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The Power Development Board on Tuesday proposed to increase electricity prices by 24.31 per cent on an average while consumer rights groups and trade bodies opposed the proposal.
   The consumer rights groups, during a public hearing in the matter convened by the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission in its office in Dhaka, also demanded that the high PDB system loss should be checked by increasing its efficiency and improving customer services.
   In proposing the increase in power tariff, the power board’s general manager (commercial) M Jamalullah said the operation and maintenance cost of the board had increased with the increase in the salary of its employees and the increase in the cost of materials needed for power distribution.
   The difference between the power supply cost and the sales stands at Tk 0.87 a unit, which is 24.31 per cent higher than the billing cost, and the power board is incurring losses for because of low tariff, Jamalullah said. ‘This is why the board has proposed to increase power tariff by 24.31 per cent. We have no option but to increase power price.’
   Taking part in the hearing, the board’s chairman SM Mesbahul Islam said the board needed to increase the power price as the overall distribution cost had increased to a large extent.
   He also said the power board should have its own power generation units so that it would not need to buy electricity from independent power plants.
   Mesbahul admitted that the board had been faced with system loss of about 38 per cent.
   Rural Electrification Board member (finance) Rezaul Huq Bhuiyan said the board needed to survive first to provide consumers with services. ‘There is no option but to increase power prices for its survival.’
   Power price for household connections is now Tk 3.58 a unit on an average and the board proposed it should be increased to Tk 4.45.
   A number of rights groups and trade bodies, including the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, Consumers’ Group, Transparency International, Bangladesh, Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Law Dev (Bangladesh), during the hearing asked for elimination of corruption, increase in efficiency and improvement in services.
   Consumers Association of Bangladesh representative M Shamsul Alam said the board was incurring huge losses because of its unusual high rate of system loss, which is about 38 per cent.
   If system loss can be cut down to 10 per cent and corruption can be eliminated by increasing the efficiency in running the organisation, the cost of a unit of power will be around Tk 3.50, he said. ‘Why will the consumers pay for system loss and inefficiency of the power board?’
   Turin Afroz of the Law Dev (Bangladesh) argued the board’s proposal was in no way justified. ‘The board speaks only of tariff increase, but never talks about improving its services.’ She asked the power board to improve its consumer services.
   After the hearing, the acting commission chairman M Mokhlesur Rahman said the arguments of both sides were recorded and they would hear more arguments and on the issue in another session on October 6 before giving the judgement.
   He said interested organisations or individuals would need to their names with the commission by August 31 to take part in the hearing in power tariff increase.
   The Rural Electrification Board on July 8 also proposed to increase power prices by 11.52 per cent.

The High Court on Tuesday issued a nine-point directive on the government to restore Gulshan-Baridhara and Gulshan-Banani lakes to their original shapes by stopping encroachment and dismantling all illegal structures by January 31, 2010.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed, in the verdict in a public interest litigation writ petition filed by Gulshan Society executive secretary Kazi M Mosharraf Hussain, asked the government and the Dhaka City Corporation to report to the court by February 15 on the implementation of the directives.
   The court also posted for February 22 further orders in the case saying the parties to the case would be free to approach the court for any further order if needed.
   In the verdict, the court ordered the government and the city corporation to demarcate the original boundaries of the lakes in accordance with the Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan by conducting surveys by January 31.
   The surveys should be carried out with the help of the deputy commissioner of Dhaka and the director general of the Land Records and Survey, the court ordered.
   The court ordered demolition and removal of all illegal structures, dirt-filling and structures set up within the original boundaries of the lakes to restore them to their original shape by the deadline.
   ‘Protect the nature and character of the lakes for all times in accordance with relevant laws of the land,’ said the court.
   If there is any valid occupant within the lakes, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha needs to provide them with plots elsewhere or compensation, the court ordered.
   It also said the government and Rajuk could take legal action against the encroachers and illegal occupants.
   The law enforcers were asked to cooperate with the authorities concerned in executing the court orders.
   The environment department director general will ensure that environmental laws are followed in the jobs, the court said.
   Ajmalul Hossain, with ABM Siddiqur Rahman Khan, moved the writ petition while deputy attorney general Mustafa Zaman Islam appeared for the government.
   The same bench on June 25 asked the government to demarcate the boundaries of the four rivers surrounding Dhaka — Balu, Turag, Buriganga and Sitalakhya — according to the cadastral survey in four months and report to the court by December 15, on on-site demarcation of the river boundaries by erecting pillars, demolishing all illegal structures and removing the dirt dumped inside the boundaries without any discrimination and construction of boundary walls and walkways along the river and planting trees in rows by May 31, 2011.

