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The High Court on Wednesday asked the directors general of the Department of Environment and the Land Records and Survey, and the chairman of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority to appear in court today and report on the measures taken so far to prevent encroachment, dirt-filling and construction of illegal structures on the rivers surrounding the capital.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed also asked the establishment ministry to report to the court in two weeks the whereabouts of the persons who had worked as industries secretary and director general of the environment department since July 2001.
   The court passed the orders hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by rights organisation Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.
   It also allowed the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association to be party to the case.
   The same court on May 24 asked the government to stop erection of any structures, temporary or permanent, on the banks of the Buriganga, Sitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers and dirt-filling and encroachment of any kinds on the rivers.
   The court also asked the government to explain in a week why it would not be ordered to demarcate the original boundaries and limits of the four rivers by forming a special survey team.
   The government was also asked to explain why the restoration of the rivers to their former state and removal of the installations on their banks should not be ordered.
   The same bench on April 28 asked the industries secretary and environment department director general to report to the court in a month on steps taken in compliance with its judgment delivered in 2001, asking the authorities concerned to prevent environment pollution by the industries and factories classified as ‘red’ and ‘orange.’
   The court, on July 15, 2001, in a judgment in a writ petition filed by the Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association directed the environment department director general to take effective steps in a year to prevent environmental pollution caused by the industries and factories classified as ‘red’ and in two years as regard to those classified as ‘orange’.
   The ‘red’ industries are polluting the environment totally and the ‘orange’ partially. The industries were classified by the government.
   The same court also asked the industries secretary not to allow the setting up of new industries and factories without having adequate arrangements for pollution control.
   The court asked the authorities to inform the court by two years of the steps taken for complying with its judgment.

The drive against illegal structures on the banks of the River Turag began on Wednesday with the demolition of 59 illegal structures, including a fish market and the Mosque Market near the Tongi bridge.
   The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and the Dhaka and Gazipur district administrations launched the drive at around 10:00am, which was somewhat hampered by the lack of coordination among the officials concerned.
   According to sources in the Gazipur district administration,  98 illegal structures between the Tongi and the Ashulia bridge, 64 in Gazipur and 54 in Dhaka, have been earmarked for demolition during the three-day drive.
   The drive also includes excavation of the earth, sand and waste that have been illegally dumped into the river by encroachers.
   The three-storey fish market of the Tongi municipality, the two-storey Mosque Market and some other structures were razed to the ground. Bulldozers, tug boats, along with workers using sledge-hammer, were used in the demolition drive.
   Hundreds of people gathered to see the demolition of illegal structures, and none of them raised a voice against the drive. Most of the structures demolished were built and used for commercial purposes.
   The deputy commissioner of Gazipur, Md Kamal Uddin Talukdar, told journalists, ‘The drive will continue until the river bank becomes free of illegal structures.’
   No one was arrested in the drive.
   Professor Anwar Sadat, president of the Gazipur district unit of Paribesh Andolan, welcomed the drive and asked the local people to participate actively in the effort to protect the environment of the district.
   The eviction drive was launched after the High Court on May 24 ordered the government to act swiftly to prevent erection of any structures — temporary or permanent — on the banks of the Buriganga, Sitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers, and stop earth-filling and encroachment of any kind.
   The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed also asked the government to explain in a week why it should not be ordered to demarcate the original boundaries and limits of the four rivers by forming a special survey team.
   The BIWTA’s chairman, Department of Environment’s director general and the deputy commissioners of Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur were also asked to explain why restoration of the rivers to their former
   state and removal of the installations on their banks should not be ordered.
   The same bench on Wednesday asked the directors general of the Department of Environment and the Land Records and Survey, and the chairman of the BIWTA to appear in court today and report on the measures taken so far to prevent encroachment, earth-filling and construction of illegal structures on the banks of the rivers in, or surrounding, the capital.

