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Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority has started excavating about 6-kilometre of main channel of the Dhaka Circular Waterway under Phase II of the project.
   SAS and MEL JV, which have been awarded the work order for excavation of the channel stretching between Ashulia and 500-metre eastern side of the Tongi Railway Bridge, started the work on April 15, said a BIWTA official.
   The companies will complete the work within 14 months, he said, adding BIWTA is excavating the channel spending Tk 6.46 crore. The total excavation work under the second phase of the circular waterway project from Ashulia Bridge to Kanchpur Bridge via Tongi will be completed in five phases, he added saying that the Dhaka Circular Waterway Phase II work will be completed by the year 2010.
   A total of 40.5 kilometres of canals and rivers, including 23 kilometres of main channel, will be excavated under the Phase II of the circular waterway project.
   ‘The SAS and MEL JV have been given the work order of the first of five phases and we are hopping to complete excavation work of two more phases in the next fiscal,’ he said.
   BIWTA earlier on February 18 started excavation of Badda Khal and Gobindapur Khal, which are out of the main channel of the waterway project, said the official.
   However, excavation of one kilometre of the Badda Khal, which is now under the possession of Eastern Housing under its Aftab Nagar Project, could not be done as BIWTA is yet to get any reply of its letter to the Dhaka deputy commissioner’s office.
   The BIWTA in the last week of February issued the letter seeking explanations from the DC office on whether and under what arrangements they [DC office] had exchanged land with the Eastern Housing Limited, said the BIWTA official.
   The Eastern Housing has constructed a road on the filled-up Badda Canal under its Aftab Nagar Project, said the official.
   The stretch of the canal occupied by the developer is at the point where it connects with the Rampura canal, he said, adding if the portion remains unexcavated, the entire excavation will be worthless.
   The BIWTA informed Eastern Housing Limited of the excavation on the filled-up portion of the Badda canal through a letter issued on January 28.
   In reply to the BIWTA letter, Eastern Housing Limited on February 17 said it received the portion of the canal from the office of the deputy commissioner of Dhaka in 2000 and 2003 in exchange of its private land.
   The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council on August 20, 2007 approved the Phase II of the Dhaka Circular Waterway Project to be implemented at a cost of Tk 47.50 crore.
   In the first phase, 29.5-kilometre-long waterway between Sadarghat and Ashulia was completed in March 2005, and it is already in operation.
   The circular waterway is designed to be 110 kilometres, including existing 40-kilometre waterway from Kanchpur to Sadargaht via Narayanganj and Munshiganj.

Rose View Hotel, the first five-star hotel outside the capital, will be inaugurated in Sylhet tomorrow.
   A Bangladeshi expatriate family in the United Kingdom has constructed the 13-storey hotel building at Upashahar beside the Shahjalal Bridge Link Road at a cost of over Tk 125 crore, aiming to attract foreign tourists.
   The hotel has 150 cosy deluxe suites, including one presidential suite, seven ambassador suites, 27 royal suites and 26 imperial twins, Moin Uddin, managing director of the hotel, said at a meet the press programme in the conference room of the hotel on Monday.
   ‘All rooms are equipped with world class furniture and technologies including internet access,’ he added saying that there is also a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a ballroom containing 1000 seats, three conference rooms and five — Indian, Chinese, Thai, Continental and Sizzler — restaurants of international standards in the hotel.
   Moin said the full range of meeting facilities to be provided by the hotel includes LCD projectors, overhead projectors, audio-visual equipment, wireless microphones white boards and flipcharts.
   The Rose View Hotel, a project of the Rose View Private Limited, has been constructed at the inspiration of the company chairman Alhaj Ahad Uddin,’ Moin, also the son of Ahad, said.
   He also hoped that the hotel would play an important role in exploring the huge potentials of tourism in the scenic city and encourage other expatriates to invest in their homeland.
   Rose View Private Limited chairman Alhaj Ahad Uddin, general manager of the hotel S Ravindra and director of the British-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Azad Ali, among others, addressed the programme.

