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PDB asked to generate more power
during evening in Ramadan

Daytime generation could be
reduced to save gas

Staff Correspondent

The government on Tuesday asked power agencies to increase generation during peak hours in Ramadan by reducing generation during the day because of gas shortage.
   ‘We have asked the Power Development Board to generate at least 3,600MW this Ramadan. If required, the board will reduce generation during the day to save gas for increased generation during iftar, tarabi prayers and sehri,’ the chief adviser’s special assistant M Tamim said.
   Power generation was around 3,800MW last Ramadan. Generation has been hovering around 3,300–3,500MW for a few days.
   Tamim at a Power Division meeting asked the officials to keep all power production units fully operational during Ramadan and not to do any maintenance job by shutting down the plants.
   Last Ramadan, the power board could generate around 2,900MW during daytime and the evening peak-hour generation was around 3,800MW. ‘But for a few months, we have been generating around 3,200MW during daytime and around 3,300–3,400MW during evening peak hours. The board will now try to save some gas during the day to increase generation during evening hours and early morning,’ Tamim said.
   Directives have also been given for backup supplies to mosques, if required, Tamim said.
   Dhaka Power Distribution Company officials at the meeting recommended half an hour’s outage every two hours during evening in Ramadan instead of the existing one hour’s outage every four hours.
   The Dhaka Electricity Supply Company recommended an hour’s outage for each area during iftar every four days to stagger outages during evening hours in addition to the regular outage.
   Tamim asked the companies to scrutinise the recommendations again.
   He asked the business community to economical in the use of power in Ramadan by reducing the use of air coolers and illumination. ‘We will hold meetings with them so that any misuse can be checked and they can be more economical in using power.’
   As for power crisis in Chittagong, Tamim said many industries in the place had pledged not to run their businesses during evening peak hours so that more gas could be supplied to power plants.
   When asked whether the closing time for shopping malls would be extended beyond 8:00pm during Ramadan, Tamim said, ‘We do not have any such plans yet. It might be extended in the latter half of Ramadan.’
   He asked the power distribution agencies to go for drive against illegal connections and establishments that pilfer electricity.


DU students mark one year of
campus protests today

DU Correspondent

Students at Dhaka University will today mark the first anniversary of the August 2007 campus protests amid fresh tension over the hearing in the case of setting a military vehicle on fire at the time.
   Tension, meanwhile, keeps prevailing on the campus at the news of the hearing in the last of the six cases filed in connection with the August 20-23 protests that began on Monday.
   The state filed six cases against teachers and students of Dhaka University and common people, but later decided not to continue with five of them. The government at the time decided to continue with the case against seven of the 25 accused in the case of setting fire to the military vehicle.
   Senior leaders of student organisations and the students accused in the case met the vice-chancellor Tuesday afternoon and sought his intervention into the matter and sought legal support for the students accused in the case.
   They observed the university authorities were now least sincere about dealing with the case although they were more sincere about dealing with he cases against the teachers. After the students had gone out on demonstrations, the government freed the detained students and teachers.
   The president Iajuddin Ahmed released four Dhaka University teachers, sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, on a presidential clemency which none of the teachers sought.
   Deen Islam Angel, one of the seven accused in the case of setting the vehicle on fire, told New Age they still felt insecure as the government had not withdrawn the case lodged with the Shahbagh police.
   ‘The case was initially filed under Section 435 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but now more charges have been brought against us,’ he said.
   Rafiqul Islam Sujon, another accused in the case, said it became tough for him continue with the case because of financial constraints. ‘We appealed for legal and financial support from the university, but nothing has yet been done in this regard.’
   Students at the university held protests on August 20, 2007 when some military personnel attacked them over an altercation during a football match in the university playground.
   The protests continued till August 22 and spilled out to other places in the city and elsewhere the country. The government had closed all public universities and colleges on August 23 for an indefinite period to defuse the situation.
   The students will form a human chain on the campus today, a solidarity rally involving teachers, students and guardians on August 24 and stage a sit-in in front of the vice-chancellor’s office on August 24 demanding withdrawal of the case.
   The Bangladesh Chhatra Union will bring out a procession and paint walls to mark the day.


