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At least five people died of and 4,616 were afflicted by diarrhoeal diseases in the capital during the past seven days due to lack of pure drinking water and consuming stale and stinking food, according to sources at the Directorate General of Health Services control room and ICDDR,B.
   The floating, slum dwelling and low-income group people in the city are mostly vulnerable to waterborne diseases, especially diarrhoeal diseases, as they have a little or no access to safe drinking water and they mostly consume stale and stinking food, said experts.
   Suraiya Begum, deputy director of disease control of the health directorate, quoting their control room statistics told New Age on Saturday that a large number of the diarrhoeal patients, who come to the ICDDR,B-run hospital, were slum dwellers while some are floating people, who have no specific accommodation in the city.
   Majority of the diarrhoeal patients in the Dhaka city come from the areas where supply of water are disrupted very often and where people sometimes get stinky and contaminated water, said Shahadat Hossain, head of long stay unit of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh.
   The areas include Mirpur, Khilgaon, Shajahanpur, Goran, Kazipara, Basabo, Mothertek, Mugda, Manda, Moghbazar, Kant-halbagan and parts of Old Town.
   Shahadat Hossain said people living in slum areas did not have proper access to pure water due to short supply and they did not drink water after boiling.
   Floating people are forced to drink contaminated water from roadside sources and they consume stale food at cheaper rates from roadside makeshift shops, he added.
   He also informed that 98 per cent of the patients, who visited the ICDDR,B-run hospital this summer, were from Dhaka and 60 per cent of them were adults.
   He said they were receiving severely affected diarrhoeal patients, who needed indoor treatment at least for three days, since the past week when more than 700 people, on average, visited the hospital with diarrhoeal diseases every day.
   Physicians suggested people to eat pure drinking water, maintain hygiene and not to eat food from roadside shops.
   If anyone is afflicted with diarrhoea, he/she have to start drinking oral rehydration salts and if the condition continues to deteriorate, he/she should go to hospitals immediately, Shahadat said.

More than 200 hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centres dump wastes haphazardly poses serious health hazards to the Chittagong city dwellers.
   Bloodstained cottons, gauges, needles, blades, broken bottles of medicines or glasses and even amputated human organs are dumped in dustbins or open spaces adjacent to the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital and different clinics, sources in different hospitals and clinics in the city said.
   Dumping of sharp needles, blades, syringes and broken glasses in dustbins and open spaces often causes injuries to the pedestrians, they added.
   Medical experts said haphazard dumping of infectious clinical wastes can result in deadly diseases like tetanus, gangrene, hepatitis, tuberculosis and even HIV.
   Hundreds of children are growing up in an unhygienic environment as most of the privately owned clinics and pathological labs are located in residential areas like Panchlaish, Katalganj, Mehidibag, Halishahar and Chandgaon.
   Dr AKM Fazlul Quader, managing director of the Metropolitan Hospital Private Limited, said they were being compelled to dump medical wastes into dustbins in the absence of a proper disposal system. ‘The city corporation should collect wastes from the hospitals, clinics and pathological laboratories and dump them in a hygienic manner,’ he said adding that the corporation was quite indifferent in this regard.
   Abul Hossain, a heart specialist, said radioactive wastes, unused medicines or vaccines are returned to the manufacturers and certain wastes are dumped under the ground in many countries of the world.
   ‘There is no guideline for hygienic disposal of medical wastes in our country,’ he said stressing the need for formulating a guideline and enacting laws with provision for tough punishment for unhygienic dumping.
   The chief health officer of the corporation, Salim Akter Chowdhury, said they were not getting any cooperation from the authorities of hospitals, clinics and pathological labs for hygienic disposal of medical wastes.
   ‘We are yet to get any response despite sending repeated letters requesting their cooperation for developing a well-planned and hygienic waste management system,’ he added.
   He also said the doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and other staff in hospitals, clinics and pathological labs were supposed to keep infectious, non-infectious, sharp, anatomical, solid and liquid wastes in separate bins for proper disposal. ‘But most of them are either unaware or careless regarding the matter’.