The ninth parliament goes into its first budget session this afternoon.
   The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party is likely to join the session although the treasury and opposition benches have seemingly failed to settle their dispute over the seating arrangement in the front row to the left of the speaker.
   The session, second of the present parliament, is scheduled to begin at 3:00pm today. The finance minister, AMA Muhith, will place the proposed national budget for the fiscal 2009-10 in the house on June 11. It will be the first budget prepared by the incumbent government.
   At a meeting Wednesday, the business advisory committee decided that the new budget would be passed on June 30 and that the session would continue till July 9, the parliament sources said.
   The revised budget for the fiscal 2008-09 will also be placed, discussed and passed during the session.
   The speaker, Abdul Hamid, presided over the business advisory committee meeting attended by the leader of the house and prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Former speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar represented the leader of the opposition in the meeting.
   The BAC decided to hold discussion on the new budget for 40 hours.
   The opposition representatives Jamir Uddin Sircar and MK Anwar proposed to hold discussions on law and order, crisis of water and electricity, Asian Highway, India’s Tipaimukh multipurpose dam project and probe reports on the rebellion at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters, a meeting source said.
   The meeting decided to hold discussions on the issues after passage of the budget.
   The ruling Awami League is scheduled to hold its parliamentary party meeting at 2:30pm today.
   The opposition BNP did not formally call its parliamentary party meeting till filing of this report at 9:00pm Wednesday.
   The lawmakers of the party were, however, informally asked to remain in the capital, a BNP lawmaker said.
   The house is likely to experience debates on various issues, including the new budget, deteriorating law and order, crisis of water and electricity, Asian Highway, India’s Tipaimukh dam project, probe reports on the BDR mutiny and seating arrangement in the front row to the left of the speaker in the house.
   Dispute was raging between the treasury and opposition benches as the two sides failed to reach an understanding on the seating arrangement.
   The opposition chief whip, Zainul Abdin Farroque, is likely to convey the treasury bench proposals to the BNP’s parliamentary party this afternoon. ‘The parliamentary party will make a decision whether to accept the proposals,’ he told New Age.
   The chief whip, Abdush Shahid, said the opposition had been offered one more seat in the front row.
   The speaker, Abdul Hamid, requested the opposition to accept two more seats, one in the front row and another in the second row, according to sources close to him.
   According to the new seating plan, Jamir Uddin Sircar and Moudud Ahmed of BNP and Rawshan Ershad of Jatiya Party are likely to get berth in the front row. BNP lawmaker Kazi Shah Mofazzal Hossain Kaikobad is likely to be sent to the second row from the front row.
   Former Jatiya Sangsad speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar before the first session of the ninth parliament allocated 10 seats in the front row, to the speaker’s left, to opposition lawmakers, including one to LDP lawmaker Oli Ahmed.
   Taking over as speaker, Abdul Hamid, in view of the demand from the treasury bench, changed the seating arrangement, allocating four seats in the front row to opposition lawmakers, including one to Oli Ahmed.
   BNP lawmakers then boycotted the parliament in protest against the speaker’s decision. They later attended the first session on assurance by the speaker that their demands would be considered.

The Pure Food Court magistrate, Shaikh Nazmul Alam, has asked the Dhaka City Corporation food inspectors to collect samples of seasonal fruits, reportedly being sold after ripened with carbide and dipped into formalin, within 24 hours after the receipt of the order.
   The DCC public analyst, Golam Sarwar, on Wednesday said he had received a copy of such order on the day.
   The court noticed that despite repeated allegations from different quarters, the DCC health inspectors have not yet taken any steps to control adulteration of seasonal fruits.
   In view of section 32 of the Pure Food Ordinance 1959, all the health inspectors of the corporation having prosecuting power under the ordinance are directed to collect sample of seasonal fruits in due process of law within 24 hours on receipt of this order from all wholesale markets/shops of their respective jurisdiction and send the samples to the DCC public analyst.
   As a matter of emergency, the public analyst shall examine the samples of the seasonal fruits
   and shall submit a report to this court within two days on receipt of the sample, said the court order copy.
   The court also asked the public analyst to mention in his report whether the samples were unwholesome or unfit for human consumption or not.
   Special metropolitan magistrate Nazmul also sent a letter to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate seeking permission for running mobile court drive under the pure food court.

