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The price of eggs has increased to all time high at the markets owing to exorbitant profiteering of the middlemen taking the advantage of short supply.
   The red eggs were selling at Tk 730 per hundred at the country’s largest wholesale market at Tejgaon in Dhaka on Saturday.
   Abu Taleb, a wholesaler at Mayer Doa Traders at Tejagaon, admitted that the price of eggs hit an all-time high throwing the lower middle-class and poor consumers of the protein food into problem.
   ‘In more than three decades of experience in egg wholesale trading, I never saw the price over Tk 700 per hundred,’ said Taleb.
   The market men recalled that in the mid-2007, the price of one hundred eggs was Tk 280 at wholesale market and below Tk 350 at retail level.
   The lower middle-class and poor people, who mainly consume eggs failing to buy fishes because of high price, have been thrown into the problem as the retailers were selling a piece of egg at Tk 8. The price went up by Tk 1.5 per piece or 23 per cent with an interval of one month and Tk 3 or 60 per cent over a period of three-four months.
   ‘The price went to this unusual high due to a mismatch between the supply and the demand of eggs at the market,’ Taleb added, pointing his finger to short supply of fish, the main source of protein for the middleclass and lower middleclass consumers.
   In last week, the government withdrew a 16-year ban on import of eggs from India triggering a protest by the local producers. They fear that import of Indian eggs will make a drastic fall in price causing ruination to the local farms.
   Aminul Islam, organising secretary of the Bangladesh Eggs Producers Association, said, ‘The unusual high price of eggs is caused by huge shortage in its supply.’
   He said that there were 10,000 egg-producing farms in the country in mid-2007, but 6,000 of them closed down for the bird flue scare.
   He blasted the past army-backed caretaker government for making the poultry farmers as well as the countrymen panicked.
   ‘Thousands of chickens were killed at the farms at reports of unconfirmed bird flue case in the country compelling the poultry farmers to shut down their production units due to huge loss,’ he said.
   As the banks showed reluctance to support the affected farmers, they could not manage money to restart their shut down farms resulting in huge shortfall in production of eggs, he noted.
   ‘Government should provide soft loans to the poultry farmers to run their farms,’ Amin said, adding that the price would come down in less than six months if most of the local farms were rehabilitated.
   Chief of the market monitoring cell of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh, Emdad Hossain Malek said that the egg traders were cutting pockets of consumers on the plea of supply shortage.
   He, however, disapproved the government move for withdrawal of ban on import eggs from India as it would discourage the local production.
   ‘The government should sit with the industry stakeholders immediately for reducing egg price through elimination of undue profiteering by the middlemen,’ Malek said.