Indian border guards on Tuesday defended killing of unarmed Bangladeshis saying that most of those shoot-outs occur at the dead of night by way of self-defence.
   The chief of the BSF, the Indian border guards, however pledged to take action to stop unnatural deaths along the porous Indo-Bangla border.
   Major Genaral ML Kumawat, director general of Indian BSF came up with the view at the end of a three-day conference in Dhaka where he also assured to take stern action against Indian border guards for violation of human rights through killing of unarmed Bangladeshis.
   In the bi-annual meeting of director generals of Bangladesh Rifles and Border Security Force of India, both sides agreed to pursue coordinated border management for addressing trans-border crimes.
   BDR director general Major General Mainul Islam and BSF director general Major General ML Kumawat led their respective sides at the meeting held at the BDR headquarters.
   Indian border guards, according to statistics of human rights watchdog Odhikar, gunned down at least 64 unarmed Bangladeshis between January 1, 2009 and July 12, 2009.
    Responding to a query on unabated killing of Bangladeshis despite repeated pledges to stop such killings, Kumawat said, ‘Most of those killings, almost 85 per cent, took place at the dead of night when public movement across the border is prohibited under section 144.’
   He, however, said that the BSF had reasons to resort to firings, causing ‘unfortunate’ deaths.
   Dwelling on the issue of human rights violation by BSF , the chief of the Indian border guards said that Indian forces are aware of the importance of maintaining human rights and serious actions were taken against violators.
   ‘You know every force has some black sheeps who sometime exceed the limit. We will take serious action for such incidents and will never ever spare anyone guilty of human rights violation,’ Kumawat said.
   He made a proposal to his Bangladeshi counterpart for starting joint coordinated patrolling along the border which, he said, would help drastically cut down crimes and civilian killings.
   The director general of BDR agreed with the view that most killings occurred during night time and said that steps were taken to sensitize people not to move along the borders at night time.
   Mainul said many border pillars were damaged and as a result people in the frontier areas do not know on which land they are walking through.
   On the proposed joint coordinated patrolling, the BDR commander said, ‘It does not mean patrolling together. The BDR and BSF will be patrolling on their own territories at a specific time through coordination as all forces want to pursue criminals.
   Touching on the issue of exchange of list of criminals believed to be hiding in their respective countries, Mainul said that he had handed over to his counterpart a list of 1,227 Bangladeshi criminals and received a list of 77 people from the Indian side.
   He said, ‘The Bangladesh list topped Mursalin and Muttakin, two militants currently detained in a Bihar jail, and Muhibul, Anisul and Jehad.’
   The Indian list of criminals handed over to Bangladesh included United Liberation Front of Asam chairman Raj Khoya, its military chief Paresh Barua, general secretary Anup Chetia, who is currently detained in Bangladesh jail, and Deb Borma and Jiban Singh.
   The director general of BDR also informed reporters that the Bangladesh side gave names and photos of absconding BDR members and sought help from the Indian side to arrest them if they entered India.
   The BSF chief assured that if any absconding BDR personnel is arrested, he will be handed over to the Bangladesh authorities.
   The three-day border talks focused on a host of other issues including border management, halting killing of innocent people and prevention of cross-border crimes like smuggling of drugs and illegal weapons, and human trafficking.