Shifting of houses and offices from one place to another in the capital has become easier now with the help of the professional shifting services.
   With the passage of time shifting service has also acquired a new look, although once it was a difficult task to shift a house or an office from an old address to a new one in the city.
   A good number of organisations, providing shifting services with professional skills, have saved the urban people from hassles of shifting.
   House and office shifting service organisations provide all kinds of help for shifting, including packaging of valuables and goods, transporting them from one address to another with their own vehicle, and reorganising them at the new addresses according to the demands of clients.
   Imon Hossain Sardar, proprietor of the Raez Enterprise of Sawrapara and Mirpur, said they had been providing this kind of service for the last few years.
   They have trained labourers who can pack electrical appliances, cookeries, showpieces or other fragile things, and the furniture, he said, adding that they transport things within a short time in pickup vans or trucks and sometimes in push cars.
   ‘It is difficult for the city dwellers to shift things to multi-storeyed buildings as lifts in some buildings are not allowed to carry their goods’, said Imon, adding their labourers can shift things without damaging them.
   Soliman Mia, another proprietor of such service at the Green Road, said they had two pickup vans, a truck, 15 labourers and all the technical support to provide shifting service.
   ‘Usually people contact us over phone and we go to their addresses. We calculate the service charge taking into account the numbers of labours and vehicles they will need, number of floors of the old and new addresses to be covered, and the distance between two addresses,’ he said.
   Their service charge usually remains restricted between Tk 2000 and Tk 10, 000 in the capital, but it may rise in case of shifting to other districts, he added.
   Nizam Ahmed, a businessman, shifted his house, recently, from the Elephant road to Lalmatia with the help of a professional shifting service organisation. ‘I think these organisations can reduce our hassles of shifting in the urban areas, but some times they charge a high rate beyond the reach of the middle income group of people’, he said.

The Khulna Chhotomoni Nibas (children’s home) under the social welfare department has been facing difficulties due to non-allocation of funds for the past 10 months.
   Now it is depending on the charity of various social organisations for the maintenance of children living there.
   The Chhotomoni Nibas was launched under a project tenure of which ended in June 2007, sources at the home said, adding that the Nibas has received no government allocation since then.
   Payment of salary of the staff at the Nibas has been suspended since October 2007, they said.
   The employees at the Nibas said they were passing tough time as they were not getting their salary for the past seven months, and nowadays the children were not getting food as per the menu fixed by the government earlier.
   Now they are depending on the charity of various social organisations, they added.
   According to the sources, government used to allocate Tk 1,200 per month against each child.
   The Nibas accepts babies aged up to seven years, having no claimants. At present, there are 27 children and 15 employees –– a teacher, a nurse, an office assistant, three guards, a cook, an MLSS, a sweeper and six maids — to wait on the children, official sources in the department said.
   The deputy director of Khulna Social Welfare Department, Mir Darasiko, talking to New Age, said they were now depending on the grants of charitable persons and social organisations to run the Nibas.
   ‘It was under government’s development project once, but the project’s tenure expired in June 2007. We have written to the higher authorities either to extend the project’s duration or to take the project under government’s revenue budget,’ he added.
   The Nibas, established in 2003 on 3.49 acres of land in the Khulna city, has an administrative building, a residential building for officers and three buildings for workers, said the official sources in the department, adding that it has 100 seats for children.

Rail communication between Rajshahi and other parts of the country remained suspended for about eight hours on Saturday after a train hit a truck at Mohanpur level crossing in the Rajshahi city, killing a man and injuring four people.
   The police and witnesses said the Goalanda-bound Modhumoti Express from Rajshahi hit the timber-laden truck, which went out of order while passing the level crossing under Motihar police area at about 6:00am.
   The truck got twisted and caught fire following the accident when the train engine was partially damaged, they said, adding Ketab Ali, helper of the truck, died instantly. The injured were admitted t Rajshahi Medical College Hospital in a critical condition. Three of them were identified as Sohel, Yasin and Namajuddin.
   The train communication resumed after a rescue train removed the truck from the railway at about 2:00pm.