The parliament commission on Wednesday approved a proposal for purchasing cars for all members of the parliament doing away with their privilege to import duty-free vehicles, the speaker of Jatiya Sangsad said Wednesday.
   ‘All lawmakers will be provided with vehicles to be maintained by the government transport pool,’ speaker Abdul Hamid said after a meeting of the commission that he presided at the parliament building.
   The cars for the lawmakers will be available in the next fiscal year beginning July 1. The budget and specification of the cars will be determined later, the speaker said.
   The finance ministry, however, allocated roughly Tk 50 crore to purchase vehicles for lawmakers of the 345-strong parliament.
   ‘Those who are already enjoying official car facility would not be given a second one, and there will be an end to the regime of duty-free car import for lawmakers,’ reads the commission’s decision.
   The government will need to appoint drivers for the cars and additional manpower for their maintenance besides the fuel bills.
   The parliament commission’s decision came at a time when the Awami League-led alliance government announced austerity in administrative spending amid global financial recession.
   Hamid, while talking to New Age on May 14, viewed that the government move to purchase cars for lawmakers would not bring much benefit for the government rather it would increase the government expenditure.
   He had pointed out that purchase and maintenance costs of a large number of cars would put pressure on the public exchequer. Hamid said he had preferred continuation of the duty-free import facility, which the army-backed government had scrapped by an ordinance. The elected government disregarded the ordinance and did not ratify it in parliament.
   The elected MPs were entitled to duty-free import of cars once in a five-year tenure.
   The facility was cancelled by the interim administration following disclosures that most MPs had sold out the costly and luxury cars they imported, to car dealers and other private parties for a higher price.
   Wednesday’s meeting also attended by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, approved office rooms for all the lawmakers at parliament complex. Each of the MPs will also be provided with an office at their respective constituencies.
   As the chairmen of the parliamentary standing committees were not given any official status, the commission also approved a proposal for giving them flag cars. ‘The parliament secretariat will provide the flag with the emblem of Jatiya Sangsad,’ said the speaker, who will now be entitled to two flags – the parliament flag besides the national flag.
   Each chairman will also be given gunmen by the government.
   The speaker’s motorcade will now be officially entitled to a follow-up vehicle.
   The meeting doubled the daily allowance for additional duty of the parliament employees to Tk 200 from Tk 100. It also increased the entertainment expenditure for a guest to Tk 25 from existing 12.
   The meeting also approved the parliament television channel to air the parliament proceedings. In that case the second channel of state-run Bangladesh Television would be used with territorial facilities.

