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The government on Saturday revised upwards the fare for CNG-run auto-rickshaws and taxicabs, not CNG-run buses, after the April 25 increase in CNG price.
   Auto-rickshaws and taxicabs started charging extra fare without waiting for an official announcement of the new fare chart.
   Along with this, most CNG-run city service buses on their own also increased their fares although the government did not increase the fares for such buses.
   Such a situation has pushed people, already burdened with essential goods price spiral, into further trouble and the drivers said they had no other option but to charge high fares to meet their costs.
   The fares for auto-rickshaws and taxicabs were revised at a communications ministry meeting presided over by the communications secretary, Mahbubur Rahman, on Saturday.
   The government did not, however, increase the fares for CNG-run buses as they had already been taking the same fares charged by buses run on costlier diesel. ‘This is why the CNG-run buses will not be allowed to increase the fare,’ ATK Ismail, additional secretary of the communications ministry, told New Age Saturday evening.
   According to the new rates, the fare for CNG auto-rickshaw for the first two kilometres is Tk 18, up from Tk 13.5, and for subsequent kilometres each Tk 6, instead of Tk 5.5. The minimum fare for short distance has been set at Tk 18, in place of Tk 15.
   The updated fare rate for yellow air-conditioned cab is Tk 40, up from the earlier Tk 20, for the first two kilometres and Tk 10, in place of Tk 8, for subsequent kilometres each.
   For non-air-conditioned cab, the rate for the first two kilometres is Tk 30, instead of Tk 15, and then Tk 8, from Tk 6, for each kilometre.
   The minimum charge will be equivalent to the charge set for the first two kilometres for both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned cabs, said Ismail.
   CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners have long been flouting the daily deposit rate fixed by the government by compelling the drivers to pay Tk 600 a day, in place of Tk 450, a gap which is higher than the required daily cost on CNG price increase. An auto-rickshaw had required compressed natural gas worth about Tk 100 a day before the price was doubled.
   The meeting on Saturday ignored the issue of the daily deposit the CNG auto-rickshaw owners charge from the drivers.
   ‘We are now buying gas for double the earlier price. So, we are not in a position to carry passengers on metered fare,’ Bachchu Miah, an auto-rickshaw driver, told New Age on Saturday.
   Another driver, Suja, said, ‘I drive auto-rickshaw on meter, but request passengers to pay some more.’ Auto-rickshaw drives in a couple of days charged an increased amount, ranging between Tk 50 and Tk 100, depending on the distance.
   Mabubur Rahman, a yellow cab driver, said, ‘Life is becoming tough for us. We pay Tk 900 a day to the owner. Now we need to buy CNG for double the earlier price. It takes long to get gas. Only then we start earning something for our living.’ There is no officially fixed deposit rate for cabs and the owners of yellow (air-conditioned) cabs usually charge Tk 900 or Tk 1,000 a day and the owners of black cabs charge Tk 700 or so a day.
   But, Maruf, doing job in a private company, is one of the sufferers who expressed discontent at the immediate impact of the CNG price increase. ‘We need to pay an extra amount from our limited income to meet the daily travelling cost although our income remains fixed. This has added salt to injury caused by the essential goods price spiral,’ he said.
   The CNG-run city service bus operators, enjoying advantage over their competitors of diesel-run buses, too, have increased the fare, by Tk 2 to Tk 5 on different routes.
   As for separate fare chart for CNG-run buses, the communications ministry’s additional secretary said there were some legal complications regarding buses converted to run on CNG as they were still registered as diesel-run buses. The fare for CNG-run buses will be fixed after resolving the issue, he said.
   After the price increase, a CNG-run bus requires gas worth Tk 4, in place of the earlier Tk 2, for travelling a kilometre whereas the cost of fuel for a diesel-run bus to travel the same distance would be Tk 14, according to the government’s Energy Division. The increased rate of per cubic meter of compressed natural gas is Tk 16.75 compared with the current price of per litre diesel, which is Tk 40.
   Tasico Paribahan, which runs buses between Ranimahal (Demra) and Tongi-Abdullapur, has increased fare by Tk 5, Ababil and Anabil, on route between Tongi-Abdullahpur from Postagola and Jatrabari, have increased the fare by Tk 5. The bus operators on Saturday charged the increased fares.
   ‘We are thinking about what we can do to check the increased fare for CNG buses,’ said M Jasimuddin, joint commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. The finance adviser, Mirza Azizul Islam, on Friday also said administrative measures would be taken to check such anomalies.
   The government on April 3, 2007 increased transport fares by Tk 0.07 a kilometre, setting the rate at Tk 0.87 for buses with seats between 42 and 52 and Tk 0.90 for buses with seats between 32 and 36 across the country. But there is no fare chart for CNG-run buses. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority is framing guidelines on city buses which will address the issue of fares for CNG-run buses, a road transport agency official said.
   Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samiti’s joint convenor Babu Baten on Saturday said they were supposed to hold a meeting with CNG-run bus owners on Sunday. ‘We may organise a briefing after the meeting and disclose our position,’ he said.
   There are around 1.30 lakh CNG-run vehicles in Dhaka and elsewhere. The number of CNG-run buses registered with the Road Transport Authority is said to be more than 1,500.
   There are 13,000 CNG-auto-rickshaws in the capital city and 5,000 more will soon be hitting the road, said BRTA officials. They gave the number of registered taxicabs at about 11,000 although the owners said most of the cabs were off the road.
   The government in 2001 phased out around 31,500 two-stroke, three-wheelers for not being environmentally friendly and introduced CNG-run four-stroke, three-wheelers in Dhaka.