The Aktel-Dristi Debate Championship for English medium schools begins at the Theatre Institute in the Chittagong city today.
   Alamgir Mohammed Sirajuddin, former vice-chancellor of Chittagong University, will inaugurate the competition to be organised by Dristi, an educational and cultural organisation, and sponsored by Aktel.
   The principal of Chittagong College, Sayed Mohammed Shahidullah, principal of Ispahani Public School and College, Hasina Zakaria, and Chittagong Bureau chief of daily New Age Nurul Alam will attend the function as special guests.
   Chittagong Grammar School, Cider International School, Sunshine Grammar School, Bay View School, European Grammar School, Independent School, Radiant School, Child Haven School, Cantonment English School, Gems English Medium School, Standard School and Chittagong Sunshine School will take part in the competition.
   Dristi will also organise an inter-university English debate competition that will begin on May 16 in the city.

Playwright Selim Al-Deen and young writer-researcher Tapan Bagchi were given this year’s Zemcon literary awards.
   The awards were handed over at a function at the Hotel Sheraton in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Selim Al-Deen was awarded the Zemcon Literary Award for his play ‘Shwarnaboal’ and Tapan Bagchi won the Zemcon Literary Award for the Young for his manuscript ‘Shesh Drishyer Aage’ to be published by Kagoj Prokash. The winners were given Tk 2 lakh and Tk 25,000 respectively as prize money.
   Two separate jury that include Poet Belal Chowdhury, Professor Bishwajit Ghosh, Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam from Bangladesh, and writer Avijit Sen and writer Kinnar Roy from West Bengal, India.
   Begumjadi Meherunnesa, wife of Selim Al-Deen, Tapan Bagchi, Kazi Nabil Ahmed, vice-chairman of Zemcon group and the jury members were present at the function, chaired by Kazi Shahed Ahmed, chairman of Zemcon group.
   Since 2004 some prominent and promising writers have won the Zemcon Literary Award, that include Syed Shamsul Haq, Shahidul Zahir, Syed Manzoorul Islam, Mamun Hossain, Hamim Kamrul Haq, Salma Bani and Proshanta Mridha.

The first-ever laptop fair in Chittagong, kicked off at the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh on Friday, ends today.
   The fair witnessed an overwhelming response on the first two days of the three-day event, being attended by 14 companies comprising distributors, importers and resellers.
   More than 50 latest models of Fujitsu, Lenovo, HP, Compaq, BENQ, Acer, Asus, Gigabyte, Sony Vaio, Dell, Hasee and Kings are on display at the fair.
   This is the second laptop fair in the country after the first one gained popularity in Dhaka in January. At least 20 laptops were sold on the first day of the fair, titled ‘Laptop Port 2008’.
   Fashion shows are being organised on the fair premises every day, and models take part in it walking on the ramp with some of the slimmest and sleekest laptops.
   Organised by Maker Communications, the event was inaugurated by Abdul Karim, home secretary, and Syed Mahmudul Haq, member, Better Business Forum.
   The inaugural programme was also attended by Zahirul Islam, secretary of the Bangladesh Computer Samity.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gust or squally wind is likely at one or two places over all the six divisions — Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet — during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   The day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country, it said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Saturday, 38.4 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Jessore and Satkhira and the lowest, 19.0 degrees Celsius, at Saidpur.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:32pm and rises tomorrow at 5:17am.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue on Saturday recommended an aggressive marketing strategy for country’s public-sector jute mills to revive the ailing industry.
   The non-governmental think-tank also several other suggestions in a roundtable titled ‘in search of a future for the jute sector: constraints, opportunities and policy options.’
   CPD senior research fellow Dr Uttam Kumar Deb and research fellow Khondaker Golam Moazzem presented the study at the roundtable held at the BRAC Centre.
   Jute mills labour leaders and government officials present at the roundtable, however, did not agree with parts of the study.
   They said the study was fraught with errors and some said it was incomplete.
   The CPD recommended a slow, steady and guided growth mechanism and a change in the marketing strategy for BJMC jute mills to revive the jute sector. It stressed the need for reviewing the jute policy.
   ‘Draft policy will need to be substantively improved to provide strategic direction to the jute sector and to come up with an effective and realistic plan of action for short, medium and long terms,’ the CPD said.
   ‘The idea of an independent jute board may be considered. The jute board is also expected to take measures to ensure high value addition of jute fibre in the country.’
   ‘The huge debt burden on both public and private jute mills will weigh on their operations and viability,’ it said.
   The CPD stressed actions against the allegations of corruption in government-owned jute mills and underlined the need for restructuring and writing off the debt burden.
   It also suggested rationalisation of the workforce in the BJMC mills.
   The CPD study said the wage structure in the BJMC mills is ‘very high’ — from a minimum of Tk 4,400 to a maximum of more than Tk 10,000, an observation that drew flak from labour leaders.
   ‘BJMC workers received high wage compared to their productivity level,’ the CPD study said.
   Labour leader Shahidullah Chowdhury criticised the observation and said wages for workers in India are double the amount Bangladeshi workers receive.
   ‘I am disappointed by this research,’ he said.
   The textile and jute secretary, Abdur Rashid Sarker, said there were mistakes in the study. The study gave wrong information about the number of jute mills in the country, he said.
   The Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation chairman, Ataharul Islam, pointed out that the study said the BJMC had been paid Tk 200 crore to buy raw jute in 2007, but the exact amount was Tk 150 crore.
   Terming the study incomplete, Islam said the jute mills under the BJMC counted Tk 5 crore in losses in April 2008 alone due to the power crisis. In the last 10 years, the BJMC suffered Tk 600 crore in losses, but the study skipped the point, Islam said.
   Chartered accountant Humayun Kabir said: ‘Market is an important place in an age of globalisation. There are no guidelines in the study on how to survive competition.’