Academics and linguists at a seminar on Monday stressed the need for research initiatives and large-scale promotional programmes to help survive the languages of the country’s ethnic minority communities.
   The government should create funds for taking up various research projects on ethnic minority languages for their survival, they told the seminar titled ‘Kurukh language: its origin and characteristics.’
   The Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities of Dhaka University organised the seminar at Lecture Theatre Building on the DU campus.
   During their deliberations, the speakers opined that Dhaka University can set up a language museum to collect, preserve as well as display characteristics, elements and samples of different minority languages.
   DU Linguistics teacher Shikder Monowar Murshed read out the keynote paper at the function chaired by the centre president and philosophy teacher Professor Aminul Islam.
   The vice-chancellor of the University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh, Rafiqul Islam, DU linguistics teacher Jinat Imtiaze Ali and centre director and DU world religions teacher Kazi Nurul Islam, among others, addressed the function.
   Murshed said Kurukh is a South Asian ethnic minority language and spoken by Orao community people both in India and Bangladesh.
   ‘This language has neither alphabet nor it has any written form. We have no correct statistics regarding the number of Orao community people. An estimated 65,000 Orao community people live in different parts of the country notably in Rangpur, Bogra, Rajshahi and Sylhet.’
   As the Kurukh has no patronisation and as it not used officially of academically, the language is losing its existence, he observed.
   Murshed stressed that large-scale research projects should be undertaken for the survival of the language.
   Rafiqul said, ‘It is regretted that we are patronising English medium education ignoring our own culture when Bengali medium government primary schools is in a very sorry state.
   He suggested that the centre should take initiatives to patronise more research programmes on the history, language and culture of Dhaka and country’s ethnic minority languages.
   Aminul said, ‘We will do everything through the centre for the survival of ethnic minority languages and seek supports from the university and the government in this regard.’
   Nurul said, ‘We will have to incorporate the departments concerned in the centre for taking comprehensive research projects on minority languages.’

The power distribution agencies in Rajshahi started drive against the shops and business centres which remain open after 8:00pm, a timeline fixed by the authorities to reduce load shedding.
   On the first day, the Power Development Board snapped electricity connections to 10 shops and business centres at different areas in the city, including Saheb Bazar, Lakshmipur and Haragram.
   The PDB and the Rural Electrification Board (Palli Bidyutayan Board) launched the driver separately, sources in PDB and REB said.
   ‘We instructed the shop owners through PIA and advertisements in the dailies to shut down their shops by and business establishments by 8:00pm, but some of the owners did not pursue it,’ said Golam Kibria, an assistant engineer of PDB in Rajshahi.
   The Power Development Board recently served a notice, through advertisements in national and local dailies, to the shop, shopping mall, and factory owners to shut down their establishments by 8:00pm.
   The decision to shut down shops, factories and shopping malls except food shops, drug stores, kitchen markets and grocery shops on lanes and by-lanes was taken to reduce load shedding, sources said.
   Arjad Hossain, additional chief engineer of PDB, told New Age that they had also decided to fine those who would not comply with the notification.
   The REB launched the drive in the upazila level. The drive will be conducted regularly, PDB and REB sources said on Monday.

Students of the Rajshahi University are facing trouble in studying at the university’s central library as all the air conditioners have remained inoperative.
   The university authorities have kept switched-off all the 17 ACs at the library since February 5 reportedly due to fluctuation of voltage, some students said.
   ‘Now we can hardly study at the library as operation of the ACs has remained suspended when heat stroke is persisting in the country,’ a student said.
   Earlier, there were 60 fans in the central library, but they had been removed after installation of the ACS in 2007, he added.
   Asadur Rahman, a journalism student said, ‘We regularly study at the central library. But now we cannot study there due to non-operation of the ACs or lack of fans.
   The ACs went into formal operation on November 5, 2007. Amigo Engineering Company had been given task to install the 17 ACs at a cost of Tk 94.26 lakh.
   Since then the ACs ran only for a total of only 26 days last year while only four days this year, library sources said.
   The ACs is unable to function as ALT Switch gear, which helps to continue their operation during low voltage, was not set up during their installation, the students mentioned.
   They also alleged that the university chief instructor (engineering department), Moatisim Billah, stopped the work of installing ALT Swiss gear as he was not given bribe of Tk 50,000 by the contractor concerned.
   Moatasim Billah denied the allegation of bribery. He, however, could not say why ALT Switch gear was installed at the ACs.
    The director of the central library, Professor Delwar Hossain said, ‘We have been compelled to suspend operation of the ACs mainly due to voltage fluctuations.
   He, however, said that they would soon take steps to resume operation of the ACs at the library.
   When contacted the university vice–chancellor, Professor M Altaf, told New Age that he would immediately look into the matter.