Country must be freed from dependence
on donors, lenders: seminar

Staff correspondent

Politicians, economists and development activists on Tuesday stressed the need for the policymakers in the government, and out of it, to prepare a national development strategy to free the country from dependence on the lending countries and agencies, and enable it to move out of the their sphere of influence.
   They asked the lending countries and agencies to take immediate measures, which include fulfilling their promises for ensuring economic development in low-income countries, by building up human resources and increasing institutional capacities, enhancing the role of trade in development, reducing vulnerability, protecting the environment and mobilizing financial resources.
   ‘Preparing a national development strategy to free the country from dependence on, and the influence of, lending countries is a must. But the problem is that the political leadership here requires to improve the political culture first, which is power-centred, before preparing the strategy,’ said Sheikh Hasina’s special assistant, Hasan Mahmud, at a seminar on ‘Least Developed Countries and the Brussels Programme of Action’ in Dhaka.
   The Dhaka-based non-government organisation, Equity and Justice Working Group, and the Kathmandu-based NGOs, LDC Watch and South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication, jointly organised the seminar at the National Press Club.
   BNP leader Rizvi Ahmed said the elected representatives of the government must make efforts to prepare the development plans with their eyes on nation’s interests, both at local and international levels.
   The Jatiya Party’s presidium member, GM Quader, said the political parties here lack the will to protect the nation’s interests while negotiating with the lending countries and agencies.
   Economist Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, chairman of Unnyan Onneshan, a local research organisation, said the rich countries were historically responsible for fostering the people-centred policy framework, building human resources and institutional capacities, enhancing the role of trade in development and mobilizing financial resources in low-income countries, including Bangladesh. ‘But the situation in low-income countries has deteriorated and, in many places, become precarious, as the rich countries did not play their part to improve the situation in the former colonies. They should be held responsible for this.
   ‘What we want is not charity,’ he said. ‘This is our right.’
   The LDC Watch International’s coordinator, Arjun K Karki, said there were 24 least developed countries in 1971. ‘But now the number of LDCs has increased to 49 and the rich countries are responsible for their deterioration,’ he said. ‘We were not poor. We were systemically made poor.’
   SAAPE members Rokeya Kabir and Mohiuddin Ahmed, Sharif Al Kafi of BDPC, journalist Asjadul Kibria and the Equity and Justice Working Group’s convener Rezaul Karim Chowdhury also participated in the discussion.


Ethnic minority students demand
5pc quota in public
universities, colleges

Staff Correspondent

The ethnic minority students, on Tuesday, demanded a 5 per cent quota in all public universities and government colleges to ensure the higher education facilities for them.
   They put forward the demand at a discussion on the problems and prospects of higher education for the ethnic minority groups held at the national press club.
   Alleging that they are treated with discrimination at the higher education level, they moved on to discuss some major impediments to their education including the language barrier, non-availability of dormitories, poor economic background and insecurity.
   Bangladesh Adivasi Adhikar Andolon organized the discussion in association with the Oxfam and Manusehr Jonno Foundation. Chaired by Professor Mesbah Kamal, general secretary of the Bangladesh Adivasi Adhikar Andolon, the discussion was attended by National professor Kabir Chowdhury as chief guest and Professor Dalem Chandra Barman of the peace and conflicts department of Dhaka University as special guest.
   H Nanacha, an ethnic minority student, presented the key note paper at the discussion. He informed that there were a total of 45 ethnic minority groups in the country and that, of them, only 13 groups were able to send 150 students to Dhaka university to represent them.
   Another student, Sohel Hajong said only seven students of the Hajong ethnic group studied at the public universities.
   About half of the ethnic students leave school at the primary level because of language problem and very few students can cross the secondary and higher secondary education, he added.
   Speakers said the ethnic students were lagging behind the mainstream students in information and technological knowledge.
   They urged the government to formulate a policy to provide facilities to the ethnic minority groups for the higher education.


