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The regional office of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution here has taken up a Tk 100 crore project to install a modern laboratory to test standards of products.
   BSTI sources said at the regional office, they can test only 49 out of 152 products under their supervision due to lack of equipment. They were being compelled to send the rests of items to Dhaka for testing standards.
   Rezaul Karim, deputy director of BSTI in Chittagong, said Japan Bank for International Cooperation would provide funds to implement the project. ‘We have already invited tender to procure a 40 KV generator under the project.’
   He said, ‘Process is on to appoint skilled manpower for the laboratory. We will start implementing the project in full swing by one month.’
   A 10-storey building will be constructed at Jamboree Field in Agrabad area in the city under the project, he said, adding that they would be able to test standards of all the 152 products under the purview of BSTI on completion of the project.
   ‘Establishment of the laboratory will make the release of imported goods from the port faster as the importers will not have to wait for test reports from Dhaka.’
   He also said that it would help protect public health from hazards of substandard and adulterated food items as they would be able take rapid measures against the perpetrators on completion of the project.
   Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also convener of the project, said setting up of a self-reliant laboratory at the regional office of the BSTI was an imperative to bring momentum in import business.
   ‘The CCCI has been demanding establishment of a modern laboratory in Chittagong for a long time,’ he said. On completion of the project, the lab would play a significant role in curtailing lead around time of vessels further at the Chittagong port, he added.

Most of the roads, lanes and by-lanes at Dakshin Surma in the Sylhet city have remained in bad shape for long, causing immense sufferings to the dwellers in the area.
   As no repair works were carried out in the past two years, most of the roads, including Central Bus Terminal Road, Kadamtali Road, Lawai Road, Technical Road, Old Railway Station Road, Kayastharai Road, Jhalopara Road and Mominkhala Road, have become risky for traffic.
   Big potholes have developed on the roads for faulty work and in the absence of proper maintenances by the authorities concerned.
   Some parts of the Central Bus Terminal Road, Old Railway Station Road and Kadamtali Road near the Muktijoddha Chattar have became so dilapidated that even rickshaws cannot ply the streets smoothly because of numerous holes on the streets, residents in the area claimed.
   ‘Rickshaws overturn at the places, causing injuries to the commuters and financial losses to the rickshaw-pullers,’ Rafiqul Islam of Kadamtali, also a senior member of the district bar association, said.
   Selim Ahmed Rony, councillor of Ward 26 of the Sylhet City Corporation, said they have demanded funds for the repair of the roads several times. ‘But any fund in this regard is yet to be allocated after the city corporation election was held on August 4 this year,’ he added.
   SCC chief engineer Luthfur Rahman said most of the roads in the city are still under the jurisdiction of different government organisations like the Roads and Highways Department and Zila Parishad which complicated the maintenance of the roads.
   ‘We have taken up several projects to repair different roads in the city and the works will begin within two or three weeks,’ he added.
   The executive engineer of
   the Roads and Highways Department in Sylhet, Kazi Shahriar Hossain, said they have got funds for maintenance of different roads in the region recently.
   ‘The repair works of important roads would begin soon,’ the executive engineer said.

At least 10 people were injured in a clash between the students of Dhaka College and employees of Chandrima Super Market on Saturday.
   Traffic on the busy Mirpur Road came to a halt for about one and half hours following the clash.
   The police said the clash ensued at about 11:45am when some students of Dhaka College were assaulted by the employees in the market area.
   As the news spread to the campus, the students came out of the college while the employees took position in front of their market. Both the groups pelted brickbats on each other leaving several people injured. The injured received treatment from different clinics.
   Later, the employees took position on the rooftop of their market while the students were forced to backtrack on the campus but pelting of brickbats continued. Windowpanes of the statistics building of Dhaka College were smashed. Vehicular movement came to a halt on the road stretching from Nilkhet crossing to Science Laboratory crossing that also caused traffic congestion on adjacent roads at the weekend.
   On receipt of information, the police reached the spot and brought the situation under control at about 1:30pm.
   Students alleged that the employees of Chandrima Market attacked five of their fellows, including a first year student Anik, without any provocation while they were passing through the area.
   But the employees alleged that a group of students had an altercation with the employees of Shefali Enterprise, a furniture shop, Friday night and as a sequel, the students went to the shop at about 11:00am Saturday and beat up one of the employees, Bellal.
   In retaliation, other shop employees attacked the students, they said.

