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The government on Wednesday concluded negotiations with the World Bank for credit to finance the $355 million Siddhirganj peaking power project to increase power supply, according to an official information note.
   The proposed project will be Bangladesh’s first integrated gas-to-power project, and will contribute 300 megawatts of generation capacity to help address the country’s shortage of power.
   On completion of construction, as planned, the project will begin operation in 2011 when the demand for power will increase further.
   The project includes three linked infrastructure components, and will help the country to make efficient use of scarce natural gas resources while reducing power outages which have become a huge burden on Bangladeshi households and businesses, said the information note issued by the World Bank.
   The credit, to be given by the WB’s concessionary arm — the International Development Association — is scheduled for the WB board’s consideration and approval on October 30, 2008. If approved, the loan has 40 years to mature with a 10-year grace period and carries a service charge of 0.75 per cent.
   The secretary of the Power Division, M Fouzul Kabir Khan, and a senior energy specialist of the World Bank, Alan F Townsend, led their respective delegations at the negotiations that ended on September 17.
   ‘The Siddhirganj project will be an important part of the solution leading to sustainable provision of energy services, and will help Bangladesh to continue to expand the poor people’s access to electricity,’ said Zahid Hussain, acting country director of the World Bank, Bangladesh. He insisted that Bangladesh must meet the rapidly growing demand for power to achieve the status of a middle-income country by 2020.
   ‘The project re-affirms our support to development of the energy sector, and complements projects of rural electrification, renewable energy, private power generation and sector reform,’ said Alan Townsend, senior energy specialist and task-leader of the Siddhirganj project.
   The project will construct 60 kilometres of natural gas pipeline to link the main natural gas transmission network to the Siddhirganj site. It will also include construction of a state-of-the-art 300 MW peaking power plant. From Siddhirganj, power will be transmitted through an 11 km electricity transmission line.
   The project also aims to strengthen the three implementing agencies: the Gas Transmission Company Ltd, the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh and the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.

More 150 fishermen, who went missing in the Bay of Bengal on Monday night, could not be rescued till Friday.
   Abul Hossain, driver of fishing trawler ‘Allar Daan’, along with 23 fishermen on board, managed to steer the trawler to the local ferry ghat Friday noon.
   He said 23 fishermen of Cox’s Bazar on board his vessel were catching fish in the bay in Cox’s Bazar on Monday night, but his vessel went out of order after it was caught in the storm. Still, he said, he managed to steer the vessel to Bagerhat.
   Abul Hossain informed that over 150 fishermen from different areas and some 40 trawlers still remained missing. The fishermen went missing as they were caught in the storm while catching fish in different areas in the bay.
   The missing fishermen came from Bagerhat, Barguna, Patuakhali, Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong.
   Meanwhile, Coast Guard members rescued a trawler along with 40 fishermen from the Baleshwar area in Sundarban on Thursday night.
   The Coast Guard is continuing its search for the missing fishermen.

The government is not encouraging the people to vote for inclusion of Cox’s Bazar and Sundarban among the New7Wonders of Nature, said speakers at a roundtable discussion on Friday.
   Samriddha Bangladesh Andolan organised the discussion titled ‘prospect of Bangladesh in the selection of 7 wonders and our duties’ at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
   The speakers said although the Bangladesh Tourism Corporation is one of the members of the selection committee, it is not conducting any campaign in favour of the two tourist spots of the country.
   Eminent writer Professor Jafar Iqbal said it is not sufficient to be in a good position in consideration of vote. There must be proper representation of the tourist spots at home and abroad, he added.

Islamist outfit Hizb ut-Tahrir, Bangladesh on Friday demanded immediate release of its 11 leaders and activists, arrested in Rajshahi a day ago for suspected link with militancy, and threatened with tough movement, otherwise.
   Addressing a protest rally at the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh in Dhaka, the organisation leaders also rejected their link with militancy. The outfit held the protest rally in the morning cancelling its scheduled discussion, styled ‘Muslim Ummah: the emerging power of 21st Century’.
   ‘We are against militancy and we do not support the way the Islamic political parties are trying to go to the state power,’ the organisation’s chief coordinator and spokesperson, Mohiuddin Ahmed, said.
   Demanding release of the arrested leaders and activists, he said they would launch tough movement if the government failed to release the arrested leaders and activists within 48 hours and stop harassing them.
   ‘Nobody has found Hizb ut-Tahrir’s link with militancy anywhere in the world. We we want to establish Islamic rules in a truly democratic way abiding by the laws of the land,’ the organisation’s public relations secretary, Maolana Mamunur Rashid, said.
   The police arrested 11 members of the organisation, three of them university teachers, at the Rajshahi Press Club on Thursday on suspicion of militancy and allegation of attempts to breach emergency power rules. They also seized leaflets, banners and posters of the Islamist outfit along with a microbus and mobile handsets from them.

