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The price of oral rehydration saline has been increased recently, causing severe suffering to the poor patients attacked by diarrhoea, which keeps spreading across the country.
   The oral saline of the Social Marketing Company, which produces about 60 per cent of the country’s requirement, as well as those of around 15 other companies is now selling at higher prices. Moreover, it was found after visiting some of the city’s shops that the SMC’s saline is also not available in some areas.
   Wholesalers in Mitford, the capital’s major drug market, were selling SMC’s saline at Tk 65 per sachet (consisting of 20 small packets) for the past couple of weeks, though the maximum retail price is Tk 60.
   ‘We have been purchasing SMC’s oral saline from Mitford at higher prices over the last few weeks as its supply is too limited and the demand is too high, ‘ said Jubayed, a drug seller in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s vicinity.
   A drug seller at Kalabagan said the company has cut its supply in the last one month. ‘Earlier, we used to buy one sachet of oral saline for Tk 52, but we have been buying it for Tk 60 in the last several weeks.’
   ‘Salesmen asked for Tk 5 per packet of SMC’s saline on the excuse of short supply, and I had to buy it at Tk 4 a packet though the retail price is fixed at Tk 3,’ said a resident of Goran.
   The SMC’s officials, when contacted, told New Age that the company has neither increased the price of oral saline nor decreased its production and supply.
   ‘It is the wholesalers who create artificial shortage of the item to sell it at higher prices as its demand rises in the summer due to outbreak of diarrhoeal diseases,’ said another SMC official.
   Some 621 diarrhoea patients were admitted to the International Centre of Diarrhoeal Diseases and Research, Bangladesh on Monday till 3:00pm.
   At least one person died of diarrhoea in Dhaka and 2,468 people contracted various forms of diarrhoea on Monday, according to the control room at the Directorate-General of Health Services.
   Noakhali topped the list of affected people with 190 patients, followed by Bhola with 153 patients, Bogra with 117 and Habiganj with 111. All the patients were admitted to public hospitals in 24 hours till 8:00am on Monday, according to the control room.
   ‘Almost 30 per cent of the outdoor patients are now seeking treatment for diarrhoea in our hospital; the percentage was 15 per cent earlier,’ said Dr Mahbubul Hasan of the Dhaka Shishu Hospital.
   ‘Due to the hot spell, dehydration takes place and at the same time some types of bacteria multiply quickly in food items, and people develop diarrhoeal diseases by eating them,’ he said.

The army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed, on Monday praised the country’s cadet college education system saying that cadet students are genius.
   Speaking at a seminar titled ‘Celebrating 50 years of cadet college education: a legacy of learning’, he cited an American Professor’s comment that only two per cent people of the total population are genius and ‘We have to identify the genius.’
   Praising the cadet college education system, General Moeen said cadet college is one of institutions where one can identify the genius people.
   He said ex-cadets were not only making contributions to the Armed Forces, but also to other areas like bureaucracy, engineering and medical science.
   The army chief said there were 11 cadet colleges, including three for women, in the country. ‘If cadet college can be established in each district, more meritorious students will get opportunity to better study and the country will have more genius who will make significant contributions to the nation’s economic development.’
   Old Faujians’ Association, an association of ex-students of Faujdarhat Cadet College, organised the seminar, marking the golden jubilee founding anniversary of the cadet college.
   Former education secretary Kazi Raqibuddin, Atiqur Rahman, former DCCI president Saiful Islam, Bank Alfalah’s country director Majedur Rahman, Obaidur Rahman Khan, president and M Najmul Hasan, secretary general
   of central governing body of the Old Faujians’ Association, among others, spoke on the occasion.
   The ex-cadets at the function recollected their memories of cadet life.

Gana Forum president Kamal Hossain came down heavily on newsmen on Monday when a reporter asked him to comment on the people’s perception that he was a traitor because of his role in supporting the military-controlled interim government.
   He asked the newsmen to be free from ‘goddesses’, obviously referring to the two detained former prime ministers, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.
   ‘The corrupt have created criminals who are roaming about with firearms. They can shoot dead many of my colleagues and even I may die any time by a bullet, but you should stand by the people and the country,’ he said.
   He was talking to newsmen after attending a roundtable conference on the police ordinance at the National Press Club.
   Kamal said, in reply to a query, that it depends on the people whether they trust him or not.
   Denying the allegation, made by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, of whitening Tk 102 crore of black money, Kamal said he did not know how many zeros are needed to write 102 crore.
   Sheikh Hasina, also president of the Awami League, told her lawyers at the special judge’s court on Sunday that Kamal had whitened Tk 102 crore.
   ‘In my 50 years as a lawyer, I have never seen a crore of takas in my bank account at a time,’ he said, and declared that he ready to show his bank statement anytime. ‘Those who have brought allegations against me did not even want to make their wealth statements.’