World Dance Day will be observed in the country today with the government taking programmes for the first time to celebrate the day.
   The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and the Bangladesh Dance Artistes’ Association started celebrating the day with three-day programmes, including dance competitions, discussions, seminar, dance fair and dance performances, in the city from April 27.
   As part of the programmes, the organisers will bring out a colourful procession from the academy premises at 9:00am today. The dance fair will begin at 3:00pm to be followed by dance performances at 6:30pm.
   The commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, will address as chief guest the discussion.
   Members of Bulbul Academy of Fine Arts, Jago Arts Academy, Benuka Lalitkala Academy, Chhayanaut, Brityachhaya, Sukanya, Nritya Nandan, Nrityam, Pallabi, Nrityalok, Dibya Sangskritik Sanggathan, Rewaz Performers School, Katthak Nritya Sampradaya, Nandan, Srishti, Akriti, Nandanik, Dhrupada, Spandan, Tridhara, Supta Bikash, Bangladesh Ballet Troupe, Jhangkar Lalitkala Academy, Sohel Rahman-Ria and their troupe, Aminul Islam-Moni and their troupe will perform dances.
   Amanul Huq, convenor of Bangladesh Dance Artistes’ Association and joint convenor of this year’s International Dance Day Celebration Committee, told New Age, ‘The dance artistes of the country regularly celebrate the day with their own initiatives. But this year, we are getting support from the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and it has made the celebration programme a grand one. ’
   The newly appointed director general of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam expressed his happiness at the academy’s cooperation in making the carnival a success.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at one or two places over Khulna, Barisal, Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country in the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today, Met Office said.
   It said the day temperature may fall slightly over the country.
   The country’s highest temperature on Monday, 37.2 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Rajshahi and the lowest, 21.50 degrees Celsius, at Sylhet.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:26pm and rises tomorrow at 5:25am.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is going to file four cases against 14 individuals, including former finance minister Saifur Rahman’s son Shafiur Rahman Babu, former BNP lawmaker Alamgir M Mahfuz Ullah Farid and Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal general secretary Zafrul Hasan.
   The ACC director general (admin), Col Hanif Iqbal, Monday informed the commission’s regular briefing that the anti-graft watchdog has approved the filing of the four cases.
   A case against Saifur’s son, Babu, will be filed for acquiring wealth worth Tk 13.84 crore beyond known sources of income, including concealment of information about assets worth Tk 1.27 crore.
   The commission will file a case against former BNP MP from Cox’s Bazar Farid and his wife Noor Akhter Jahan for amassing wealth worth about Tk 2.4 crore disproportionate to their known sources of income and hiding of information about assets worth about Tk 88 lakh.
   A case will be filed against Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal general secretary Zafrul and his wife Shefali Hasan for having ill-gotten wealth worth Tk 79.63 lakh and concealment of information about wealth.
   The ACC will file a case against nine persons, including former director general of the Bureau of Statistics Waliul Islam and former director (admin) Khurshid Kamal for alleged corruption in recruitment.
   The press briefing was also informed that the commission on Monday filed a case against Khulna forest conservator Sheikh Mizanur Rahman with Ramna police station for having unearned wealth worth about Tk 15 lakh and concealment of information about assets worth Tk 2.18 lakh.
   Hanif said the commission has approved the submission of charge sheet in the case against former BNP minister Shajahan Siraj’s son Rajib Siraj Apu filed on November 20, 2007 for illegally earning/transforming/transferring Tk 8.63 crore.
   The charge sheet will be submitted under section 13 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2002, he added.

