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The Anti-Corruption Commi-ssion in defiance of High Court orders continues to sue and press charges against the family members of corruption suspects.
   The High Court, in at least four judgements, have said the commission has no authority to sue the family members of a person accused of amassing illegal wealth, on charge of helping the person in committing the offence, unless the family members are notified to submit their wealth statements.
   The High Court first came up with the observation in its verdict delivered on June 8 on a writ petition filed by former minister Anwar Hossain Manju’s wife Tasmima Hossain, also a former lawmaker, challenging the initiation of the case against her for helping her husband in amassing illegal wealth.
   The High Court quashed the case against Tasmima, saying the case was filed without any lawful authority.
   ‘It is not disputed that the commission never asked the petitioner [Tasmima] to submit any statement or information or document regarding any of her property. Nor was she called upon by any court to furnish any explanation of her property,’ the court said in the verdict.
   In view of such admitted facts, no offence was disclosed against Tasmima under the Anti-Corruption Commission Act or the Emergency Powers Rules, the court said.
   According to the law and the rules, the commission needs to notify corruption suspects asking for the wealth statement. After receiving the statement, if the commission’s investigation finds they have concealed assets in the statements or if they possess wealth disproportionate to their legitimate sources of income, the commission can sue the suspects.
   The High Court also made similar observations on July 28 in the verdicts on similar writ petitions filed by former minister Tariqul Islam’s wife Nargis Begum and their two sons and daughter, former state minister Redwan Ahmed’s wife Momtaz Ahmed, and former lawmaker MAH Selim’s son Mehedi Hasan and daughter Amena Begum.
   Since the June 8 verdict, the commission has so far filed more than three cases accusing the family members of three corruption suspects of helping them in amassing the illegal wealth and hiding assets in the wealth statements.
   The commission has sued former lawmaker Shahidul Haque Jamal’s wife Nasrin Haque, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s assistant private secretary Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury’s wife Jahanara Arzu, and former Teletalk managing director M Obaidullah’s wife on similar charges. All the cases were lodged after the June 8 verdict.
   The commission has also pressed charges against Sylhet mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran’s wife Begum Asma Kamran, former state minister Redwan’s wife Momtaj Ahmed, former Awami League state minister Rafiqul Islam’s wife Nurunnahar alias Lily Islam, Barisal mayor Majibar Rahman Sarwar’s wife Syeda Nasima Sarwar, former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s brother Shamim Eskander’s wife Kaniz Fatema, former Awami League lawmaker Rahmatullah’s wife Halima Rahmatullah, National Board of Revenue member Jahurul Haque’s wife Afia Haque and Bashundhara Group chairman Ahmed Akber Sobhan’s wife Afroza Begum, and sons Sadat Sobhan, Safiat Sobhan, Sayem Sobhan and Safwan Sobhan.
   The commission’s chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, however, claimed the commission had done no wrong in suing or pressing charges against the family members of the corruption suspects despite the High Court orders.
   ‘We have made no mistake by implicating the family members of the corruption suspects in the cases. The principal accused [corruption suspects] were notified to submit their wealth statements detailing all the wealth in their names or in the names of their dependants. This covers the court’s directive in this regard,’ he said at a briefing early in August at the commission headquarters.
   The commission’s counsel Khurshid Alam Khan, however, told New Age on Saturday the commission had filed petitions with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking permission to appeal against three of the High Court verdicts.
   The commission’s petitions, however, are yet to be heard by the Appellate Division.

The National Board of Revenue is considering withdrawal of the import duty immunity that has been enjoyed and abused by private hospitals since 2005 in importing about 3,000 medical instruments, officials said.
   The NBR will investigate allegations of irregularities like false declaration in duty-free imports of medical equipment and failure to ensure quality health services at affordable costs against the hospitals that availed of the zero tariff facility.
   Nine big referral hospitals, which got permission for duty-free import, have primarily been identified for the thorough scrutiny, initiated on Wednesday by a three-member committee, headed by Nasir Uddin, NBR commissioner for duty exemption and duty drawback.
   The investigation will target others in the booming hospital business gradually, customs officials said.
   The hospitals, which will come under NBR scrutiny in the first phase, are BIRDEM, National Heart Foundation, Apollo Hospitals, Square Hospital, Sikdar Medical Hospital and United Hospital in Dhaka, and Khawaja Younus Hospital, Ibrahim-Iqbal Memorial Hospital and Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Hospital outside the capital.
   The NBR’s committee will examine whether the privileged private hospitals maintained all the conditions while enjoying the import duty exemption, whether the patients were benefited in quality or costs and whether any official irregularities took place in awarding the hospitals with the duty-free facility.
   The committee will recommend whether the duty exemption scheme should continue or not.
   ‘Private hospital owners have been doing brisk business. They do not give the government any duty on import of hundreds of medical equipment, but continue to charge very high for medical services,’ NBR chairman Abdul Mazid told New Age.
   ‘There must be a reason for the duty exemption offered by the government. It is expected that the people will get health services at lower costs and the poor will get treatment free of cost, which do not happen,’ he regretted.
   ‘Should any business, having no social commitment, get such duty benefit only to implement their mercenary schemes?’ questioned Mazid.
   It is widely alleged that charges for medical services in the country’s private hospitals are exorbitant and many hospitals sell equipment, imported duty-free, out to other clinics for profit.
   Revenue officials also have allegations that some of the hospitals often siphon off money through over-invoicing of imported medical equipment.
   The government made medical equipment import duty-free in 2005 with a view to promoting quality health services in the private sector and checking foreign currency flight through overseas medical tourism.
   The offer saw a proliferation of big budget hospitals in the private sector and also lured some global hospital chains into the country over the years, revenue officials said.
   Although overall health services made some improvements, the duty-free offer did not have any visible reflection in the costs of the services offered by the private hospitals, which cared little about serving the poor and preserving some free beds for insolvent patients, they pointed out.
   The original statutory regulatory order, issued on June 2, 2005, stipulated that the duty free facility would apply only to medical equipment imports for non-profitable private hospitals.
   But the offer was later made open to commercial hospitals as well in 2006 following pressures from strong business lobbies like the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, revenue people said.
   ‘Duty-free import facility could be continued only for those hospitals, which will have free treatment facility for the poor,’ a committee member told New Age.
   According to the conditions set for the duty-free facility, private hospitals must charge ‘reasonable and affordable’ costs for medical services and have separate arrangement for research activities and full-fledged outpatient departments.
   The hospital must be built on its own land and have at least 150 beds including provisions for free bed.
   The duty-free facility applies to about 3,000 medical equipment like ECG machine, UV lamps, microscope, cardiac screen, USG machine, color doppler machine, fetal monitor, ureteroscope, ACT machine, lab rotator, blood culture machine, baby incubators and ICU ventilator.
   Customs officials could not give any figure of revenue forgone due to the generous offer.