Speakers at a view-exchange meeting on Saturday stressed the need for concerted efforts to ensure child rights for their physical and mental growth.
   Aparajeyo Bangladesh, a non-governmental organisation, arranged the meeting on ‘responsibilities of media and civil society to protect child rights’ at its conference room in the city.
   Government officials, civil society members, journalists and councillors of Khulna City Corporation were present. Rezaul Karim, a social science teacher of Government BL College, presented the keynote paper at the meeting.
   Chaired by Benjin Akhter Lucky of Aparajeyo Bangladesh, the meeting was addressed by deputy commissioner NM Ziaul Alam, freedom fighter Sheikh Abdul Quyum, Khulna Press Club president Wadudur Rahman Panna, Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry director Sharif Fazlur Rahman, Khulna city president of Bangladesh Manabadhikar Bureau MM Salam and journalist Subir Roy.
   Rezaul in his keynote paper said the unprivileged children were involved with various crimes as they were being deprived of their rights. ‘Media can play an important role in creating awareness among the people about the rights of the children especially the unprivileged children,’ he said.
   Speakers said a good number of unprivileged children were involved with risky jobs but they were getting poor salary. The speakers also stressed the need for a change in the mindset of people for ensuring the rights of children.

The photo exhibition, running since November 15 at an open space opposite to the Institute of Fine Art marking the first anniversary of cyclone Sidr, is different from other such shows stashed with pictures.
   This is a display of nine sensibly chosen photos, a few minutes’ look of which tells a viewer a lot about the cyclone, its impacts on people’s life and responses from the society to the needs of victims.
   Each of Zaid Islam’s photos has a title, describing an episode in the frame and also in a brief note. The exhibition is open to all up to November 23.
   Zaid invited a Sidr survivor, a fisherman of Sarankhola who lost three of the family in the cyclone, to inaugurate his show on November 15. But the chief guest failed to arrive on schedule as he was busy fishing in the river, so the start was not ceremonious and no big name was there to cut the ribbon.
   The show titled ‘Sidr Diary: Blackouts and Anniversaries’ began with dark black canvass, a metaphor for nationwide blackout that came along with the Sidr just after it made a landfall with a wind speed of 260km per hour at night of November 15, 2007.
   The Day-2 and Day-3 photos show how life goes on as usual, a wedding ceremony in a hall room lit by standby generator and a party in a five-star hotel in Dhaka.
   The photos came in stark contrast to the next four of the series, one showing sidr survivors of all ages and genders, waiting for relief goods, another showing a woman giving finishing touch to her clay stove to cook food on the sixth day after Sidr. One of the photos snaps a group of diplomats distributing relief goods to some victims.
   Another one, titled ‘Look good, Feel good,’ shows people carrying sacks of relief goods on their heads from a helicopter on the eighth day into the disaster. Zaid learnt from the pilot that an MI17 helicopter can carry 2.5 tonnes in a flight and burns 800 litres of fuel an hour.
   In his brief, he calculates that a ship could carry at least 400 tonnes in 15 hours from Dhaka, since the Sarankhola jetty was still accessible by river vessel.
   ‘The contrast between images of Dhaka festivity and devastated coastal life reminds me the competing death tolls — 3,268 officially and at least 10,000 in Red Crescent’s count… air drops from helicopters look great through the lens,’ Zaid writes in his Sidr Diary.
   The nine-day series stops with a photo, showing a boy holding some cooked rice in his small fingers, on the ninth day after Sidr.
   ‘Faces like this give me energy to keep working,’ Zaid concludes.

The students of Engineering and Survey Institute in Rajshahi held demonstration on the institute campus on Saturday, demanding removal of the acting principal and junior instructor of the institute.
   The campus sources said Solaiman Hossain, a junior instructor of the institute, used abusive language with the students on Thursday when they wanted to play cricket.
   The acting principal, Anawar Zahid, also physically assaulted the students when they complained to him against Solaiman Hossain, the students alleged.
   Saturday morning, about 400 students of the institute boycotted their classes and started demonstration on the campus.

The victims of the Friday fire in the Ganaktuli sweeper colony at Hajaribagh in the capital are passing their days in a miserable condition, without food and shelter.
   More than 300 shanties of the slum were razed to the ground in the fire that rendered about 3000 people homeless.
   ‘I, along with my four minor daughters, spent the whole night under the open sky,’ said Hanufa Akhter, a victim, in a tear-choked voice on Saturday.
   Binod Roy, a 70-year-old retired cleaner of the Dhaka City Corporation, said, ‘My family members have neither a single clothe nor enough food.’
   The deputy commissioner distributed Tk 1,000 and 20 kilograms of rice to each family Saturday afternoon while the BDR members and a local club provided them with foods on Friday and Saturday morning.