Mismanagement at different level mars relief operation for the people affected in inundation in the south and southwest caused by cyclone Aila on May 25, residents said.
   Relief goods, provided by the government and private agencies, began reaching many of the affected areas but the victims say it was inadequate for the requirement. People in many remote areas were yet to get any kind of government help.
   Affected people in different areas alleged that the local government representatives indulging in nepotism are distributing the relief goods among their relatives and close ones, depriving the poorest section. They also alleged that they were getting much less than what they were promised.
   The Khulna district administration distributed 3,827 tonnes of rice, Tk 44,48,180 in cash, 800kg of flattened rice, 500kg of molasses, 5000 litres of water, 2000 pieces of lungi, 175 lager tents, 550 small tents and 3,800 pieces of saris among 5,45,954 people of 1,18,757 families in 45 unions and two municipalities under six affected upazilas. The administration also distributed Tk 3,34,312 for transportation of relief materials.
   In Patuakhali, 1,500 tonnes of rice, Tk 37 lakh in cash, 2,800 pieces of sari and others goods were allocated for the affected people in the district.
   People in the affected areas alleged that the local government representatives were taking money from the affected people to induct their names on the list of relief recipients.
   Nurjahan Begum of Mehendipur of Bauphal in Patuakhali said she lost everything including her dwelling house but got no relief yet. ‘People who are solvent and have houses got relief as they gave money to the chairman and members of the union. I live on alms. I have no money to give them,’ she said.
   ‘Relief materials were distributed in an uncoordinated and scattered manner and a number of people are yet to see any relief or medicine. People, in areas where road communication is better, are getting relief materials more than they are supposed to get,’ said Ruhin Sikder, a general practitioner of village Kamarkhola at Dacope in Khulna.
   ‘I have not seen any relief material till today after the tidal surge,’ said 65-year old day labourer Habib Gazi of Kalabagi in Dacope.
   Day labourer Tapas Kumar Mandal of Gunari at Dacope said he got only two kilograms of rice in eight days as he worked for repairing the dam at Gunari point. He accused the local union chairman of indulging in nepotism in making the list and distributing relief goods. The chairman, Bidhu Narayan Sardar, however, denied the allegation.
   The relief workers said despite being a calamity-prone area, there was no priority list of persons eligible to get relief and the local government representatives were preparing the list even eight days after the disaster. Absence of such list results in discrimination; some are getting much while some are getting nothing, they said.
   Morol Md Rashiduzzaman, chairman of Paikgachha upazila, said the administration had allocated rice for distribution among the affected people but no money was given for transportation and the union council chairmen were reaching the goods on their own, which delayed the distribution.
   ‘How can I manage the money immediately to take the allocated rice to my villages if I am not given the transportation cost,’ said Dibakar Bishwas, chairman of Lata union under Paikgachha. ‘It takes Tk 700 to reach six to seven sacks of rice to my office at Lata from Paikgachha, a distance of only 15km.’
   Abdul Majid Golder, chairman of Raruli union in Paikgachha, said he has got 58 tonnes of rice for 35 thousand people and it is not sufficient. ‘I have distributed relief to some poor persons and still preparing the list of persons eligible to get relief goods,’ he said.
   Shamshur Sheikh of village No 3 Koyra under Koyra alleged he got 8kg of rice on Tuesday though the local union parishad chairman said each family would get 10kg of rice. The chairman, GM Shahabuddin Ahmed, claimed that all those who got relief on Tuesday were given 10kg of rice.
   People in hard-to-reach village of Kalabogi, Gunari, Bainpukur Chak, Bainpara in Dacope said they were yet to get any food or medicine.
   ‘Eight days after the cyclone Aila, no relief goods from the government nor from NGOs reached the submerged villages of Sahajatpur and Kheshra at Tala in Satkhira,’ said Bishwajit Das, son of Sadhan Chandra Das of Kheshra under Tala.
   ‘People of submerged Baniakhali, Bhagba, Hodda and Mathbaria in Koyra are yet to get relief till Wednesday morning,’ said Neehar Mandal Hodda.
   The Koyra upazila nirbahi officer, MM Arif Pasha, and the Dacope upazial nirbahi officer, Quazi Ataur Rahman, said they were yet to get any compliant of mismanagement or nepotism.
   They, however, said some money was allocated by the district administration for carrying relief goods but they were yet to reach their hands.
   Md Monir Hossain of Kuakata at Latachapli under Kalapara in Patuakhali accused the union chairman and president of Latachapli unit of Awami League, Abdul Barek Mollah, of demanding money from him to return snatched away construction materials.
   ‘I got some materials to reconstruct dwelling house from Save the Children. But on the way home, some followers of chairman Barek Mollah snatched away all the materials. I met the chairman and informed him of the matter. But, he demanded Tk 5,000,’ said Monir.
   Barek Mollah, however, said the accusation was completely false and he did not hear of such incident in his union.