The Planning Commission has readied the second version of the poverty reduction strategy paper with a new slogan – ‘Moving Ahead’ – but without properly assessing how far the previous development document – ‘Unlocking the Potential’ — has been implemented, admit officials concerned.
   The interim government has spent about two months of the 2008-09 fiscal year without a long-term development strategy at hand even after the expiry of the four-year period of the poverty reduction strategy titled ‘Unlocking the Potential: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction’.
   The draft document – ‘Moving Ahead: National Strategy for Accelerated Poverty Reduction II (2009-2011) – is scheduled to be placed for endorsement at a meeting of the National Economic Council, currently headed by the chief adviser, on August 28, according to officials of the general economics division of the Planning Commission.
   ‘We do not know whether there has been any poverty reduction as a result of the implementation of the first PRSP. The new document, too, will not be of much benefit to the poor despite the common slogan of pro-poor economic growth’, economist Anu Muhammad told New Age.
   The government has no data on the poverty situation after the Household Income and Expenditure Survey-2005 whereas private research groups have found increase in poverty or at least stagnation in the process recently, though for a different reason – price hike of food grains.
   Now the authors of the draft document have acknowledged the failure in achieving the targets set in the first strategy paper after various quarters, including economists, criticised the poor status of implementation due to lack of institutional capacity and political commitment to development.
   ‘Implementation failures have been so endemic that [it] is seen as a critical strategic challenge’, reads the new document stressing the need for giving more attention to effective implementation of the strategy paper.
   Problems related to regulations, laws, projects and programmes and poor institutional mechanism have been generally identified as obstacles to implementing and monitoring the progress in poverty reduction.
   Asked how development goals could be attained, Uttam Kumar Deb of the Centre for Policy Dialogue pointed out that the strategy paper must be made a concrete one with achievable targets and institutional mechanism to monitor the implementation process. He also insisted on evaluation of the previous document and cost estimation for the new one.
   The new strategy paper has made an estimate of target implementation at Tk 2,54,000 crore. A resource gap between availability of funds from domestic sources and requirement of money for implementing PRSP goals has also been projected at more than Tk 61,000 crore in three-year implementation period.
   The interim government on July 26, 2007 decided to embark on the second version of the lender-driven poverty reduction strategy following extension on April 30, 2007, of the first strategy paper for another year on completion of three years.
   The government is also preparing a long-term participatory perspective plan setting 2021 as the deadline for making the country free of poverty and corruption.  A project styled Outline Participatory Perspective Plan will design the document, which will include a vision-2030 of a prosperous Bangladesh.
   The general economics division was made the focal point for formulation of such development policy document and accordingly, as many as 18 thematic committees backed by consultants made various suggestions.
   Their estimation of resource endowment needs marked a significant shift from the first strategy paper devoid of specific calculation of costs and requirements of money, which was formulated more in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals.
   In order to expedite the poverty reduction process, the draft strategy paper has outlined five strategy blocks – pro-poor macroeconomic management, investments in important sectors for pro-poor economic growth, infrastructure building for pro-poor growth, social protection for vulnerable groups and human resources development.
   Five more areas have also been selected in the draft document to achieve the pro-poor development – participation of all strata of the people and their empowerment, establishment of good governance, effective delivery of public services, facing the challenge of weather and climate change for sustainable development and enhancing productivity by means of innovation and extension of technologies.
   ‘The second strategy paper has been prepared in conformity with the objective of the first one – poverty reduction through pro-poor economic growth’, Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, member of the economics division and planning secretary, wrote in the working paper on the PRSP to be submitted to the National Economic Council.
   The division held a consultation with the stakeholders in Dhaka in March 18-20, a special meeting with experts and civil society members in June 1-2 and another meeting with the development partners on June 10. Besides, three regional consultation meetings were arranged in Barisal, Rajshahi and Rangamati.
   The working paper noted that the draft document reflected the opinions and suggestions made in the consultations by different ministries and divisions and also the opinions of the development partners.
   Anu Muhammad, however, said that although consultations were held to take opinions before preparing the PRSP, the suggestions made by the participants had not been incorporated in the document because of the government’s tendency towards swallowing the lenders’ recipe’.

Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, should be sent abroad immediately for treatment as his condition is critical, said a senior orthopaedic surgeon at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital.
   ‘Tarique Rahman’s health condition is “very critical”. We have formally suggested his treatment overseas. I am making the same appeal as he requires urgent treatment at an advanced centre abroad’, Professor Serajuddin Ahmed, chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery at BSMMU and member of all four medical boards formed for the BNP leader, told reporters at the hospital on Saturday.
   ‘He [Tarique] has been taking treatment in BSMMU Hospital for the last eight months but showing no signs of progress. Unfortunately, there is no better arrangement available [in the country for his treatment]’, he said. ‘We will not take responsibility if anything happens [to him]’, the physician warned.
   Dr Kazi Mazharul Islam Dolon, an associate professor and head of the department of arthroscopy and joint replacement at the university – who on August 19 cautioned that Tarique was getting paralysed partially and exposed to ‘mental disturbance caused by chronic pain’ – was also present at the briefing.
   According to the report of the board, Tarique, also BNP’s senior joint secretary general, is suffering from multiple ailments including compression fracture in his two spinal bones, cervical disc prolapsed with radicalopathy, right hip arthropathy, chest pain with palpitation, severe muscle spasm in the lumber region and right lower limb, serenegative spondyloarthopathy, narrow angle glaucoma and wasted muscles of lower limbs.
   His wife Dr Zubaida Rahman and their daughter Zaima Rahman earlier jointly appealed to the government to send him abroad immediately to save him from getting crippled. ‘He requires specialised orthopaedic surgical correction, which is not possible in Bangladesh’, they said in a letter to the interim government.
   Tarique was arrested on March 8, 2007, and implicated in a dozen of cases of extortion and corruption.
   Khaleda Zia, who has also been in jail since September 3 last year, has repeatedly demanded that the government release Tarique to allow him to take treatment abroad.