Environmentalists and academics at a workshop on Saturday called upon all concerned to wage a social movement for establishing patent rights on local products before they were claimed by some others.
   Fair trade should first be ensured at domestic level before business expanded up to the world market, they said at the workshop on ‘Fair Trade for Eco-Friendly Earth’ held at the CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka.
   International Union for Conservation of Nature’s chairperson Mahfuz Ullah delivered a keynote paper at the workshop organised by ECOTA-National Fair Trade Network of Bangladesh and GTZ to mark World Fair Trade Day. This year’s theme of the day is ‘Fair Trade and Ecology’.
   IUCN country representative Dr Ainun Nishat, executive director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies Dr Atiq Rahman, sociology and political science teacher Pias Karim and NRDS chief coordinator Abdul Awal, among others, addressed the workshop.
   A good number of environmentalists and representatives from non-governmental organizations, involved in exporting goods from Bangladesh, were also present at the programme presided over by EKOTA chairperson Raihan Ali.
   Mahfuz Ullah in his keynote paper said fair trade for people believing in the fair payment for human labour and sustainable development was a non-negotiable issue and no more a myth.
   ‘It has taken about four decades for the fair trade movement to reach this stage where unfair trading practices and lack of awareness stand as the stumbling block on its way to universal acceptance.’
   Referring to Bangladesh perspective, he said fair trade product producers of the country were mostly skilled women and indigenous people who made things manually.
   ‘They depend on the nature for raw materials but are also replenishing the natural resources as most of those used by them are renewable,’ said Mahfuz, also chairperson of Centre for Social Development.
   He noted that these artisans were not emitting any carbon but in the coming years their livelihood would further deteriorate due to adverse impacts of climate change and in many cases depriving them of bare necessities to survive.
   Dr Atiq in his deliberation dealt with the eco-friendly part of the topic said economic growth, social justice, and environmentally-friendly or sustainable development were interlinked.
   ‘Fair Trade can work very strongly in ensuring sustainable development,’ he said.
   Pleading for the present trend of globalisation, Atiq said, ‘We lack linking our producers with the global market.
   The challenge is how we can get into a larger market and for which lifecycle analysis of all components of a product is needed.’
   Ainun Nishat stressed the need for ensuring legal protection of the country’s products and establishing intellectual property rights with geographical indicators of natural resources like medicinal plants and aromatic rice.

