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The chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, on Tuesday directed the authorities concerned to take a comprehensive and integrated plan to remove water logging in different parts of the country including the cities of Dhaka and Chittagong.
   He also directed them, at a high-level inter-ministerial meeting at his office, to recover, from the grabbers, the canals in the two cities, keep them clean round the year, construct walk ways on both the banks of the canals and keep them free from grabbing.
   The finance and planning adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, the LGRD and cooperatives adviser, M Anwarul Iqbal, shipping adviser MA Matin, communications adviser Ghulam Quader and the agriculture adviser, CS Karim, attended the meeting. A power-point presentation at the meeting explained the causes, with possible solutions, of water logging in Dhaka city including Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra area, Chittagong city, Bhabadaha of Jessore and the low-lying areas of Noakhali district.
   The chief adviser asked the authorities concerned to formulate a drainage master plan for the country in the light of the experience of water logging in Jessore and Noakhali. He asked for inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination to solve water logging problem.
   The chief adviser’s secretary Kazi M Aminul Islam, press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim, secretaries of the ministries concerned and water expert Dr Ainun Nishat attended the meeting. The chief adviser asked the ministries concerned to continue the activities of tidal river management for removing water logging problem of Bhabadaha in Jessore, giving compensation to the affected farmers quickly and to restore the navigability of the rivers in the south-west region as part of long term solution.
   He asked for building drainage system and a simultaneous land recovery in Noakhali district.
   He directed for the formation of a separate municipal authority for cleaning garbage in the DND area to improve the civic facilities.
   He asked the authorities concerned to take the eastern bypass cum flood control embankment project on emergency basis to keep eastern part of the city free from floods.

The Barisal divisional museum project has been shelved for about one year due to fund constraint.
   Sources in the department of archaeology said Barisal Collectorate Building was declared abandoned after the new district administration complex was built on the compound of the deputy commissioner’s office in 1980s.
   The Barisal City Corporation authorities in 2003 requested the cultural affairs ministry to declare the building as cultural heritage and construct a museum in Barisal.
   Later a team of the ministry carried out a feasibility study and submitted their report to the authorities concerned. The government on April 1, 2004 issued a gazette notification declaring the Barisal Collectorate Building as national heritage and asked the district administration and public works department to hand over the building to the department of archaeology.
   A Tk 2.43 crore project for establishing the divisional museum at Barisal Collectorate Building was approved and scheduled to be completed in June 2007.
   The then state minister for cultural affairs, Selima Rahman, inaugurated the project on April 8, 2005. Shawkat Nabi, the then deputy commissioner of Barisal, handed over a Shiva Linga to the museum authorities at the inaugural function.
   On completion of all the formalities, Central Engineers and Construction Company Limited got the work order. The renovation work of the museum building started about six months after the stipulated time.
   As the deadline for the project expired in June 2007, unused fund amounting to about Tk 43 lakh was sent back to the cultural affairs ministry and the construction works came to a halt.
   Golam Ferdous, assistant director in charge of Sher-e-Bangla Museum at Chakhar and project officer of Barisal Divisional Museum Project, said that the construction works of display galleries, boundary walls, sanitation and gardening under the project are yet to be completed.
   The museum was scheduled to be opened in June 2008 and antiques, including canon of Sultani period, fingerprint of Queen Noorjahan, sword of Sirajuddowla, different types of statues and coins, survey maps and manuscripts, mementos of Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq, Aswani Kumar Dutta, poet Jibanananda Das and poet Mukunda Das have been enlisted to be collected and put on display.
   However, the authorities concerned have yet to approve an organogram of 38 staff including deputy director and assistant deputy director.
   Nagarik Parishad secretary Mintu Bose, Nagarik Samaj secretary Dr Mizanur Rahman and Sangskritik Sangathan Samannoy Parishad president Syed Dulal demanded that the government should immediately take steps to complete the Barisal divisional museum project.