The Rapid Action Battalion Friday night arrested six suspected robbers and seized goods reportedly looted from the residence of an assistant meteorologist at Agargaon in Dhaka early Thursday.
   RAB said, the robbers looted cash, gold ornaments and other valuables, worth about Tk 6 lakh, from the ground floor residence of Kausar Parveen, an assistant meteorologist, at CGS Staff Quarters at Agargaon after confining all the inmates inside a room at gunpoint.
   After investigation, a battalion team conducted raids at different places at Shyamoli and Mirpur and arrested six persons — Kabir, 23, Rony, 22, Shamim, 22, Abu Sikder, 32, Hafizur Rahman, 32, and Shafiqul Islam, 28.
   The battalion members also seized some goods looted from the residence. The goods included three pair of ear-rings, one ring and 5,000 Indonesian Rupaih.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country during the next 24 hours till 6:00pm today.
   Night temperature may fall slightly over the northern part and remain nearly unchanged elsewhere over the country.
   Country’s highest temperature 31.5 degrees Celsius was recorded on Saturday at Cox’s Bazar and lowest 15.4 degrees at Srimangal.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:11pm and rises tomorrow at 6:20am.

The Election Commission will finalise a code of conduct for the mass media with suggestions from media personalities for the objective coverage of news during the upcoming elections.
   The EC has already formed a committee comprising senior journalists both from print and electronic media to make suggestions for finalising the guidelines for the media.
   A draft copy of the media code of conduct was provided by UNESCO to the commission.
   The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, constituted the four-member committee headed by the ATN Bangla chief adviser, Saiful Bari, in an exchange of views with representatives from both the print and electronic media at NEC auditorium on Saturday.
   The other members of the committee are senior journalists Shaikh Siraj, Amir Khasru, JI Mamun and EC public relations officer SM Asaduzamman.
   The CEC asked the committee to submit their suggestions within seven days to the Election Commission to finalise the code of conduct for the media.
   Shamsul sought cooperation from newsmen as some senior journalists termed the EC’s efforts of formulating such a code of conduct a ploy to control the press.
   The CEC said the political parties placed a proposal before the commission during their talks to formulate a code of conduct to ensure neutrality and transparency in election news coverage.
   ‘The EC wants to finalise the code of conduct after discussion with senior journalists,’ he said affirming that the EC had been conducting its activities as per the constitution.
   Election commissioners M Sohul Hussain and M Sakhawat Hossain and EC secretary M Humayun Kabir were present at the meeting.

Three suspected robbers were beaten to death and four others injured by a mob at village Baligaon under Kaligoaj upazila in Gazipur Friday night.
   Two of the deceased were identified as Sukkur Ali, 25, a resident of Gopalpur and Mona , 28 , a resident of Morkun at Tongi of the district.
   The police, quoting the local people, said a gang of about 16 robbers entered the house of one Hormuj Ali of village Baligoan at about 10:00pm.
   The gang held hostage the inmates of the house at gun point and started looting valuables.
   Hearing shouts for help, neighbours came to the spot, surrounded the house and managed to catch seven members of the gang. 
   Then they severely beat up the seven, leaving three dead on the spot and four others injured.
   The injured are Saroar, 25, of Panishshar in Brahmanbaria, Rajib Ahmed Shohel, 20, of Dhaka, Fazle Rabbi,18, of Bashkanda in Mymensingh and Habibur Rahman Habib, 20, of Chandrapara in Faridpur.
   Of the injured, the condition of Saroar is stated to be critical, the police source said.
   On information, the police came, recovered the bodies and sent them to Gazipur General Hospital for post-mortem examination.
   The police also seized some lethal weapons including chapatti and knife and masks in possession of the robbers.
   After the incident, local people attacked and vandalised the house of one Shelim, alleged leader of the robbers’ gang.
   A case was field with Kaligonj police station in this connection.

Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury Saturday said the government should not allow the politicians, who are either corruption suspects or convicted, to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections under pressure from any quarters.
   He, however, told the journalists that the commission would accept any ‘lawful’ decision of the government and the Election Commission.
   The graft watchdog said that after attending a dialogue on “Fight against Corruption: Our goal,” organised by Global Affair Form of BRAC University at its hall room Saturday afternoon, with the university vice-chancellor Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair.
   Asked whether he believed that the anti-graft drive would lose track if politicians, who were either accused or convicted of corruption, make their way to general elections, Hasan Mashhud said, ‘We are ready to accept if everything is done lawfully, but will take it otherwise if things are done under pressure.’
   Mashhud said that the commission was now thinking about its future course when a new government would step in after the general elections.
   ‘We might have a fresh look at things though our work will continue as of now.’
   He said, ‘Our responsibility is to bring corruption suspects to justice and so far we have done the job. The government will now think whether there is any opportunity to allow them to stand in elections.’