Amid a protracted tug-of-war over Bangladesh Nationalist Party leadership, the Election Commission sits with the government-backed faction today for dialogue on electoral reforms.
   The mainstream Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Saturday said holding dialogues with its splinter group does not mean that the government and the Election Commission had ‘talked with the BNP’.
   The mainstream BNP feared that influential quarters acting behind the scenes would force some of its leaders to attend today’s meeting between the splinter group and the Election Commission, as the government-backed faction’s acting secretary general M Hafiz Uddin Ahmed said, ‘We are still trying to take part in the dialogue unitedly.’
   Two senior leaders in both the mainstream and the splinter group on Saturday contradicted party leader M Saifur Rahman’s statement on BNP’s participation in elections even if detained party chairperson Khaleda Zia could not finally contest the polls.
   ‘Whatever the government says, sitting with the splinter group does not mean it has talked with the BNP. They [splinter group] are only a minor part of the party,’ BNP’s joint secretary-general, Nazrul Islam Khan, told reporters on Saturday morning.
   When asked if the government had invited the mainstream BNP to the pre-dialogue talks, he said, ‘We were told on Wednesday that the meeting would be held on Saturday. But I am not sure where and when it will take place.’
   The military-controlled interim government postponed the informal dialogue with the mainstream BNP that was scheduled for April 23. No fresh date, time and venue were set for the talks till the filing of this report at 8pm on Saturday.
   When he was asked if they would attend the pre-dialogue talks if the government invites them once again, Nazrul replied with a positive nod.
   About the statement of the splinter group on taking along the mainstream leaders to the talks with EC, he said, ‘Earlier, we were informed that some leaders had attended the [October 2007] meeting, but later we came to know that all of them were taken there forcibly. We fear a repeat of that event.’
   He reiterated that today’s dialogue would not be with BNP, rather with a very minor, unrepresentative faction of the party.
   Khan was talking to reporters at the party secretary-general Khandaker Delwar Hossain’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar apartment.
   About M Saifur Rahman’s statement on BNP’s participation in elections even if Khaleda Zia finally could not contest the polls, Nazrul said the remarks made by the former finance minister were nothing new. ‘They have been planning to exclude Khaleda Zia from the very beginning and the October 29 [2007] meeting was the initiation of that move,’ he said.
   Nobody will accept election if Khaleda Zia is kept in jail, he said.
   Saifur and M Hafiz Uddin Ahmed were made acting chairperson and acting secretary-general of the BNP at a controversial meeting of the party’s standing committee on October 29, 2007. Four, out of the eight standing committee members, who attended the meeting, later submitted an affidavit claiming that it was not a formal meeting of the committee. They said it was a ‘tea party’ where two unknown persons took their signatures in a ‘resolution’.
   M Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, too, contradicted Saifur Rahman’s remark. ‘The party will take part in the polls only if Khaleda Zia is among us,’ Hafiz said in reply to a question on Saifur’s statement.
   Hafiz also brushed aside Nazrul Islam Khan’s fears that some mainstream party leaders might be forced to attend the pre-dialogue talk. ‘Such speculative comments should not be made. Wait till tomorrow and see who comprises the BNP delegation,’ Hafiz said at his Banani home. ‘We will continue efforts till the last minute to go unitedly to the dialogue with the Election Commission tomorrow.’
   Hafiz said they had already prepared a list of suggestions to make the next polls fair and free from money, muscle and sale of nominations.
   He said his party almost agrees with the Election Commission’s reform proposals and will assure it that anything that obstructs the election or bars return to democracy will not be supported by the party.
   The Election Commission, conspicuously omitting the loyalists of detained party chief Khaleda Zia, on April 22 sent an invitation to the splinter group to sit for a pre-dialogue discussion.
   Earlier in the morning, the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, the labour front of BNP, held a meeting with secretary-general Khandakar Delwar Hossain at his residence. Led by Sramik Dal president Nazrul Islam Khan, they discussed the May Day programmes.
   After the meeting Nazrul said they would hold a discussion meeting on May 2 at the National Press Club in observance of May Day.

The police Friday night sued some 50 BNP mainstream leaders, four of whom are female and former lawmakers, under the Emergency Powers Rules on charge of holding a rally in front of the Election Commission on April 17.
   The mainstream BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, criticised the government for filing the case which was ‘ill-motivated and false.’
   Tejgaon police subinspector Deepok Kumar Paul filed the case against some 50 leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
   Fourteen of the accused were named and they include former female lawmakers Shirin Sultana, Saimum Begum, Rehana Akhter Ranu and Bilkis Jahan Shirin, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s assistant press secretary Mohiuddin Khan Mohan, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leaders Amiruzzaman Shimul, Nurul Islam Nayan, Rafiqul Alam Monju, Zakir Hossain Milan, Saiful Islam Firoz, Yasin Ali, Habibul Rashid, Robin and Abdul Quader.
   The Tejgaon police officer-in-charge, Mohammad Lutfar Rahman, told New Age, ‘The case was filed against some 50 leaders accusing them of holding a rally in front of the Election Commission on April 17 in violation of the emergency rules.’
   ‘Subinspector Altaf Hossain has been made the investigation officer of the case and he has started work in this connection,’ Lutfar said.
   The Election Commission invited the acting secretary general of the splinter group, Hafizuddin Ahmed, and the mainstream secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, to electoral reforms dialogues on April 17.
   Hafizuddin led a delegation to the commission in the morning on April 17 and a 15-member delegation led by standing committee member Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, on behalf of the mainstream secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, met the commission later in the day.
   The mainstream leaders, including the female lawmakers, held a rally and chanted slogans in front of the commission secretariat as the splinter group delegation left the complex.
   Subinspector Altaf told New Age, ‘We have conducted drives to arrest the accused. We have visited the spot and gathered some bits of information related to the case.’
   Delwar in a statement said the case had been filed as a part of a ‘blue print’ to damage the BNP.
   ‘The case was filed to damage the nationalist forces, especially the BNP,’ Rizvi Ahmed, the acting office secretary of the party mainstream, quoted Delwar as saying.