The Bangladesh Bank governor, Atiur Rahman, on Tuesday said the central bank would extend farm loan coverage for more rural people to strengthen the rural economy amid global recession.
   ‘Farm loans will be disbursed among the rural people in a transparent manner to check irregularities,’ the central bank chief said as he announced the agriculture loan distribution target and policy for the 2009–10 financial year in his office auditorium.
   The governor said allegations had been widespread all these years that farmers had no access to farm loans and there were irregularities in loan disbursement.
   ‘Loans this time will therefore be disbursed among the rural people by gathering them by beating drums,’ he said.
   The central bank has set farm loan disbursement target for all banks at a record Tk 11,512.30 crore for the 2009–10 financial year.
   Atiur said money would flow from urban to rural areas and the revere would happen with the implementation of the new farm loan policy.
   The farm loan disbursement target has been set this fiscal year keeping this in mind, he said.
   Six government banks, including specialised Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, have been given a target to disburse Tk 8,453 crore among farmers.
   The central bank has given 29 private banks a target of Tk 2,594.40 crore for disbursement and 10 foreign banks a target of Tk 464.90 crore.
   The governor, however, avoided answering a question whether it would fix the interest rate when farm loans would be disbursed through non-governmental organisations. Farm loans are disbursed through non-governmental organisations where there are no bank branches. The NGOs, however, charge higher interest rates.
   ‘Many people said the target of farm loan the 2008–09 financial year was ambitious, but we have made a 99 per cent disbursement of the loan target,’ said Nazrul Huda, the central bank deputy governor, at the briefing.
   In the 2008–09 fiscal year, agriculture loan disbursement stood at Tk 9,300 crore against the target of Tk 9,389 crore.
   The total farm loan recovery rate was only 50.37 per cent while classified outstanding loans were 26.57 per cent. The recovery rate of farm loans of government banks was only 42 per cent while the recovery rate of private banks was 95.46 per cent.
   He also said foreign banks especially the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Standard Chartered and Citi Bank NA had not been initially interested in investing in farm loans because of the global financial crisis. They later disbursed farm loans among the farmers through non-governmental organisations, Nazrul said.
   He also said the Citi Bank NA had disbursed Tk 106 crore in farm loans in the past financial year.
   The HSBC has now decided to disburse Tk 150 crore and the Standard Chartered Tk 172 crore in farm loans this financial year.

Bangladesh claimed just their second ever Test victory with a 95-run win over a makeshift West Indies side in the first Test on Monday.
   Debutant off-spinner Mahmudullah did the damage with figures of five for 50 as West Indies collapsed to 181 all out with just over 40 minutes of play remaining.
   Bangladesh’s only previous victory came at home to Zimbabwe in 2005 and although this one was achieved against a West Indies side without any of their leading players, their first win overseas was a cause for celebration.
   ‘It means a lot to us, we are very happy,’ said opening batsman Tamim Iqbal, whose second-innings century laid the foundations for victory.
   The Tigers’ second win came in their 60th Test since becoming a full Test-playing nation nine years ago.
   West Indies fielded seven debutants in their hastily-assembled squad following the decision by the 13 selected players not to take part as a protest over contractual and payment issues.
   The West Indies Cricket Board has vowed to stick with the makeshift squad but the defeat will increase pressure for a settlement before the second Test starts in Grenada on Friday.
   ‘You’ll have to ask the chairman about that one,’ said Floyd Reifer, the 36-year-old stand-in skipper who was playing in his first Test in 10 years.
   ‘It is disappointing to lose but I think the guys, brought here the night before a Test, fought well,’ said Reifer.
   West Indies started the day well, removing the last five Bangladesh batsmen for just 24 runs to set up a realistic target of 277 runs for victory.
   But the Caribbean side were in trouble before lunch, losing both opening batsmen.
   Dale Richards was dismissed in amateurish fashion, hit on the pads and waiting for an lbw appeal to be answered when he strolled out of his crease and was run out.
   Omar Phillips, who made a debut century in his first innings, was trapped lbw by the left-arm spin of Sakib al Hasan to leave West Indies at 33 for two.
   Then came the twin spin attack of Mahmudullah and slow left-armer Sakib al Hasan and West Indies simply could not cope with the turn.
   Mahmudullah claimed the wickets of Travis Dowlin, Reifer, wicketkeeper Chadwick Walton and tailender Kemar Roach.
   Sakib also caused problems and picked up the vital wicket of Darren Sammy when the all-rounder wildly slashed the ball to Shahadat Hossain at point.
   Dave Bernard, the only player to have featured in the West Indies side in the recent ODI series against India, battled bravely for his second half-century of the match but he was left stranded on 52 when Sakib picked up his third wicket by trapping Tino Best lbw to clinch victory.