State minister for home affairs Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj, who submitted his resignation on Monday, met prime minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Jamuna Wednesday evening and has decided to attend office today.
   ‘I was sick, and would attend office if I feel better tomorrow,’ he told New Age after his meeting with the prime minister.
   Earlier, LGRD and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam and home affairs minister advocate Sahara Khatun met Taj in the evening at his Bailey Road residence and took him to Jamuna.
   They talked with Sheikh Hasina for over an hour and left Jamuna dodging the press.

The deadline for the submission of report by the home ministry committee investigating the ‘unnatural deaths’ of Bangladesh Rifles soldiers in custody expires today, but it failed to make any headway because of bureaucratic tangles.
   The head of the four-member committee said he was no more leading the committee as a new deputy secretary (police) has taken over.
   ‘Being a deputy secretary [in charge of police], I was initially the head of the inquiry committee on unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers… As another deputy secretary has been posted to the desk, I am no more with the committee,’ deputy secretary (law) Zakir Hassain told New Age in his office on Tuesday.
   The home ministry notification issued on May 14 named Zakir Hossain the head of the inquiry committee, comprising BDR and police personnel, which is supposed to find out the reason behind the incidents of unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers and place the report in 15 days.
   The newly appointed deputy secretary (police) Shelina Afroza said she had joined a few days ago and was not leading any such committee.
   ‘I am new here and unaware of any investigation committee… I have not even been asked to lead any committee. You had better talk to my joint secretary or the secretary,’ Shelina told New Age with a request not embarrass her with further questions on the issue.
   Twenty-one BDR soldiers died in custody Dhaka and elsewhere after the rebellion. Four of them reportedly committed suicide, seven ‘died of heart attack’ and the remaining 10 died of other diseases, according to the BDR authorities.
   The government initiated the executive inquiry of unnatural, custodial deaths of the paramilitary soldiers after the February 25–26 rebellion in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka under pressure from local and international rights groups. Such custodial deaths of BDR soldiers were initially projected to have been due to heart attacks.
   The committee, led by deputy secretary Zakir Hossain, began work on May 20 with the home affairs ministry approving a proposal for co-opting a specialised physician in the committee to review post-mortem examination reports of the soldiers who died in custody.
   When his attention was called to the matter, the home affairs secretary, Abdus Sobhan Sikder, told New Age Zakir Hossain would lead the committee and the ministry would grant more time it was required to complete the task.
   ‘As there are around 20 unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers, it may require more time to investigate each of the incidents… The head of the inquiry team will not be changed,’ he said.
   The committee has been asked to recommend how to prevent such custodial deaths, according to an official order issued on May 14.
   The police have so far arrested more than 3,000 BDR soldiers at places across the country in connection with the rebellion in which 75 persons, including 57 army officers, were killed and many were injured.
   The inquiry committee will give details on BDR soldiers — their numbers, names, addresses and ranks — who died ‘unnatural deaths’ after the rebellion in the BDR headquarters.
   The Bangladesh Rifles in a clarification on March 29 said heart attack alone accounted for about 69 per cent of the deaths in the paramilitary force.
   The clarification came on the heels of media reports on custodial deaths of BDR soldiers and concerns of the rights groups.
   The Bangladesh Rifles said 171 soldiers in uniform or plainclothes died of various ailments while they were on duty in the past two years, beginning January 1, 2006.
   One hundred and four of them died of heart attacks, which account for 68.81 per cent of the total deaths, according to the BDR statement.