Speakers at a discussion on Friday held the politics without morals and ideals responsible for the present crisis of the country and urged all to make the country’s politics free from corrupt politicians and black money holders.
   They were speaking at the discussion organised at Mukti Bhaban in the capital to mark the centenary of birth of Nepal Nag, one of the founders of the communist party in the country and also the founder of the trade union movement.
   Chaired by Mirza Abdus Salam, a communist leader, the meeting was addressed, among others, by the National Awami Party president, Mozaffar Ahmad, vice president, Amena Ahmed, Workers’ Party of Bangladesh president, Rashed Khan Menon, Jatiyatabadi Samajtantrik Dal president, Hasanul Haque Inu, Communist Party of Bangladesh general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim and Nepal Nag’s son Sujoy Nag.
   Urging all the left democratic forces to forge a unity coming out of the conventional politics to establish the society dreamt of by Nag, the speakers said, ‘Nepal was struggling throughout his life to establish a repression- free society. Bangladesh came into being as an outcome of the sacrifices of the political leaders like Nepal’.
   Nag was a leading figure in the anti-British armed struggle in Dhaka and had suffered imprisonment for several years, they said.
   They observed there was no alternative but to free the country’s politics from the corrupt politicians and black money holders to have a society where people’s rights would be established on the basis of equality.

Communist Party of Bangladesh on Friday called on the government to refrain from increasing the prices of gas and electricity further.
   Monzurul Ahsan Khan and Mujahidul Islam Selim, president and general secretary of the party at a press statement said that fresh increase in gas and electricity tariffs would raise the costs of production and further fuel price hike of essentials, mounting the woes of the masses.
   Instead, the CPB leaders proposed increase in subsidy in the gas and power tariffs and demanded steps to check misuse and theft in those sectors.

Aminul Islam Bedu, a retired news editor of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, is seriously ill.
   He is now under the supervision of heart specialist of LabAid Hospital Shouravuzzaman at his Uttara residence.
   He was taken to LabAid Hospital four days ago as he felt pain in the chest, his family said on Friday.
   Bedu sought prayers from all for his early recovery.

A crime suspect was killed in a ‘shootout’ with the Rapid Action Battalion at Shyampur in Dhaka early Friday. The deceased was Sayel Khan alias Pundit.
   The battalion said on being informed of a gathering of some gangsters at Purba Shyampur the RAB had raided the area at about 2:30am.
   Sensing the presence of the lawmen, the criminals started firing on them prompting them to fire back triggering a gunfight that lasted for about 20 minutes.
   After the gunfight, the battalion members recovered the bullet–riddled body of Pundit from the ground while his associates managed to get away.
   The RAB members seized a pistol loaded with a bullet from the spot.
   The battalion sources claimed Sayel Khan was a member of the notorious Bara Mia Shahin gang and was involved in various criminal activities including extortion. He was wanted in a number of criminal cases, including that of murder, the sources added.

A Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Red Flag) operative was on Friday found beheaded at Bongram in Pabna
   The deceased was Arman Ali, 35, a resident of the upazila. He ran a tea stall at the Bongram market place.
   Quoting the family, the police said Arman had gone to his tea stall on Tuesday and had not returned home.
   Local residents found Arman, beheaded, under a bridge near his house. The police sent the body for a post-mortem examination.
   The police said Arman was accused in two cases of robbery filed with the Chatmohar police.
   Arman’s father filed a case with the police in this regard.

At least 10 persons were injured in a clash between two groups of people at village Baludia under Charghat upazila in Rajshahi on Friday.
   Munsur Rahman and Hannan locked in an altercation in the morning as the latter refused to sell vegetables to the former without payment of money.
   Later, supporters of two groups engaged in the clash, leaving 10 people injured on both sides.
   On information, the police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.
   Four of the injured were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital while five others to the upazila health complex.
   A close relative of Munsur filed a case with the police.

The foreign adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, has condoled the death of Bangladeshi peacekeeper Mainul Islam in Sudan.
   Mainul Islam died of cardiac arrest at Darfur in Sudan on September 8. His body arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday.
   In a condolence message on Friday, the foreign adviser said, ‘Mainul Islam was a fearless peacekeeper who served his nation to the cause of peace thousand miles away from home. We pray that his soul rest in peace and the Almighty give his family strength to bear the irreparable loss.’
   Mainul went to Sudan under UN Peacekeeping Mission on November 27, 2007.