People from all walks of life on Sunday poured tribute on eminent poet and writer professor Alauddin Al Azad, who died on Friday at his Uttara house at the age of 77.
   The coffin of the celebrated writer was taken to the Bangla Academy premises from BIRDEM hospital and then to the Central Shaheed Minar at about 11:00am.
   His wife Jamila Azad was the first to place a wreath on the coffin, followed by other close relatives, co-workers, well-wishers and fans. Jamila also stood firm beside the coffin all along.
   Azad’s body was said to be taken to the martyred intellectuals’ graveyard at Mirpur for burial in the late afternoon but his family did not receive any permission in this regard till Sunday evening.
   ‘The body will be buried after we receive the permission from the authorities, or it will be taken back to the BIRDEM mortuary for the night,’ Mustafizur Rahman, Azad’s relative and a former BTV director general, said.
   Former state minister Obaidul Kader paid tribute to the deceased on behalf of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, followed by education minister Nurul Islam Nahid, CPB president Monzurul Ahsan Khan and Dhaka University vice-chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique along with others.
   Educationists Mustafa Nurul Islam and Professor Mansoor Musa, dramatists Hasan Imam and Rashid Haider, poets Abdul Hai Shikder and Abu Saleh, journalist Swapan Saha and representatives of leading cultural organisations as well as Dhaka University students also paid tribute.
   The education minister, who was a student of Alauddin Al Azad at MC College in Sylhet, paying his last respects, said, ‘He was a progressive person and his creativity was obvious in so many forms. The nation has suffered an irreparable loss in his death.’
   ‘He inspired the nation at a critical juncture of history in 1952 when the police had pulled down the first Shaheed Minar,’ Professor Mustafa Nurul Islam said, citing Azad’s poem Smritir Minar.
   ‘A star went out at his demise. I’m heart broken. Our generation will march ahead upholding Azad’s creations, his literary achievements,’ he added.
   Bangla Academy, in a statement, also expressed deep mourning over his death and prayed for the peace of his soul.
   Renowned as a poet and novelist, Azad received a good number of awards, including Bangla Academy Award, UNESCO Award, Ekushey Padak, National Film Award, Abul Kalam Shamsuddin Literary Award, Lekhika Sangha Award and Natyasava Award, for his outstanding contribution to the Bangla literature.
   Alauddin, who was also celebrated as a skilled playwright, essayist, story-teller and educationist, was born in Dhaka in 1932.
   He authored more than 123 books, including short stories, novels, poems and literary criticism.
   He had also been the principal of Dhaka College and ‘Nazrul Professor’ of Bangla department at Chittagong University during 1980’s.
   His major works include Teis Number Tailachitra, Shiter Shesh Raat and Basanter Prothom Din. His best known plays are Moroccor Jadukar, Dhanyabad and Mayabi Prahar.  Ferari Diary is his reminiscences of the liberation war of Bangladesh.
   Azad died of old-age complications at his home on Friday. His family said he had struggled to deal with the death of his only son last year.

A workers’ rights body on Sunday protested against inaction of Bangladesh’s overseas mission in addressing the problems of migrant workers.
   The group felt that such a sluggish attitude of Bangladesh’s diplomats was a matter of concern for the nation.
   The Karmajibi Nari general secretary, Sharmin Kabir, and the executive director, Rokeya Rafiq, in a statement also urged the government to ask the diplomats to address problems of migrant workers at the earliest.
   Referring to recent media reports the group said the rising trend of repression on migrant Bangladeshi workers and inaction of diplomats abroad in stopping such maltreatment was a matter of concerns.
   The statement said, ‘In many parts of the Middle East, including Libya and Jordan, Bangladeshi workers are now deprived of adequate wages, arrears as well as female workers are sexually harassed in work places.’
   ‘Whenever such Bangladeshi migrant workers protest against maltreatment and demand for their rights, they face imprisonment and brutal torture,’ it said.
   The group said migrant workers had played a significant role in the country’s socio-economic development with their hard-earned remittances and their distressful life in foreign countries cannot be accepted.
   ‘So the government must take proactive role to mobilise its overseas missions for the wellbeing of expatriate workers,’ it said.

Two factions of the Barisal BNP Sunday afternoon clashed and vandalised a news briefing venue over dispute centring on the city convening committee.
   Witnesses said former city BNP organising secretary Mohsin Montu had called a briefing in the afternoon demanding
   that former city BNP president Ahsan Habib Kamal, also a former mayor, should be made the
   city BNP convener replacing former city BNP president Mahmud Golam Salek.
   The briefing was scheduled to begin at 4:30pm in the Rose Garden restaurant owned by BNP-backed Barisal ward councillor Syed Zakir Hossain Jelal, brother of the central Juba Dal secretary Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal.
   A group of people, led by Ward 20 Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal president Firoz Khan Kalu and his supporter Golam Salek entered the venue at about 4:15pm and started a brawl with the organisers. The group then vandalised the venue.
   The organisers of the briefing with the help of the restaurant workers resisted the attackers and chased them out.
   The briefing was held at the same venue half an hour later. The leaders at the briefing demanded expulsion of Golam Salek, who was made the city BNP convener during the interim regime, for his activities against the party and demanded appointment of Kamal as the city BNP convener.
   They said they would bring out a procession and form a human chain today to push for their demands.
   Salek, however, denied being involved in the clashes. He said the BNP chairperson made the decision in accordance with the party constitution and any opposition of the decision would amount to breach of discipline.

