongla, Sundarban and low-lying areas of different districts of the country might go under water if the government does not adopt long-term policy to save the country from the effects of climate change.
   They voiced their apprehension while raising the issue of climate change at the BBC Bangladesh Sanglap held on the bank of Pashur River near Sundarban on Saturday.
   The speakers noted that a part of the Sundarban mangrove forests and a large number of other areas have gone under water in the last few years due to the rise of sea level caused by global warming.
   Dr Atiq Rahman, member of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Farhad Mazhar, managing director of UBINIG, the Awami League’s forest and environment affairs secretary, Hasan Mahmud and the chairman of Chila union parishad of Mongla, Abu Taleb, took part in Sanglap as panel members.
   The BBC Bengali Service in cooperation with the BBC World Service Trust organised the event moderated by Masud Hasan Khan of the BBC. Hundreds of people of Mongla thronged the Sanglap venue.
   Dr Atiq suggested adopting a long-term policy to protect the low-lying areas, specially the coastal areas including the Sunarban. He predicted that the Sundarban and all the low-lying lands of the country would go under water within the next 50 years and the sea would appear within 100 kilometers of the capital Dhaka.
   Replying to a query whether the government has any preparation, Dr Hasan said neither the government has any plans nor the political parties are aware about the issue.
   He said the Awami League had identified the major environmental problems caused by climate change and would take ‘appropriate measurers from the first day if voted to power’.
   ‘Due to climate change, country’s 13 per cent low land would go under water within the next 50 years due to rise of sea level caused by global warming,’ he apprehended.
   Due to climate change, Taleb said, at least 200 to 300 meters have gone into the Pashur River. Hundreds of people had to move out as the areas had been submerged by the effects of climate change, he said. But the government is yet to take any step, he regretted.
   Farhad Mazhar blamed the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for destroying the Sundarban as the donor agencies always pressured the government to cultivate shrimp. ‘The Sundarban is being destroyed in a planned way through cultivating Chingri,’ he said.
   Responding to a query on what measures could be taken against the developed countries if they don’t reduce harmful atmospheric gas, Farhad said as a poor country they have noting to do with the matter with the UN role in this regard.
   Dr Atiq said although they have no power to hold the developed countries responsible for the emission of Greenhouse gases, the government would have to take strong position at the inter-governmental meetings with the developed countries about reducing the gas emissions.
   The climate-change expert stressed that the government must do ‘whatever needed’ to protect the low-lying coastal areas.
   Dr Hasan underscored the need for introducing a new law to bring all the developed countries under one umbrella so that they reduce emission of Greenhouse gases.

Debate over US control of core internet systems threatens to overtake an international meeting in Brazil next week that was meant to cover topics including spam, free speech and cheaper access.
   The Internet Governance Forum is the result of a compromise world leaders reached
   at a UN summit in Tunisia
   two years ago. They agreed to let the United States remain in charge.
   But they established an annual forum to discuss emerging issues, including whether control of how internet addresses are assigned — and thus how people use the internet — should remain with the US government and an American nonprofit.
   Many countries complained US dominance was not discussed enough during the first forum last year, in Athens. In meetings leading to the second round opening in Rio de
   Janeiro on Monday, China, Iran, Russia and Brazil, among others, won an opening-day panel devoted to ‘critical Internet resources.’
   Some governments are seeking more concrete results, such as a chairman’s statement or negotiated agreement on next steps, though US and UN leaders cautioned that specific decisions are unlikely and even inappropriate.
   Some governments, particularly in developing countries, sought to strip the United
   States of its oversight so they could have more say over
   such policies as domain
   names in languages other than English.
   They failed — at the UN World Summit on the Information Society, first in Geneva in 2003, then in Tunis in 2005 — and some worry that attempts to renew the debate in Rio would overshadow the rest of the forum’s agenda.
   ‘What will be a shame is a repeat of Tunis pushing out these important issues,’
   said Emily Taylor, director of legal and policy for Nominet, which operates Britain’s ‘.uk’ domain.
   The four-day forum, with as many as 2,000 representatives expected from government, business and the civil society, is packed with parallel sessions on network security, fighting child pornography, the cost of access, language diversity, privacy and human rights.
   A key theme is how to bring the internet to the next billion people.
   But much of the attention is on domain names, the monikers after the ‘dot’ that are crucial for computers to find web sites and route e-mail. By controlling the core systems, the United States indirectly influences much of the internet.

Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi received rare front-page coverage on Saturday as the ruling junta seemed eager to publicise her meeting with a government official.
   The state-run New Light of Myanmar ran a photograph of the Nobel peace laureate shaking hands with the labour minister, Aung Kyi, whom the generals appointed to deal with her following international outrage at their deadly crackdown on anti-government protests in September.
   Both were pictured wearing longyis, a traditional sarong-like garment. In recent years, Myanmar’s media has rarely run photographs of the democracy leader, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.
   ‘While putting energy into the democratisation process, the government has been making efforts for the national reconsolidation,’ the brief accompanying report said.
   It said their meeting Friday in a government guesthouse was ‘part of efforts for transition to democracy by implementing the seven-step roadmap,’ referring to the junta’s own tortuously slow-moving so-called ‘roadmap’ to democracy, which has so far excluded the opposition.
   The state-controlled English language paper also mentioned Suu Kyi’s hour-long meeting with members of her National League for Democracy, the first time she has been allowed to meet with members of her party since 2004.
   Suu Kyi was optimistic after meeting with Aung Kyi and believed it was time for the ‘healing process’ to start, her party said.
   The pro-democracy protests began in mid-August after a massive hike in the price of everyday fuel, but escalated into the biggest threat to the generals in nearly 20 years when Buddhist monks emerged to lead the movement.

Norman Mailer, the pugnacious two-times Pulitzer Prize winner who was a dominating presence on the US literary scene across seven decades, has died, his editorial assistant said on Saturday.
   Mailer, 84, had undergone lung surgery in October.
   In more than 40 books and a torrent of essays, Mailer provoked and enraged readers with his strident views on US political life, and the wars in Vietnam and Iraq.
   Mailer’s first book, ‘The Naked and the Dead,’ is considered one of the finest novels about Second World War and made him a celebrity at age 25 when published in 1948.
   Mailer’s works were often filled with violence, sexual obsession and views that angered feminists. He later reconsidered many of his old positions but never surrendered his right to speak his mind.
   Detractors considered him an intellectual bully and he feuded with fellow authors like Truman Capote, William Styron, Tom Wolfe and Norman Podhoretz.
   Feminists like Germaine Greer and Kate Millett considered him the quintessential male chauvinist pig.
   Some of the feuds even turned physical for the former college boxer, who stabbed one of his six wives at a party and also decked writer Gore Vidal.
   Dwayne Prickett, his editorial assistant in Provincetown, Massachusetts, confirmed Mailer’s death.

A Bangladeshi national was shot dead by the members of Border Security Force of India along Tentulia border in Panchagarh on Saturday.
   The victim was identified as Mosharraf Hossain, 50, of Bokshipara village under the district.
   Local sources said BSF men opened fire on Mosharraf while he along with other villagers was watching the Hindu Dewali festival near the border. He died on the spot.
   After the killing, the BSF troops took away the body, BDR sources said quoting witnesses.

Two schoolboys drowned in the Bay of Bengal at Kolatoli point of Cox’s Bazar on Friday.
   The victims were identified as Abdul Hannan Wasif, 13, son of late Abdul Mannan of Daulatpur village under Fatikchhari upazila and Shafiul Hossain, 13, son of Syed Hossain of Dewanhat area in Chittagong city.
   Both of them were students of class VIII of Chittagong Meron Sun School.
   Police and witnesses said 93 students and 8 teachers of the school came to the sea beach resort Friday morning and went to Kolatoli point for a bath in the sea at about 5:00 pm. It was the time for high tide.
   Teachers and all the students excepting the two returned to the coast. The two were washed away by the tide.
   Wasif was rescued from the same point after about two hours and declared dead at the Cox’s Bazar sadar hospital.
   The body of Shafiul Hossain was found at Urmee guest house point Saturday morning.
   Police arrested Sanaullah, principal of the school.

