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The Moghbazar flyover is yet to see the light of success even after three years of the government initiative to construct the flyover and assigning the Local Government Engineering Department as the implementing agency.
   The government has been waiting for fund from Kuwait for the 8.25-kilometre-long flyover connecting Maghbazar with Sat Rasta roundabout, Mouchak, Bangla Motor and Basabo in the city.
   The Economic Relations Division will send a letter to the Kuwait government shortly about the funding of the project as per their (Kuwait government) decision, ERD sources said, adding that Kuwait, over one year back, had agreed in principle to provide $70 million to construct the flyover.
   An ERD official said they had sent a letter in the last week of November, 2006 to the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development requesting it to provide $70 million to build the flyover.
   ‘We received positive response at that time in which the KFAED had showed its interest to provide the fund, but kept the project on the third position of their priority list,’ the official said.
   The KFAED had given the highest priority to the financing of the proposed Karnaphuli Bridge followed by the Bogra Women’s Medical College, he said.
   According to the design of the project, which was approved by the immediate past BNP-led alliance government, the flyover will have eight ramps at Rampura, Rajarbagh, Moghbazar Wireless Gate, Mouchak, near Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital, Bangla Motor, FDC Gate and Sat Rasta roundabout.
   A part of the flyover will connect Mouchak with Shantinagar crossing, Rajarbagh, Rampura and the Atish Dipankar Road at Basabo. Another part of it will stretch from Moghbazar to FDC intersection and Sat Rasta roundabout via Maghbazar level crossing, while the third part will connect Maghbazar with Mouchak.
   Initially, the government planned to construct a 2.1km flyover from Maghbazar to Mouchak but it had later decided to make it 8.25km-long. One section of the flyover will have four lanes and the other two.
   It will be open to all types of motorised vehicles, said a LGED official adding that it has been designed in conformity with the Strategic Transport Plan for the city.
   The LGED has already completed a feasibility study of the flyover, also funded by the KFAED at a cost of Tk 3.5 crore.
   It will be the fourth flyover in the city after Mohakhali and Khilgaon flyovers, which have already been opened to traffic, and the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover, construction of which has remained suspended for long.

The 10th Dhaka International Film Festival drew a large number of people at its main venue at the Central Public Library at Shahbagh on the second day of the fest on Friday.
   Four films were screened on the day. They are Women Behind the Camera, a 90-minute US film made by Alexis Krasilovsky in 2007, Men at Work, a 78-minute Iranian film made by Mani Haghighi in 2006, Made In Bangladesh, an 85-minute Bangladeshi film made by Mostafa Sarwar Farooki in 2006, and Duska, a 110-minute Dutch film made by Jos Stelling in 2007.
   Bank official Liton Baroi said he used to come to the festival in every occasion to see films of different countries. ‘I usually come to the festival on holidays.’
   Shahiduzzaman Badal, one of the festival organisers, said they usually find a huge rush of cine-viewers on holidays.
   About 100 films from 30 countries, including host Bangladesh, India, France, Norway, Netherlands, Italy, Iran and Sweden, will be screened during the nine-day festival, organised by the Rainbow Film Society.
   The organisers, however, failed to make the complete film schedule available as they were yet to get clearance of some films from the Bangladesh Film Censor Board on the second day of the festival.
   The tickets, Tk 30 each, will be available at the festival venues prior to the shows.
   The films to be screened today (Saturday) are Lucky Miles, an 105-minute Australian film made by Michael James Rowland, The Cycle (Ghani), an 109-minute Bangladeshi film made by Kazi Morshed at 3.30pm, Ontarjatra, a Bangladeshi film made by Tareq Masud, and Absen Father, an 85-minute US film made by Douglas Chang.
   Lucky Miles will be screened at 12.30pm, The Cycle (Ghani) at 3.30pm, Ontarjatra at 5.30pm and Absen Father will be screened at 7.30pm.
   The programmes of the festival will be held at the Central Public Library and the museum at Shahbagh, the Indian Cultural Centre at Gulshan, Russian Cultural Centre at Dhanmondi and the British Council on the Fuller Road in Dhaka University.

Poush Mela, a traditional winter festival welcoming the month of Poush, attracted a huge number of city people, including children, on Friday.
   The fair is generally held in rural Bangladesh to celebrate the coming of winter and harvesting of winter crops every year.
   The theme of the festival is ‘there is no fear, the sun must rise; the net of deep fog must be erased.’
   Eminent singer Abdul Jabbar Bayati inaugurated the festival, organised by Poush Mela Udjapan Parishad at the Ramna Batmul, in the morning.
   ‘Under the influence of urban life our new generation is almost forgetting our cultural tradition. We are trying to present our tradition before them through this festival,’ said one of the organisers Golam Quddus.
   The chairman of the festival committee, Professor Anisuzzaman, said, ‘This year’s Poush is not a month of festivity as it has come to our people when they are depressed in the aftermath of natural calamities’.
   Folk songs and dances, reflecting cultural diversities of the country, enthralled the city dwellers and many felt nostalgic for their childhood in rural areas.
   Artistes of regional troupes of Udichi, Chhayanaut, Bonhishikha, Nrityam, Dhrubatan, Surer Dhara, Risij, Padatik, Sangeet Sangsad sang songs including pala and jari gaan.
   Theatre, recitations, and musical and dance performances also captivated the audience of all ages throughout the day.
   Visitors also got a chance to have the taste of delicious winter pithas (cakes) at the stalls in the fair.
   The daylong programmes concluded through the staging of a jatra-pala, Alomoti Premkumar, by Desh Opera in the evening.

