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The government on Sunday placed a bill seeking extension to the duration of the speedy trial act till April 6, 2010.
   The home minister, Sahara Khatun, piloted the Law and Order Disrupting Offences (Speedy Trial) (Amendment) Bill 2009, seeking extension to the duration of the act, which ceased to be in force on February 25, till April 6, 2010.
   The speedy trial act was enforced in April 2002 for two years to ensure quick trial of serious offences such as extortion, obstruction to transport, damage to vehicles, destruction of moveable and immoveable property, snatching, creating chaos and tender hooliganism. The duration of the act was extended in two phases for four more years in 2004 and 2006.
   The military-controlled interim government promulgated an ordinance in 2008 extending the duration of the act for two years. The ordinance ceased to be in force as the present parliament did not ratify it by February 25.
   The home minister, however, on Sunday proposed to give retrospective effect to such ordinances from the dates of promulgation.
   The planning minister, AK Khandakar, piloted the Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2009, aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability in the government purchase allowing all intending parties to participate in the tender process.
   He proposed the bill seeking to bring procurement of goods and services made under agreements with lending countries and agencies under the act concerned.
   The land minister, Rezaul Karim Hira, piloted the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (Land Acquisition) Bill 2009, seeking to contain illegal activities by a section of land owners at the proposed site of the bridge and to reduce the cost of land acquisition for the bridge.
   The bills were sent to the parliamentary committees on the ministries concerned for scrutiny.
   The parliamentary standing committee on commerce ministry on Sunday submitted its report in the house supporting passage of the Consumers Rights Protection Bill 2009.
   The government piloted the bill seeking provisions for punishment for adulteration and cheating in sales and marketing of goods and services.
   The parliamentary standing committee on LGRD and cooperatives ministry on Sunday submitted its report in the house supporting the government’s proposal to cancel the village government system.
   The government on March 2 placed the Village Government (Repeal) Bill 2009, seeking to repeal village government system introduced by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government in 2003.

The parliament on Sunday passed the Right to Information Bill, 2009, exempting intelligence and some law enforcing agencies from providing information.
   The house, where the Awami League-led ruling alliance is enjoying a three-fourth majority, unanimously passed the bill in the absence of the lawmakers of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led main opposition.
   Information minister Abul Kalam Azad moved the bill, placed in the house on February 25, for passage.
   The parliamentary standing committee on the information ministry on March 15 submitted its report in the house recommending the government’s proposal, including provisions exempting intelligence and some law enforcing agencies from providing information.
   The agencies are: National Security Intelligence, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, defence intelligence agencies, Criminal Investigation Department, Special Security Force, the intelligence cell of the National Board of Revenue, Special Branch and the intelligence cell of Rapid Action Battalion.
   According to the RTI act, organisations running on public money are obliged to give information to any citizen in line with the law.
   It gives people the right to seek information from public offices and file appeals with the information commission on being denied information.
   No organisation can refuse to provide information without approval of the proposed information commission, an autonomous body that would enforce the law and deal with complaints from information seekers, says the newly enacted law.
   However, organisations are not bound to provide information that might go against national security or sovereignty, confidential information received from foreign governments or information on affairs under trial and investigation.
   The military-controlled interim government passed the Right to Information Ordinance in October, 2008, to promote, according to that government, transparency and accountability, reduce corruption and facilitate good governance.
   The lawmakers of the BNP-led main opposition were not present in the house during the passage of the bill as they staged a walkout earlier on the day.

The agriculture minister, Matia Chowdhury, on Sunday said the people had suffered ‘hidden hunger’ during the two years of the interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed.
   ‘Essential goods prices have increased and the people suffered much,’ she said at the opening ceremony of two-day silver jubilee celebrations of the non-governmental organisation Action Aid Bangladesh at the Shaheed Zia Auditorium of the National Museum in Dhaka.
   The government’s accountability to people was absent in the two years’ rule, she said.
   ‘We have restored democracy through parliamentary elections on December 29, 2008 and we must sustain it’, she said.
   ‘We have been in power for less than 90 days and by the time, we have reduced the prices of essential goods such as rice, wheat and edible oil,’ the agriculture minister said. ‘We are accountable to the people when we discharge our duties as ministers.’
   The government has no difference of opinions with non-governmental organisations, but she said the government could not agree all the actions of such organisations.
   She praised the Action Aid for its role in the development or char areas of Bhola and proposed the organisation should initiate more such programmes.
   She also said non-governmental organisations could take programmes to dredge rivers. They can also work for to educate people and lead society to fight against Islamist bigots, Matia said.
   A former adviser to the caretaker government, human rights activist Sultana Kamal, said, ‘We have seen lack of initiatives even during the rules the democratic governments that no initiatives had been taken to change the fate of the poor.’
   Discrimination in economy and society is responsible for such lack of initiatives to change the fate of the people, she said.
   The Action Aid Bangladesh country director, Farah Kabir, moderated the opening session.
   Former chief executive of Action Aid, UK Ronald Hudson and international representative of the organisation William John Armstrong also spoke.
   The opening session was followed by two seminars held at the Shawkat Osman Memorial Auditorium in the Central Public Library and the Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the National Museum.
   The first day’s programmes were wrapped up with cultural functions.