Anwar Hossain Manju, former communications minister and chairman of a faction of the Jatiya Party who was sentenced to imprisonment for 32 years in four cases, was finally freed from the jail on Wednesday.
   Touhidul Islam, the superintendent of the Dhaka Central Jail, said that the prison guards were withdrawn at about 6:00pm on Wednesday from the BIRDEM Hospital’s cabin where Manju was reportedly undergoing treatment. His family, friends and well-wishers were allowed to enter the cabin after the withdrawal of the guards.
   After being released Manju visited his father’s grave at Azimpur and then returned to his residence at Dhanmondi in the evening.
   Manju, who was convicted in all the four cases filed against him during the Fakhruddin-led interim government’s regime, was sent to jail after his surrender to the trial court on May 6.
   He secured bail from the High Court on May 28 in the last of the four cases filed in 2007 in which he was convicted and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in 2008 for receiving Tk 77 lakh as bribe.
   Manju secured bail from the High Court on May 19 in another bribery case dating from 2007, involving Tk 1 crore, for which he also sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in May 2008.
   He also got bail on May 19 in the case filed against him for amassing illegal assets for which he was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in August, 2008. The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case against Manju and his wife, Tasmima Hossain, in October 2007.
   Manju secured bail on May 26 in another case filed for illegal possession of 22 bottles of alcohol, in which he received a five-year sentence of imprisonment.

The country has suffered a financial loss of about Tk 1,020 crore and a production loss of crops of nearly 3.75 lakh tonnes as over 2.50 lakh hectares of land had been submerged due to the recent devastating cyclone Aila.
   The Department of Agricultural Extension disclosed this Wednesday after conducting a final assessment on the extent of damage to the crops.
   Various standing crops, including aus seedbeds, aus paddy, boro paddy, jute, chilli, vegetables, nut, palm, mung, betel leaf, banana, papaya and mango, have been damaged as the cyclone Aila hit the south-western parts of the country.
   Meanwhile, the DAE has already taken up a rehabilitation programme for T-aman cultivation involving Tk 32.50 crore in upcoming July considering the loss of about 50 per cent crops.
   The programme will implement in 12 worst cyclone-hit districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Barisal, Pirojpur, Patuakhali, Bhola, Barguna, Jhalakati, Chittagong, Lakshmipur and Noakhali.
   A high official of the DAE told the news agency that despite the loss of various crops, the government will provide assistance for cultivation of a particular crop like T-aman.
   Considering the overall loss by the farmers, the government is likely to continue the programme up to the boro season, the official said adding that sub-assistant officers of the DAE had already prepared lists of the affected farmers.
   About 44,082 hectares of land, and over one lakh poor and marginal farmers will be brought under the assistance programme, said the DAE official.
   A farmer will get five kgs of seeds, 18 kgs of urea and 8 kgs of triple super phosphate and 9 kgs of muriate of potash for cultivating a bigha of land under the programme.
   The government will provide 1,400 tonnes of T-aman seeds, 2,400 tonnes of TSP, 5,000 tonnes of urea and 2,800 tonnes of MoP fertilisers for the farmers.
   Besides, the Islamic Development Bank under the Jeddah declaration will provide seeds and fertilisers worth Tk 13.36 crore for the cyclone-hit poor and marginal farmers free of cost.