Teachers and students at Dhaka University on Saturday rallied for withdrawal of all cases filed against them in connection with the August 2007 campus protests.
   They also wore black badges observing August 23 as ‘black day’ against state repression on the campus.
   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 the government closed all public universities and colleges on August 23 for an indefinite period.
   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.
   The students accused in the case of setting fire to a military vehicle held a solidarity rally at the Aparajeya Bangla were all campus student organisations, including Bangladesh Chhatra League, Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, and Bangladesh Chhatra Federation, expressed their solidarity and demanded withdrawal of the case.
   A number of teachers including the university teachers’ association general secretary Anwar Hossain, former association president AAMS Arefin Siddique, and association’s executive committee member Muhammad Samad expressed solidarity with the students.
   Anwar said the August 2007 protests were the outburst of the sentiment of all students at the university, but a few students are suffering now because of the movement.
   He suggested the military intelligence should not consider the university students to be their opponents. ‘We do not consider them our opponents.’ ‘If the government does not withdraw the case, the teachers and students will make the government to withdraw it as they did in the past,’ he said.
    ‘It is a constitutional right for every citizen to live without fear. So our students also have the right to continue their education without fear,’ Arefin Siddique said at the rally. He asked the university authorities to ensure legal and financial support for the students.
   The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president, Azizul Bari Helal, Chhatra League president Mahmud Hasan Ripon, Chhatra Union general secretary Manabendra Dev, university unit Samajtantrik Chhara Front general secretary Moloy Sarkar, and university unit Bangladesh Chhatra Federation general secretary Saikat Mallik joined the rally.
   The Progressive Students’ Alliance and the Samajtantrik Chhatra Front also brought out processions on the campus marking the day. The teachers association held a discussion at the Teacher-Student Centre in the afternoon.
   ‘We are observing the day as a ‘black day’ in a mark of protest,’ said the association’s president Sadrul Amin.

The United States regained Olympic track and field superiority with the last two races in the Bird’s Nest Saturday, putting a week of disappointment behind them when they won the 4x400m relays.
   In a night of doubles, Ethiopian Kenenisa completed the elusive 5,000m-10,000m double and Kenya cleaned up the two middle-distance races.
   Combat sports again provided controversy with a Cuban taekwondo exponent banned after kicking a referee, and a British boxer claiming he was bitten by his Cuban opponent.
   On the penultimate day of the Beijing Games China took an unassailable lead on the overall medal table with 49, ahead of the United States on 33, Russia with 21 and Great Britain 19.
   But victories in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays lifted the United States to seven athletics titles, one more than Russia and Jamaica with only the men’s marathon on Sunday.
   The US track team, who have suffered a week of upsets including losing their all-around sprint crown to Jamaica, recovered thanks to a remarkable run by women’s anchor Sanya Richards.
   The USA self-dubbed ‘Dream Team’ when they came to Beijing have endured a nightmare of disappointing performances including losing their sprint crown when trounced by Jamaica.
   But it was the Jamaican-born American Richards who saved face when she took the baton several metres behind Russia’s Anastasia Kapachinskaya and overtook her on the line.
   Bekele emulated Ethiopian compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba in claiming the long-distance double - the first man to achieve the feat since another Ethiopian Miruts Yifter at the 1980 Moscow Games.
   Kenya enjoyed a double gold when Wilfred Bungei won their first men’s 800m title in 16 years and Nancy Langat won the women’s 1500m.
   Lionel Messi rewarded Argentina in gold for fighting for his right to be at the Olympics when he set up the winning goal in their 1-0 triumph over Nigeria in the men’s football final on Saturday.
   In a match played in a sizzling 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 F) inside the Bird’s Nest, the football superstar put Angel Di Maria clear early in the second half and the Benfica player chipped over the goalkeeper.
   In the heat of Beijing it was one of the sport’s hottest properties, Messi, who was central to the outcome, and his appearance was only settled a few hours before the first game after his powerful European club Barcelona had blocked their prized striker from taking part.
   Controversies in combat sports, boiled over in taekwondo when Cuba’s Angel Valodia Matos kicked a referee in the head after he was disqualfied in his bout.
   Matos, a Sydney Olympics winner, was immediately expelled from international competitions, according to a statement read to the crowd.
   In boxing, British gold medallist James DeGale claimed he was bitten in his final with Cuba’s Emilio Correa and showed journalists a mark on his chest.
   The first-round incident cost Correa two points—the eventual margin of victory.
   Boxing’s governing body AIBA also revealed it had been tracking ‘possible attempts of manipulation’ for months before the Games, but insisted no fights had been fixed.
   China increased their lead on the medals table with wins in table tennis, and canoeing but missed out on their quest for eight out of eight diving golds when Australian Matthew Mitcham overtook Zhou Luxin with his last dive in the men’s 10m platform final. In a dramatic baseball final, as the sport made its exit from the Olympics schedule, South Korea upset regular gold medallists Cuba 3-2.
   Meanwhile, weightlifter Igor Razoronov followed his Ukrainian teammate and heptathlon silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska out of the Games when he became the sixth athlete to fail a drugs test. Raznoronov was unplaced in the -105kg category.

