Main Page «
Front Page «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan and Jatiya Nadi Raksha Andolan on Saturday underscored the need for protecting the rivers across the country from pollution and encroachment.
   At a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity, leaders of the organisations also demanded reclamation of the rivers, which have been encroached over the years, and their excavation and demarcation.
   ‘We have to save our rivers to protect environmental beauty, ecology, livelihood of people as well as the national economy,’ said BAPA president Muzaffer Ahmad.
   Although the government spends lots of money in road construction and renovation, it spends a very small amount of money for the excavation and protection of rivers, he said.
   He urged the people of all walks of life, the business community in particular, to come forward to save the rivers from encroachment and pollution.
   Referring to the mills and factories, which pollute rivers through their wastes, he demanded that all the factories should have effluent treatment plant to avoid pollution of the rivers as well as the environment.
   He also stressed the need for raising awareness among the factory owners of setting up affluent treatment plants in their factories to protect the rivers and the environment.
   ‘Nine out of 12 persistent organic pollutants, banned in different countries as it is harmful to human health, birds, trees, soil water and environment, are being used as pesticide in our country. The harmful elements find their way into the rivers through soil and water,’ the BAPA general secretary, Abdul Matin, said.
   The organisation leaders demanded that the government should impose a ban on the dumping of clinical wastes in the rivers, dredging on the dead and filled up rivers and bringing back their navigability and stop leasing the river banks, and make mandatory the use of compressed natural gas instead of bio-fuel in launches, engine boats and other river vessels.
   They also demanded making mandatory the installation of effluent treatment plants in all the industries, a ban on the dumping of household and other solid wastes into the rivers, make compulsory treatment of the liquid wastes before their dumping into the rivers and stopping construction of latrines on the river banks.

A waiter was stabbed to death allegedly by one of his fellows over a trifle matter at a restaurant in the city’s Kalabagan area early Saturday.
   Mohammad Abu Taher, 14, son of Mohammad Saju Mia, locked in an altercation with his fellow waiter Shahidul Alam at their workplace, Swad Restaurant, at around 12:45am, the police said quoting the employees.
   They also engaged in a scuffle and other employees pacified them.
   As all the employees fell into deep sleep, Shahidul brought a sharp knife from the kitchen and started stabbing Taher indiscriminately in the face, shoulder and chest, they said adding that Shahidul left the place hurriedly as other employees started waking up hearing Taher’s screaming.
   Taher was taken to nearby Ganaswasthya Hospital and he died there at around 2:00am.
   The body was sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.
   A case was filed with the Dhanmondi police in this connection, but the police could not arrest Shahidul till Saturday evening.

A mobile court in Barisal on Saturday fined 10 privately-owned hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres Tk 1 lakh on various charges.
   The fined hospitals, clinics and labs are Padma Diagnostic Centre, Shuvo Diagnostic Centre, Nazibuddin Clinic, Ambia Memorial Hospital, Eden Hospital, Safe Health Lab, Apollo Diagnostic Centre, Barisal Physiotherapy Clinic, Mediplus Lab and Life Diagnostics Centre.
   The court realised Tk 15,000 each from Padma Diagnostic, Shuvo Diagnostic and Nazibuddin Clinic, Tk 10,000 each from Ambia Hospital, Eden Hospital, Safe Health Lab and Apollo Diagnostic and Tk 5,000 each from Barisal Physiotherapy Clinic, Mediplus Lab and Life Diagnostic, the court sources said.
   They said Padma Diagnostic and Nazibuddin Clinic had been fined for running the centre without trained nurses and technicians while Shuvo Diagnostic for lacking valid documents.
   Ambia Hospital, the largest private-sector hospital in the region, was fined for shortage of trained nurses, Eden Hospital and Safe Health Lab for running without skilled nurses and Apollo Diagnostic for keeping samples of urine, stool and blood and medicines in the same refrigerator.
   Barisal Physiotherapy Clinic was fined for lacking skilled technicians while Mediplus Lab and Life Diagnostic were fined for unhygienic atmosphere and operating the x-ray machines without taking safety measures.