Dowry major reason for chronic
poverty: study

The poor still exposed to
various shocks

Khawaza Main Uddin

Dowry is still one of the major causes of poverty for many families as they cannot recover from the economic setback once they fall into trap of this social practice, revealed a study on chronic poverty in rural Bangladesh.
   The effects of other shocks such as medical expenses, wedding expenses and the cost of legal disputes are also found to have reversed, in many cases, the trend of certain improvements in the poor people’s lives.
   While close to half of the 1,800 households in rural Bangladesh, surveyed in a span of eight to 14 years till 2007, rose above the poverty line, around one-fifth remained chronically poor and the poverty of a small percentage deepened further, said the report.
   The study — jointly carried out by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, Data Analysis and Technical Assistance Ltd — was presented at a workshop in the IDB Bhaban on Tuesday.
   The life histories of the households suggested that payment of dowry was responsible for the decline in the living standard of 50 per cent of the families — a finding that apparently surprised Bangladeshi researchers in view of the massive awareness campaigns against dowry launched in the last two decades.
   ‘The losses caused by dowry are far more than the gains. It is a major cause of the impoverishment of poor families,’ said Peter Davis of the University of Bath in the report on ‘Why some households in rural Bangladesh stay poor, while others move out of poverty’.
   Mahbub Hossain, executive director of the BRAC, pointed out that the widespread prevalence of dowry indicates that the social campaigns by non-government organisations and others had not been effective.
   The IFPRI’s Agnes Quisumbing said the practice of giving and demanding dowry would decline because of the increasing number of girls going to schools, echoing the statement by a government official that Bangladesh had made significant progress in the enrolment of girls in schools.
   ‘Unexpected shocks keep people mired in poverty and prevent them from moving upward,’ she said.
   The households that have lower educational levels, own less land, hold fewer non-land assets and livestock, and have many young children and elderly members, face the most difficulty in escaping poverty, said the study. ‘Unexpected shocks, such as injuries, illness and death of livestock significantly increase the likelihood of chronic poverty.’
   ‘This study makes it clear that rural households are particularly vulnerable to crises,’ said Mohammad Zahidul Hassan, managing director of DATA.
   The report, however, did not include the impacts of the recent global spiralling of commodity prices on the poverty situation in Bangladesh although the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies’ director, General Quazi Shahabuddin who chaired the session, acknowledged its impacts.
   He called upon the government to include the issue of extreme poverty in the second version of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper so that the problem could be adequately addressed by policy instruments.
   ‘If you are poor, it is difficult to rise above poverty,’ said Andrew Shepherd, director of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, who stressed the need for protection of the poor from sudden crises.
   MA Momen, a consultant of the UK Department for International Development, pointed out that the ultra-poor living in the haors [marshlands], chars [shoals] and backward areas have still remained out of the policy’s focus and safety net programmes.
   In the report, the most commonly cited causes of improved lifestyle were business activities, improved agriculture, access to micro-credit and salaried work.
   ‘Improvement in the poor people’s lives tends to occur gradually while decline tends to occur suddenly,’ observed the report.


4 dyeing units including Asian
Textiles sued in Narayanganj

Our Correspondent . Narayanganj

The Directorate of Environment on Monday evening filed four cases with the Fatullah thana against the owners of four dyeing factories on charge of polluting the environment by releasing toxic wastes in different canals and ditches in Fatullah thana of Narayanganj district.
   The industries and owners being sued are the RA Dyeing and Printing Mills Ltd in Bholail owned by Mukhlesur Rahman; the Asian Fabrics Mills Ltd in Shashangaon owned by Md Harunur Rashid; the Abanti Colour Textiles Ltd in Shashangaon owned by AH Aslam Sunny; and the Asma Textile Mills and Yarn Dyeing in Enayetnagar owned by Zahid Pervez.
   The officials of the directorate said a high-powered team, after daylong investigations in Fatullah on July 21 and 24, identified 21 industries that are polluting the area. The team found that the industries were run without effluent treatment plants and without the permission of the Directorate of Environment.
   Senior chemist Dr Mohammed Abul Kalam Azad, junior chemist Mohammed Abdul Motaleb and inspector Mahbubur Rahman Khan filed the cases under the supervision of Neamatullah Bhuiya, director of the Directorate of Environment.


ACC presses charges against
ex-MP Shahjahan

Our Correspondent . Noakhali

The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion on Tuesday pressed charges against former BNP lawmaker Mohammad Shahjahan for illegally amassing wealth worth Tk 59 lakh and hiding information in his wealth statement.
   The commission deputy director, Benazir Ahmed, also the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Sudharam police station in Noakhali.
   The ACC filed the case against Shahjahan with the Sudharam police station on April 17, 2007.


Wheels of two aircraft burst
at Dhaka, Ctg

Staff Correspondent

Passengers and crew of two aircraft, Boeing-777 and DC10, escaped unhurt when several of the planes’ wheels in separate incidents burst after landing at Zia International Airport in Dhaka and at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong on Tuesday.
   Thai Airways Boeing-777 carrying about 300 passengers and cabin crew on board was coming from Bangkok to Dhaka, airport sources told New Age.
   ‘One of the wheels of the Boeing burst soon after it had landed at the Dhaka airport at about 12:10pm,’ said an official at ZIA, adding emergency workers evacuated the passengers from the plane immediately after the accident.
   The aircraft later left ZIA at 2.30pm after replacement of the wheel, the official said.
   A similar accident took place in Chittagong when a DC10-30 of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines Limited landed at the airport at about 12:30pm.
   ‘One of the wheels of the aircraft coming from Abu Dhabi on its way to Dhaka with around 200 passengers on board burst and three others were damaged soon after landing at the Chittagong airport,’ a Biman official said.
   All the passengers of the aircraft were evacuated unhurt, the official said.