Barack Obama Saturday named veteran Senate colleague Joseph Biden as his vice presidential running mate, adding foreign policy heft — but also a loose tongue — to his ticket in the battle against Republican John McCain.
   After hours of media leaks, the 47-year-old Democratic White House hopeful confirmed that he was picking the Delaware senator, 65, in an early-hours email and text message sent out to millions of signed-up supporters.
   ‘I’ve chosen Joe Biden to be my running mate,’ Obama said in the email. ‘I’m excited about hitting the campaign trail with Joe, but the two of us can’t do this alone. We need your help to keep building this movement for change.’
   The new running mates were due to appear together for their first rally after 3:00pm (2000 GMT) Saturday in Springfield, Illinois, president Abraham Lincoln’s hometown where Obama began his White House quest in February 2007.
   Biden was then likely to join Obama on a tour of four states to the west before ending up in Denver for the coming week’s Democratic convention. He will speak on Wednesday, followed by Obama on Thursday.
   The official campaign website already read ‘Obama-Biden’ and it invited supporters to send a welcome note to Biden, an experienced Washington insider first elected to Congress in 1972 at the age of 29.
   The chairman of the Senate’s foreign relations committee has twice run for the presidency himself, including a shot at the Democratic nomination when he had some unflattering things to say about Obama’s inexperience.
   ‘There has been no harsher critic of Barack Obama’s lack of experience than Joe Biden,’ McCain spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement.
   ‘Biden has denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realising — that Barack Obama is not ready to be president,’ he said.
   In turning to Biden, Obama is banking that the veteran’s expertise on national security will blunt McCain’s attacks and that his personal background will keep wavering Democrats in the fold.
   A Catholic native of Pennsylvania, Biden brings appeal to the kind of working-class voters with whom the African-American Obama has struggled to connect, and who backed his primary rival Hillary Clinton.
   Obama calculated that Biden can do as much to reach out to those voters without needing to handle the political baggage of the former first lady and her husband Bill.
   Hillary Clinton quickly supported the move, saying in a statement that Obama ‘has continued in the best traditions for the vice presidency by selecting an exceptionally strong, experienced leader and devoted public servant.
   ‘Senator Biden will be a purposeful and dynamic vice president who will help senator Obama both win the presidency and govern this great country,’ Hillary said.
   Obama had said this week that he was looking for a principled running mate who was unafraid to speak his mind and tell his boss if policy was veering off-track. Biden fits that bill.
   But Biden’s long experience could also detract from Obama’s promise to sweep away the Washington old guard. Biden also has a long record of verbal mis-steps.
   Launching his ill-fated shot at the Democratic nomination last year, he said of Obama: ‘I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.’
   Biden apologised and Obama said he took no offence, but the Delaware senator then went on to make another remark that has already become fodder for Republican attacks.
   Ahead of a debate among the Democratic presidential contenders, he had said Obama ‘can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.’
   At the debate in Iowa, he said: ‘I think I stand by the statement.’
   Biden emerged on top after Obama reportedly broke the news to two other leading contenders — Indiana senator Evan Bayh and Virginia governor Tim Kaine — that they were no longer under consideration.
   Obama’s campaign had promised to release the VP pick in an electronic blizzard to registered supporters, but that plan was trumped by leaks to the media.
   A Washington Post-ABC News poll out Saturday suggested that the choice of Biden would not shake up the tight presidential race.
   Three-quarters of those polled just before Obama chose Biden said the choice would not sway their votes one way or the other.
   The Biden choice will
   feed into McCain’s decision-making as he prepares to announce his own VP pick late next week, just before the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St.Paul.
   Two front-runners for the 71-year-old Arizona senator are former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty.

The chief adviser, Fakhruiddin Ahmed, has reaffirmed that the general elections will be held before end of December and urged voters to elect the right candidate taking it as their responsibility.
   Urging the people to choose the right candidate in free mind and without fear, he said the government and the Election Commission would extend all-out support so that voter could cast their votes freely.
   The head of the interim government made the call while addressing an exchange of views with the local elite at the Shaheed Abul Hossain auditorium in Sunamganj on Saturday.
   Earlier, Fakhruddin inaugurated the eight-day Fish Resource Development Campaign 2008 through releasing fish fries in the River Surma.
   The chief adviser released fish from the Surma Ghat adjacent to Government Jubilee High School in the town in the morning. About 15,000 fish fry were released on the occasion.
   This year the theme of the campaign is: ‘Machher Bangsha Rakkha Pele, Khadyo Ortho Dui-e Mele’ (If fish resources are protected, food and money are guaranteed).
   The special assistant to the chief adviser for fisheries and livestock ministry, Manik Lal Samaddar, and other high officials were present on the occasion.
   People of different professions including lawyers, freedom fighters, teachers, journalists and women representatives as well as fish cultivators attended and spoke in the meeting organised by the district administration.
   Referring to the recent local body elections, the chief adviser said polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities held on August 4 had been completed very successfully amid festivity and joy among the voters.
   He said it was the responsibility of the government and the Election Commission to ensure such environment where people can cast vote without fear.
   Spontaneous participation and turnout of voters in the recent local body elections would remain as an exemplary example in transitional democracy in the country, he added.
   Fakhruddin urged people to exercise their right of franchise in all elections by applying their good judgement.
   Regarding upazila elections, he said the government and the EC wanted to hold the upazila polls in near future. The EC is making necessary preparations to hold the upazila polls in the country.
   The local participants in the meeting mainly focused on the process of leasing out ‘jalmahals’ (water bodies) and the government policies on it.
   Many of them alleged that real fish cultivators were not getting lease of jalmahals, rather a section of affluent people were taking lease of those in the name cooperative societies of fish cultivators. The poor and real fish farmers cannot compete in the tender for getting lease of jalmahals for want of money, they said.
   The participants demanded amendment to the government’s policy so that real beneficiaries and fish farmers can get lease of jalmahals and also setting up of separate ‘Jalmahal Authority’ in the district. Sunamganj abounds with nearly 4,500 jalmahals.
   The participants also spoke about other local problems including construction of roads and bridges, development of educational institutions and health service facilities.
   In response, the chief adviser said the steps on jalmahal lease and for development and catching of fish should be worked out after discussion with the beneficiaries and local people engaged in the sector.
   He hoped that the Fisheries Directorate and the Fisheries Ministry would take action to resolve the problems as soon as possible.
   Speaking at the meeting, Manik Lal Samaddar said the land ministry was making a list of jalmahals with the cooperation of the Fisheries Directorate for a quick solution of the problem.
   He said a high-level inter-ministerial committee had been formed under the directive of the chief adviser for planned development of haors and baors (big water bodies) for increasing cultivation and protection of fishes.

The HRC Group chairman, Sayeed Hossain Chowdhury, was released on bail from Dhaka central jail on Saturday.
   According to prison sources, Sayeed Hossain Chowdhury was released at 10:15am after being granted bail by the High Court.
   The High Court on August 20 granted interim bail for six months to Sayeed in a case filed against him by the Anti-Corruption Commission under the Money Laundering Prevention Act on August 6.
   The High Court bench of Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice M Emdadul Haque Azad passed the order after hearing the petition filed by Sayeed.
   The court also asked the commission to explain why Sayeed would not be granted regular bail.
   The HRC Group chairman, after his arrest at his Gulshan house on July 18 on charge of breaching the Emergency Powers Rules, was released on bail on August 1. But he was arrested again at the Dhaka jail gate on the same charge on the day.
   A Dhaka court on August 6 showed Sayeed arrested in the money laundering case filed earlier on the day against him and four others by the commission’s deputy assistant director Abul Kasem with the Tejgaon police.
   The commission accused Sayeed and the four of illegal transfer and transformation of Tk 12.16 crore.