Palliative care service was inaugurated at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University on Saturday aimed at providing special care to people suffering from incurable diseases.
   Inaugurating the service, the health adviser, ASM Matiur Rahman, said palliative care should be incorporated in primary healthcare system of the country.
   ‘Even the service, which is almost absent in the country institutionally, should be incorporated in medical curriculum,’ he told the function chaired by the BSMMU vice-chancellor, Mohammad Tahir.
   The BSMMU must be prepared as the country’s apex healthcare service provider and doctors and nurses should be imparted special training to get them prepared for this, he said adding that it is the time to move forward with a holistic approach.
   Palliative care is the only realistic therapy in our socio-economic condition as it provides physical, mental and spiritual support to the patients, Dr Nezam Uddin Ahmed, project coordinator of the Palliative Care Service, said.
   ‘Palliative care affirms life and regards dying as normal process as it believes death should be comfortable and dignified,’ he said adding that in palliative care the most important thing is to sustain the patient’s hope.
   It is not a new discipline in the world; there are around 8,000 Palliative Care Centres across the world and of them 1,500 are in South Asia, speakers at the inaugural function said.
   Tahir urged all to work together to run the university activities properly. The pro-VC of BSMMU, MA Majid, presented the vision of Palliative Care at BSMMU.
   According to the World Health Organisation, there are 10 lakh cancer patients in Bangladesh and two lakh new cases are diagnosed every year.
   About 80 per cent of the cancer patients come to hospitals when the disease reaches the advanced stage, according to statistics at the National Cancer Institute.
   Inadequate screening services, limited access to diagnostic facilities, lack of cancer specialists and the existing socioeconomic condition in the country ultimately suggest that more and more patients will require palliative care.
   The number of patients diagnosed with other incurable progressive illnesses like AIDS, motor neuron disease, end-stage kidney, respiratory and cardiac condition that requires palliative care is also significant, the speakers said.

The Singapore Tourism Board held a charity children’s drawing competition at the Fine Arts Institute of Dhaka University on Saturday.
   The Singaporean high commissioner to Bangladesh, Verghese Matthews, inaugurated the art competition at a function.
   The objective of the art contest was to make the kids of Bangladesh know more about Singapore, Kang Siew Kheng, STB regional director for South Asia, Middle East and Africa told the inauguration.
   One hundred and fifty children from 30 renowned schools in Dhaka participated in the drawing contest.
   Toufiful Islam, a student of standard three class of the Bangladesh International Tutorial, won the first prize.
   The first prize winner will be offered a visit to Singapore along with his three family members for three days and two nights sponsored by the Singapore Tourism Board.
   Top 20 artworks were sold to the parents and the officials of the participating schools for Tk 10,900. The proceeds were donated to ICDDR,B.
   Judges of the competition were Professor Hashem Khan, Professor Rafiqunnabi, cartoonist Shishir Bhattachariya and Professor Abul Bark Alvi.
   Apart from the Singapore Tourism Board, the event partner was Benchmark Limited while official media partners were Channel I, Radio Foorti, Shaptahik 2000 and Bangladeshinfo.com.

Three members of a family, including an assistant upazila education officer, were killed when a train knocked down their motorbike at Phulbarigate level crossing on the Khulna-Jessore highway on Saturday.
   The deceased are Gazi Iqbal Hossain, 36, assistant education officer of Mollarhat upazila and brother Akbor Hossain, 32, and their nephew Gazi Al-Hasib, 18, of Gilatala area under Khanjahan Ali thana in the Khulna city.
   Hasib secured GPA 5 in the HSC examination this year. He was the convening the committee member of the Khanjahan Ali thana unit of the Bangladesh Students’ Union
   Railway police and witnesses said the three died on the spot when a Parbotipur-bound train hit their motorbike at Phulbarigate rail crossing at around 10:00am.
   The victims were going to the Khulna city to buy Zakat clothes, they added.
   The family members said the accident took place as the signal on the rail crossing has remained out of order. Besides, the signal man was not present at that time, they alleged.