Fighting in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt killed 23 Taliban militants and destroyed an oil tanker supplying NATO forces based across the border in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.
   The deadliest clashes involved a village militia, officials said, reflecting the state’s increasing reliance on local tribesmen to battle Islamist radicals allegedly plotting attacks against targets in this region and in the West.
   The worst violence occurred Monday and overnight in the village of Anbar in Mohmand district, 15 kilometres southwest of Khar, the main town of the neighbouring Bajaur district — another Islamist stronghold.
   ‘According to reports received here, a lashkar (traditional tribal militia) killed 23 militants and several others were wounded,’ local administration official Asad Ali Khan said.
   Administration official Mohammad Rasul Khan said three villagers were missing after the clashes between a 150-strong village force and militants.
   Intelligence and security officials confirmed the fighting and the death toll.
   Hundreds of Islamist fighters are believed to have fled Afghanistan into Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal areas to carve out safe havens after the US-led invasion toppled the hardline Taliban regime in Kabul in late 2001.
   Pakistan is encouraging locals to organise lashkars against militants in several northwestern regions, as they widen the fight against extremists blamed for bomb attacks that have killed about 2,000 people in two years.
   In the infamous Khyber region, militants ambushed a tanker carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan and an ensuing gunfight killed two civilians, said local administration official Rehan Gul Khattak.
   The attack took place near the town of Landi Kotal on the main highway which links Pakistan to landlocked Afghanistan.
   ‘Militants first fired a mortar on the oil tanker and then set it on fire. Meanwhile a gunfight broke out with paramilitary troops which left two civilians dead and three others wounded,’ Khattak said.
   The ambush was staged by around 30 militants who fled after the exchange of fire, he said. The highway was temporarily closed, but NATO supply convoys were halted even after the road re-opened, Khattak said.
   ‘We will target all those who will continue supply,’ Umar Farooq, a spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Khyber, said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
   Violence has flared in the tribal areas despite a two-month campaign welcomed by the United States against the Taliban in and around the northwest district of Swat, once dubbed the ‘Switzerland of Pakistan’ for its resorts.
   The government this week bussed home the first of nearly two million people displaced by the conflict ahead of the monsoon season, although so far only a fraction have taken up the offer — with most still fearful about security.
   Azam Khan, a relief commissioner, said 107 families Tuesday left for Swat and the neighbouring district of Buner, where Taliban fighters thrust south towards Islamabad in April, defying a peace deal and sparking the offensive.
   ‘Home is a real heaven on earth. I am so happy to go back. I have two boxes of sweets which I will distribute to fellow travellers,’ said labourer Tariq Khan in Sheikh Shehzad camp near the northwest town of Mardan.
   Pakistan has acknowledged the huge challenge in helping people return and there are widespread fears among civilians that the Taliban are hiding in the mountains, with their core Swat leadership still alive.
   Displaced families vowed not to return until they receive bank cards charged with 25,000 rupees (300 dollars) to rebuild their lives.
   Crops were left to rot during the two-month offensive and the local economy has been shattered by a two-year Taliban uprising to enforce sharia law.
   ‘I am not going to leave this camp without a card,’ said Saleh Shah, 40, living with his wife and five children in Sheikh Shehzad.
   ‘My house in Barikot (in Swat) has been destroyed in shelling and I fear the Taliban will come back because their leadership is alive,’ he said.