The interim government on Saturday changed 35 upazila nirbahi officers as part of its administrative reshuffle that began on Thursday night ahead of the general elections to be held in December.
   The establishment ministry has issued a gazette notification to this effect.
   UNO of Muladi, Barisal, Mehdi Hasan has been transferred to Patuakhali as UNO of Dasmina, UNO of Chauhali, Sirajganj, AKM Nurunnabi Kabir has been sent to Rajbari sadar and senior assistant commissioner of Gazipur Nasrin Jahan has been made UNO of Muktagachha, Mymensingh.
   UNO of Tarash, Sirajganj, Khandaker Waliur Rahman has been made UNO of Faridpur sadar, Abu Ahmed Siddique of Burichang, Comilla has been sent to Ukhia, Cox’s Bazar, AKM Sohel of Comilla sadar has been sent to Tongibari, Munshiganj, and AKM Benjamin Reazi of Matlab, Chandpur, has been transferred to Madhupur, Tangail and Shafiul Arif of Kaptai, Rangamati, has been made UNO of Patia, Chittagong.
   AM Parvez Rahim, UNO of Madhupur, Tangail, has been sent to Betaghi, Barguna, Zahedul Islam Bhuiyan, officer on special duty (senior assistant secretary) has been posted to Gournadi, Barisal, Rezwanur Rahman, OSD (senior assistant secretary) has been made UNO of Burichhang, Comilla, and Badrul Haq, senior assistant commissioner of Chandpur, has been made UNO of Muladi, Barisal.
   Faruq Ahmed, senior assistant commissioner of Sylhet, has been sent to Akhaura, Brahmanbaria as UNO, Mahmudul Hasan, OSD (senior assistant secretary), has been posted to Agailjhara, Barisal, Khan Md Rezaunnabi of Alamdanga, Chuadanga, has been sent to Tala, Satkhira, Krisna Kanta Biswas of Morelganj, Bagerhat, has been transferred to Rajibpur, Kurigram, and Monir Hossain Khan of Companiganj, Noakhali, has been sent to Morelganj, Bagerhat.
   Mokammel Haq of Barhatta, Netrakona, has been made UNO of Moulvibazar sadar, Arun Chandra Mohattam of Boalmari, Faridpur, has been sent to Kotchandpur, Jhenidah, Khalid Pervez Khan of Dewanganj, Jamalpur, has been transferred to Alfadanga, Faridpur, and Sabirul Islam of Phulbaria, Mymensing, has been sent to Jaintapur, Sylhet.
   Shafiqur Reza Bishwas of Bajitpur, Kishoreganj, has been sent to Sonaimuri, Noakhali, Habibur Rahman of Phulchhari, Gaibandha, has been transferred to Pabna sadar, Mina Masuduzzaman, senior assistant commissioner of Jhenaidah, has been made UNO of Sripur, Magura, and Kayesuzzaman, deputy director of BPATC, has been made UNO of Patuakhali sadar and Khalil Ahmed, estate officer of DCC, has been sent to Kolaroa, Satkhira.
   Rathindra Nath Dutt, deputy director of BCS Administration Academy, has been transferred to Uzirpur, Barisal, Mahmudur Rahman Habib, senior assistant commissioner of Sunamganj, has been sent to Tarash, Sirajganj, Matiur Rahman, senior assistant secretary of the establishment ministry, has been transferred to Sylhet sadar and SM Ferdaus, senior assistant commissioner of Bogra, has been sent to Mahadebpur, Noagaon as UNO.
   Kazi Anwar Hossain, programmer of BCS Administration Academy, has been sent to Putia, Rajshahi, Mihir Kanti Raut, PSC assistant director, has been transferred to Nawabganj, Dinajpur, Dewan Shahriar Firoz of Rajibpur, Kurigram has been sent to Bagha, Rajshahi, Fayez Ahmed of Daulatkhan, Bhola, has been sent to Munshiganj sadar and Abdul Awal, OSD (senior assistant secretary) has been posted to Jibannagar, Chuadanga as UNO.
   On Thursday, the reshuffle in civil administration began from the field level with the withdrawal 35 deputy commissioners and fresh postings of 34, including interchange of another four. Moreover, a total of 168 UNOs were also transferred on Thursday and Friday.

Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif Saturday said he was ready to accept the widower of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto as president if he does away with powers to dissolve parliament.
   Former president Pervez Musharraf had strengthened his powers through a 17th constitutional amendment, which gave the president the power to dismiss the government and dissolve parliament.
   Meanwhile, Benazir’s widower Asif Ali Zardari has decided to run for president in the wake of Musharraf’s resignation, a senior party official said Saturday.
   ‘Asif (Ali) Zardari has accepted to contest the election for the office of president of Pakistan after the party unanimously drafted him to do so,’ Pakistan People’s Party deputy secretary general Raza Rabbani told reporters.
   Zardari won the unanimous backing of lawmakers from the Pakistan People’s Party on Friday.
   Sharif, whose party is a major partner with the PPP in the ruling coalition, made his comments came after a PPP delegation met him to solicit his support for Zardari in the election.
   ‘I have no objection over Zardari contesting presidential election, if he removes the 17th amendment,’ Sharif told reporters at his residence after meeting the PPP delegation led by the information minister, Sherry Rehman.
   Sharif said he had a firm agreement with Zardari on the restoration of judges sacked by Musharraf and clarified that neither he nor anyone from his party wanted to become president.
   ‘The agreement says that next president will be after removing 17th amendment. The PPP will have a right to nominate its own president then,’ Sharif said.
   Sharif said Zardari had also agreed that judges sacked by Musharraf during a state of emergency last year would be restored within 24 hours of his impeachment or resignation and lamented that it had not been honoured.
   ‘What happened to your promise?’ Sharif said, quoting from a famous Indian heart-break movie song from the late 1970s.
   ‘It had been agreed that when Musharraf would resign or get impeached, judges were to be reinstated automatically within 24 hours,’ Sharif said and added that he had given a new ultimatum to Zardari.
   ‘We have asked them to tell us by Saturday night whether or not judges can be restored on Monday or not,’ Sharif said.
   Sharif said that he was flexible over Monday’s deadline previously because the presidential election schedule had not been announced and it was announced without asking him when he was addressing a press conference on Friday.
   Political instability and a nosediving economy have alarmed Western nations looking for continuity after the departure of Musharraf, a key US ally, but talks between the PPP and Sharif’s party have so far failed to make headway.