JAIL KILLING CASE
Security ring built around HC
bench delivering judgement

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka

A security parapet Tuesday put up vigil in front of a High Court Division Bench that continued deli-vering judgement on jail appeals along with death references in the gruesome 1975 jail killing case.
   The HC bench comprising Justice Nazrul Islam Chowdhury and Justice M Ataur Rahman Khan began spelling out the judgement on Monday after closing long-drawn legal arguments from both the defence and the prosecution lawyers.
   Over three decades ago, on November 3 in 1975, Syed Nazrul Islam, acting president of Bangladesh government in exile during the war of independent, Tajuddin Ahmed, prime minister, M Mansur Ali, finance minister, and AHM Qamaruzzaman, minister of home affairs, relief and rehabilitation, were killed inside Dhaka Central Jail by a raiding cabal of army-men.
   Nearly four years before, on October 20, 2004, the trial court sentenced three rankers to death and awarded life imprisonment to 12 midlevel army officers for the bloodletting. It had acquitted four politicians and an army officer in the long-awaited verdict of the historic Jail Killing Case.


Govt concerned over delay in renting
houses for Hajj pilgrims

HAAB buying time to hold
elections on August 30

Staff Correspondent

The interim administration is concerned over the delay in renting houses in Saudi Arabia for the non-balloted hajj pilgrims whose journey and pilgrimage will be arranged by private hajj agencies.
   Despite pressure from the authorities concerned, the private operators are yet to start renting houses for 37,973 hajj pilgrims whereas 64 per of the accommodation for balloted pilgrims (those whose journey and stay are managed by the government) has already been ensured, claimed the religious affairs secretary, Mohammad Ataur Rahman, while briefing newsmen on hajj management in 2008 at the secretariat on Tuesday.
   ‘Although we are continuously insisting that the hajj agencies should manage accommodations for the pilgrims in good time, the private operators are yet to heed our directives…We cannot assure you that there will be no mismanagement this year,’ said Ataur, expressing his helplessness.
   A total of 16 out of 185 hajj agencies operating this year have so far been provided with visas for renting houses, but none of them is learned to have gone to Saudi Arabia for the purpose, according to the secretary.
   The hajj agencies will have to ensure accommodation for all the pilgrims by September 1 in Makkah and by October 1 in Medina.
   The ministry had earlier directed the hajj agencies to initiate the move earlier to ensure better accommodation for pilgrims in Makkah and Medina so that they do not suffer as many have done in the previous years.
   The leaders of the Hajj Agencies’ Association of Bangladesh informed the ministry that they could not go to Saudi Arabia for completing all procedures for the pilgrims’ accommodation as they were yet to be provided with visit visas.
   It always creates problems every year as the agencies delay in renting houses and the consequently the pilgrims have to suffer accommodation problems.
   When he was asked about the progress in house-renting, the HAAB’s secretary-general, Eyaqub Sharafati, told New Age on Tuesday that the agencies still had enough time to rent houses for the pilgrims this year. ‘The Saudi authorities have not started working in this regard in full swing. Moreover, we cannot make the move without visas and the Biman’s hajj flight schedule.’
   He, however, indicated that they were buying time to hold the HAAB elections on August 30.
   A total of 45,438 people are going to perform hajj this year, of whom 7,465 are under government management.
   This year the government has allowed 234 private hajj agencies out of 324 to offer hajj packages as the rest were found to have been involved in various irregularities and deception last year. A total of 147 agencies have so far submitted the necessary documents to the hajj office and the foreign affairs ministry for multiple visas, of which 19 were recommended for visas, according to official records.
   The interim administration has fixed the airfare to and from Saudi Arabia for each pilgrim at $1,350 this year, up from $1,250 in 2007, but the Biman, responsible for ferrying the pilgrims, is now proposing to further raise the fare for each pilgrim by $171 due to the price-hike of fuel.
   On 16 March the religious affairs ministry declared the Hajj Package 2008 for performing hajj in December through both the government and approved hajj agencies. Later the HAAB fixed the lowest charge for performing hajj under private management at Tk 2,20,000, while the total charge for each balloted hajj pilgrim ranges from Tk 1,99,112 to 2,16,782 this year.
   Referring to Biman’s proposal to increase the fare, the secretary said the issue was yet to be settled.


