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Commuters continue to suffer although a large number of vehicles, including three-wheelers and taxi cabs, ply the Dhaka city streets.
   By-passing the meter, the drivers of CNG-run three-wheelers and taxi cabs, frequently charge extra fare and most often decline to go for a short-distance trip.
   The commuters in different areas complained that they often failed to get any CNG-run three-wheelers and taxi cabs during the office hours.
   Most of the drivers of such modes of vehicles decline to take passengers for a short-distance trip, they alleged.
   According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, about 18,000 CNG-run three-wheelers and 10,000 taxi cabs have been plying the city roads.
   Many unauthorised battery-run three-wheelers have also been plying the roads since June, said sources in the BRTA and the DCC.
   In spite of some government steps, including fare hike of vehicles, to facilitate the commuters’ smooth journey, most of the drivers go by their own whims, said Nayan Ahmed, an official of a private company located at Banani.
   ‘I have to face hazards every day in hiring a CNG-run three-wheeler from Mirpur during the office hours,’ he said.
   ‘If ever someone agrees to take the trip, they hike the fare almost double, saying the metre is not working,’ he added.
   The DMP control room (traffic division) sources said they had been receiving 20 to 30 complaints every day.
   ‘After receiving such complains, we request the complainants to wait five minutes on the spot and inform the on-duty sergeants to look into the matter,’ said a traffic control room source.
   ‘But the problem is that most of the time the on-duty sergeants find neither the complainant nor the cab on the spot. So, they fail to take action against the driver,’ said assistant sub-inspector Shafiq Ahmed in the traffic control division of the DMP.
   The joint commissioner of traffic police, Jashim Ahmed, said, ‘I have instructed my colleagues to take action against the drivers who decline to take a trip on the meter.’
   Citing an example, an on-duty traffic sergeant said, ‘I have just taken action against a CNG-run driver on a complaint from a commuter.’
   ‘I have filed a case against him as the driver did not want to go by the meter,’ he said.
   The drivers said they had to waste a lot of time for trips due to traffic congestion.
   ‘All the roads of the city face tailbacks during the office hours. Even sometime it takes an hour to go only five kilometres,’ said Kamal Ahmed, driver of a CNG-run three-wheeler, adding, ‘I have to waste my time and lose many trips for the congestion’.
   ‘Had I any alternative, I would have given up this profession as it also makes my life miserable,’ he said.
   The environment-friendly three-wheelers, imported mainly from India, hit the Dhaka streets in 2001 after a ban was imposed on diesel-run two-stroke three-wheelers in the city. The CNG-driven cabs also hit the street at that time.

Nursing services at Khulna Medical College Hospital and Khulna General Hospital are being hampered seriously as the students of Khulna Nursing Institute have refrained from discharging their duties for an indefinite period.
   All the students of the institute, who provide nursing services to patients at the two hospitals along with staff nurses, left their hostel on Sunday in protest at misbehaviour with them allegedly by the instructor in-charge Morjina Khatun, sources in the institute said.
   A total of 170 students of the institute perform their duties either at KMCH or at KGH, the sources added, saying that each of the students gets only one day weekly holiday.
   Earlier, a fourth year student was forced to wear shoes around her neck in front of other students on Saturday as punishment for not to wear socks during working hours at Khulna General Hospital on Friday night, the students alleged.
   Staff nurses of the hospitals said the students help them in providing the patients with proper nursing services at the hospitals. But nursing services are being seriously hampered at the hospitals for their absence from work, they added, saying that it has become very difficult for them to maintain all the wards at the hospitals.
   Some patients have told New Age that they hardly find staff nurses at their wards as they (staff nurses) have to deal with a large number of patients in the absence of student nurses.
   A high official of KMCH said 110 students perform their duty at 500-bed hospital along with 140 staff nurses. ‘It is not possible to run the hospital properly without service from the student nurses who account for 44 per cent of the staff nurses.’
   Dr Golam Hossain, superintendent at KMCH, said nursing services at the hospital are being hampering as the students are yet to join their work. ‘Now staff nurses are doing extra duty.’
   A few student nurses over telephone said they would not return to the institute until removal of the instructor in-charge and appointment of a new instructor in-charge from outside.
   Arifa Akhter, acting instructor in-charge, told New Age that the students were asked to join their institute during office hours by April 26. ‘Action will be taken against those who won’t join their work within the deadline.’
   The civil surgeon Lutfor Rahman said a five-member committee was formed on Sunday to investigate the incident and asked to submit their report within seven days. He also called on the students to join the institute immediately.

The bodies of two people, including a businessman, were recovered from two places in the city on Tuesday.
   One of them was identified as Mohammad Mithu, 25, a businessman of Kachukhet in Kafrul.
   Family members said Mithu was involved with Mamoni Jewellers and readymade garment business in Kachukhet. He went missing after he had gone out of the residence on Monday evening.
   At about 9:30pm on Monday, an unnamed person phoned to Mithu’s mother saying that his body was lying beside the railway tracks at Azampur in Uttara.
   Accordingly, the family members went to Azampur and found the body of Mithu.
   On receipt of information, the police reached there Tuesday morning and sent the body to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for autopsy.
   The assailants might have shot him in the head at close range, leaving him dead on the spot, the police said.
   ‘Criminals demanded Tk 4 lakh as extortion from Mithu around five months ago. He might have been killed by them after they had failed to extort money,’ said Mithu’s younger brother Uzzal.
   Besides, the police recovered the body of an unidentified man, aged about 40, from the road at Banani at about 6:30am on Tuesday.
   There were marks of stab injuries on different parts of the body, the police said. The body was sent to the DMCH morgue for autopsy.