A four-day 2nd Dhaka Tourism Fair 2008 will begin at the Bashundhara City Complex on Thursday for promoting local tourism.
   About a hundred organisations including tour operators, hotels, motels, resorts, theme parks, youth adventure clubs, travel agencies and airlines will take part at the fair which will remain open from 11:00am to 7:0pm till August 24 on the 7th floor of Bashundhara City Complex.
   Parjatan Bichitra, a monthly magazine, will organise the tourism fair in association with Banglalink. Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh, Tour Operator Association of Bangladesh and Tourism Developers Association of Bangladesh will coordinate with the organiser.
   Mahbub Jamil, special assistant to chief adviser and in charge of the ministry of civil aviation and tourism, is expected to inaugurate the fair.
   The Parjatan Bichitra editor, Mahiuddin Helal, speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club on Tuesday said the participating organization will exhibit their discount package tours, discount hotels and motels.
   Visitors would also get the chance to visit the Bashundhara indoor amusement park and the Toggy World with the same ticket, said Helal, also the convener of the event.
   Workshops on finance for tourism business, travel safety and adventure tourism will also be held at the venue during the fair. ‘Tourism gossip corner for the travel writers and adventurer tourists would be extra attraction at the fair,’ said Helal.
   The BPC will set up a stall for the visitors to cast their votes for Cox’s Bazar and Sundarban at the natural seven wonders voting website.
   The objective of the fair is to make the local tourism more attractive and market the local tourist destinations in the world tourism market, Helal said.
   The entry fee is Tk 10 and visitors would be able to participate in raffle draw with the same ticket.
   Banglalink’s marketing executive, Samnun Moheb Chowdhury, and the Tourism Developers Association of Bangladesh president, Jamiul Ahmed were present at the press conference.

Two of the eight BRTC buses hired by Shahjalal University
   of Science and Technology have gone out of order only a week after they had been included in the transport service for carrying teachers and students.
   Campus sources informed that one of the buses got bogged down on August 12 after it was hired from the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation while another bus became inoperative as its engine caught fire on Monday.
   Communications adviser Ghulam Quader inaugurated the bus service on the campus on August 11. Education and commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman and primary and mass education adviser Rasheda K Chowdhury were also present at the inaugural programme.
   The university authorities entered into a one-year contract with the BRTC to deal with transport crisis and allotted three out of eight buses for the teachers, officials and employees while the rest five were given for the students.
   Some students complained that the decision to hire the rundown buses from the BRTC was wrong as the authorities concerned failed to address the transport crisis of the university situated at Subit Bazar area, about seven kilometres off the city centre.
   ‘The newly rented buses have rather added to woes of students,’ said Faisal, a 2nd year student. The university has more than 11 thousand students and teachers.
   The SUST initially had 5 buses, 2 of which have remained inoperative for long due to technical faults. The authorities have also been running 12 rented minibuses.
   The authorities have to pay at least Tk 1.12 crore to BRTC as rent for the 8 buses. They have agreed to pay Tk 7,000 per day as rent of each bus and a minimum of Tk 14,00,000 if the bus runs for at least 200 days a year, sources in the university administration said.
   SUST transport section’s administrator, Anwarul Islam, said the BRTC buses were running smoothly.
   ‘The transport crisis of the university would be addressed gradually as there is no scope to solve the problem overnight,’ he added.