The 15th All Asians Inter-univ Debate Championship will be held in Dhaka from May 7 to May 13.
   The chief adviser, Fakruddin Ahmed, will inaugurate the event to be organised by the North South University, the university officials said at a press conference in Dhaka on Monday.
   Bangladesh is the first country in South Asia to organise the All Asians Inter-univ Debate Championship, which is the largest international debating tournament in Asia and one of the most prestigious in the world, they said.
   A total of 350-400 foreign debaters from 10 to 12 countries, including Japan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and South Korea, along with 100 local competitors will take part in the tournament.
   The objectives of organising the tournament include upholding the image of teh country in the global arena, facilitating cultural exchange, and creating diversity and tolerance.
   The event will provide a platform for building future leaders in business, political and social, the organisers said.
   The tournament will be accessible for all to witness world-class debate, as well as get trained by renowned international trainers, who will be conducting training workshops from May 3 to May 6. Interested participants can e-mail at nsudc@hotmail.com, or can register through www.nsuallasians.com.
   The NSU vice-chancellor, Hafiz GA Siddiqi, pro-VC SAM Khairul Bashar, faculty advisor Nusrat Sharmir Huq, debate organising committee convener Zunaed Rabbani and tournament director Afreen Hossain Barsha.

Labour rights organisations observed International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers and World Day for Safety and Health at Work on Monday through various programmes across the country.
   A coalition of rights groups at a news briefing demanded formulation and proper implementation of a national policy on workplace safety and health.
   They also called for establishing National Labour Security Council as per the labour law of 2006 and strengthening the labour monitoring mechanism.
   They also demanded fixing of proper compensation for injury and death at workplace.
   The coalition of ActionAid, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies, Occupational Safety and Health Foundation, PSTC, and Pariprekkhit organised a series of programmes marking the day.
   A survey conducted by them based on newspaper reports said 3,174 labourers died and 8,970 injured while at work in the past decade in Bangladesh.
   Different garment workers’ rights groups also observed the day demanding occupational healthcare and safety in factories across the country.
   The organisations said that occupational safety was a right of workers and it must be ensured by factory owners and the government.
   Garments Shramik O Shilpa Rakkha Jatiya Mancha leaders at a discussion at Asad Auditorium said that garment workers suffered from occupational hazards, which sometimes led to death.
   Labour leader Abul Hossain called for strengthening factory inspections and enforcing building codes properly in the construction industry.
   Chaired by Ali Reza Haider, the discussion was addressed by Shafiqur Rahman Majumder, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal central leader Mustaque Hossain and Nazrul Islam Sabuj.
   National Garments Workers Federation leaders at a press conference at Dhaka Reporter’s Unity also demanded steps for improving occupational healthcare and ensuring workplace safety for garment workers.
   Federation leaders Amrul Haque Amin and Sahida Sarker spoke. Garments Shramik Sangram Parishad at another press conference at Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal office demanded food rations for garment workers and upward revision of their wages.
   Labour leaders Mahbubur Rahman Ismail, Shamim Imam and Rafiqul Islam Pathik spoke at the press conference.

Politicians and economists at a discussion on Monday urged the government to take short-and-long-term measures for dealing with the ongoing food crisis in the country.
   The country faced the food crisis due to ‘wrong’ policies of the interim government and it might face further crisis if the government did not change its policies, they told the meeting.
   Left Democratic Front, a combine of seven left leaning political parties, organised the discussion titled ‘way to overcome food crisis’ at the central office of Communist Party of Bangladesh.
   Economist Mohammad Anisur Rahman presented a keynote paper at the discussion and stressed socio-economic reforms in
   rural areas. ‘Only foreign aids and funds will neither help develop the country nor reduce the poverty of the country.’
   He also stressed the need for making concerted efforts for facing any disaster in the country, saying that the politicians can play a pivotal role in this regard.
   Workers Party of Bangladesh president Rashed Khan Menon said the country might face another severe food crisis after boro paddy harvest if the government failed to take adequate measures.
   Chaired by LDF coordinator Ruhin Hossain Prince, CPB general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, economist MM Akash and Samyabadi Dal central leader Haroon Chowdhury also took part in the discussion.

Ashraf Ali of Nayadiganta and Altaf Hossain of Jai Jai Din have been made president and general secretary of Agricultural Reporters’ Forum, says a press release.
   Rezaul Karim Siddiqui of Bangladesh Television and Sheikh Sadi of ATN Bangla are vice-presidents, Obaidul Ghani of New Age joint secretary and Shafiqul Islam Jewel of Amader Samay organising secretary of the newly formed body of Dhaka-based reporters.
   Other officer bearers include Shafiqul Islam of Destiny, Nizamul Haq of Ittefaq and Jakir Hossain of Janapath.
   The 16-member ARF executive committee, assigned for a two-year term, has got Halim Azad of Jugantor, Morol Kamrul Hasan Bayjeed of Bangla Vision, Fasiuddin Mahtab of Destiny, Masuduzzaman Rabin of Inquilab, Ratan Balo of Sangbad and Mahmud Sharif of bdnews24.com as members.