The army, navy and air force have started reviewing ‘political victimisation’ of certain officers in the forces during the tenure of the past Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance government, a parliamentary panel was told Tuesday.
   ‘A number of officers were victimised because of so-called political reasons during the past government. We were told the offices of the forces’ chiefs have started reviewing the matter case by case,’ the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the defence ministry, Idris Ali, said after a meeting of the committee.
   The headquarters of the forces’ chiefs are reviewing the cases at the directives of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who is also in charge of the defence ministry, the army said.
   The committee chairman, however, did not disclose the number of the officers ‘politically victimised’ during the five years of the BNP-led alliance government between 2001 and 2006.
   Former defence secretary Idris told newsmen at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban the parliamentary committee would also look into the matter, if required.
   ‘We will follow up on the measures to be taken by the offices concerned. If we see the measures are not adequate, we will definitely give our recommendations too,’ said the head of the committee, which also had discussions on a proposed defence policy.
   Bangladesh has not been able to develop a defence policy even 38 years after its independence.
   Asked whether the policy will address whether the army should have any role in politics as it saw in the past, apparently for lack of a defence policy, the bureaucrat-turned-lawmaker said; ‘The matter remains in our consideration.’
   He said the committee had asked the Armed Forces Division to work out a defence policy draft and Tuesday’s meeting discussed only what should be in the policy.
   ‘The draft is yet to be placed before the committee. It will be placed after the prime minister approves its,’ Idris said, adding all aspects, including geo-political and environmental security aspects, will be taken into consideration in working out the policy.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the defence ministry in the eighth parliament initiated the move so that the country could have a compatible defence policy to cope with the global changes in military concepts and progress in science and technology.
   But the policy could not be formulated during the tenure of the previous government.
   Tuesday’s meeting, attended by the committee members from both sides of the political divide, also discussed the problems and prospects of the air force.
   MA Mannan, a lawmaker for a Sunamganj constituency, represented the prime minister while Jamiruddin Sircar represented the opposition BNP at the meeting.
   The committee members viewed that the air force needed more equipment for its modernisation. Many of the air force equipment are outdated and need to be replaced.
   The meeting stressed the need for the establishment of overhauling plants for maintenance and repair of military hardware in Bangladesh as the government needs to spend a lot of money on having the equipment repaired abroad.

Bangladesh’s parliamentary delegation, selected to inspect India’s planned Tipaimukh dam site, will leave on July 29, a government official said Tuesday.
   ‘The parliamentary team will leave Dhaka on July 29,’ Hasan Mahamud told reporters.
   A 10-member parliamentary panel, headed by the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on water resources ministry Abdur Razzaq, will go to India to gather data on India’s proposed dam over the cross-border River Barak in the north-eastern state of Manipur.
   Six MPs — four from the Awami League, one from the Jatiya Party and one from the Bangladesh Jaamat-e-Islami — one water expert and three government officials, have been selected for the delegation in a draft list prepared by the government, Razzaq told the news agency.
   Regarding the BNP’s inclusion in the team, Razzaq said the main opposition party was ‘playing politics’ with the issue. ‘The BNP chief whip met me for inclusion of their MPs but they are not providing the names, so I don’t know whether BNP members will be inducted in the team.’
   Aside from Razzaq, the members of the team so far include: ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader MP (JP), Abdur Rahman MP (AL), AKM Fazlul Haq MP (AL), ABM Anwarul Haq MP (AL), Hamidur Rahman Azad MP (BJI), Professor Monwar Hossain of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Sajjad Hossain of the Bangladesh-India Joint Rivers Commission, the water resources secretary and a director general of the foreign ministry.
   India invited a parliamentary delegation from Dhaka to visit the site of the contentious project as Bangladeshi environmentalists, media and public have voiced concerns that the dam will cause environmental disaster to downstream regions, including Bangladesh.
   India says the project is aimed at generating power and would not divert or hold up water from the river.
   Many in India’s Manipur are also in opposition to the project saying the dam would make displace thousands of people.
   The River Barak supplies waters to two rivers in Bangladesh, the Surma and Kushiara, the main sources of water to hundreds of water bodies in the greater Sylhet region and which in turn feed the mighty River Jamuna.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, left Dhaka for Cairo Tuesday morning to represent Bangladesh at the 15th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement scheduled for July 15–16 at Sharm El Sheikh, a Red sea resort city in Egypt.
   A special Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight, carrying a 36-member official delegation led by the prime minister and a 14-member media team, took off at Zia International Airport at 11:21am.
   The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, and the foreign secretary, Mijarul Quayes, are in Sharm El Sheikh to attend pre-summit meetings.
   Hasina will hold a series of meetings with the heads of state and government, including India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the NAM Summit.
   Around 60 heads of state and government are expected to attend the summit held this time with the theme ‘International Solidarity for Peace and Development.’
   About 110 countries will be represented at the meet which focuses on economic, development and social issues confronting the member nations and the world.