The office of Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Khulna will start operation in the city on March 1.
   The LGRD and cooperatives adviser, Anwarul Iqbal, announced this while addressing a meeting with the top government officials in the Khulna City Corporation auditorium Thursday night.
   He said the LGRD ministry would allocate money for establishing WASA in Khulna to meet the demand of safe water in the corporation area.
   The government will provide salaries to the officials and employees of Khulna WASA for the first five years and after that the WASA would have to manage their salaries from its own funds, he said, adding the KCC water supply department office would primarily be used as the office of WASA.
   The adviser said a chairman would be appointed before March 1 and other officials and employees would be appointed gradually.
   Acknowledging that Khulna had been an underprivileged city in the past, the adviser said the caretaker government was keen to develop all parts of the country to bring them to the same standard of development.
   Chaired by Khulna mayor in-charge, Moniruzzaman Moni, the meeting was attended by the Khulna divisional commissioner, Yunusur Rahman, LGRD ministry joint secretary Moyezzdin Ahmed, Khulna deputy commissioner SM Firoz Alam, and Khulna Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Jalil Mandal.
   The adviser inaugurated a convention, organised by Khulna Sahitya Parishad, at Shaheed Hadis Park in the city Friday morning, to celebrate completion of 40 years of the organisation.

Osmani Udyan Rakkha Parishad, a citizens’ body to protect Osmani Udyan, observed a hunger strike in front of Nagar Bhaban on Friday, demanding immediate steps by the Dhaka City Corporation to save a portion of the park from encroachment.
   The Dhaka mayor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, however,
   managed to convince them to break the hunger at about 12:30pm, assuring that the corporation would do everything to ‘foil the ploy to grab 2.81 acres of land of the park’. The parishad leaders began the hunger at 11:00am.
   ‘We have broken our hunger strike after one and a half hours following the request of the Dhaka mayor through a DCC official, who conveyed the message of the mayor to us,’ said the general secretary of the parishad, Ismail Hossain.
   The decision of hunger
   strike came in the wake of a High Court order that had asked the inspector general of police to help Monwara Begum, who filed a writ petition claiming the ownership of the land, to take its possession. Monwara in connivance with his husband, Abdul Khaleque, also a Supreme Court lawyer, filed a case with the sub-judge’s court on July 7, 1993 claiming her ownership on the land, DCC sources said adding that she had later filed the writ petition on September 18, 2007.
   A petition was filed with the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court seeking its
   permission to appeal against the High Court verdict and the petition is now pending, corporation sources said.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation has extended its steamer service on the Dhaka-Chandpur-Barisal-Khulna routes to seven days a week and revised the schedule for Barisal-Chittagong coastal shipping service.
   Khalid Newaz, assistant general manager of BIWTC, Barisal station, said the new schedules of both the routes were introduced from Friday.
   According to the new schedule, steamers will ply between Dhaka and Khulna five days a week from both ends. Steamers will set out for Morelganj in Bagerhat on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday while for Khulna on Saturday, Monday and Thursday.
   Every day of the week, rocket steamers will also touch Hularhut, Jhalakati, Barisal and Chandpur stations, the sources added.

The Dhaka Reporters Unity president, Alamgir Hossain, and general secretary, Elias Khan, on Friday condemned the attack on its executive committee member Sohel Sani.
   In a statement, they also demanded exemplary punishment for the attackers of Sani, also a special correspondent of Banglabazar Patrika.
   Sani came under attack of unidentified miscreants at Khilgaon level crossing Thursday midnight when he was on his way home at Bhashabo from his workplace.
   He was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with severe injuries in his body, including fracture of his leg, and later shifted to Orthopedic Hospital.

Weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   Light to moderate fog may occur over the river basins of the country during early morning.
   The night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Friday, 30.5 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Patuakhali and Khepupara and the lowest, 11.3 degrees Celsius, at Rajshahi.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:30pm and rises tomorrow at 6:44am.
   The Met Office predicted a little change in the outlook for subsequent two days and a fall in the night temperature in the extended outlook for another five days.