Nepal’s new Maoist prime minister, a former rebel who fought the state for a decade, appealed to former foes Saturday to forget the past and work with the new government in his first state address.
   The Maoists are now Nepal’s most powerful political party after scoring a surprise win in April elections for an assembly that abolished the world’s last Hindu monarchy.
   ‘I appeal to the Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, Nepal Police and National Investigation Department to forget the bitterness of the past and extend their support for national unity to make a new Nepal,’ the premier said.
   ‘There will be no prejudice from our side,’ said Prachanda, who prefers to go by his nom-de-guerre which means ‘the Fierce One.’
   The Maoists were elected after promises to radically change the caste-riven, impoverished Himalayan country and Prachanda admitted they faced massive tasks ahead.
   ‘While we have a world of opportunities on one side, we have a mountain of challenges on the other,’ the ex-school teacher said in his address on state-run television to the world’s newest republic.
   Problems include tackling fuel and food shortages as well as ensuring a two-year-old peace process that ended a decade-long civil war remains on track.
   The Maoist-led government also has to write a new constitution for the country, formalising its shift from Hindu kingdom to secular republic.
   Prachanda’s speech came after Nepal swore in its first post-royal government on Friday, ending weeks of political deadlock.
   ‘We need the support and cooperation from the army, police, the administration, the international community and the general public to meet the challenges,’ said Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
   He became Nepal’s top politician when he was sworn in last week, marking a remarkable climb to power for a man who, until the 2006 peace deal, led the Maoist insurgency that claimed at least 13,000 lives.
   He left Kathmandu soon after the speech to make his debut on the international stage to attend the Olympic Games closing ceremony and meet China’s president Hu Jintao during his five-day official visit.
   The China trip breaks a tradition that has seen most previous Nepalese prime ministers make their first official foreign visit to southern neighbour India.

Only 6.5 lakh, out of 80 lakh pieces of readymade garments, so far could be exported to India under the duty- and quota-free facilities allowed by the neighbouring country under the SAFTA deal, official sources said.
   The Export Promotion Bureau so far allocated quota to export 21.78 lakh pieces of RMG in favour of 32 factories. The quota for the rest 73.74 lakh pieces is yet to be allocated when there is only four months of the quota year to export them to India.
   EPB sources said some restrictions imposed by the government have created obstacles to the export of RMG to India under the duty-free facilities.
   According to the government rules, exporters have to collect ‘Confirmed Irrevocable Letter of Credit’ to get order of export to India under the South Asian Free Trade Area facilities. Moreover, quota of no more than two lakh pieces of RMG can be allocated in favour of an exporter.
   The sources said some of the exporters have already exported two lakh pieces of RMG to India and they are waiting for more quota allocation. But the EPB could not allocate more quota for them due to the existing rules.
   The quota monitoring committee of the bureau at a recent meeting proposed that the government should change the regulations to allocate extra quota for the exporters who have already exported two lakh pieces of RMG.
   The committee also recommended allocation of quota to the exporters based on the purchase order or contract alongside the ‘Confirmed Irrevocable Letter of Credit’.
   They said it would expedite the RMG export and minimise the hassles faced by the exporters.
   A commerce ministry official said India should allow more RMG exports from Bangladesh under the duty- and quota-free facilities. Eighty lakh pieces of RMG is too little for an RMG giant like Bangladesh, he added.
   On September 16, 2007, Bangladesh signed a deal with India for exporting 80 lakh pieces of RMG under zero-tariff access facility.
   The deal was signed between the commerce ministry and the Indian high commission in Dhaka under the purview of the SAFTA deal among the SAARC member countries.
   As per the SAFTA agreement, developing countries in SAARC — India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — will bring down their customs duties to zero per cent by 2013, while the least developed countries like Bangladesh, the Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan will implement it by 2018.

Four private companies on Saturday began operation of international long-distance telecommunications.
   The Bangla Trac Communi-cations Limited and the Novotel Limited started operation of international gateways to handle international calls.
   The Getco Telecommunication and the M&H Telecom on the day also started operation of interconnection exchanges for the management of connectivity among telecom operators through international gateways.
   International call services were the monopoly of the state-run Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, former Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board, until the Mir Telecom started international gateway operation and the Mango Teleservices international internet gateway operation on Thursday.
   The Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission chairman, Manzurul Alam, on Saturday inaugurated the two international gateways and two interconnection exchanges.
   With commissioning of these four companies, the country got a total of six international long distance telecommunication systems, as one IGW system operated by Mir Telecom and one international internet gateway (IIG) handled by Mango Teleservices started their journey on Thursday.
   As part of the international long-distance telecommunications services policy, the telecoms regulatory commission in February awarded licences to the six local private companies to operate the international gateway, interconnection exchange and international internet gateway under private management.
   The operators along with the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company will handle international and local calls, except for calls within the operator netowrk, through the submarine cable. As per the international gateway policy, the operators will need to pay the government 51.75 per cent of the revenue.
   ‘It is a milestone in the telecoms history of Bangladesh,’ said Manzurul, just before commissioning the Bangla Trac Communications Limited by making a call through its international gateway.
   He said, ‘Bangladesh has entered the era of interconnection exchange, international gateway and international internet gateway.’
   ‘We want to ensure better, efficient services for the people and this is why the government has initiated privatising the sector,’ he said. ‘The commission does not want to play the role of a regulator. It wants to act as a facilitator aiming at expanding the use of the latest technologies to make our life easy. We want the technology should reach out to the rural areas.’
   He said, ‘We have given licences to the six private telecoms companies for which the commission did not need to spend a single penny and the government will earn Tk 1,500 crore in revenue every year.’
   He said the privatisation of international gateway and international internet gateway would help to reduce the illegal use of VoIP technology.
   Novotel’s chief technology officer Ehsanur Rahman Tanveer told New Age, ‘Novotel has set up a network operations equipped with Ericsson switches to greatly improve the quality of overseas call services. It will be able to manage more than 20 million minutes of call from the first day.