Bangladesh could fetch around $6.5 billion from the call centres by 2009 as the global outsourcing business volume would reach $640 billion by this time, said telecoms regulator chairman Manzurul Alam on Monday.
   ‘The call centre business will reach $640 billion by 2009 from $400 billion now and we hope to grab 1 per cent of that business which will be around $6.5 billion,’ said the chairman of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission at a ceremony of the handover of call centre licences to private sector investors.
   BTRC handed over a total of 21 licences, of which 10 were for call centre, four for hosted call centre and seven for hosted call centre service provider categories.
   ‘Call centre is the most potential sector in the telecom industry,’ the BTRC chief said, adding that the commission allowed call centres with setting easy conditions to create jobs and earn more foreign currency.
   Reazuddin Mosharaf, chief executive officer of Windmill Advertising Limited which got the first call centre licence
   from BTRC, said he would start the call centre soon to create more jobs and earn foreign currency.
   Initially, the company would employ 20 people and the number of employees would be increased gradually in line with the business growth, Reaz said.
   BTRC on April 9 invited applications from the individuals and businesses for setting up call centres in the country of three categories — call centre, hosted call centre and hosted call centre service provider — and the licence fee was fixed at Tk 5,000 for each category as one-time fee for an initial term of five years. After the expiry of 5-year term, the licences may be renewed for subsequent terms, each of 5 years’ duration.
   Licences will be given to individuals, partnerships or local and joint venture companies that are formed and registered as per the existing laws of Bangladesh.
   The applications for licences will be received and scrutinised on the basis of first come, first served.
   A call centre, which is a centralised office used for receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone, is a booming business, and some Asian countries, particularly India, are deriving its full benefit with the help of a vast and cost-effective workforce of educated, English-speaking personnel, low-cost technology and state support.

A Chittagong court on Monday rejected an appeal for fresh remand of two prime accused in the country’s biggest-ever arms haul case, court sources said.
   After hearing, magistrate Kazi Abdul Hasib Mohammad Sayeed rejected the petition filed for further remand of Hafizur Rahman and Deen Mohammad.
   The newly appointed investigation officer of the arms case, Mohammad Ismail Hossain, ASP of Criminal Investigation Department in Gazipur, made the appeal for quizzing them as he was tasked with carrying out further investigation into the case to trace lapses of the charge sheets already submitted, the sources added.
   ‘As the appeal for fresh remand of the prime accused was rejected, my purpose had not been served,’ Ismail said, adding that he filed the appeal for the sake of reinvestigation. ‘Now I will have to find out an alternative way.’
   Public prosecutor of  Chittagong court Ahsanul Huq Hena told New Age that further legal steps would be taken for seeking fresh remand of the two prime accused. ‘If the two accused are placed on remand, lot of unanswered things may come out during interrogation which will be helpful for further probe.’
   Reinvestigation into the case started following an order issued by the chief metropolitan sessions judge, court sources said. The court issued the order after hearing the petition filed by Hena for reinvestigation into the arms case.
   The judge also ordered to find out the origin of the consignment of smuggled arms, its suppliers and recipients and to reinvestigate into the ships which stayed at the outer anchorage on arrival of the consignment of arms and ammunition.
   The court stressed investigation as to know how the consignment of weapons was unloaded at the jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd which was meant for handling only export goods.
   It asked the commissioner
   of Chittagong Metropolitan Police to immediately appoint a senior police official for further investigation into the arms case and to submit a supplementary charge sheet within two months.
   Hena told New Age that the grounds, shown in the order for reinvestigation, would help unearth the total deal behind 10 truckloads of arms seized by the police on April 1, 2004.