Residents of the city’s West Dhanmondi area have been suffering from acute water crisis for long as the authorities concerned remain indifferent to the solution of the problem.
   ‘We have been suffering from severe water crisis for about five years as the pipe-water supplied by WASA is too little,’ said Ibrahim Khan, president of Shankar Kalyan Samity.
   He said some 3,000 people living in Shankar and Chairman Goli under West Dhanmondi are now getting water for few minutes in a day, a quantity which is even inadequate to maintain daily life.
   The situation has become worse since last month as the people of the areas do not get a single drop of water at times of their need, especially in the morning and cooking hours, he alleged.
   As a result, Ibrahim Khan said, people of the area are being forced to buy water from WASA vans, putting extra pressure on their household spending which has shot up abnormally since last year due to high price of oil and food.
   Some WASA employees got involved in the illegal water trading capitalising the situation, he alleged. ‘We have complained to the authorities concerned several times but they did not pay heed to it,’ Ibrahim said, adding many people have been forced to leave the area due to acute water shortages.
   ‘Due to water crisis, we cannot even take bath and wash clothes and utensils regularly,’ said Mahfuza Begum, a housewife of Chairman Goli, an area adjacent to Shankar.
   Local people said the water crisis has been created artificially by a group of corrupt WASA employees, who keep the entrance of the pipeline to Chairman Goli locked most of the times.
   A WASA official admitted the water crisis in the areas, but denied the allegation brought against them. He said they were trying their best to ensure water supply in the areas.
   ‘We have a plan to install new pipeline in the areas but we cannot execute it due to DCC’s embargo on road digging,’ he said, and hoped that the problem would be resolved soon.
   He also held responsible frequent load shedding for water crisis in the areas, saying that water pumps cannot work for five to six hours every day due to power outages. Comments from the WASA managing director on West Dhanmondi water crisis were not available as he is now outside Bangladesh on an official visit.

Students of Rajshahi University Tuesday night blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway as a fellow student was not given seat in a Dhaka-bound bus.
   Campus sources said Humayun Kabir, a student of the management department, along with a relative had boarded a Dhaka-bound bus of Hanif Paribahan at 2:30pm from the Binodpur bus stand near the campus.
   The cashier of the Hanif Paribahan bus counter had assured them of giving seats after reaching Natore. As the bus supervisor did not give them seats accordingly. Humayun and his relative came back to Rajshahi. On arrival at the campus, Humayun informed his fellow students of the matter. The students became agitated and blocked the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway. They also ransacked a number of bus counters. During the blockade, hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on the highway.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority during the special drive against unfit vehicles in the capital filed 61 cases on Tuesday.
   Two vehicles — a mini-truck and a minibus — were also seized during the drive for not having necessary documents such as route permit, registration, fitness certificate and tax token, BRTA officials said.
   Four teams checked a total of 129 vehicles, including bus, truck, CNG-run auto-rickshaw, taxicab and human hauler, during the drive conducted in Mirpur, Kuril, Kamalapur and Chankharpool.
   The two vehicles were seized as the drivers or owners failed to show required papers while the cases against 52 vehicles were filed for not having papers, including route permit, registration, fitness certificate, tax token, the officials said. The drive will continue at four points in the city every day till August 31 except weekly holidays.

Light to moderate rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at many places over all the six divisions — Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet and Barisal — during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today.
   Moderately heavy to heavy rainfalls are also likely at places over the country during the period, Met Office said. Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.
   Country’s highest temperature 32.4 degrees Celsius was recorded on Tuesday at Comilla and lowest 22.6 degrees at Sandwip.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:28pm and rises tomorrow at 5:36am.

A transport workers federation on Tuesday threatened strike throughout the country unless the government allowed trade union activities to resume fully by lifting the state of emergency by October 13.
   Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation, at a press conference in the city, also demanded the caretaker administration take measures to increase the wages of workers in the sector and implement changes in the passenger insurance system.
   Shajahan Khan, the BRTWF’s executive president, complained of continued low wages in the sector, despite governmental hikes in transport fares.
   He claimed that according to the government’s own rules, workers wages should be raised in line with any increase in transport fares.
   ‘As per the Transport Workers Welfare Act 2006, transport owners are supposed to provide appointment letters to their workers, but the employers don’t follow the government’s guidelines,’ said Khan.
   Leaders of the federation also allege that insurance companies have been misappropriating up to Tk 100 crore a year in the name of passenger insurance.
   ‘If the government does not implement our demands by the October 13 deadline, we will go for a transport strike across the country,’ BRTWF general secretary Hobibar Rahman Khan told reporters at the Photo Journalists Association auditorium.
   He mentioned that insurance companies are required to provide financial compensation to family members of passengers who died in road accidents, and that these companies took yearly premiums ranging from Tk 500 to Tk 4,000 against every vehicle in regard to this.
   ‘If the insurance companies collect Tk 1000 from each of the 10 lakh vehicles of the country, on average they receive around Tk 100 crore every year,’ said the executive president.
   Khan claimed that due to the difficulty in realising compensation from the insurance companies the vehicle owners themselves ended up compensating the victims of road accidents.
   ‘We propose that the government form a trustee board through the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to dispose of the compensation claims,’ he said.
   ‘The owners will deposit the passengers’ safety money to this trustee board, and the board will give compensation to the families of road accident victims,’ said Khan, who added that a similar board had been formed by the shipping ministry to compensate victims of launch accidents.