A nine-member executive committee of the Bangladesh Association Norway has been elected with Khorshed Ahmed as the president and Mohammad Badrul Islam as the general secretary.
   The body was elected at the annual general meeting of the association held at Kampen Menighetshus in Oslo recently.
   Iftekhar Gani Saiyed is the vice-president, Iqbal Hossain assistant general secretary, Golam Mustafa Pahlowan finance secretary, Dilara Zaman cultural secretary, Mohammad Masum office secretary and Shamima Rahman and Soma Chowdhury are the members of the new committee, said a press release of the association.
   Bangladesh Association Norway is a democratic socio-cultural organisation for all Bangladeshis living in Norway.
   Professor Shaikh Abdus Salam, chairman of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of the University of Dhaka, who is now under an assignment as a visiting professor at Oslo University College, attended the meeting as a special guest.

Mobile phone operator Warid Telecom on Monday signed an agreement with another operator Citycell to share infrastructures and thus to cut their costs significantly. 
   Chief Executive Officer of Warid Telecom Muneer Farooqui and CEO of Citycell Michael Seymour signed the Memorandum of Understanding at the office of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission on behalf of their respective organisations, said a release issued by Warid.
   BTRC chairman Manzurul Alam and high officials from BTRC, Warid Telecom and Citycell were present at the signing ceremony.
   The MOU is the first of its kind in the country that two operators are sharing their networks with each other. It was signed following a request made by the telecom regulator to share resources of telecom service providers among themselves.  
   Under the MoU, both the companies will share their Base Transceiver Stations and other infrastructures like towers, poles, power and transmitter equipment and transmission bandwidth.  
   As per the MoU, the two companies will be able to share or lease about 350 BTS sites —around 150 of them by this year.
   BTRC chairman Manzurul Alam termed the signing of the agreement as a milestone in the telecommunication industry.
   ‘I believe that this initiative will help reduce network deployment hurdles, create an environment of cooperation and co-existence and most importantly reduce expenses,’ he said.
   ‘This will also ensure better network services for the customers,’ the BTRC chairman added.

Power generation in the 150MW unit-3 of Ashuganj power plant ceased on Monday due to a technical fault in its transformer.
   According to PDB officials, the power plant was shut down at 4:13pm, worsening the country’s power supply situation.
   The country generated about 3,493MW of power on Monday against the demand for over 4800MW. Dhaka city received some 1200MW against its demand for more than 1800MW.
   The officials said many areas of the city experienced huge load shedding in different spells.

Police recovered the body of an elderly Buddhist nun with her throat slit from a forest in Kaukhali upazila of the district on Monday morning.
   Police said they recovered the body of Thuicha Mong Marma, 70, from the woods in Mitingachhari after being informed by the locals. The murder may have been committed on the night of Sunday, the police suspect. The nun might have been killed over land dispute, police quoted the neighbours as saying. The body was sent to Rangamati General Hospital for autopsy.

Asif A Chowdhury, honorary consul for Chile in Bangladesh and secretary general of the Forum of Consuls in Bangladesh, received the medal of honour, the highest Federation International des Corpes et Associations Consulaires (FICAC) award, in Prague of Czech republic recently.
   FICAC, the World Federation of Consuls, initiated the award in 2000, says a press a release.
   The other recipients of the medal are Abduilah Gui, president of Turkey, Mayor Joao Paulo of Recife, Brazil, and Bruce Golding, prime minister of Jamaica.

World Bank delegation meets
DU acting VC
The World Bank communication manager for South Asian region Dale Lautenbach and the bank’s public information associate for Dhaka office Mehrin A Mahbub paid a courtesy call on Dhaka University acting vice-chancellor AFM Yousuf Haider at his office on Monday. During the meeting, they discussed matters relating to mutual interest and emphasised the need for possibility of introducing ‘Information Exchanging Project’ between the Dhaka University and the World Bank. They also discussed setting up of an information corner equipped with the most modern publication of the bank at the DU Central Library. The DU acting VC thanked the delegation for expressing their eagerness to set up an information corner at the university.
— BSS