Former chief of a caretaker administration Justice Habiur Rahman said on Saturday that he found no discrimination against any social, religious or ethnic groups in the constitution and suggested that anyone who would find it should come up with specific recommendations for addressing the issue.
   ‘You should suggest a clause for insertion in the constitution specifying the type of constitutional recognition [of indigenous population] you want. My personal view is that our constitution does not discriminate against [any groups],’ Habibur Rahman, also a former chief justice, told a workshop on solution to disputes over the lands of indigenous people living in north-western districts.
   Political leaders, senior citizens, rights activists and members of the indigenous communities addressed the workshop organised by Jatiya Adibashi Parishad, an organisation looking after the rights of indigenous people. Anil Marandi, president of the parisad chaired the workshop held at the National Press Club.
   Habibur Rahman advised the indigenous communities to pursue their demands, particularly the one related to their constitutional recognition, for which they have long been campaigning.
   ‘We have to undertake the initiative and we might face some difficulties in the process’, he said adding that the people would be ready to face the problems for the sake of peace.
   The former chief adviser referred to many difficulties the indigenous communities were facing across the globe and expressed satisfaction that some progress had been made towards recognition of the rights of indigenous people. He praised the communities for raising their voice for self-dignity. He said he would not be surprised to see an indigenous man or woman taking the highest office of the republic in the 21st century. He stressed the need for an effective land commission to settle ethnic minority people’s land claims.
   Ajay Roy, a retired professor of Dhaka University, called for ‘a change in our attitude towards the indigenous people.’
   Mujahidul Islam Selim, secretary general of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, said that a comprehensive study on the land disputes should be carried out to settle all land-related issues.
   Haider Akbar Khan Rano of the Workers Party urged all political parties to include the issues of the indigenous people in their election manifestoes so that they remain committed to the indigenous peoples’ causes.
   Former adviser and rights activist Sultana Kamal said that the right to land was a basic right of every citizen. ‘But it is unfortunate that in the cases of indigenous people, the state does not discharge its responsibility as per its mandate.’