A Dhaka court on Friday remanded in jail custody the seven Roads and Highways Department engineers and a private construction firm official arrested on Wednesday night for bribery.
   The joint forces’ taskforce arrested the RHD engineers along with Momtaz Uddin, project coordinator of Reza Construction of Dhaka, at a Dhanmondi restaurant when they were allegedly sharing among themselves Tk 14 lakh exacted from a director of another construction firm in bribe.
   The detained RHD officials are Mozammel Hoque, additional chief engineer of Dhaka zone, Mominul Hoque, additional chief engineer, Rafiqul Islam, additional chief engineer of Comilla zone, Abdullahel Kafi, chief engineer posted at Setu Bhaban in Banani, Taposh Kumar Pal, project director of Rupsha Bridge, AHM Mainul Islam, deputy project director of the bridge, and Ali Masud Haider, executive engineer. They and Reza Construction project coordinator Momtaz were handed over to the Dhanmondi police on Thursday.
   Mahbub Kabir, director of Asian Traffic Technologist Limited, who was awarded the contract for toll collection at Rupsha and several other bridges in Dhaka and Sylhet regions under the RHD, filed a case with the Dhanmondi police on Thursday night accusing the eight of taking Tk 14 lakh in bribe from him.
   The Dhanmondi police produced the eight to the court of chief metropolitan magistrate of Dhaka on Friday, showing them arrested in the case but without seeking for remanding them in their custody. The court sent them to jail in the afternoon.
   In the first information report, the complainant said, ‘They told me the anti-corruption taskforce had initiated a probe against my construction firm and the communications ministry tasked a seven-member committee headed by Mozammel Hoque and Mominul Hoque with the investigation.’
   Mahbub alleged the accused had been demanding the sum from him for the past one month in exchange of submitting the probe report in favour of his firm. Otherwise, they threatened to get him arrested and cancel the contract of his firm with the RHD as well as its licence, he added.

The English (compulsory) examinations 2006 of the honours second-year students under the National University scheduled for Saturday and Sunday have been postponed because of a reported leak of question papers.
   One of the examinations was earlier held on November 11, 2007 and the other was scheduled for November 26. But the university cancelled the exams over a reported leak of the question papers earlier and announced fresh dates.
   The vice-chancellor, Syed Rashidul Hasan, told New Age Friday night the exams had been postponed on the reported leak of question papers. ‘Fresh dates will be announced later. The schedule of other exams will remain unchanged,’ he said.

A garment factory was badly damaged in a fire at Agrabad in Chittagong city early Friday.
   Fire service sources said the fire that broke out from an electric short circuit on the 4th floor of Seashore Apparels Ltd at about 2:20am burnt down assets worth about Tk 3 lakh.
   But managing director and owner of the factory Shamsul Alam claimed that the loss caused by the fire would be about Tk 8 lakh. He said valuables, including readymade shirts and pants, cloths, machines and a huge quantity of thread, were gutted in the fire. A childcare centre of the factory was also damaged, he added.
   Four firefighting units from Agrabad fire station rushed to the spot and put out the flame after two-hour efforts, the fire officials said, adding that they recovered assets worth around Tk 20 lakh. No casualty was reported from the incident, they said.
   Another fire broke out on the ground floor of Baitush Sharif Mosque Complex at Dhanialapara in the city early Friday. The fire also originated from an electric short circuit at about 1:35am.
   A firefighting engine went to the spot and doused the flame within half an hour, fire service sources said. Assets worth Tk 50,000 were burnt in the fire.

Politicians, and women and labour leaders at a discussion on Friday said the country was facing a famine-like situation because of abnormal increase in the prices of essential commodities.
   The Workers Party of Bangladesh president, Rashed Khan Menon, said the prices of rice, pulses and others essential goods had gone out of the reach of the people.
   The interim government has failed to ensure food security and the country will face a famine if the government fails to import rice to address the situation, Menon said.
   Bangladesh Nari Mukti Sangsad organised the discussion on the price spiral of essential goods, famine-like situation and women at the Asad Auditorium in Dhaka where the organisation president, Hazera Sultana, was in the chair.
   Women leader Saleha Sultana in her keynote paper said the lower middle class and the poor were suffering most because of the price spiral. She called on the government to take steps to contain goods price increase.
   Journalist Rasheda Amin, poet Kazi Rozy, women leaders Tahera Begum Jolly and Shahida Parvin Shikha also joined the discussion.

Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samiti hailed the appointment of new advisers and special assistants, including Chakma circle chief Devashish Roy, to the chief adviser.
   ‘The induction of Devashish Roy into the council of advisers as special assistant to the chief adviser with the status of state minister could be amounted as the wisest and pragmatic decision of Fakhruddin Ahmed and others concerned,’ said a statement signed by Rupayan Dewan, a member on the central committee of Jana Sanghati Samiti.
   ‘Within the existing legal framework and reality, Devashish could be able to render the most balanced service that will boost up the confidence of the hill people and brighten the image of
   the caretaker government at home and abroad.’

Four-member JOCV team arrives
in Dhaka
A four-member Japan Overseas Co-operation Volunteers team arrived in Dhaka on Thursday to provide voluntary services to four public organisations, said a press release on Friday. They are Chie Sakata, Michie Iwamoto, Yoshinosuke Arakaki and Shusaku Takenaka. Chie Sakata will work on rural community development with the Bangladesh Rural Development Board at Titas in Comilla while Michie Iwamoto will work as a midwife at the upazila Family Planning Office in Narshingdi. Yoshinosuke Arakaki will provide training to players of the Bangladesh Handball Federation while Shusaku Takenaka will teach swimming at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Pratisthan in Savar, said the release.
— New Age