Interns at Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital on Saturday withdrew their work abstention programme.
   The agitating doctors took the decision after a meeting with the hospital authorities, who assured them of fulfilling their demands immediately and taking action against Syed Abdul Gafur, attendant of a female patient who had assaulted an intern on Friday.
   The director of the hospital, Brigadier Shah-E-Alam, was present at the meeting held at the conference room of the hospital at noon.
   The interns went on the agitation after Gafur had assaulted an intern doctor for not allowing him to enter the Labour Ward to see his wife.
   Gafur was arrested and sent to Kotwali police station from where he was released at about midnight the same day.

Gallery Nitya Upahar was launched through organising a week-long dress exhibition at Aziz Co-operative Super Market, Shahbagh in Dhaka on Saturday.
   The exhibition features participation of weaving artist Mariam Begum with 20 varieties of Tangail handloom sarees designed on the basis of Noakhali region’s traditional batnipati.
   Three pieces, fatua and T-shirts have also been put on display at the dress fair titled ‘Song of Weaving’.
   The vice-president of World Craft Council Asia Pacific Region, Ruby Ghuznabi, Canvas editor Kaniz Almas Khan, weaving artist Mariam Begum, dress designer Shahid Hossain Shamim and Nitya Upahar owner Bahar Rahman, among others, were present on the occasion.
   Mariam said ‘My entire family is involved in this traditional weaving sector.’ Some fifty families in our locality in Noakhali are living on this, she added.
   The exhibition remains open from 10.00am to 10.00pm every day till October 13.

Rapid Action Battalion arrested six alleged drug peddlers, including a woman, and seized Phensidyl, cannabis and smuggled goods from different areas in the region during the past 24 hours till Saturday noon, RAB said.
   In separate operations, they arrested the six — Pinjira Begum, 38, Abdur Rashid, 22, Kaosar Ali, 28, Dulal Hossain, 45, Monirul Islam, 25, and Chandan, 32 — along with 555 bottles of Phensidyl and 1.3 kilograms of cannabis from different places in Rajshahi, Rangpur, Chapainawabganj and Dinajpur districts.

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at a few places over Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet and Chittagong divisions and at one or two places over Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   Moderately heavy falls may occur at places over Barisal and Chittagong divisions during the period, the Met Office said, predicting that the day temperature may fall by 1-2 degrees Celsius in Chittagong and Barisal divisions and may remain nearly unchanged elsewhere over the country.
   The country’s highest temperature on Saturday, 36.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Jessore and the lowest, 23.5 degrees Celsius, at Chittagong.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:40am and rises tomorrow at 5:53am.

CCC employee killed in road accident
An employee of the Chittagong City Corporation was killed in a road accident at Tiger-pass in the Chittagong city early Saturday. The police said a truck had the rickshaw of Aminul Islam, 50, of Bhuyanchari in Banskhali upazila and an employee at the electric department of the corporation, at around 1:00am leaving him injured critically. He was taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital and died there at around 2:30am.
— New Age

Fake vermicelli factory unearthed
in Sylhet
A mobile court unearthed an unauthorised vermicelli factory at Sobhanighat in the Sylhet city and seized a large quantity of vermicelli and other products on Thursday night. The court, led by magistrate Devjit Singh, raided the house of city BNP vice-president Abul Kaher Shamim and unearthed the fake factory. They also seized vermicelli and some packets of chanachur and flattened rice from the factory. The court also sealed off the factory and arrested its manager, Keshab Acharya, along with eight other employees. Three cases were filed in this connection.
— UNB