Detained Awami League president Sheikh Hasina was shifted to the special jail on the parliament premises on Saturday after a seven-day treatment in the city’s Square Hospital.
   Prison officials said that Hasina, also a former prime minister, was taken back to the temporary jail at about 4:30pm, on getting clearance from the hospital authorities.
   Sheikh Hasina was re-admitted to Square Hospital on April 19 after a break of 20 days as doctors found fluctuation in her blood pressure.
   Deputy inspector general of prisons Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told reporters at the hospital that Hasina’s health was ‘stable’.
   ‘We are taking her back to jail on advice of the doctors’, he added.
   The DIG prison claimed that Hasina was doing well.
   Hasina, arrested by the joint forces on July 16, 2007, has been suffering regular bouts of ill health, including acute hearing problems, for quite a long time. She is facing two extortion cases.
   Hasina was first admitted to the hospital on March 12 and discharged on March 30. She was taken straight to the court from the hospital for hearing in a graft case. Since the ailing AL chief has been dragged between the jail, court and hospital several times.
   Hasina and her party leaders complained that the jail authorities had forced her to attend court hearings with an ill health.
   The Awami League has repeatedly demanded her release for treatment abroad.

Organisational units of the Awami League outside the capital, where ban on indoor politics continues, are planning to ask permission of the authorities to observe the countrywide six-hour token hunger strike scheduled for Tuesday.
   Local-level leaders who are receiving the party’s written instructions to observe the hunger strike demanding the party chief Sheikh Hasina’s release,
   decided not to disclose in advance how they would observe the protest programmes fearing police intervention, in case they fail to obtain permission, they said.
   The acting AL general secretary, Syed Ashraful Islam, on Thursday issued instructions to the party’s grassroots units to make the 10:00am-4:00 pm hunger strike on Tuesday successful without violating the state of emergency.
   The AL also convened a meeting of its secretaries at the party chief’s Dhanmondi office this morning to discuss various aspects of the hunger strike programme, party sources said.
   Grassroots activists are generally in favour of observing the hunger strike at open places but the method of staging the protest has not yet been finalised, a local-level leader said.
   ‘We are yet to finalise [how the programme will be observed]. But we will decide it in a day or two’, president of the party’s Khulna city unit, Talukdar Abdul Khaleque, told New Age, adding that they would approach the administration for permission.
   He also said that the party had some plans regarding the pro- gramme but they would not disclose it beforehand.
   ‘Although we cannot hold meetings to finalise the programme due to the ban on indoor politics, we will observe the programme anyway’, Chittagong city AL joint secretary Ibrahim Hossain Babul told New Age.
   Mokhlesur Rahman, acting president of the party’s Barisal district unit, said they had received the instruction from the headquarters on Saturday to observe the hunger strike at union, upazila and district levels without violating the emergency.
   ‘We have decided to observe the programme at the office-cum-residence of [former district president of the party] Mohiuddin Ahmed and will ask permission of the police’, he said, adding that a final decision would be taken in a day or two.
   ANM Shafiqul Haque, president of Sylhet district AL, said that they would approach the administration on Sunday for permission to observe a peaceful hunger strike and finalise the programme on Monday.
   ‘We have decided to observe the programme in front of the local press club’, president of Thakurgaon district unit, Ramesh Chandra Sen, told New Age, adding that they would seek permission of the authorities concerned in this regard.
   The general secretary of Rajshahi city unit AL, Khairuzzaman Liton, said he would not disclose the venue for the hunger strike beforehand as it would be tough to observe the programme amidst a ban on indoor politics.
   ‘We will not disclose anything now as we want to avoid troubles like police intervention. The central AL instructions will be conveyed to the activists secretly just on the eve of the programme’’ another district-level leader said, adding, ‘Of course, we will ask permission of the administration.’
   The local leaders said that they would go by the party’s instruction not to violate the emergency rules.
   The party presidium at a meeting on Wednesday decided to observe the token hunger strike on Tuesday – its first major protest programme since the military-controlled interim government assumed office in January, 2007 – to press for release of Sheikh Hasina.

The interim administration has taken a move to save the dying River Buriganga, whose pollution is posing serious threat to the health of 16 million people living in and around the Dhaka city.
   It formed a committee last month to find ways to reduce the level of pollution in the rivers around the capital, including Buriganga, and reclaim their banks from encroachers.
   Passing through the southern side of the capital, the river contains water intoxicated with frequent dumping of industrial and solid wastes, sewage and oil spillage from vessels, according to experts.
   The situation of the river, once known as the lifeline of the capital, has by now become worst with its water turning pitch black and toxic in many portions in and near the capital, they said, adding that the situation will continue to deteriorate if the present level of pollution continues. No plant or animal can survive in such water, they said.
   A recent study conducted by the Department of Environment found the level of dissolved oxygen in the river water is almost zero while fresh water contains dissolved oxygen level from six to seven milligram in per litre.
   The department collected sample of water from five points in Buriganga and found the degree of dissolved oxygen at 0.10 milligram per litre only in one place and.
   Water sample of four other points produced the level of dissolved oxygen at nil, said a report of the DoE referring to the investigation conducted early this month.
   ‘According to the results of the tests, water pollution has reached to a dangerous level in the river,’ said Abdus Salam, one of the directors of the department and also a member of the committee formed last month.
   The 22-member committee, formed comprising members from organisations including the Local Government Division, Dhaka City Corporation, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, energy and mineral resources division, Petrobangla, environment ministry, institute of water modelling, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka Export Processing Zones, district administration and the army-led joint forces.
   Two technical committees are working now to identify the sources of pollution and review of the previous steps taken by different agencies and related laws and rules to help future actions.
   SM Mahbubur Rahma, the head of water resource planning at the Institute of Water Modelling, said the extent of pollution in Buriganga definitely posed a serious threat to the health of residents in and around the capital.
   He said pollution-free water usually contains dissolved oxygen more or less seven milligram per litre.
   ‘If the level comes below four milligram per litre, then we say the water is highly polluted and it poses threat to the ecosystem,’ said the water expert adding that living plants or animals in such water must face extinction.
   The expert identified nine industrial areas in and around the capital city – Tongi, Tejgaon, Hazaribagh, Tarabo, Narayangang, Savar, Gazipur, Dhaka Export Processing Zone and Ghorashal — as the prime sources of river pollution. Most of the industrial units in these areas have no effluent treatment plants.
   More than 60,000 cubic metres of toxic waste (textile dying, printing, washing and pharmaceuticals) enters into the Dhaka canals and river system every day while nearly 4 million people directly suffer the consequence of poor water quality of the river system caused by untreated textile industry waste alone.
   Besides, Dhaka city discharges about 4,500 tonnes of solid waste every day, of which maximum 30 per cent are disposed at designated dumpsites.
   Industrial waste accounts for 60 per cent of the total river pollution followed by municipal wastes and improper handling of other wastes, Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, the director general of the department of social welfare, who is now heading the committee to launch action to arrest river pollution initially of the rivers around the capital city, said referring to a number of recent studies conducted on pollution.
   There are few other factors responsible for pollution, which he told New Age, would be taken into consideration while the government would draw comprehensive programme to prevent pollution of river water.
   The committee, he said, would suggest few immediate measures, and draw short-term and long-term programmes to this direction.
   ‘We will sit with the members of the civil society, eminent persons, experts and environmentalists before we draw the final plans,’ Kamal said.
   The committee said in a preliminary observation that a central effluent treatment plant was being set up at the Dhaka Export Processing Zone, but the most of the industrial units outside are not complying with standard effluent plants.
   It suggested that treatment plants could be set up at the industrial zones where the plants were yet to be established on partnership basis.