Government Secondary School Teachers’ Association on Tuesday protested the appointment of a college teacher as the deputy director of secondary education in Khulna zone.
   Leaders of the association at a press conference also demanded appointment of a competent headmaster or headmistress from government high schools as the deputy director of secondary education.
   AKM Golam Azam, headmaster of Khulna Government Laboratory High School, read out a written statement at the press conference held at Khulna Press Club. Headmasters and headmistresses of different government high schools from Khulna zone were present.
   Azam said as per the rule, the deputy directors for secondary education are appointed either from headmasters or headmistresses of the government high schools having at least eight years of experience or vice-principal from Teachers’ Training College.
   He alleged that violating the rule, an associate professor of a government college was appointed deputy director on April 16 although there are many competent schoolteachers for the post.
   The headmasters and headmistresses demanded withdrawal of the decision and appointment of an eligible high school headmaster or headmistress as deputy director.
   Official sources in secondary education office said TM Zakir Hossain, associate professor of Jessore MM College, was appointed as the deputy director of the secondary education in Khulna zone.

Students of Bachelor of Business Administration at Jahangirnagar University on Tuesday threatened to go for fast unto death from April 25 if their demands were not met by April 24.
   The students have been staging demonstration for the past four months to press for their three-point demands such as introduction of grading system, designed by the University Grants Commission, from the 33rd batch to the 37th batch, introduction of major and minor courses and provision for taking the exams to improve the grades. At present, there is difference in ten marks between two grades, they said at a press conference.
   Earlier on March 31, they placed their demands to vice-chancellor Professor Sharif Enamul Kabir who assured them of meeting their demands, the agitating students said, adding that no steps have been taken yet.
   The academic council will sit on April 23 to take decisions about the demands placed by the students, campus sources said.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion picked up an alleged robber from Diner Pool area of the city on Tuesday night and recovered eight handmade bombs from his possession.
   Tipped-off, RAB sources said, they raided the house of Badsha Howladar at about 2:30am and arrested him in possession of handmade bombs.
   Badsha was accused in a number of cases filed with different police stations in the region, the sources said, adding that he was being grilled at the RAB office.

The social welfare minister, Enamul Huq Mostafa Shaheed, on Tuesday urged the organisations, working for the people with disabilities, to do everything possible for their development and welfare.
   The government had taken special programmes for development of the persons with disabilities, he said while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on ‘Capacity Building of Persons with Disabilities in Bangladesh: Step Towards Making a Difference’ in the city.
   To protect the rights of the people with disabilities is the responsibility of the state, he said at the seminar organized by Action on Disability and Development at the Spectra Convention Centre, said an official handout.
   The minister said the government will publish an informative list of all the disabled people in the country in next one or two years.
   Chaired by Action on Disability and Development Country director Mozammel Haq, the seminar was also addressed, among others, by former caretaker government adviser Rokeya Afzal Rahman and Banglalink managing director Ahmed Abu Doma.

Four suspected snatchers were caught by a mob in possession of two firearms at Muradnagar under Baizid Bostami police area in the city on Tuesday.
   Later, the snatchers — Mohammad Masud, Kazal Das, Mohammad Sayed and Omar Faruque — were handed over to the
   police after giving a good thrashing.
   The police said locals caught the four snatchers at Mirzapara in Muradna-gar at about 1:00pm when they were trying to take away a handbag from a pedestrian.
   Two light guns, seven cartridges and a machete were also recovered from their possession, the police added.
   The arrested were rushed to Chittagong Medical College Hospital. A case was filed with the Baizid Bostami police station in this connection.

The Rajshahi University students on Tuesday formed a human chain in the city demanding end to government interference in the activities of universities.
   The university sources said several hundred students of the university under the banner of ‘Muktimukhin Pratirodh Mancha’ formed the human chain at Saheb Bazar Zero Point.
   Earlier, they brought out a silent procession that paraded main streets in the city.
   Speakers urged the government to stop meddling in the activities of universities so that the students of the universities can express their views at large.
   They also threatened to go for tougher movement if any mayor or lawmakers would interfere in the university activities. They urged the government and the university authorities to take action against people responsible for creating violence in educational institutions in the name of politics.

The Jahangirnagar University authorities said in a press release that they can cancel the admission of any newly admitted student if s/he remains absent in the first ten classes without the permission of the departmental head or fails to attend classes for the required number of days.
   The first year honours classes will begin from April 26.
   University buses will start carrying non-residential students from Bangabazar crossing, Zia International Airport crossing and Bangladesh Road Transport Corpora-tion bus stand in Kalyanpur to the Jahangir-nagar University campus at 7:00am, and will return to Dhaka on the same route at 1:30pm.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country having chances of rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind at one or two places over Dhaka, Rajshahi and Sylhet divisions during next 24 hours till 6:00pm today.
   Moderate to severe heat wave sweeping over Khulna division and the regions of Rajshahi and Ishwardi and mild to moderate heat wave over the regions of Dhaka and Faridpur may continue, Met Office said.
   Day temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country during the period, it predicted.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:24pm and rises tomorrow at 5:31am.
   Country’s highest temperature 41.4 degrees Celsius was recorded on Tuesday at Jessore and lowest 20.3 degrees at Sylhet.