Eight suspects arrested on Friday and Saturday in connection with the triple murder at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka on June 26 were on Sunday remanded in police custody for seven days.
   The Detective Branch, assigned the investigation of the case, produced the eight — Rakib Ahmed Sohel, Mohammad Mamun, Saiful Islam Ripon, Abdus Salam Dewan, Taher Ali, Ajmal Khan Majlish Pappu, Rajib Mahmud and Tanvir Mahmud — in the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court Sunday afternoon and prayed for a 10-day remand.
   After the hearing, magistrate Faisal Atiq bin Tarek allowed them to be remanded in custody for seven days.
   The police earlier arrested the eight at Tejturi Bazar in Dhaka, Savar Radio Colony, Iswarganj in Mymensingh and Kuliarchar in Kishoreganj and seized two firearms with ammunition from them.
   A total of 13 suspects have so far been remanded in custody in connection with the case. The other five are Emd-adul Haque Babul, Shakib Miah, Rakibul Islam Babu, Hemayet Uddin and Saiful Islam. Unnamed gunmen on June 26 shot Faruq Mollah, 55, Ashraf Miah, 50, and Ashraf’s bodyguard Nuruddin Sarker Jewel, 35, dead at Karwan Bazar.
   A fruit trader and homeopath doctor, Abdur Rahim, 55, was also shot at. He is an AL leader of Ward 39 unit.

Development cooperation minister Bert Koenders and vice-minister of transport Tineke Huizinga of the Netherlands on Sunday visited the ‘Integrated Planning for Sustainable Water Management’ at Batiyaghata in Khulna.
   They visited different water infrastructures in the polder 30 which were rehabilitated under the Bangladesh-Netherlands cooperation project.
   The Netherlands ministers met members of the local water management groups and labour contracting societies who participated in group formation process and technical training elements of the IPSWAM project.
   During the visit at Tengrakhali Registered Primary School of Batiyaghata, Tineke Huizinga said both the countries had similar challenges, though on a different scale.
   ‘The knowledge from the Netherlands, also a densely populated country, has improved the quality of people’s lives in polder 30 in Khulna.’
   She said exchange of knowledge were extremely important as it enabled the people to work with water.
   According to the local water management association leaders, the authorities of operation and maintenance of all water infrastructures was handed over to the association of the locality by the Water Development Board in March 2009.
   A media release issued by the Netherlands high commission on Sunday said Bangladesh and the Netherlands have been cooperating in water management since 1975 and projects have focus on infrastructure development, coastal zone management, as well as institutional strengthening of relevant agencies.

More than 2,000 dockworkers and employees of Chittagong Port on Sunday formed a human chain demanding reinstatement of their jobs terminated during the interim regime.
   The dockworkers and employees formed the human chain at the Chittagong Press Club at about 10:30am and then held a rally where the Dock Bandar Sramik Karmachari Federation president, Golam Mohammad Chowdhury, was in the chair.
   The speakers said more than 15,000 workers and employees working with different organisations in the port were sacked and the dock management board was dissolved by the caretaker government in the name of port reforms.
   They held the former shipping adviser MA Matin and a few army officials responsible for terminating their jobs illegally and demanded immediate reinstatement of their job. They threatened a tougher movement if they were not placed back on job.
   The city unit Awami League general secretary Kazi Enamul Hoque Danu, city unit Sramik League president Bakhtiar Uddin Khan, city unit Sramik League general secretary Mahbubul Hoque Atli and Dock Sramik Union general secretary Abdul Ahad also addressed the rally.