Rocketing food prices are depriving poor people of healthful diet as they are to compromise with daily calorie intakes to cope with the declining capacity to buy, a nutritionist said, warning of public health and economic disasters.
   ‘The government defines that the people with daily food intake of less than 2122 kilo calories are living below the poverty line. I have studied that at least 60 per cent of the country’s population at present take much less calories than required,’ said Harun KM Yusuf, professor of Biochemistry and Human Nutrition at Dhaka University.
   High prices of food commodities are forcing the poor to cut nutrition intake, he observed.
   Yusuf showed that by spending one taka on coarse rice a consumer ensured only 120 kilo calories in December 2007, which was 50 calories less than what he or she received in January 2006 spending the same amount of money.
   Price inflation also cut down calorie intake to 100 units from soya bean oil worth taka one during the period, he pointed out.
   ‘Declines in calorie intakes will cause malnutrition to the poor, affecting their health and future productivity. It will ultimately impact the national economy negatively,’ the nutrition science professor warned at a seminar organized in Dhaka by Bangladesh Economic Association.
   Economists suggested that the government should expand safety-net schemes for protecting the poor and marginal groups from malnutrition, and take steps to raise purchasing capacity of the poor. They also stressed the need for a safe food stock and policy supports for boosting agricultural productions.
   BEA president Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad presided over the seminar, while its vice-president Syed Yusuf Hossain, former FBCCI president Yussuf Abdullah Harun and BEA general secretary Professor Abul Barakat also spoke.
   Professor Barakat and Professor Yusuf observed that the number of people living below the poverty line was on the rise in recent times due to exorbitant increases in food prices.
   The number would now stand at about 9 crore, up from previously estimated 6 crore or 40 per cent of the country’s population, the two professors estimated.
   ‘At least four crore people of the country are facing extreme poverty with no work and miserable buying capacity now,’ said Barakat.
   Syed Yusuf Hossain and Yussuf Abdullah Harun suggested that the government should build stocks of at least three million tonnes of grains through immediate local procurements or imports.
   ‘The way things are moving it seems that you may not find food grains in international market in future even if you have enough money,’ Harun warned.
   Syed Yusuf Hossain, who was comptroller and auditor general, said, ‘If the government can ensure 30 per cent of total rice supply to the market, it then can make effective interventions and prevent undue rise in food prices.’
   Professor Barakat said although BDR claimed success in distributing rice at fixed price, but it covered less than one per cent demand of the market, while the rural people were kept out of its sales network.
   He said prices of essentials increased sharply during the last 15 months of emergency rules, which instigated closure of thousands of small businesses and loss of employments.
   ‘At least 50,000 business enterprises have been either downsized or closed during the emergency rules, while thousands of others lost jobs due to crisis in poultry and construction sectors,’ the economist said.
   He blamed the present government for not admitting the famine. ‘It usually happens to elected governments as they lie and ignore realities in fear of backlashes in next elections. But why the present government, an unelected one, is not admitting the visible famine?’
   Professor Barakat said availability of foods was not the main factor, erosion of the purchasing capacity due to lack of work forced the poor to starve or remain half-fed.

Pakistan’s former prime minister warned Saturday against dissolving the newly elected parliament and called for the restoration of judges fired by the president, Pervez Musharraf.
   ‘Whoever dissolves the parliament, his hands should be broken,’ Nawaz Sharif told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad. Although Sharif did not name anyone, his words appeared aimed at Musharraf, who seized power in the 1999 coup by sacking Sharif’s government.
   Musharraf later exiled Sharif to Saudi Arabia, and the former premier returned home in 2007. Sharif’s party defeated the political allies of Musharraf in the February 18 parliamentary elections.
   Sharif now heads the second-largest party in the new coalition government that is led by the party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December.
   The coalition has vowed to curb Musharraf’s powers as president. The two main coalition parties have also vowed to restore the chief justice of Pakistan and dozens of other judges who were replaced by Musharraf late 2007 after declaring a state of emergency.
   However, they have yet to decide how to achieve the goal. The leaders of both parties this week denied any rifts over plans to reinstate the judges.
   On Saturday, Sharif said the judges should be restored before April 30, which he said was a deadline the parties set after he signed an accord with Bhutto’s party before joining the coalition government.
   Bhutto’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party is headed by her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who was expected to hold another meeting with Sharif soon to resolve differences over the restoration of the judges.
   Sharif’s comments came a day after his top aide Javed Hashmi warned that ministers from their party would quit the cabinet if the government did not restore the judges. However, he said his party would remain an ally of the government.
   Sharif said he still wanted the government to complete its five-year term. ‘I pray for the success of the coalition government,’ he said, adding that his party also wanted to see an end to the interference of the army in politics.
   ‘We want the accountability of those who abrogated the constitution, violated the law and dissolved the parliament,’ he said in reference to Musharraf, who Sharif says should resign to avoid impeachment.
   Although Sharif has repeatedly called for Musharraf to step down, Bhutto’s party has avoided such a tough stand and indicated it can work with him.
   Sharif also accused Musharraf and his aides of conspiring against the coalition government, but said no such conspiracy would succeed.
   He said the people had ‘rejected dictatorship.’