Jerosree Mass Killing Day was observed in Manikganj on Saturday under the auspices of ‘Jerosree Martyred Memorial Committee’ commemorating the killing of 43 local people by the Pakistani occupation forces.
   Various programmes were organised to mark the occasion. The programmes included wearing black badges, placing wreaths at the mausoleum of the martyred, mourning procession, inauguration of the Martyred Principal Atiar stage and holding discussion.
   M Nazrul Islam, upazila nirbahi officer of Ghior, inaugurated the function as chief guest while Abdul Hakim, president of the Jerosree Martyred Memorial Committee presided.
   The people of the locality paid homage to the martyred of 1971 of village Jerosree under Ghior upazila who had sacrificed their lives for the country.
   Forty-three people of Jerosree including the then principal of Jerosree College Atiar Rahman were killed by the Pakistani forces on November 22, 1971.

Shahnaz Malik Halen, former ward commissioner of the Chittagong City Corporation and organising secretary of Chittagong district unit Mahila Awami League, was laid to rest at Garibullah Shah Mazar graveyard in Chittagong Saturday afternoon.
   Helen, who had been suffering from SLE and nephropathy, died on November 19 at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital in Dhaka.
   The deceased was the wife of businessman Khizir Malik, sister of Khaleda Khanam, a former whip of the Jatiya Sangsad and Rasheda Amin, a news editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
   Her namaj-e-janaza was held at Sardar Bahadur Nagar Eidgah in the city after the zuhr prayers.
   CCC mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, city Awami League joint secretary Afsarul Amin and organising secretary Badiul Alam, acting CCC mayor Manjurul Alam Manju, leaders of different political and professional organizations, CCC ward councillors attended the janaza.
   Qul khwani of Halen will be held at Sarder Bahadur Nagar Eidgah after the asr prayers today.

CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) Committee in its 42nd session in Geneva recently decided to adopt a new general recommendation to protect the human rights of older women.
   A four-member working committee was formed with Ferdous Ara Begum, CEDAW member from Bangladesh, as the chairperson of the committee to finalise the draft, according to a news release.
   Other committee members are Yoko Hayashi from Japan, Violeta Neubauber from Slovenia and Naila Mohamed Gabre from Egypt.
   To mark and celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the committee initiated a process that would result in the adoption of a general recommendation on the rights of older women.
   CEDAW Committee’s initiative for a general recommendation would start a process that would review the relationship between all the articles in the convention and aging.
   A general recommendation on older women’s rights would outline the content of the obligation assumed by the states as parties to the convention from the perspectives of aging and older women’s rights, the release said.

The disciplinary committee of Jahangirnagar University on Saturday completed its investigation into the allegation against the dramatics students of assaulting the department chair, Sanwar Hossain, on October 21.
   The university proctor, Mafruhee Sattar, also secretary of the disciplinary committee, told New Age, ‘We have completed the investigation process. But we need a few more days for evaluating the information gathered and preparing the report. We will try to submit the report as soon as possible.’
   Earlier, 19 students of the dramatics department are served show cause notice for their alleged involvement in the incident. Of the students, six are temporarily expelled as Sanwar Hossain named them in his written allegation.
   Meanwhile, the Jahangirnagar University Teachers’ Association continued its indefinite strike for the fifteenth day on Saturday.
   Though it earlier declared to boycott all academic and official activities, classes were seen to be held in most of the departments on Saturday.
   A top JUTA leader, on the condition of anonymity, told New Age, ‘I know that it is not possible to complete the investigation process in such a short time. It is the students who are being the sufferers for our strike.’ ‘But we have nothing to do without continuing the strike,’ he added.

300 bottles of Phensidyl seized
in Ctg
Rapid Action Battalion seized 300 bottles of Phensidyl and 700 grams of cannabis from a microbus in the city’s Bakalia area on Saturday. Acting on a tip-off, RAB conducted a raid on Syed Shah Road in Bakalia area at about 1:00am and seized the drug items. RAB said they also seized the microbus and arrested a drug peddler. The arrested was identified as Amir Hossain, 22, of Mohini Bazar area under Nangalkot upazila in Comilla.
— New Age

Seminar on mass media at DU
on Nov 25
Dhaka University Journalists’ Association will arrange a seminar on ‘democracy, election and mass media’ at the auditorium of Senate Building at 10:00am on Tuesday. Education and commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman will attend the function as chief guest. DU vice-chancellor Professor SMA Faiz will inaugurate it. Former DU vice-chancellor Emajuddin Ahmed, advisory editor of Amar Desh Ataus Samad, chief editor of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, former president of DU Teachers’ Association Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique, Jatiya Press Club president Shawkat Mahmud and New Age editor Nurul Kabir will join the function as discussants.
— BSS