Academics and professionals at a discussion on Sunday asked the government to reduce pressure on the National University by bringing some of the colleges under other public universities, instead of abolishing the National University.
   They made the call at a discussion on ‘Problems of National University’ organized by Nagorik Sanghati at Teachers-Students Centre at Dhaka University, with the organization president Atiqur Rahman in the chair.
   Addressing the discussion, some former vice-chancellors of the National University alleged that administration of the National University is a den of corruption.
   They also alleged that corruption engulfed the university due to direct interference by lawmakers of different political parties during the periods of successive governments.
   Former National University vice-chancellor Syed Rashidul Hasan said there was hardly any person in the university who was not involved in corruption. ‘No vice-chancellor would be able to bring some reforms of in National University unless the powerful and corrupt syndicates are ousted from there,’ he said.
   He also criticised the education ministry officials for their unwanted interference in the activities of the National University.
   Another former vice-chancellor of the National University, Prof Mofakkharul Islam, said most of the employees of university had been appointed on political consideration. ‘Most employees do not have any work and they do not even think about development of the university,’ he alleged.
   He suggested that the government should reduce the degree course duration to two years from the existing three years. ‘The number of university colleges is increasing alarmingly. If the government takes measures to reduce the degree course duration to two years, it would help release pressure on the National University,’ he opined.
   Prof Islam also stressed the need for bringing some reforms in its administrative structure and distributing some colleges under other public universities to reduce pressure on the National University in stead of dismantling it.
   Among others, Dhaka University professor M Akhteruzzaman and engineer M Enamul Haque also addressed the discussion.

At least three students were injured at Azam Khan Commerce College in the Khulna city on Sunday when activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Jatiyatabadi Chattra Dal clashed on the college campus on Sunday.
   The injured students, who were admitted to Khulna sadar hospital for treatment, were Md Hira and Raju Sana of BCL and Abdullah Al Mamun of JCD.
   Witnesses said trouble flared up after BCL activist Hira and JCD activist Mamun had an altercation over HSC admission on the college campus. It immediately led the supporters of both the groups to clash briefly at around 11:30am while Hira and Raju of BCL and Mamun of JCD suffered injuries.
   At around 12:00pm, the BCL activists drove the JCD activists out of the campus.
   They took position just outside the campus, said the witnesses, adding that police brought the situation under control.
   Both the JCD and BCL brought out separate processions in the city later, blaming each other for the incident.
   The Khulna police said that no case was lodged in connection with the clashes till 7:45pm on Sunday.
   The college principal-in-charge, Rabiul Islam, said that he was unaware of the incident.

A group of eminent citizens on Sunday called upon the government to initiate the process of holding trial of the war criminals as soon as possible.
   Expressing their deep concern over the delay to hold trial, they told a discussion meeting that the accused people were still active in hatching ‘conspiracy’ against the trial and the delay would hamper the process of holding proper trial.
   Citizens’ Commission on Trial of War Criminals organized the discussion meeting at Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs auditorium in Dhaka, a press release said.
   The parliament adopted a proposal for holding trial of the war criminals on January 29, but the government is yet to start the process of trial which is a matter of deep concern, speakers said at the discussion meeting.
   They alleged that Pakistan has been lobbying around the world to stop the trial of war criminals.
   National professor Kabir Chowdhury, Bangladesh Heritage Foundation chairman Waliur Rahman, Bangladesh Mahila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam, Committee for Holding Trial of the War Criminals acting president Shahriar Kabir, and Muktijoddha Sangsad former president Abdul Ahad Chowdhury addressed at the discussion meeting.