The Dhaka Electric Supply Authority snapped 32 electricity connections of different shops, shopping malls and markets Sunday night for running businesses beyond 8:00 pm as per the government rules.
   DESA and Dhaka Electric Supply Company, which supplies electricity to northern part of the city, estimated that the drives helped them save 85MW during evening hours and supply it to residences.
   ‘Around 60MW of electricity could be saved on Sunday, slightly reducing the frequency of load-shedding in some areas,’ said a DESA official Monday.
   A DESCO official said that they could save around 25MW as most of the shops closed business after 8:00 pm.
   Although DESCO launched the drive Sunday night, it did not snap connections of many errant shops that day. It gave them warning that the lines would be severed if rules were flouted again, he said.
   A total of 45 teams of the DESA and DESCO continued their drives against errant shops until late evening Monday, but no figure was available instantly.
   Power Division asked all power agencies in major cities to take steps against the errant shops, excepting food and drug stores, kitchen markets and grocery shops. Our Rajshahi correspondent reports that the power supply authority snapped electricity connections of 10 shops in the city for violating the evening ban.

James P Grant School of Public Health at BRAC University has been awarded a competitive grant by the health and family welfare ministry to conduct research on ‘improvement of reproductive health’.
   To this effect, an agreement between National Institute of Population Research and Training and James P Grant School of Public Health had been signed recently. Director general of NIPORT Nasimul Ghani and dean of School of Public Health Dr Mushtaque Chowdhury signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations, said a release.
   The research to be carried out over a period of one year will help to understand the factors that impact on reproductive health of both men and women. The methodology includes a nationally representative sample survey and qualitative studies using ethnographic methods. The findings will be used in advocacy, training and further research activities.
   Established in 2004, BRAC School of Public Health has already conducted several researches on gender, sexuality, reproductive and sexual health, TB/DOTS in urban areas and health equity. It has also planned to conduct research on gender-based violence in 2009.
   The school has a number of ongoing international research partnerships. The school’s major undertaking is a Master of Public Health programme of international excellence. Students come from many different countries in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and North and South America.
   It has so far trained 77 students from over 13 countries through its MPH programme who are now working in government, national and international NGOs, donor agencies, UN agencies, media and universities.

The High Court on Monday stayed for a month the proceedings of three bribery cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission against detained Awami League joint secretary general Obaidul Kader.
   A High Court bench of Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Shamim Hasnain also issued a rule on the government to explain why the cases would not be quashed. The commission’s assistant director Ashraful Islam filed the cases with the Paltan police station on September 30, 2007. The cases are now pending with different special judge’s courts on Jatiya Sangsad Complex.
   Kader, also a former state minister, was accused of taking Tk 47 lakh, 38 lakh and 57 lakh as bribes from contractors for clearing their due bills and awarding more development works under National Sports Council by abusing power between 1996 and 2001. Kader’s counsel M Enayetur Rahim argued that the commission lodged the cases against him for reportedly taking the bribes from National Sports Council director Habibur Rahman, but Habib was not accused in the case.

A special court in Bogra on Monday sentenced former BNP lawmaker Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu to 10 years’ imprisonment for amassing wealth beyond known sources of income and concealing information on his wealth.
   The court also ordered confiscation of Tk 1.75 crore of Lalu, and sentenced his wife, Shamsunnahar Zaman, to three years in jail and ordered confiscation of her Tk 56.91 lakh. Lalu and his wife were present in the dock when the verdicts were pronounced.
   Ashish Kumar Kundu, assistant director of ACC, filed a case against Lalu and his wife with Sadar thana on September 6 last year. After investigation, the ACC found that Lalu has Tk 1.75 crore beyond his known sources of income and another Tk 56.91 lakh by his wife, Shamsunnahar, beyond the statement submitted to the ACC.

Chevron will resume its seismic survey in the reserved forests of Lawacherra in Moulvibazar today, a director of the US energy company said.
   ‘Survey work is going to start again on Tuesday,’ the Chevron director for external affairs, Naser Ahmed, told the news agency.
   The company suspended its three-dimensional survey on Sunday in the wake of Saturday’s fire.
   Bangladesh oil, gas and mineral resources company Petrobangla failed to trace a clue to the fire in its primary investigation into the incident.
   The Petrobangla chairman, Jalal Ahmed, said one geochemist had been sent to the scene.
   ‘A primary investigation did not find any clue to the fire. There may be some other causes.’
   Jalal said the investigation would continue.
   Petrobangla investigators found cracks on mud houses.
   Chevron also launched an investigation into the fire incident.
   In a statement released on Monday, Chevron said the firm had no manpower on the fire site.
   ‘There was no survey work there either.’
   ‘The fire did not have any adverse effect on the environment or wild life. The cause of the fire is yet to be known,’ it said.
   Over 100 houses close to Lawacherra Jatiya Udyan developed cracks after the US company started its survey, locals alleged.