The government has asked the food department to immediately submit a report on rice brought to dump at Halishahar in Chittagong Thursday night.
   The food and disaster management ministry will take the next course of action after receiving the report, food adviser AMM Shawkat Ali told New Age on Saturday. The department of food has already rejected this rice, he said.
   In December last year, the Pakistan government donated some 2,200 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh as relief assistance. Though the Bangladesh government distributed about 1,700 tonnes of rice in different times, around 500 tonnes remained at the Chittagong port.
   A committee, formed by the government comprising the officials from food department, department of environment, City Corporation and customs and port authority, found this rice unsuitable for human consumption and suggested dumping.
   But the representatives of food department, port, customs, department of environment and joint forces found that the rice was of good quality.
   Now some 450 tonnes of rice, seized by the joint forces on Friday, remain at artillery centre at Halishahar in Chittagong.

Mihir Kumar Hira along with eight Sidr victims went to Singapore to change their lot but their dreams were shattered due to fraudulence by local manpower brokers.
   Being desolated by the clutch of the cyclone, nine families of Hizla village under Chitalmari upazila in Bagerhat decided to send their sons abroad by selling their land and taking loan at high interest. Those ill-fated villagers ultimately lost everything as they were cheated by local manpower brokers who took around Tk 4,20,000 from each, alluring them of providing good job in Singapore.
   The dreams of the nine families were shattered less than three months as eight of the nine youths were forced to return home empty-handed.
   ‘The brokers appeared to us as second Sidr as they took away our remaining assets. We don’t know where we should go now as Sidr devastated our houses,’ Sheikh Mukhles, father of Sheikh Ashik, 17, one of the returnees, told New Age on Saturday.
   Mukhles and other victims narrated their sufferings at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.
   The wailing father urged the authorities concerned to take stern action against ‘powerful frauds’ and initiatives for giving back their money.
   Mihir told reporters that each of them gave Tk 420,000 to local manpower brokers Sheikh Taijul Islam, Sheikh Mizanur Rahman, Sheikh Samiul and Sheikh Zakir.
   ‘We went to Singapore in three batches in February to change our lot but our dreams were shattered just immediately after reaching the ASEAN nations,’ he added.
   According to another victim Ashik, crafty brokers told them that they had some ‘good visas’ of a Canadian company in Singapore where the monthly basic salary would be Tk 45,000.
   On arrival in Singapore, the youths saw a different scenario as they had to join an Indian company ‘Tatsat Marine Engineer Service’ where their monthly salary was around Tk 15,000.
   The youths alleged that Tamil employees of the company very often used to torture them both mentally and physically even on the slightest pretext.
   As they felt insecure life in Singapore, eight of the nine youths decided to return home and approached to the Bangladesh mission in the ASEAN nations.
   They returned home in two batches on April 5 and April 25 with the help of Bangladesh high commission and the expatriates’ welfare ministry.
   In reply to a query, Ashik said they were taken to a recruiting agency MA Hamid and Sons (RL no- 904) before their departure to Singapore.
   When they approached to the ministry for lodging complaint against the recruiting agent, the officials told them that it was a fake one as the agency was not on the government list.
   Responding to a query of going to local brokers, Mihir and his colleagues said when they asked local brokers to return their money, they were threatened to be killed if they pressed for the money.
   Later they went to the Chitalmari police station to file case against the brokers but for inexplicable reasons, the police officers forced them to lodge a general diary, he alleged, saying that Palash, Arif Sheikh and Ebadul, however, managed to get back their money as they were the relatives of the brokers.