The Jahangirnagar against Harassment Tuesday called off its strike for an indefinite period which was scheduled to begin that day as the authorities assured them that their demands would be met.
   Leaders of the platform comprising general students, left-leaning organisations and cultural activists called off the strike after a meeting with acting vice-chancellor of the university Mohammad Muniruzzaman.
   He assured the student leaders that their demands for removal of dramatics department teacher Sanwar Hossain and formulation of a policy against harassment will be met before the vacation of Ramadan.
   No class, however, will be held today, the student leaders announced.
   The university registrar, Abu Bakar Siddique, and proctor Mafruhi Sattar were also present in the meeting.
   ‘The acting vice-chancellor assured us that they would complete the formulation of policy and start the process for the removal of the teacher before the vacation of Ramadan,’ said student leader Faisal Rahman Kishore at a press conference later on the day.
   The university unit Chhatra Union president, SM Shubho, and dramatics department students Partha Pratim Haldar and Nirlipta Nayan were also present at the briefing.

The Anti-Corruption Commission is going to serve separate notices soon to Dhaka City Corporation mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka’s son and daughter directing them to submit their wealth statements under the current purge.
   In the primary inquiries about the wealth of Khoka’s son, Ishrak Hossain, and daughter Sarika Sadek it has been found that they have unearned wealth worth about Tk 5 crore.
   ‘Inquiry officer Shamsul Islam, an ACC assistant director, has already submitted the primary inquiry reports to the commission about Khoka’s children. During the inquiries, the officer found out that they own illegal wealth worth about Tk 5 crore,’ a competent source told the news agency.
   ‘Subject to the approval of the commission, the duo will be issued notices soon,’ the source added. According to the inquiries, Ishrak Hossain, now residing in the USA, has illegal wealth worth about Tk 3 crore while Sarika possesses unearned wealth worth about Tk 2 crore.
   As per rules, they will be given seven working days to comply with the ACC directives. Upon application, the commission can extend the time by another seven working days.
   Both of them were accused in the graft case filed against their father on April 2 by the ACC for acquiring wealth worth about Tk 17.58 crore beyond known sources of income and concealment of information of assets worth about Tk 10 crore. Khoka’s wife, Ismat Ara, was also implicated in the case.
   But, only the mayor of the capital city, now on bail granted by High Court, was charge-sheeted in the case save his wife and children.
   According to sources, the commission decided to initiate separate processes against his children as both of them have separate tax identification numbers.

The High Court on Tuesday extended the period of bail granted to the Dhaka mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, till the disposal of the rule earlier issued on the government to explain the legality of the corruption case against him.
   The High Court bench of Justice Mohammad Anwarul Haque and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury also extended the period of the stay on the proceedings of the corruption case.
   The court passed the order after hearing a petition submitted by the mayor’s counsel Rafique-ul Huq as the period of the bail of Sadeque, also the immediate-past president of the Dhaka city BNP, expired on Tuesday.
   The bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice Mohammad Emdadul Haque Azad on July 7 granted anticipatory bail to Sadeque Hossain. The court also stayed the proceedings of the case.
   The Anti-Corruption Commission on April 2 filed the case against Sadeque Hossain for amassing wealth of more than Tk 17.57 crore beyond his known sources of income and concealing information on his wealth.
   The commission on July 1 pressed charges against him for amassing illegal wealth of Tk 9.76 crore and concealing information on wealth.
   Dhaka metropolitan senior special judge M Azizul Haque accepted charges on July 7 and issued a warrant for the arrest of Sadeque Hossain as he was shown absconding in the charge sheet.