The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and the Ministry of Health of China jointly won this year’s Kochon prize for their significant contribution to combating tuberculosis (TB).
   This was announced at the opening ceremony of the World Conference of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease at the Cape Town Interna-
   tional Convention Centre on Saturday.
   The IUATLD chairman, Dr Asma Ei Sony, South African health minister, Dr Tshabalala-Msimang, anti-tobacco expert Dr Yussuf Salojee, Mayor of Western Cape Town, Pierre UYS and the Stop TB Ambassador, Anna Cataldi, were present on the occasion.
   The BRAC has significantly scaled up TB control in Bangladesh by involving communities and increasing
   access to diagnosis and treatment since it started a TB
   control programme as a pilot community-based project in 1984.
   It has expanded activities to 283 upazilas in 42 districts, said the BRAC deputy executive director, Faruque Ahmed, who received the award from the Korea-based Kochon Foundation chairman, Doo Hyun Kim.
   ‘Whatever we do we do for millions. The anti-TB programme follows the same suit,’ Faruque told the audience at the Cape Town International Convention centre.
   He said the BRAC has diagnosed 87,000 TB patients last year and the cure rate was 95 per cent, far exceeding the WHO target.
   Chinese health ministry has also made remarkable achievements in the implementation and expansion of TB control, reaching full population coverage.
   The award gives special mention to Dr Zhao Fen-Zeng for technical leadership in the initial phase of implementing high-quality TB control measures; and to Dr Wang Longde, vice-minister of health for leadership and commitment to providing full access throughout China, resulting in the achievement of World Health Assembly targets.
   The each winner will receive the Kochon Medal and prize money, US dollar 65,000, will be divided among them.
   There were also two award recipients last year: Winstone Zulu — a leading advocate for people affected by TB/ HIV—and Dr L S Chauhan, deputy director general - Tuberculosis for India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
   The Kochon Foundation is a non-profit foundation registered in the Republic of Korea.
   The Prize was established in 2006 in honour of the late chairman Chong-Kun Lee, founder of both the Foundation and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corporation in Korea.
   The IUATLD, known as UNION, has also awarded prizes to three other persons in different categories for their contribution to controlling TB, which kills three persons per minute.
   The UNION’s Scientific Prize went to Dr Madhukar Pai of India, Karel Styblo Public Health Prize to Ms Lucy Chesire of Kenya and Princess Chichibu Memorial Award to Dr Jaap Broekmans of the Netherlands.

The Purbani Hotel managing director, Mahbubur Rahman Joynal, was on Saturday remanded in custody again for thee days in a case under the Narcotics Control Act.
   After the end of his three days in custody in the arms case, the Mohammadpur police produced him in the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate and had not sought him to be remanded in custody.
   But Rapid Action Battalion subinspector Osikur Rahim Siddik, also investigation officer of the narcotics case, sought him to be remanded for seven days, showing him arrested in the case.
   Joynal’s lawyers Abdullah Al Mamun and Jahanara Begum argued that as the managing director of a hotel of international standards, he needed to keep alcohol to entertain foreign guests. ‘He is also sick,’ said one of the lawyers.
   The magistrate, Waliul Islam, allowed Joynal to be remanded in custody for three days.
   The battalion arrested Joynal and his girlfriend, Jannatul Ferdous Nikita, when they reached the court to surrender on November 4. Joynal was on November 6 remanded in custody for three days.
   The battalion interrogated Nikita, along with her father and brother, on the first of their three days in custody on Saturday.

The Dhaka University Teachers’ Association in a statement on Saturday demanded that the government should increase their salary by a minimum of 50 per cent.
   The statement signed by the association president, Tazmeri SA Islam, and the general secretary, Mamun Ahmed, said the purchase power of limited-income people had fallen drastically. In such a situation, it has become tough for such people, including teachers and other professionals, to run their family.
   ‘So the association has urged the government to increase the salary of all employees under pay scale by a minimum of 50 per cent,’ the statement said.