The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation’s proposal to decrease the price of LPG has been lying with the government for about three weeks while the corporation’s sale of LPG has dropped ‘alarmingly’ because of the high price, forcing the concerned authorities to burn a huge amount of condensate, a raw material used for producing LPG.
   Sources in the BPC said that they had forwarded a proposal to the energy ministry for submitting an application to the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission to reduce the price of each cylinder of LPG to around Tk 750-800 from the existing price of Tk 850 in the second week of May.
   ‘But we are yet to get any green light from the ministry allowing us to submit an application to the BERC to reduce the price of LPG,’ said a high official of the BPC on Tuesday.
   Sources in the energy ministry said that after getting BPC’s proposal, the ministry recommended further cut of the price of LPG to around Tk 700 per cylinder, and sent the proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office one week back for the approval of the premier, Sheikh Hasina, who is in charge of this ministry.
   ‘Once we get the prime minister’s nod for price cut, BPC will be asked to submit the application to the BERC,’ said a source in the ministry.
   The BPC’s sale of LPG has dropped steadily over the last three months as the private companies have reduced their price to around Tk 750 following the slump of oil prices in the international market.
   The energy ministry in May asked the BPC to put forward the price cut proposal after the movement of petrol-pump owners and dealers in the greater Sylhet region who are demanding cut in the price of LPG.
   Authorities of Sylhet Gas Fields Ltd, meanwhile, have been burning a huge quantity of condensate — liquefied natural gas extracted from the gas-field as a by-product — as the bottling of LPG at the Koilashtila plant of the BPC’s subsidiary, LP Gas Ltd, has virtually stopped because of lack of sale, said energy officials.
   The Rupantarito Prakritik Gas Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the Petrobangla, collects around 70,000-1,00,000 litres of condensate from four gas-fields of the Sylhet Gas Fields Ltd per day and produces around 30,000 litres of LPG and 50,000-60,000 litres of petrol at the Koilashtila NGL Fractionation Plant.
   The LP Gas Ltd of BPC usually bottles LPG after collecting it from the RPGCL, but for the last three weeks the latter has stopped producing LPG because of the drop in BPC’s sales. The authorities of the Sylhet Gas Fields Ltd are forced to burn around 30 per cent of the total condensate as there are no facilities to store such a huge amount.
   A high official of the BERC, while talking to New Age, expressed resentment over the government’s delay in sending the proposal to lower the price of LPG.
   ‘The BERC asked the energy ministry earlier to take steps to reduce the LPG price after we came to know of the burning the condensate. But we are yet to get any proposal. This delay is mysterious as the private companies are ultimately getting the benefits as the BPC’s sale of LPG has dropped,’ he said.

Dreaded criminals Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh, who were arrested on May 27 from Mourali village in Brahmanbaria, have named two influential former ministers, three lawmakers and seven businessmen, who patronised them and helped them expand their network here, investigators said.
   Merchant had admitted that smuggling of arms and drugs is the key business of their syndicate but they have not yet begun their activities in Bangladesh, they added.
   ‘Merchant disclosed that Chotta Shakil, the second-in-command of Mafia don Daud Ibrahim, controlled their terror network in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Bangladesh, and his close accomplice Tiger Menon supervises the network,’ the official continued.
   ‘I have heard that more than 300 paid gangsters, directed by Chotta Shakil, are indulging in criminal activities across the country but I am yet to meet any of them,’ the official, quoting Merchant, told New Age.
   Based on the information extracted from Mujahid and Merchant, law enforcers are conducting raids at Keraniganj, Gazipur, Savar and Narayanganj to nab the suspects.
   ‘We have obtained some significant information from the arrestees — that they had established their terror network in the country in late 1995 and started strengthening it after 2000 by recruiting 300 dedicated gangsters,’ a high official of the Detective Branch told New Age.

More than 2,000 people have reportedly fled their homes in Nepal villages bordering India after alleged assault, rape and intimidation by Indian security forces patrolling the border, reports the Money Times Wednesday.
   Nearly two dozen villages in Dang district in midwestern Nepal, once a stronghold of the Maoist party, have been living in terror after repeated attacks by Indian border security forces, cowering villagers told Nepal’s biggest private television station Kantipur.
   Many of them are now at the mercy of the elements, living under the open sky in a forest in the Deukhuri area of the district.
   Women in the border villages who go to forests to collect fodder and men who cross over the open border to go to India to buy provisions have been complaining of terror unleashed by Indian security personnel. While the men are harassed, women are allegedly raped.
   Besides the Indian patrols, armed groups from India are also said to be attacking villagers and taking away young women.
   In the last three years, at least 17 girls vanished from three border villages — Patauli, Sunpathri and Kalyani. They are believed to have been sold in brothels in India.
   Rana Bahadur BK, a 58-year-old from Khangra village, told the Kathmandu Post daily Wednesday that two of his daughters, who had gone to India to visit their elder sister, never came back.