The BNP’s secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain on Tuesday said the party’s next course of action would depend on what the Election Commission tells its delegation, which is scheduled to meet the commission on Thursday.
   ‘Our delegation will meet the commission on Thursday. We will chart out our next course of action on the basis of what the commission tells us,’ he said at the party’s central office at Naya Paltan.
   ‘It will not be possible for us to satisfy the Election Commission by holding the national council session by July 25,’ he told reporters.
   Delwar came down heavily on the Election Commission for the second consecutive day after the ruling Awami League had decided to hold their council session by July 25, the deadline set by the commission to submit the constitutions of political parties after ratification in council sessions.
   Delwar said still the council sessions of 22 units of the Awami League were pending and they decided to hold the national council session in 12 days. ‘How can it be possible? We will not go for any eyewash session. We would rather want to hold a proper national council session.’
   He said the Election Commission when it set the deadline and afterwards on several occasions said it might extend the deadline if the parties would so request, but it was now saying it could not even receive applications for deadline extension as there was no mention of it in the revised Representation of the People Order. ‘Why did the commission show such a gesture earlier?’
   Delwar again accused the Election Commission and the government of conspiring against the Bangladesh Nationalist Party so that it would fail to complete the registration process.
   He asked the commission to keep scope for political parties to submit their constitutions after getting them approved in council sessions.

The Mirpur police officer-in-charge was suspended on charges of negligence in his duties six hours after an attack on the Swadhin Bangla Super Market in which Abdur Rahim Mintu was killed and seven others, including Dhaka city (north) Chhatra League vice-president Anwar Hossain Litu, were injured on Monday.
   The police have, meanwhile, not been able to arrest anyone till Tuesday night in connection with the attack.
   Sabina Yasmin Mita, wife of the slain Abdur Rahim, filed a murder case against six or seven unnamed suspects with the Mirpur police.
   The Mirpur police officer-in-charge, Mohammad Nazimuddin, was suspended six hours after the attack on charges of negligence in his duties.
   Detective Branch assistant commissioner Shyamal Mukherjee told New Age, ‘The suspension order reached the police station at around 9:00pm Monday.’
   Asked about his suspension, Nazimuddin said, ‘We are government employees. We need to go by government order.’
   Subinspector Kamrun Nahar, the duty officer of the Mirpur police, said, ‘The police early Tuesday picked up Shamser Ali, son of Sarafat Ali, who claimed to be the owner of the land where the market was being built, for interrogation.’
   The police, Rapid Action Battalion and intelligence agencies are now conducting raids to arrest the criminals
   The Detective Branch, Special Branch, Criminal Investigation Department and Rapid Action Battalion along with the Mirpur police visited the place of occurrence.
   Local residents said the area had been tense in fear of further gun attack.