Former rebel Maoists have secured a surprise win in landmark elections to shape Nepal’s political future, but the ex-insurgents will struggle to keep pledges for massive reform, analysts said.
   The ultra-leftists will be the largest party by far in the constituent assembly, whose first task is to abolish the world’s last Hindu monarchy and then rewrite the constitution.
   But having won 217 seats in the 601-seat assembly, they will need to temper their reform agenda, said Yubaraj Ghimire, a leading magazine editor and analyst.
   ‘The Maoists want radical socio-economic transformation, but the fact they have just won a simple majority means they will have to compromise on a lot of things,’ Ghimire said.
   The end of the monarchy – a Maoist objective since they launched the ‘People’s War’ in 1996 – has looked certain since the interim government agreed last year that the kingdom would be abolished in the assembly’s first meeting.
   But the Maoists’ plans for sweeping changes, including ‘revolutionary’ land reform combined with the use of capitalism as a tool to bring about their vision of a republican Nepal, will be more difficult.
   Sandwiched between regional giants India and China, aid-dependent Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. The civil war that ended with a 2006 peace deal wrecked an already fragile economy and left 13,000 people dead.
   Bijaya Ghimire, the chief economic journalist with the Kantipur media group, described Maoist plans for Nepal’s economy as ‘way too ambitious.’
   ‘They are talking about increasing per capita income from 350 dollars per year to 3,000 per year in 10 years, but this is impossible,’ said the senior analyst at Nepal’s biggest private media company.
   ‘We lack infrastructure and financial resources, and investors are not going to flood in after the Maoists come to power,’ he said.
   Political analyst and author Bhaskar Gautam agreed the Maoists would have a tough time pushing through reforms, but said they have to be seen to be making the effort by their supporters.
   ‘There are constraints on infrastructure and resources here, so they will be forced to depend on small economic reforms,’ Gautam said.
   ‘This could push them into a situation where retaining their cadres’ support will be more challenging.’
   Last week, Maoist leader Prachanda boasted to the Kathmandu business community about what he would achieve in power.
   ‘We have been given a chance to lead the government and we now think that this responsibility is to bring economic miracles in the country,’ he said.
   ‘People might not believe that we can bring economic miracles, but we will prove it,’ said the former school teacher.
   The prickly issue of what to do with the one-time rebel fighters also looms.
   The Maoists insist their 31,000 fighters, currently in UN-monitored camps around the country, should be brought into Nepal’s army.
   But Nepal’s army chief has repeatedly said there is no way indoctrinated, guerrilla-trained fighters can join the ranks of the 90,000 strong force that has traditionally been loyal to the monarchy.
   ‘The settlement of the People’s Liberation Army and army reform is closely related, and is sure to weigh heavily on the political process’ following the polls, Gautam said.
   The Maoists remain on a US list of terrorist organisations, and there will continue to be widespread fear of the ultra-leftists until their army is reintegrated into society, said editor Yubaraj Ghimire.
   ‘As long as (Maoist leader) Prachanda has a private army under his control, people will continue to be scared of the Maoists.’

The 46th anniversary of death of national leader Abul Kashem Fazlul Huq will be observed today.
   Different socio-cultural and political organisations have chalked up elaborate programmes to mark the day.
   The programmes include prayer sessions, placing flowers at the grave of Fazlul Huq and discussion meetings.
   In separate messages Saturday, president Iajuddin Ahmed and chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed paid glowing tributes to the great leader who had fought for the downtrodden and the farmers’ right to land all his life.
   In his message, the president said the nation would always remember with great respect the glorious role AK Fazlul Huq had played in establishing the rights of farmers and workers.
   ‘Sher-e-Bangla’s extraordinary personality, political wisdom, firm confidence in democracy and mental strength still inspire us in our nation-building activities’, Iajuddin said.
   In his message, the chief adviser said Fazlul Huq had played a pioneering role in poverty alleviation, economic emancipation of the poor and spreading education.
   He said, ‘Sher-e-Bangla freed the farmers from oppression by forming Rin Salishi Board (loan arbitration board) and established their rights to cropland.’
   Sher-e-Bangla Jatiya Smriti Sangsad will place flowers at his grave and offer prayers there on the occasion. It will also hold milad and a discussion in the city today.
   Leaders and activists of Jatiya Party will place flowers and hold a prayer session at his grave at 8:00am, said a press release.
   The secretary general of Jatiya Party, Sheikh Shahidul Islam, in a statement said that AK Fazlul Huq had played a pioneering role in setting up Rin Salishi Board to free peasants from the debt cycle during the British Raj.
   ‘His contributions towards welfare of common people are a glorious chapter in the history of this region’, he said, adding: ‘Sher-e-Bangla will remain a source of inspiration for the people of Bangladesh forever.’
   Progressive Democratic Party will hold a discussion meeting at its central office at 4:00 pm marking the day.

The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Saturday urged the teachers of Dhaka University to take the lead in creating knowledge society in the country to catch up with the advanced world.
   Terming Dhaka University the highest seat of learning in the country, he said quality of education of the university would have to be maintained and stressed training of the teachers to create an educated society.
   The chief adviser made the remarks when a 26-member DU delegation led by the vice-chancellor Professor SMA Faiz, called on him at his office.
   The delegation comprises syndicate members and deans of different faculties of the university.
   During the meeting, some delegation members stressed the need for revising the pay scale of university teachers, saying many teachers are going to private universities due to low pay. They also proposed that a research fund should be created in the national budget.
   Some also laid emphasis on maintaining transparency in appointing lecturer for the university and introducing training programme for lecturers. They also opined for sharing equipment and spaces of various departments of the university.
   The vice-chancellor placed a number of demands, including transfer the Atomic Energy Commission building to Dhaka University, construction of a 10-storied building on the Teacher-Student Centre premises for co-curricular activities, construction of tower buildings for teachers’ accommodation, allocation of land for a second campus as primarily 500 acres of land was allocated during inception of Dhaka University, which presently possess 250 acres of land, extension of academic building and increasing overseas scholarships for higher studies.
   The meeting was informed of the ongoing four projects involving Tk 67.18 crore for various development works of the university and an increase in qualitative standard of university education.
   Of the projects, a Tk 21-crore Dhaka University special development second-phase project is for construction of new girls’ dormitory, flats for hall resident teachers, procurement of scientific equipment and construction of Bungalows for provosts.
   Another amount of Tk 20.81 core was sanctioned for a project for extension of academic building, extension of student halls, while a Tk 5-crore project taken for repair, renovation and reconstruction of Curzon Hall and a Tk 20-crore scheme for development of infrastructure and research capability of physical,chemical and biological sciences.
   The meeting was also informed of five proposed projects for the next fiscal, including Tk 154-crore Dhaka University Special Development Project, Tk 27.35-crore Extension of Jagannath Hall project and Tk 15-crore project for renovation of antiquated establishments of the university.
   The chief adviser gave a patient hearing to the DU delegation and said he was well aware of the problems of the Dhaka University as he was the student of the university.
   He assured the delegation that despite resource constraint on part of the government, the problems would be addressed on priority basis.
   The chief adviser urged the Dhaka University teachers to try to create the university’s own sources of income.
   The education adviser, Hossain Zillur Rahman, education secretary, Momtazul Islam, secretary to chief adviser’s office, Kazi Aminul Islam and chief adsviser’s press secretary, Syed Fahim Munaim, were also present.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad called here Friday for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq, a spokesman for the organisers said.
   In a speech at Imperial College, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try the US president, George W Bush, plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which set up the event.
   Spokesman Mohammed Shafiq said Mahathir, who was in office from 1981 to 2003, wants to see the trio tried ‘in absence for war crimes committed in Iraq.
   ‘It was an opportunity for students to put a range of questions about war crimes and the international situation.
   ‘He said that people have to stop killing each other and use arbitration, negotiation and discussion as an alternative to violence, war and killing.’
   On the war in Iraq, Mahathir spoke about ‘the thousands dying, the economic war, the power of oil and how we could utilise some of these tools to have a leverage against the people who commit countries to war,’ Shafiq said.
   He purposely did not speak about or answer questions from students on the political situation in Malaysia, said Shafiq.
   The Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, is facing growing demands to quit, following an unprecedented electoral setback in March.
   More than 450 people attended the speech and about 200 more had to be turned away.
   Mahathir was in Cuba earlier this week to take part in the first International Conference of the Cuban Centre for Studies on Defence Information.
   The Ramadhan Foundation is a leading British Muslim youth organisation working for peaceful co-existence and dialogue between communities.