President for finalisation of
maritime boundary with Myanmar

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka

The president, Iajuddin Ahmed, on Tuesday underscored the need for quick finalisation of maritime boundary demarcation with Myanmar in the interest of both the countries.
   ‘I hope Myanmar will understand Bangladesh’s position on maritime issues,’ he said when newly appointed Myanmar ambassador to Bangladesh U Phae Thann Oo presented his credentials to the president at Bangabhaban.
   Welcoming the new envoy, Iajuddin expressed his satisfaction at the existing bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries.
   He hoped that the relations between the two countries would ‘reach a new height of excellence’ during his tenure in Bangladesh.
   The president said Myanmar would be benefited from increasing import of pharmaceuticals and other products, including melamine, leather and jute goods, from Bangladesh at a very competitive price.
   He underscored the need for holding single-country trade fair in both the countries aiming to increase the bilateral trade.
   ‘Exchanging high-power delegations from both the sides can further strengthen the bilateral relations as well as solve minor problems between the two countries,’ Iajuddin said. He hoped that the ‘longstanding issue’ of Rohingya refugees would be solved through bilateral negotiation.
   ‘I am happy to know that Myanmar’s vice senior General Mong Aye is expected to visit Bangladesh in October next,’ the president said.
   He also mentioned that the recent agreement on direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar would further strengthen the bilateral relations through increasing trade and people-to-people interactions.
   The envoy expressed his gratitude to Bangladesh for supporting Myanmar in achieving observer status of SAARC.
   Phae Thann also thanked Bangladesh for helping his country after cyclone Nargis through providing relief materials and medical support. He also widely appreciated Bangladesh’s success in preparing voter identity card with provision of photograph.
   Secretary of the president’s office Md Sirajul Islam, foreign secretary Touhid Hosain, military secretary to the president Major General Mohammad Ruhul Amin and president’s press secretary Abdul Awal Hawlader were present.


Left-out voters to be registered
Aug 22-24 in Dhaka

United News of Bangladesh . Dhaka

Photographs of the left-out voters in the Dhaka City Corporation area will be taken on August 22-24 at specific centres for registering them on the voters’ list in a last chance conceded by government authorities.
   Meanwhile, some of the VIPs detained under the clean-up drive in the political arena under the interim regime, including former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, are yet to register as voter because of their avowed stance against becoming voter from behind bars.
   The left-out voters who had earlier applied to the appropriate authority in prescribed forms after publication of the draft voter list in the Dhaka city and already approved by the revising authority have been asked to be present at registration centres on specific dates from 9:00am to 6:00pm.
   Later, the voters concerned would be able to collect their national identity cards from September 15 to 20 from their respective registration centres.
   For getting the information about voter the registration and the distribution of the national identity cards people are asked to call 9116971 or 01730-020504 everyday, except for weekly and government holidays.
   The lists of registration centres in the DCC area are:
   Ward-42, 44 and 45 under Mohammadpur thana at Mohammadpur Model School and College on Tazmohal Road and ward-46 and 47 at Graphics Arts Institute on Sat Masjid Road.
   Adabar-43 and Mohammadpur-41 at PC Culture Housing Public School at Adabar and wards-2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,13,14 and 15 (part) under Mirpur, Pallabi and Shah-Ali thana at Mirpur-10 No Ward Community Centre.
   Kotwali-68,69,70,71,72 and 73 and Sutrapur-4,75,76,77,78,79,80,81 and 82 wards at Wari Abdur Rahim Community Centre at Sutrapur while Jatrabari-84,85 and 86, Shympur-83,87,88,89 and 90 at Ponchayat Community Centre in Jatrabari area.
   Sabujbagh-27,28,29 and 30, Motijheel-30,31,32,33,34 and 35 and Paltan-36 at Sabujbagh Basabo Community Centre while Kafrul-4,14,15 and 16 at Senpara Ideal School and Gulshan-18,19 and 20 at Banani Community Centre.
   Airport-1, Uttara-1 and Badda-17 and 21 at Haji Camp at Uttara while under Dhaka cantonment ward-15 and cantonment board and Khilkhet-17 at Army Stadium.
   Wards no 48,49,50,51 and 52 under Dhanmondi, Newmarket and Hazaribagh ward-48 at Dhanmondi Govt Girls High School while wards no 58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66 and 67 under Lalbagh and Hazaribagh-58 at Haji Jummon Community Centre at Bongshal.
   Shahbagh-56 and 57 at Shahbagh Theatre, Ramna-53,54 and 55 at T&T High School at Moghbazar Wireless Colony, Tejgaon Industrial Area ward no-20 and 37 at Shahid Monomiah High School, Tejgoan-38,39 and 40 at Rajdhani High School at West Raja Bazar and Khilgoan-22,23,24,25 and 26 at Mohakhali Community Centre.