The four-day civic group road march that began in Dhaka on Saturday to mobilize support against the government’s reported move to lease out offshore gas blocks to international oil companies for hydrocarbon exploration in the Bay ended in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday.
   Hundreds of people gathered in Laldighi crossing in the tourism town to express their solidarity with the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral Resources, power and port, which organised the march.
   The organisation leaders at a rally in the place asked the government not to sign any agreements which could establish the dominance of multinational companies on national resources.
   They said public support manifested in more than 20 rallies during more than 400km road march had proved people’s commitment towards resisting the government move at any cost.
   They warned of a countrywide movement in case the government would make such deals without proper discussion on the matter in the parliament.
   The speakers alleged the government was going ahead with the plan of the military-controlled interim government for awarding US-based Conoco Philips eight offshore gas blocks and Ireland-based Tullow one gas block.
   In accordance with the scheme, the US company is set to get deep-sea Block 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20 and 21 and the Irish company Block 5, the civic group claimed.
   A certain quarter in the energy ministry is also pursuing a production sharing contract with the international oil companies which will allow them to export 80 per cent of the gas in liquid form once it is extracted, the organisers alleged.
   Presided over by the committee’s district convener Idris Ahmed, of Gana Forum, the rally at Cox’s Bazar was also addressed, among others, by central convener Sheikh Muhammad Shaheedullah and member secretary Anu Muhammad.
   The Jatiya Gana Front’s convener Tipu Biswas, Communist Party of Bangladesh presidium member Shah Alam, Workers Party leaders Abul Hossain and Haji Bashirul Alam, central Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal leaders Bazlur Rashid Firoz and Shubhrangshu Chakravarty, Revolutionary Workers Party general secretary Saiful Huq, Democratic Revolutionary Party general secretary Mushrefa Mishu, central Ganatantri Party leader Mahmudur Rahman Babu, Ganasanghati Andolon coordinator Zonayed Saki and Ganatantrik Majdur Party leader Abdur Rashid Niloo also spoke.
   The road march stopped at Patiya, Chandanaish, Dulahazara, Chakaria and Ramu between Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar, where the civic group leaders addressed the people who stood holding banners, festoons and placards.
   The speakers at the rallies suggested that the government should give due consideration to the opinions of the people who are the owners of all national resources and that the government should refrain from signing any such deals.

The police arrested 35 people, including 23 Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute unit Bangladesh Chhatra League activists, in raids on hostels early Tuesday over infighting.
   The Tejgaon zone deputy police commissioner, Chowdhury Manjurul Kabir, at a briefing at the Tejgaon police station said four Chhatra League factions, led by Zakir, Shahin, Kamalesh and Imtiaz, clashed in Latif Hostel, Zahir Raihan Hostel and Quazi Motahar Hossain Hostel late Monday.
   The police raided the three hostels early Tuesday and arrested 35 people, 12 of them were outsiders, in possession with 17 sharp weapons.
   The arrested Rakibul Islam Masud, Salman Hasan, Abu Naser, Ruhul Amin, Sheikh Russell, Kausar Alam, Tanzirul Islam Rahim Uddin, Mostafa Milon, Enamul Hasan, Farhad Hossain, Alim Reja and Al-Ikram Nixon were handed over to the Tejgaon police. Others were produced in court.
   A case was filed with the Tejgaon police in connection with the clashes.

At least 50 fishermen went missing in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday after some fishing boats had capsized during a storm.
   Witnesses said about 50 fishing trawlers with more than 300 fishermen on board sank into the sea near the coastal belt of Baharchhara at Tekhnaf during the storm at about 1:00pm.
   About 250 fishermen swam ashore. Others have gone missing.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Tofael Ahmed, visited the spot.No rescue operation could be launched as the sea remained rough.

Extortionists shot and wounded a trader at Par Gendaria in South Keraniganj Tuesday night for refusing toll.
   The victim, Titu, 28, son of UP member Ali Ahmed, was taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.
   Witnesses said extortionists sprayed five bullets on Titu at about 9:00pm. Family sources said extortionists of the area had deman-ded Tk 5 lakh from Titu.

Gunmen shot dead a trader on Sadanpara road in Raza-bazar in the city Tuesday night. The deceased was Montu de Costa, 40, son of Joseph de Costa, resident of city’s Shewrapara. Hospital sources said unidentified miscreants sprayed bullets on Montu at around 9:15pm leaving him dead on the spot. The police sent the body riddled by five bullets, to DMCH for autopsy.