An expert committee tasked with recommending corrections for ‘distorted history’ in primary textbooks has said Sheikh Mujibur Rahman should be recognised as the ‘greatest’ leader.
   It said, among other renowned historical figures, AK Fazlul Haque, Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, General MAG Osmani and Ziaur Rahman must also be given proper recognition as ‘independence heroes’.
   ‘In the 64-page report, we’ve identified the distortions of independence war history in primary textbooks and suggested corrections,’ Mamataj Uddin Patwary, a member of the nine-member committee, told the news agency on Wednesday after submitting the report to the education minister.
   The Awami League, which led the war against Pakistan in 1971, has long claimed distortion of the history by the previous BNP-led government.
   Mamataj said they had divided the independence leadership into two parts, recommending Mujib be referred to as ‘great leader’, while Fazlul Haque, Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, General Osmani and Zia will be known as ‘independence heroes’.
   He also mentioned the declaration of independence as another example of ‘distorted history’, with BNP claiming Ziaur Rahman made the declaration.
   ‘There is only a little information on the government-in-exile during the war,’ Mamataj said.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday remanded former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu in police custody for five days for interrogation in connection with the February 25-26 rebellion at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka that killed 75 people, including 57 army officers.
   Within hours after being remanded, Pintu was taken to the taskforce interrogation cell, a joint interrogation cell of the army, RAB, DGFI and other intelligence agencies, for interrogation for five days, said a senior police officer.
   The Criminal Investigation Department, investigating the BDR carnage case, produced Pintu in the chief metropolitan magistrate court at about 12:45pm in tight security seeking a 10-day remand.
   The prosecution told the court of metropolitan magistrate Mominul Hasan that Pintu had played a key role in the rebellion and helped the BDR rebels flee and provided engine boats to ferry them across Buriganga river through Swarighat point.
   The defence lawyers told the court that the law enforcers had arrested Pintu to divert the case as well as to harass the BNP leader politically.
   They claimed that Swarighat area was controlled by the people of the former Awami League lawmaker Haji Mohammad Selim and so Pintu did not go to the area.
   The Detective Branch of the police arrested Pintu from near the Shikkha Bhaban at around 5:00pm on Tuesday after he came out of the High Court after hearing of his plea for ‘no arrest or harassment’ in connection of the BDR rebellion case.
   With Pintu, a total of 1,427 people, most of them soldiers, have so far been arrested in connection with the BDR rebellion case.
   Meanwhile, two more soldiers – havilder Solaiman and sepoy Hasmat – made confessional statements in separate CMM courts on Wednesday raising the number of people making confessions to 132.
   Metropolitan magistrate Mominul Hasan ordered remand for deputy assistant director Touhidul Alam for two more days in connection with the arms recovery case filed with Sabujbagh police station.
   The same court remanded nine more soldiers in custody for four days in connection with the BDR rebellion case.

India’s parliament elected Wednesday its first woman speaker, who is also a member of the low-caste Dalit community, an event hailed by the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, as a ‘historic occasion’.
   Meira Kumar, 64, was elected unopposed by a voice vote in India’s 543-seat lower house of parliament, which includes 59 women MPs.
   ‘For the first time a woman member has been elected speaker and that too a woman from the Dalit community,’ Manmohan said after Kumar had taken her seat of office.
   ‘In electing you... we members of parliament pay tribute to the women of our country and the great contribution that they have made,’ he added.
   A five-term MP, Kumar was a career diplomat who entered politics in 1985.

A high-level inquiry committee arrives in Dhaka on Saturday to probe food poisoning of schoolchildren after taking biscuit supplied by the World Food Programme.
   A joint secretary of the ministry of primary and mass education will lead the four-member team, officials said, adding the WFP is also engaged in probing the incident.
   The students who fell sick are recovering and none fell sick during the last 24 hours.

A European Union troika, led by Helena Bambasova, deputy minister for foreign affairs of Czech Republic, will visit Bangladesh in June 8-9.
   The troika will meet the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and other government leaders, an announcement said Wednesday.
   They will also meet the ministers of foreign affairs, finance and law, and other government representatives, the leader of the opposition and members of civil society.