Rising food prices have developed into a global crisis, the United Nations secretary-
   general Ban Ki-moon, said on Friday.
   Concerns about food security mounted this week as rice prices hit records in Asia and the United States warned that staples for the world’s hungry were getting much more expensive.
   ‘This steeply rising price of food has developed into a real global crisis,’ Ban Ki-moon told journalists in Vienna.
   Anger over high food and fuel costs in recent months has sparked protests in several countries.
   In Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, protests have brought down the government and killed six, while in Cameroon at least 24 have died in protests linked partly to rising living costs.
   Governments of several food-growing countries, worried about domestic shortages, have imposed export curbs, spooking markets at a time when world inventories are down sharply.
   Ban Ki-moon said the crisis would be discussed at a meeting of UN agency heads, the
   World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on April 28-29 in Berne, Switzerland.
   ‘The United Nations is very much concerned as all members of the international community (are),’ he said. ‘We must take immediate action in a concerted way.’
   The UN secretary general stressed that world leaders should discuss ways to improve food distribution systems and production.
   Japan announced $100 million in emergency food aid on Friday and World Food Programme’s executive director said on Thursday the cost of feeding the world’s hungry had spiked nearly 40 percent amid spiraling food costs and oil prices.
   The International Monetary Fund has said it is in talks
   with governments in 10
   countries, mostly in Africa, about increasing financial assistance to cover the soaring cost of food.

Half of the country’s population is expected to come under cell phone connectivity by 2011, helping the booming telecom sector to have a turnover of around Tk 50,000 crore.
   The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission chairman, Monzurul Alam said this at a meet-the-press programme with Telecom Reporters’ Network of Bangladesh at the BTRC office Saturday afternoon.
   ‘Some seven crore people of the country will come under mobile phone connectivity if the growing trend of cell phone subscribers continues.
   And there’ll be a market turnover of more than Tk 50,000 crore,’ he said.
   The BTRC chairman said there are currently 3.89 crore active cellphone subscribers
   in the country and the
   number is increasing by 10 lakh a month.
   ‘The world’s big ICT companies are now showing interest to invest in Bangladesh’s telecom sector, as the telecom market here continues to expand very fast,’ Alam said.

Speakers at a discussion on Saturday observed that the projects of the Asian Development Bank have neither brought about economic growth nor reduced poverty in Bangladesh, but have rather increased the suffering of the people.
   Addressing the meeting on ‘A reality check on the ADB’s operations in Bangladesh, impact of policies and projects on people’s life and national economy’, they also demanded cancellation of the immunity given to this regional bank.
   Research-based organisation Voice organised the discussion at the National Press Club.
   ‘Not only the ADB, but also the other global lending agencies and multi-national companies should be made accountable for their activities in the country,’ Professor Anu Mohammad of Jahangirnagar University told the audience.
   He said that the country was facing two types of dangers — one relating to development and the other to poverty reduction — which he said was the outcome of the wrong policies of the global lending agencies and profit-mongering multinational companies working in Bangladesh.
   Due to the conspiracy of these companies, said Anu Mohammad, most of the public sector industries have been ruined in the last two decades.
   He denounced the government’s sudden price-hike of compressed natural gas without thinking of its impact on the low-income groups and common masses. He smelled a rat behind this decision of the military-backed interim government.
   Zakir Hossain of Unnayan Annesha said the lion’s share of the money for various projects was being spent for consultancy. ‘But we Bangladeshis have to shoulder the burden of the loan,’ he added.
   ‘ADB is an anti-people bank acting in favour of imperialism,’ said Arup Raki, referring to the results of the research conducted on the impacts of the bank’s activities in the country.
   Karmajibi Nari’s leader Shirin Akhtar called upon the groups and organisations to come forward in a united manner and stand together against these evil forces to save the country from further ruination in the name of development.
   ‘How can a bank talk like a political power in an independent, sovereign country?’ she questioned.
   Representatives from various non-government organisations addressed the function that highlighted the adverse impacts of ADB’s projects on the country’s economy, agriculture and life.
   ‘The projects of the ADB are being implemented without taking the opinions of the people. Thus these projects cannot be of any benefit to them,’ said Towhidul Islam, who works for Actionaid Bangladesh.
   President of a faction of the Jatiya Samjtantrik Dal, Hasanul Huq Inu, urged the government not to accept the advice of the lending agencies and multi-national companies. ‘Let’s formulate our own development policies.’
   Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, executive director of Voice who presented the keynote paper on the theme of the discussion, pointed out the ill-motives of various ADB-funded projects, saying the bank was blatantly working for multi-national companies as it is not accountable to the government.
   ‘The immunity given to the ADB should be cancelled immediately for the greater interest of the country,’ he told the audience.