Pakistani troops killed up to 35 Taliban militants Saturday in a major army offensive in the restive northwest, while at least 12 people were killed in separate attacks, officials said.
   The violence came as Pakistan’s political future remained up in the air, with an election set for September 6 to choose a successor to Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president Monday amid a prolonged struggle with the militants.
   Troops backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery pounded militant hideouts in the scenic Swat valley, a former tourist hotspot that erupted in violence last year when a pro-Taliban cleric declared jihad on Islamabad.
   ‘Up to 35 militants have been killed and scores were injured when security forces launched a massive operation against militants in the Kabal district of Swat valley,’ local military spokesman Major Nasir Ali said.
   ‘Two soldiers embraced martyrdom and three others were injured,’ Ali said.
   Several militant hideouts including their command and control centre in Kabal were destroyed during the offensive in North West Frontier Province, he said. The military said it had launched a ‘search and cordon’ operation against militants in Akhund Qille and Kabal districts.
   Last year, the pro-Taliban cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, launched a violent campaign to enforce harsh Islamic Sharia law in the region. Since then, the valley has been rocked by fierce clashes which flared up several weeks ago.
   Earlier Saturday, seven people including three policemen were killed and 23 others wounded in a suicide bombing and other attacks on police stations in the valley, officials said.
   The suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden jeep into a police station in Chaharbagh district, killing three policemen and a civilian, the police said. Fourteen others were wounded.
   Another bomb attack at an abandoned police station in Bari Kot district killed two people, including an eight-year-old girl. In Kabal district, a young girl was killed when militants fired mortars at her home, the police said.
   Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the attacks.
   ‘We carried out the suicide attack and other bombings and will continue with more attacks if the government does not halt the military operation against us,’ Khan said. A curfew has been imposed in the violence-hit district, officials said.
   Elsewhere, in lawless Bajaur tribal district near the border with Afghanistan, five civilians were killed and six others were injured when a mortar shell hit a house near the main town Khar, a government official said.
   A major military offensive in Bajaur in the last two weeks has left more than 500 people dead, most of them militants, officials say.
   Meanwhile, in the southern port city of Karachi, a senior police official, his security guard and two civilians were wounded when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded outside his police station, the police said.
   The official had been investigating the activities of militant networks, which could be the motive for the attack, the police officer Iqbal Mehmood said.
   The police separately arrested two suspected suicide bombers after a pre-dawn raid at a house in Karachi and recovered explosives, suicide jackets, pistols and Kalashnikov rifles, a senior police official said.
   The suspects were identified as Uzbek nationals Talha Admagan and Abu Daud, who the official said had moved to Karachi two months ago from northwestern Peshawar city bordering Afghanistan.

A total of 12,280 Urdu-speaking people staying in the camps at Mirpur and Mohammadpur in Dhaka filled in voter’s registration forms till Saturday. Some of the people who want to go to Pakistan refused to be enlisted as voters.
   The three-day door-to-door visits to collect personal information of eligible voters for the enrolment of the Urdu-speaking people staying in camps in Dhaka in compliance with a court order ended on Saturday.
   Their snapshots and fingerprints will be taken today. The registration of others living in camps outside the capital will start later, sources in the commission said.
   A High Court verdict granted citizenship to the Urdu-speaking people, who have been living in Bangladesh for 37 years, and asked the commission to register them in the electoral roll.
   In the verdict delivered on May 18, the High Court said the Urdu-speaking people, who have been living in Bangladesh since independence and have expressed their allegiance to its sovereignty, were citizens of the country and entitled to be enrolled as voters.
   Election officials said a few people living in the Geneva Camp at Mohammadpur declined registration as they wanted to be repatriated to Pakistan and protested at the move of the registration as voters of Urdu-speaking people.

Bara Katra and Chhota Katra, built on the Buriganga river bank about four centuries back, are on the verge of collapse due to encroachment and unplanned constructions in and around.
   These two 16th century relics, built as official residences of Mughal prince and governor of ancient Bengal, have now distanced themselves from the river and turned into unprotected trade centres at Chawkbazar in the old town of capital Dhaka.
   The monuments are now in a pitiable condition and can hardly be identified as separate entities with archaeological values and original splendour.
   Archaeologists fear if the historic structures collapse due to lack of conservation, the relics of an important chapter of the history would be erased and the city would lose a traditional business hub.
   Director of archaeological department of the government Shafiq Alam has said the archaeological and historical values of these two Katra are very important because they are unparalleled.
   He acknowledged that the historic sites were in a sorry state and said Chhota Katra was more vulnerable. ‘Recently we visited the two Katras after the Nawab Bari Gate collapsed and found a number of factories were established on the ground floor and first floor of Chhota Katra, endangering the existence of the old structure,’ said Shafiq.
   He said the department would take steps to renovate the two Katras soon.
   Though declared as protected archaeological sites long ago, no visible steps were taken so far to protect these two historic sites from being encroached on and used for commercial purposes distorting their original shapes.
   The department, however, tried to survey the two Katras several times, but failed due to obstructions from the local people, who occupied the structures for commercial use.
   Even no government has made an effective attempt to restore the monuments to their original splendours, regretted the department chief.
   Bara Katra bears the legacy of the Mughal period and was built in 1644 by Diwan Mir Abul Qasem during the reign of Shah Shuja as an official residence of the prince.
   According to historical evidence, the monuments enclosed a central courtyard which had four wings with 22 rooms. The building was designed in the traditional patterns of the caravansaries of central Asia and it was embellished with all the features of the Mughal architectural grandeur.
   At present, only the gateways of Bara Katra could be seen from the crowded alley of Chawkbazar. Both sides of the alley of Bara Katra Road are congested by different kinds of wholesale and retail shops, selling food grains, glass and plastic wares.
   A madrassah named ‘Hossinia Ashraful Ulum Bara Katra Madrasha’ was housed in the main building of the monument in 1931. Around 500 students and teachers are using the building as their classroom and living place.
   A teacher of the madrassah said the madrassah authorities had annexed two other buildings to Bara Katra.
   Presently, the madrassah committee is in charge of the total area of Bara Katra. Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, chairman of Islami Oikya Jote, is the principal of the institute.
   Nesar Ahmed, a student of the madrassah who has been studying in the institute for last five years, said many visitors, including foreigners, came to the place. They had no other option, but to take snaps of the derelict exterior walls.
   Students, living in the dilapidated rooms of the ancient building, are unsafe as no large-scale renovation work was ever done since the construction of the building 360 years back.
   The condition of Chhota Katra, situated about 200 yards east of Bara Katra, is even worse.
   It was built by Nawab Shayesta Khan in 1664 in line with the design of Bara Katra, but smaller in size.
   The building of Chhota Katra and its land are now under personal ownership, and used by small factories and storehouses, said a local resident.
   Ayub Khan, a professor of the archaeology department of Jahangirnagar University, said a social movement was needed to protect these relics from ruination.
   ‘Although the archaeological department is responsible to protect the Katras, it cannot do it alone unless local people are aware of the sites’ historic values,’ he commented.
   Such kinds of structures are also seen in Maldah and Murshidabad in India, but few of them can be recognized now. All the caravansaries were built on the riversides which indicated that trade on river routes was flourishing in the Mughal period.
   The Chhota Katra is believed to have been constructed to accommodate some officials and expanded family of Shaista Khan, the then Nawab of Bengal. Both the katras lost their original looks as they faced indiscriminate alterations and unworthy restorations.