Media stakeholders at a discussion on Saturday called for a united struggle of media professionals to safeguard their freedom and resist censorships imposed by invisible quarters under a state of emergency.
   Citing examples of such censorship, the media professionals said freedom of expression and a state of emergency could not go together despite the government’s repeated claims that there was no censorship as such.
   Some speakers at the discussion on ‘journalism amid a state of emergency’ noted that the state of Bangladeshi journalism was not much better in the past than it is today.
   Former DUTA president AAMS Arefin Siddique chaired the discussion, organised by the department of mass communication and journalism at Dhaka University. Robayet Ferdous read out the keynote paper.
   Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, editor of the Bangladesh Observer, said freedom of media and a state of emergency could not go together.
   Farid Hossain, bureau chief of the Associated Press, said, ‘It is true that the media are facing obstacles now but the situation would not revert if the state of emergency was withdrawn right now.
   Recalling his experiences during political governments, Farid said a portion of his conversations at a talk-show of Ekushey Television during the rule of the Awami League was deleted by the then information minister Abu Sayeed as he might have thought that it could offend Sheikh Hasina. ‘On the very next recording of the talk-show, Simon Dring, the then chief of the channel, came out of his room and made his apologies to me: “Farid, you know our situation”,’ he said.
   ‘During the BNP regime, wire service AP had released an exclusive item from Istanbul on Salauddin Quader Chowdhury’s contest for the top post of the Organisation of Islamic Conference as Bangladesh’s candidate. But the government held me responsible for the release of the news and threatened to interrupt if such reports were released again, he added.
   Daily Samakal’s deputy editor Mozammel Huq Manju said that at a meeting on January 28 of 2007with the then adviser Mainul Hussein, editors had protested against the restrictions on the media and the adviser, quoting the chief adviser, assured them that this emergency was media-friendly.
   ‘We all have the experience by now how friendly it is. In September last year most of the newspapers were supplied with some compact disks containing confessional statements of detained politicians and businessmen they made on remand. There was a plain instruction, “print these”.’
   Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul, president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, showed a number of documents of illegal intervention in the work of the media. ‘After the recent student unrest at Dhaka University all the television channels received an unsigned list of instructions on broadcasts of talk-shows.
   ‘The journalists working in district towns are in deep troubles… they quite often receive instructions from the military officers. Recently all of them were forced to fill up a form giving detailed personal information and those of their families’, Bulbul said.
   ‘They were asked to give the names their wives, if they have more than one wives, the occupations of their in-laws, and if they have relationship with any civil or military bureaucrats, and dates and purposes of any foreign tours’, he said showing a form.
   ‘A reporter was summoned for writing a piece on a collaborator [of the Pakistani occupation army]. The army major stationed there made fun of the reporter praising the piece and asking him to write another report that the man was not a collaborator. When the reporter asked reason, the major said “he is the father-in-law of a brigadier”.’
   ‘Selim Zahid of daily Jugantor lost his job after reporting corruption of a Jamaat-e-Islami leader who an aspirant for the party ticket to contest the next polls for Chauddagram constituency in Comilla. A distant relation of the Jamaat leader works for the military intelligence and that man made the Jugantor owner to sack Zahid,’ Bulbul added.
   He recalled the observance of the death anniversary of journalist Shamsur Rahman [slain] in Jessore where the journalists were barred from holding a simple prayer session at the press club.
   Former chief reporter of the Daily Star, Zayadul Ahsan, found no difference between the state journalism under a military rule and a state of emergency. ‘Pointing a gun at me, they say, “don’t worry I will not shoot you”.
   He recalled the arrest of his former colleague, Tasnim Khalil, at dead of night. ‘Before arresting him, a military officer phoned me to have talks on him. But the officer was asked [by his superiors] to explain why he had contacted me instead of arresting him. And Tasnim was taken away on that night. My editor had to give an undertaking for his release. Question may arise why he [editor] did so but the reality was he had to do so,’ Zayadul said.
   Vocalist Mahmuduzzaman Babu, who often writes columns in daily Prothom Alo, received an email after he wrote a piece on the government’s role on trial of war criminals headlined ‘chameleon changes colour’. ‘The very next day I received an email that read “…it is right chameleon changes colour and keep it in mind that we also can do so.” ’
   He also said cultural activities were also under watch. ‘We went to Gaibandha recently for presenting folk songs. And they were present wherever we went and kept an eye on us,’ he added.
   New Age editor Nurul Kabir termed illegal both the imposition and perpetuation of the state of emergency saying that it was an imperative for the democratically-oriented people to get rid of the situation. ‘It is true that the elected governments of the past did obstruct democratic freedom of the media, but then we had the opportunity to protest against such actions from the point of view of constitutional and legal rights of the media,’ he said, adding: ‘Emergency, on the other hand, snatches away the freedom of the media guaranteed by the constitution of the state.’

A section of teachers and Class IV employees of Sheikh Borhanuddn College, Dhaka on Saturday accused the acting principal, Begum Kamrunnahar Ahmed, of harassing them and stopping their salary.
   The principal has been running the institution as an autocrat and has deprived them of their rights, Mostaq Ahmed Maruf, a teacher of the college suspended recently, alleged in a news conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.
   Reports on her corruption, irregularities and autocracy were published in the media, but it had little effect on Kamrunnahar, who rather started sacking teachers and employees, stop their salaries, and filed a number of cases against the colleagues, Maruf claimed.
   The ‘repressed’ teachers and staff of the college, through the press conference also sought interference of the chief adviser, education ministry, home ministry, National University and concerned departments in ‘saving’ the college.
   Kamrunnahar on February 9 suspended a demonstrator and two teachers, and stopped payment of their dues. She also put eight other teachers, who were present at the press conference, under observation of an investigation committee.
   The teachers alleged that the principal started harassing them as they had opposed her decision to surrender the MPO of the college in January through a writ petition filed with a Dhaka court.
   Asked for comment, the principal denied the allegations, saying ‘There is nobody in the college whom I do not pay.’
   ‘I did not suspend anybody. The inquiry committee suspended them,’ she said about suspension of teachers and employees.