The Rajshahi Rapid Action Battalion Monday midnight rescued 27 persons from a hotel in the Rajshahi city, where they were kept allegedly to be trafficked to India.
   The RAB sources said a team of the Rajshahi railway colony RAB camp raided the Hotel Elegance at Ganakpara and rescued five men, eight women and 14 children. They all are from Narail. They were waiting at the hotel to be sent to India through any boarder in Rajshahi on Tuesday, RAB sources said.

The White Panel loyal to the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami on Tuesday swept the deans’ elections to 10 faculties of Dhaka University, winning eight of the positions, including the post of law faculty dean declared elected uncontested.
   The panel won the deanships of the faculties of arts, science, pharmacy, business studies, bioscience, earth and environmental science and engineering and technology. The candidate of the White Panel running for the position of the law dean was earlier declared elected uncontested.
   The position of the deans of two other faculties, social sciences and fine arts, went to the Blue Panel loyal to the Awami League. Voting took place between 9:00am and 1:00pm in the games room at the Teacher-Student Centre.
   The university treasurer, Syed Abul Kalam Azad, conducted the polls as election commissioner. Eight hundred and thirty-two teachers, out of the 1,002 eligible voters, cast their vote. Eighteen ballots were rejected for faults, he said.
   The incumbent arts dean Sadrul Amin, a teacher of the English department, retained his position by a margin of nine votes against the Blue Panel candidate Fakhrul Alam of the same department who polled 107 votes.
   Tajmeri SA Islam of the chemistry department, who polled 67 votes, won the position of the science dean defeating the Blue Panel candidate Muhibur Rahman by a margin of 20 votes.
   Abbas Ali Khan of the management department, who polled 65 votes, became business studies dean defeating the Blue Panel candidate Mizanur Rahman of the marketing department by a margin of 8 votes.
   The incumbent social sciences dean Harun-or-Rashid of the Blue Panel retained his position by defeating the White Panel candidate Ferdous Hossain of the political science department by a margin of 47 votes.
   The White Panel candidate Abdur Rashid, a teacher of the pharmaceutical chemistry department, defeated the Blue Panel candidate Farida Begum of the clinical pharmacy and pharmacology department by a margin of 26 votes to become pharmacy dean. Farida polled 6 votes.
   The incumbent bio-science dean Anwar Hossain of the Blue Panel lost his deanship to the White Panel candidate Abul Bashar of the zoology department by 21 votes. Bashar polled 82 votes.
   Shahnaz Haq Hussain of the geography department of the White Panel became earth and environmental sciences dean defeating the Blue Panel candidate Hossain Mansur by two votes. Shahnaz polled 14 votes.
   The White Panel candidate Shahida Rafique became engineering and technology dean defeating the Blue Panel candidate Neem Chandra Bhowmick of the applied physics, electronics and communications engineering department by a margin of 18 votes. Shahida polled 37 votes.
   The Blue Panel candidate Rafiqun Nabi became fine arts dean defeating Abdus Sattar by a single vote. Sattar polled 13 votes and the other candidate, Mahmudul Huq, 11 votes.
   Borhan Uddin Khan of the White Panel was declared elected law dean unopposed.
   Sadrul Amin said the election results reflected their expectations. ‘We worked hard and got the expected result.’
   The Blue Panel leaders could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

Prisoner dies in Rajshahi jail
A prisoner died in the Rajshahi central jail on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Shahin, 32, of Hetemkhan area in the city. According to the prison sources, Shahin had been suffering from asthma for long. The jail authorities took him to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital Tuesday morning as he fell sick. He died at 6:00am. The jail authorities handed over the body to the deceased’s wife Doly Khatun on Tuesday.
— New Age

DU students observe token strike
A group of Dhaka University students on Tuesday observed a token hunger strike at Aparajeya Bangla on the campus, demanding that the government should protect the house of late journalist and politician Abdush Shahid. They said the late journalist’s house falls in the area of the government project on the development of the Hatirjheel and the authorities concerned were planning to demolish it to implement the project. Leaders of different left leaning organisations also joined the programme and asked the government to implement the project without demolishing Sahid’s home, paying respect to his contributions.
— New Age