Commerce Minister Faruk Khan alleged that vested quarters might have played a role in the destruction of some sweater units at the outskirts of the city last week with a motive to divert importers from Bangladesh.
   ‘In the peak time of a rush in orders to Bangladeshi sweater industries, some vested quarters might have instigated the unrest and vandalism in factories to divert buyers from Bangladesh,’ Khan said on Sunday.
   The minister also asked the factory owners not to make undue profits and not to live in too expensive lifestyles, so that they can invest more for the welfare of the workers.
   He was addressing a function at Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association while handing over group life insurance claims to the heirs of dead garment workers.
   Educational materials for meritorious children of garment workers were also distributed at the function, addressed among others by state minister for labour Begum Munnujan Sufian.
   Faruk Khan urged labour leaders to be responsible and motivate the workers in protecting the garment industries, which he termed as “national assets.”
   The commerce minister reiterated that proper investigation would be conducted to find out the perpetrators of last week’s violence at Ashulia factories.
   ‘If weakness on the part of officials in the administration is found, they would be brought to the book,’ he said.
   Faruk Khan urged the factory owners not to make undue profits and not to live in too expensive lifestyles, so that they can invest more for the welfare of the workers.
   ‘You please don’t drive those luxury SUVs or Pajeros, wearing suits from Pierre Cardin, rather think how you can pay a little more to your workers who help you to grow and sustain your industry,’ said Khan.
   Munnujan Sufian urged all factory owners for providing greater facilities to the workers which they are entitled to according to the labour laws.
   BGMEA president Abdus Salam Murshedy, who presided over the function, urged the government to arrange rationing of several food items for the garment workers.
   Heirs of some 20 deceased workers received insurance claims at the function.

Development activists on Sunday criticised the government for the failure of its social safety net programme and demanded a comprehensive social protection policy which, they said, was the right of the poor.
   The country lacks social protection policy or programme that can help the poor and vulnerable groups in case of job loss, income erosion or failure in business, they added.
   Speaking at a seminar on ‘Neo Liberalism, Poverty and Social Protection Policies’, organised by development campaign organisation VOICE at the National Press Club in the Dhaka city, the speakers called upon the government to come up with fresh initiative to support the poor and vulnerable groups on the basis of their needs and during emergencies.
   The Voice for Interactive Choice and Empowerment’s executive director Ahmed Swapan Mahmud presented the keynote paper at the seminar also addressed by Supro’s director Uma Chowdhury, Changemakers’ director Tanvir Siddiqui, Unnayan Dhara Trust’s director Aminur Rasul and IED’s director Nuan Ahmed.
   Swapan Mahmud in his paper said the social safety net programme has been taken with a good intention to support the poor but the effort was not enough and poverty kept increasing.
   Speaking on the occasion, researcher Monowar Mostafa said the idea and practice of social safety net programme has gained popularity over the last couple of decades.
   ‘It has now become a supplementary to the neo-liberal package to contain poverty by helping the poor through providing cash and non-cash hand outs’, said Mostafa.
   Revolutionary Workers Party general secretary Saiful Haque in his deliberation said the social safety net programmes prolong poverty rather than eradicate it and serve the corporate interest.
   There was no relation between reduction of poverty and safety net programmes, he added.

The National Human Rights Commission has expressed its concerns at the news of oppression of women in the name of fatwa (religious decrees).
   Peyara Begum, 45, a widow at Rasulpur of Debidwar in Comilla, was whipped 200 times by a fatwa committee for an alleged relation with one Mamun Miah, who was whipped 100 times, according to media report, on June 29.
   ‘The commission considers the act as violation of human rights,’ said a release issued by the commission secretary, Sadequa Begum. ‘We urge the government to take immediate action against the perpetrator of the incident to avoid any more such instances.’
   The commission also has observed the incident was not a solitary instance as such incidents took place on many occasions in the past.

Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, now Bangladesh ambassador to Russia, is set to replace the incumbent foreign secretary Touhid Hossain on July 8.
   Foreign ministry officials told New Age on Sunday the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, had already endorsed the proposal for the appointment of Quayes as the next foreign secretary of Bangladesh.
   Officials said he would initially join the ministry as the additional foreign secretary as he was yet to be promoted to the post of secretary.
   ‘The proposal of the ministry to give him [Quayes] the post of the secretary has already been decided. The Superior Selection Board meeting may not be held this time,’ said an official.
   Mijarul Quayes is a career foreign service officer, educated at Dhaka University and Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
   Before joining the Bangladesh mission in Russia, he was the country’s high commissioner to Male.
   He has worked in Bangladesh missions in Europe, East and Southeast Asia. Mijarul Quayes is married to Naeema Chaudhury Quayes and has two daughters.