The National Vitamin A Campaign began on Saturday with a call for more dependence on food rather than medicine in the fight against night blindness caused by Vitamin A deficiency and other health problems resulting from malnutrition.
   Under the campaign, Vitamin A is administered to 1.9 crore children aged between 1 and 5 years and deworming tablets to 1.70 crore children aged below 2 and 5 years.
   The theme of this year’s nationwide campaign is ‘Administer Vitamin A and reduce the risk of child mortality.’
   The campaign also emphasises breastfeeding for infants to fight against diseases caused by Vitamin A deficiency.
   Health workers and volunteers are administering Vitamin A to children on 140,000 locations in health facilities, health centres, schools, bus and launch terminals and railway stations.
   The Institute of Public Health Nutrition conducts the drive in collaboration with the Expanded Programme on Immunisation.
   It is supported by UNICEF, Micronutrient Initiative, Canadian International Development Agency and WHO.

Freedom fighters at a discussion on Saturday called for writing region-based history of war of independence to check the distortion of its real history.
   They made the call at the discussion organised by Palashdanga Juba Shibir, a youth front formed in Sirajganj in support of the independence war in 1971, at Liberation War Museum in Dhaka to mark its founding anniversary.
   Sector commander KM Shafiullah Bir Uttam attended the meeting as chief guest. It was chaired by Founding Anniversary Observance Committee convener Abdul Aziz Sarker.
   Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad chairman Abdul Ahad Chowdhury, Sohrab Hossain Sarker, Bimol Kumar Das, Lutfor Rahman Arun, Sazzad Alam Khan Topu, Abdul Hai Talukder and Anwar Hossain Matin also spoke at the discussion meeting.
   They demanded trial of war criminals to uphold the spirit of liberation war and safeguard the sovereignty of the country.
   Ahad Chowdhury said, ‘After the independence, the freedom fighters returned their home but the enemies were waiting for taking the revenge.’ The war criminals should be brought to justice by forming special tribunal, he added.

Former BNP lawmaker Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, also the Juba Dal secretary, was sent to prison cell at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital in Dhaka on Saturday.
   He was sent to Dhaka after his health had not improved at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal. He was admitted to the Barisal hospital with severe chest pain after he had fallen sick on May 1.
   The decision of sending Alal to Dhaka was made after a medical board had visited him and examined his health reports on Saturday.
   The Mohammadpur police in Dhaka arrested Alal on February 8, 2008 under the Emergency Powers Rules. He was moved to the Rangpur central jail from Dhaka on March 8.
   The police arrested him at the jail gate in the afternoon on April 23 soon after had been released being remanded on bail by the High Court.
   He was later sent to Rangpur jail again being arrested under the Emergency Powers Rules on charge of making an inciting speech before Juba Dal activists at the jail gate.
   Alal’s family said his mother, Umme Kulsum, 80, talked with her son over mobile after he had been released. Alal told her mother that he would meet her in a day or two.

The qul khwani of Khandaker Mahbubuzzaman Babul, a lifetime member and former member of the Executive Committee of Dhaka Club Ltd, will be held at the Gulshan Azad Mosque after asr prayers today.
   Mahbubuzzaman was the eldest son of Khandaker Asaduzza-man, a former secretary, lawmaker and an adviser to former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Friends, well-wishers and relatives have been requested to attend the qul khwani and pray for the salvation of the departed soul, said a press release.

Applications invited for Comenius Medal
The International Bureau of Education invites applications for Geneva-based Comenius Medal 2008. Candidates having outstanding achievements and innovations in the field of teaching, educational research and exceptional devotion to education are encouraged to submit applications for the medal, which is one of UNESCO’s most prestigious awards, a press release said. The application forms may be collected and sumitted to Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO, BANBEIS Bhaban, Plassey-Nilkhat, Dhaka by 20 May 2008.
— BSS

Golden jubilee of Faujdarhat Cadet College celebrated
The Chittagong chapter of Old Faujians’ Association, celebrated the second part of the golden jubilee programmes of Faujdarhat Cadet College on the college campus on Friday. The country’s first cadet college wore a festive look as some colourful programmes marked the celebrations that drew a large number of old and new cadets, organisers said. The programmes began with a procession at 3:00pm. A friendly basketball match was also held on the campus. The college principal, Sheikh Bazlur Rashid, distributed prizes among the winners. Saiful Islam, president of OFA, Chittagong chapter, also addressed the function. The golden jubilee celebration of the college began in Dhaka on April 28.
— New Age