The Gana Forum president, Dr Kamal Hossain, also an eminent jurist, on Saturday said those who are calling for movement to free detained offenders ought to be identified as their associates.
   ‘I have never heard that there will be a movement in favour of criminals. This can’t happen. If it happens, the conscious people will be powerless,’ he said told a meeting of his party’s representatives from Dhaka division at the Institute of Engineers.
   Dr Kamal, known as a stanch proponent of the political reforms in the interim period, blasted those who ruled the country in the past through criminalisation of politics and shifted the blames to them for the country’s many existing problems.
   He called upon the owners of the media not to take sides with the political prisoners rather expose their past deeds.
   Dr Kamal also urged the chief of the caretaker government to take measures so that the state-run BTV projects the doings of the ‘criminalised’ political era.
   A Supreme Court lawyer, the Gana Forum chief also pleaded that the political parties that were involved in criminalisation should be tried by the people of the country.
   He said the previous regimes that used to call themselves elected governments always deprived the people of power. ‘The people have always been rendered powerless through the election process.’
   About the stalled national election, Dr Kamal said he wants election this year and those who want to obstruct the polls must be faced unitedly. ‘We want that election in which the people will play a role as the owner of power. We don’t want election of black money.’
   He said country’s politics should not be tainted with terrorism, militancy, politicisation and black money— everyone should stand united to get rid of these menaces.
   Dr Kamal said it is a matter of shame that after 36 years of independence, 50 per cent of the under-5 children are still suffering from malnutrition. If thousands of crores of taka was not siphoned off the country, this would not be the case, he observed.
   ‘If people’s money had not been looted, the look of the country’s villages would have been different,’ he said in the strongest terms of criticism of the past rulers, many of whom have now been put behind bars in a crackdown following the 1/11 changeover.
   About the failure of the political parties, Dr Kamal said, ‘We will have to account to the people for this.’
   About the present interim government, he said he does not agree with those who say the caretaker government step down tomorrow. ‘A successful parliament will have to be formed through a free and fair election. It is what the constitution says. There is no move away from that.’
   He called for a national unity for a meaningful change in the country and its polity.

Interviews for the preparation of a fit list of deputy secretaries for the appointment as deputy commissioners on Saturday began at the Cabinet Division in the secretariat with the cabinet secretary, Ali Imam Majumder, in the chair.
   Two hundred deputy secretaries mostly from the 1985 batch of the Bangladesh Civil Service have been called for the interviews.
   On the first day, 103 officials attended the interview for appointment in district administration before the general elections scheduled for sometime this year.

The offices of all newspapers and news agencies will remain closed on Thursday (May 1) on account of May Day.
   Therefore, no newspaper will be published on Friday, said a press release of the Newspapers Owners Association of Bangladesh.

A first-year Bangla department student at Dhaka University Sheikh Shariful Islam was injured in a bomb blast near the Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall gate at 10:20pm Saturday.
   The injured was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. No details could be known till 10.40pm and no one was arrested in this connection.

Rapid Action Battalion arrested five suspected militants at Habiganj and Brahmanbaria for launching the bomb attack on a footwear shop at Bhadughar bus stand under sadar upazila in Brahmanbaria two weeks back.
   A joint team of RAB-9 and RAB headquarters conducted several raids on Bahubal, Nabiganj and Baniachang in Habiganj and Sarail, Nasirnagar and Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria from Thursday to Saturday and managed to arrest the five with some bomb-making materials, RAB sources said.
   The arrested were identified as Shamsul Islam, 45, Tajul Islam Al Mahmud alias Baba Tajul, 30, Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, 23, Mohammad Jalal Mia, 24 and Mohammad Saiful Islam, 22. RAB said the arrested admitted their involvement in the explosion.
   Earlier, a team of RAB-9 recovered four live bombs and bomb-making substances from the shoe store following the bomb explosion on April 13.
   The team also came to know the names of the bombers and recovered nine live bombs, three firearms and huge ammunition from a paddy field nearby the spot on April 15.

Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus inaugurated Grameen America, a micro-credit organisation, at Jackson Heights in New York on Friday.
   The Grameen America will provide small loans to the poor people of different ethnic communities in New York.
   Speaking on the occasion, Dr Yunus, chairman of Grameen Bank, said the success of micro-credit had not only gained worldwide fame, but also changed the lot of hundreds and thousands of people in Bangladesh.
   He expressed his strong belief that the programme would be well received and would gain absolute popularity among the enthusiastic entrepreneurs in New York.
   The micro-credit pioneer said he was very happy that that the people of different ethnic communities in America are interested to get involved with the Grameen America’s programme.
   Although, the Grameen America primarily started its activities in one centre at Jacksion Heights, New York, its target is to make at least one thousand members in one year.
   The coordinator of the Grameen America, Shah Newaz, said no security documentation would be needed to take loan from the Grameen America except providing the proof of legal status in the United States.
   ‘Additionally, a borrower would have to prove himself or herself as the member of low income group ,’ he said.
   Shah Newaz said the Grameen America representatives would decide the loan amount of the borrower between $ 500 and $ 3,000 according his or her income and need.
   After inaugurating Grameen America office, Dr Yunus gave a brief speech at Delhi Palace restaurant at Jackson Heights.
   Some borrowers of the project, people of different ethnic communities and media personnel were present on the occasion.

A trader was stabbed to death at Dayaganj in Dhaka on Saturday. The deceased Renu Miah, 40, a resident of Dayaganj, owned a bakarkhani shop in the area.
   The police said some local people, led by Salam alias Pagla Salam, entered the shop and had their breakfast in the morning. When Renu asked the bill, the gang tried to snatch money from the cash box.
   As Renu put up resistance, the gang stabbed him in the chest and neck, injuring him critically.
   Local people approached the place and managed to capture Salam after a chase. They beat Salam before handing him over to the police.
   Renu was first taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and then to Chest Diseases Hospital where he died from his injuries in the afternoon.