The parliament unanimously passed two bills — the Fertiliser (Management) (Amendment) Bill 2009 and the National Agriculture Award Fund (Amendment) Bill 2009 — with the BNP-led opposition lawmakers keeping off the house on Saturday.
   The agriculture minister, Matia Chowdhury, moved the Fertiliser (Management) (Amendment) Bill seeking inclusion of provisions to manage and control quality, production, marketing and use of organic fertiliser.
   She also moved the National Agriculture Award Fund (Amendment) Bill 2009 to rename the fund as the Bangabandhu National Agriculture Award Fund
   The communications minister, Syed Abul Hossain, placed the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority (Amendment) Bill 2009 seeking to change the name of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority. According to the bill, the new name of the authority will be the Bangladesh Bridge Authority.
   The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee on communications ministry for further scrutiny.

S Cooper, senior lecturer of Aston Business School of Aston University, UK, called on Dhaka University vice-chancellor Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique at the latter’s office on Sunday.
   During the meeting, they discussed matters of mutual interests especially the possibilities of exchange of teachers, students and researchers and strengthening collaborative academic programmes between development studies department of DU and Aston University.
   Professor Arefin Siddique thanked Cooper for his visit to Dhaka University and his keen interest in its academic and research activities, said a DU press release.
   Professor Niaz Ahmed Khan, Taiabur Rahman and M Abu Eusuf of development studies department of DU, Prasanta Kumar Dey, reader in operations and information management, and Ataur Rahman Belal of Aston University were present.

The English department students of Dhaka University brought out a procession on the campus on Sunday, protesting against the move of the department to offer evening Master’s courses.
   The students submitted a memorandum to the department chairman Khondoker Ashraf Hossain with the signature of 578 students.
   They said as more than 50 private universities were now offering English course and anyone could enrol there, it was an ‘irrational’ decision to offer evening course in Dhaka University.
   The department teachers, however, claimed the protesters had collected signatures forcibly from the students and they would arrange a secret ballot to see whether the majority students were in favour of the move or not.
   The teachers did not give any positive assurance, the students said in a press conference Sunday afternoon at Dhaka University Journalists’ Association.
   They said the department is already burdened with session jam and it needs six to nine months to publish the result of year finals.
   The students will place another memorandum to the university vice-chancellor and hold a rally in front of Aparajeya Bangla today.

The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research on Sunday said no more swine flu infection cases had been detected in Bangladesh.
   Senior scientist at the IEDCR Dr Mustaq Hossain told New Age of the 18 people test positive for the H1N1 virus infection till Friday, 10 came from the United States and Australia and the remaining eight had contracted the virus in the country.
   Dr Mustaq said the eight were infected through their relatives who had recently returned from Australia and the United States.
   In reply to a question, he said ‘The eight might have contracted the infection from their expatriate relatives before the expatts were detective positive for the H1N1 virus and this is why we could not take any preventive measures.’
   ‘The government has already taken initiatives to combat the disease. We are also following up the cases regularly,’ he said.
   The patients were kept in their houses under close observation of IEDCR experts, he said.
   Eight of the victims recovered fully and others were under the supervision of the health services directorate general in their houses, isolated from others in the family.
   The World Health Organisation on June 1 declared a global swine flu pandemic while the health ministry confirmed the first case in Bangladesh on June 19.
   According to the WHO, approximately 89,000 cases have so far been detected in 125 countries, with 382 fatalities on record.
   Incoming passengers were being screened for symptoms at Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet airports, Chittagong and Mongla seaports and 11 land ports, said officials.
   Symptoms of the virus are fever with high temperature and respiratory problems.
   The IEDCR advised people to refrain from spitting and to wash their hands regularly to curb the spread of the virus.