The information secretary, Jamil Osman, on Friday said dissemination of information could work as the main preventive tool against HIV/AIDS.
   He said creating awareness of HIV/AIDS among the grassroots people was possible through massive publicity although no medicine to eradicate the deadly disease had been developed.
   The information secretary was addressing as chief guest the inaugural function of an ‘Advocacy meeting on HIV/AIDS and training programme for trainers’ at the Press Institute of Bangladesh in the capital.
   Additional secretary of the information ministry Muhammad Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury, line director of National HIV/AIDS Programme Dr Shahadat Hossain and programme manager of National AIDS/STD Programme Dr Ferdous Alam Shibib were special guests at the function, organised by Padakkhep Consortium.
   With executive director of Padakkhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra Iqbal Ahammad in the chair, the function was addressed by joint secretary of the Information Ministry Kamal Uddin Ahmed, PMUK adviser Shahjahan Majumder, deputy programme manager of National AIDS/STD Programme Dr Shamsul Haque Gazi.
   Terming the world scenario of HIV/AIDS as dreadful, the information secretary said there was no scope for Bangladesh to be complacent though it remained in good position in this regard.
   He said the role of Bangladesh in warding off HIV/AIDS had been acclaimed in international arena. To achieve the millennium development goals, the country’s activities in HIV/AIDS indicators are satisfactory, he added.
   Jamil Osman said the activities involving religious leaders in preventing HIV/AIDS would have to be made successful.
   He stressed the need for reviewing benefits of students from curriculum on the subject which had been included in the textbooks. Attention should be given to include more subjects, if needed, he said.
   The information secretary said the non-government organisations working on HIV/AIDS would have to be brought under extensive supervision and monitoring.
   He hoped that joint initiatives of the government and non-government organisations would bring positive results.

Jahangirnagar University goes into a 24-day vacation from today on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja.
   Classes will resume on October 15. The vacation begins amid a deadlock at the university over the investigation of allegation against a teacher of harassing girls sexually and the administration has yet to take any steps to resolve the issue.
   On September 13, the university syndicate acquitted the teacher of dramatics department of sexual harassment charge, saying that the allegation against him was not proved beyond doubt.
   The agitating students immediately rejected the syndicate’s decision and charged the syndicate members with ‘partiality’. They are still demonstrating on the campus.
   Sanwar Hossain also known as Ahmed Sani, a dramatics department teacher, was accused of sexual harassment by some girl students.
   Students of dramatics department along with left-leaning student organisations and various cultural organisations under the banner ‘Jahangirnagar against Harassment’ have been demonstrating for five months, demanding removal of the accused teacher and for formulation of a complete policy against sexual harassment.

The information secretary, Jamil Osman, on Friday said dissemination of information could work as the main preventive tool against HIV/AIDS.
   He said creating awareness of HIV/AIDS among the grassroots people was possible through massive publicity although no medicine to eradicate the deadly disease had been developed.
   The information secretary was addressing as chief guest the inaugural function of an ‘Advocacy meeting on HIV/AIDS and training programme for trainers’ at the Press Institute of Bangladesh in the capital.
   Additional secretary of the information ministry Muhammad Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury, line director of National HIV/AIDS Programme Dr Shahadat Hossain and programme manager of National AIDS/STD Programme Dr Ferdous Alam Shibib were special guests at the function, organised by Padakkhep Consortium.
   With executive director of Padakkhep Manabik Unnayan Kendra Iqbal Ahammad in the chair, the function was addressed by joint secretary of the Information Ministry Kamal Uddin Ahmed, PMUK adviser Shahjahan Majumder, deputy programme manager of National AIDS/STD Programme Dr Shamsul Haque Gazi.
   Terming the world scenario of HIV/AIDS as dreadful, the information secretary said there was no scope for Bangladesh to be complacent though it remained in good position in this regard.
   He said the role of Bangladesh in warding off HIV/AIDS had been acclaimed in international arena. To achieve the millennium development goals, the country’s activities in HIV/AIDS indicators are satisfactory, he added.
   Jamil Osman said the activities involving religious leaders in preventing HIV/AIDS would have to be made successful.
   He stressed the need for reviewing benefits of students from curriculum on the subject which had been included in the textbooks. Attention should be given to include more subjects, if needed, he said.
   The information secretary said the non-government organisations working on HIV/AIDS would have to be brought under extensive supervision and monitoring.
   He hoped that joint initiatives of the government and non-government organisations would bring positive results.

Jahangirnagar University goes into a 24-day vacation from today on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja.
   Classes will resume on October 15. The vacation begins amid a deadlock at the university over the investigation of allegation against a teacher of harassing girls sexually and the administration has yet to take any steps to resolve the issue.
   On September 13, the university syndicate acquitted the teacher of dramatics department of sexual harassment charge, saying that the allegation against him was not proved beyond doubt.
   The agitating students immediately rejected the syndicate’s decision and charged the syndicate members with ‘partiality’. They are still demonstrating on the campus.
   Sanwar Hossain also known as Ahmed Sani, a dramatics department teacher, was accused of sexual harassment by some girl students.
   Students of dramatics department along with left-leaning student organisations and various cultural organisations under the banner ‘Jahangirnagar against Harassment’ have been demonstrating for five months, demanding removal of the accused teacher and for formulation of a complete policy against sexual harassment.