PDP dissatisfied with
August polls results

Staff Correspondent

The Progressive Democratic Party on Tuesday expressed dissatisfactions over the results of the August 4 polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities.
   The party chairman, Ferdaus Ahmad Quarishi, at a press conference at the party Segunbagicha central office said the results of the polls had frustrated the countrymen.
   These elections did not give any positive sign of qualitative change in the national politics, he said.
   Referring to the results of mayoral elections to the Barisal city corporation, Quarishi said the victory of PDP mayoral candidate Sharfuddin Ahmad Santu has been snatched away.
   ‘We hoped that the Election Commission would take steps to investigate the polls results, but the commission remained silent in this regard,’ Quarishi said.
   The neutrality of the Election Commission will be questioned, he said. If the commission fails to take any step in this regard, the same will happen in the next elections, the PDP chief warned.
   The party secretary general, Noor Mohammd Khan, central leader Golam Sarwar Milan and others were present at the press conference.


Former BNP lawmaker Shahiduddin
Annie sent to jail

Staff Correspondent

Former BNP lawmaker Shahiduddin Chowdhury Annie on Tuesday was sent to the Dhaka central jail after he had surrendered to court in an extortion case filed by a construction firm on September 10, 2007.
   Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge M Azizul Haque issued the order after hearing the petition for bail, filed by Shahiduddin, the former lawmaker, elected for a Lakhsmipur constituency.
   Shamsul Haque, the general manager of the firm, Abul Momen Private Limited, filed the case under the Emergency Powers Rules with the Shahbagh police accusing Shahiduddin of extorting Tk 25 lakh from the firm on May 7, 2005.
   The case is now under trial in the additional metropolitan sessions judge’s court, presided over by Shafiul Alam, the prosecution said.
   Moving the bail petition, Shahiduddin’s counsels told the court Shahiduddin had appeared to surrender as the High Court on August 14 directed him to surrender in two weeks in the metropolitan sessions judge’s court.
   ‘The court may grant bail to Shahiduddin, also a former president of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, as the higher court has referred to the court the bail petition for consideration,’ Sanaullah Miah told the court.
   Dhaka metropolitan public prosecutor Ahsanul Haque Shomaji opposed the bail for Shahiduddin, saying, ‘The court cannot accept a bail petition in any case which has been filed under the Emergency Powers Rules.’


Withdrawal of ban on trade
unionism demanded

Staff Correspondent

The Bangladesh Garment Sramik Trade Union Kendra on Tuesday demanded immediate withdrawal of ban on trade union activities imposed by the interim government after it came to power on January 11, 2007.
   The leaders of the organisation at a press conference at the Communist Party of Bangladesh central office also demanded re-fixing of minimum wage for garment workers in view of the price hike of essential commodities.
   It is impossible for a garment worker to run his/her family with Tk 1,662.50 per month, the general secretary of the organisation, AKM Ruhul Amin, told the press conference.
   They also demanded rationing of food and other essential commodities for the garment workers and 50 per cent dearness allowance before giving new wage scale.
   The press conference was attended, among others, by president of the organisation Iddris Ali, its leaders Sadequr Rahman Shamim, Joly Talukder, Habibur Rahman and Alo Akter.


BEPZA general manager changed
Staff Correspondent

Army official Lieutenant Colonel Abu Hena Md Mostafa has been deputed as general manager (security) to the Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority replacing Lieutenant Colonel Md Toufiq-e-Elahi, who has been withdrawn to the army.
   The service of Mostafa has been placed at the disposal of the Chief Adviser’s Office.
   The establishment ministry issued a gazette notification to the effect on Tuesday.
   Officers on special duty Nimai Chandra Paul and Md Rabiul Haq have been posted to the Directorate of Family Planning as directors and Kazi Mohammad Shafiul Alam, deputy director of the Department of Narcotics Control, Chittagong, has been transferred to the Directorate of Family Planning as director, according to another order issued on the day.

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