A bomb blew up a minibus outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday, killing 10 civilians, while a judge and his son were gunned down in the same area, the police said.
   There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks, but they were similar to scores carried out by the extremist Islamic Taliban militia, which is behind a spiralling insurgency in Afghanistan.
   The roadside bomb hit the minibus about 20 kilometres outside of Kandahar, the provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said.
   The dead included two children, a woman and seven men, he said. Four other civilians were wounded.
   Just south of the city, meanwhile, two unidentified gunmen on motorbikes knocked on the door of the home of a provincial judge and shot him and his 14-year-old son dead when they answered, Khan said, blaming the Taliban.
   Kandahar has seen much of the extremist violence that is plaguing Afghanistan despite the efforts of nearly 70,000 international troops working with the Afghan forces to contain the unrest.
   The police in the neighbouring province of Helmand reported meanwhile that 17 Taliban were killed in clashes that began Friday between Afghan security forces and militants.
   A soldier was also wounded in the fighting in the Nad Ali district, which continued into Saturday, Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.
   In central Ghazni province, six Taliban were killed and five wounded in a military operation overnight, provincial government spokesman Ismael Jehangir said.
   The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 when they were removed in a US-led invasion for not handing over their allies in al-Qaeda wanted for the September 11 attacks.

The Rajshahi city unit of the Awami League has announced expulsion of its president Masudul Haque Dulu and vice-president Mostaque Ahmed Labu for ‘violating the party constitution’.
   The city AL at a meeting on Friday also notified 14 leaders of the unit to explain why actions should not be taken against them for supporting Masudul Haque Dulu, who had contested the Rajshahi city corporation polls as a mayoral aspirant against AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, who won the polls as the candidate nominated by the party.
   City Awami League vice-president Shafiqur Rahman Badsha told New Age on Saturday that the meeting decided to expel Masud and Mostaque as they had violated the party discipline and also failed to reply to the show-cause notices issued to them on July 18.
   The notice had given them a week to explain why action should not be taken against them for ‘violating the party’s constitution’. But Masud and Mostaque did not reply within the deadline, sources said.
   The expelled leaders have termed the decision illegal.
   ‘The party constitution does not allow them to take such actions’, Masud told New Age.
   The city unit decided to expel the two leaders after holding two meetings of its working committee, sources said.
   All members of the city AL were present at the meetings presided over by its vice-president Rafique Uddin Ahmed, they claimed.
   The 14 other leaders who have been served with show-cause notices are –Bazlar Rahman, Mir Iqbal Hossain, Tabibur Rahman Sheikh, Shamsur Rahman Chabi, Khairul Bashar Shaheen, Salahuddin Raju, Menazzul Hossain Babu, Mansur Zaman Mukul, Khairul Kabir Royal, Arman Ali, Saiful Islam, Nazim Uddin, Swapan and Azad.

Naval official rear admiral Mostafizur Rahman has been deputed to the foreign ministry for posting as diplomat.
   His service has been placed at the disposal of the foreign affairs ministry, said an official order issued by the establishment ministry on Saturday.
   Member Directing Staff of Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre Md Monwar Hossain Sarker has been deputed as member to the land reforms board while director of the labour department Shyamal Kanti Ghosh sent to non-formal education bureau as director general to replace Md Rafiquzzaman who has been placed at the disposal of the establishment ministry for posting.
   In addition, Officer on Special Duty (joint secretary) Mojibur Rahman has been posted to the fisheries development corporation as director, according to another order issued on the day.

Four power generation units at the crucial Ashuganj thermal plant were back in operation Saturday after seven units had stopped functioning due to an explosion on Friday night, an official said.
   A tube of the steam turbine unit ruptured Friday night at about 8:00pm, leaving the seven units unable to generate power. The explosion stopped power supply to Brahmanbaria and neighbouring districts.
   Gas Turbine units 1 and 2, both of them capable of generating 35 megawatts of power each, resumed operation early Saturday; GT unit 4, capable of producing 140MW became operational about 9:00am; 135MW capacity unit 5 became operational at about 1:00pm Saturday, the plant’s managing director Abdul Khaleque said.
   The four units were now supplying 405MW power to the national grid, he added.
   The seven units together produce 501MW electricity.
   Ashuganj power plant resumed power generation with all eight units on August 13 after two and a half years.
   A two-member enquiry committee has been formed, with general manager of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Rafiqul Alam as convener. It has been directed to submit a report on the causes of the explosion within 72 hours.

A tremor jolted the Chittagong city and its adjoining areas early Saturday.
   Seismologists measured the quake 3.0 on the Richter scale. They, however, could not inform the duration of the tremor, the second one in three days.
   The tremor’s epicentre was 40.1 kilometres northeast off the Ambagan seismological observatory and 218 kilometres southeast off the Agargaon centre in Dhaka.
   Another tremor shook the city on Thursday and it was measured 5.8 on the Richter scale.

The commodity price monitoring task force under the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry with the help of the government will monitor the prices of essential goods at city’s kitchen markets aiming to contain their prices during Ramadan.
   The decision came from a meeting held at the conference room of the FBCCI on Saturday with FBCCI president Annisul Haque in the chair. FBCCI leaders and representatives of the country’s leading importers, wholesalers and retailers were present at the meeting.
   The meeting discussed the present supply and price situation of essential goods in detail and decided to hang the price lists of major items at every kitchen market to help bring transparency in trading activities and remove tussles between traders and consumers.