The communication minister, Abul Hossain on Sunday said the country had the po-tential to become a transport and transshipment centre for the south-east Asian region.
   He made the comment while speaking at a workshop on finalising the draft final report of transport corridor, organized by the Asian Development Bank at a hotel in the capital.
   With the opening of the Jamuna multipurpose bridge and proposed development of Padma bridge, the Dhaka-Chittagong transport corridor and other strategic transport corridors should facilitate trade between Bangladesh and India, Nepal and Bhutan, he said.
   Abul Hossain said, ‘The government has identified several important trade corridors on road, rail and inland waterway, which can boost Bangladesh’s trade with neighbouring countries.’ The government is now working on developing two corridors.
   The first one is the Bhatiapara-Benapole road which is about 98 kilomtre including bypasses
   while the other one is the 62 kilometre Bogra-Natore road.

Several thousand Akiz Jute Mills Ltd workers observed a token hunger strike in the Nawapara Industrial Area in Jessore on Sunday protesting against the closure of the mill and demanding payment of their dues.
   The authorities on March 23 closed the mill for an indefinite period on ‘security grounds.’
   The workers observed the strike peacefully between 10:00am and 6:00pm in front of the mill.
   After the announcement of the closure, the workers took to the streets and blocked the Jessore–Khulna Highway on the day the mill was closed.
   The mill management earlier claimed security of the mill was threatened as the management had filed a case against some local people.
   On March 24, the manager (administration) of the mill said some people had attacked the mill on January 24 in which some employees were injured and the management sued 12 persons in this connection.
   The local residents, however, alleged the mill management was trying to grab a road connecting to the Jessore–Khulna Highway.
   They said the mill management had already forced some local people to sell their land to the management for nominal prices.

Police on Sunday submitted charge-sheet against the former lawmaker and a central leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, M Ilias Ali, and 47 others in a case of snatching ballot papers and obstructing the members of the law-enforcing agency in performing duties during the parliamentary election on December 29.
   The investigation officer of the case, SI Zahir Uddin, of the Bishwanath police station pressed the charge-sheet with the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate of Sylhet.
   On January 14 last, the Bishwanath police station recorded a case against 50 persons by name including, BNP central leader and convenor of the Sylhet district unit of the party Ilias Ali, Bishwanath upazila unit vice-chairman Mashuk Miah and local leader Gaus Khan, and 300 unnamed people for snatching ballot papers, showing those in public and obstructing the law enforcers in discharging their polls duty, the sources said.
   Police recovered two ballot papers stamped with the mark of sheaf of paddy on December 31, after two days of the parliamentary elections, from behind the Dohalia Primary School polling centre at Bishwanath upazila in the district.
   Ilias Ali and his supporters had allegedly shown the missing ballot papers in public after snatching those from the police personnel.
   IO Zahir told New Age in the evening that he pressed charge-sheet against 48 accused, out of the named 50 persons.

Left coalition Jatiya Mukti Council on Sunday put forward a seven-point charter of demands, including formation of an all-party parliamentary committee to deal with the February 25-26 rebellion in the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in Dhaka.
   The reports of all the probe committees, instituted in connection with the rebellion, must be placed in the parliamentary committee, the council said in the charter of demands floated at an anti-imperialist rally in Muktangan in Dhaka.
   Presiding over the rally, the Jatiya Mukti Council president, Badruddin Umar, said conspirators killed 56 army officers during the BDR rebellion in February.
   Poet and essayist Farhad Mazhar said the investigations of the BDR rebellion and the killing of army officers must be transparent and made public. The trial must not be held under the Army Act, he said.
   Dhaka University teacher Akmol Hossain demanded withdrawal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the investigation process.

Jamaat-e-Islami Sunday condemned and protested against the reported anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim remarks of the Islamic Foundation chief and demanded his dismissal.
   The Jamaat ameer, Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, in a statement asked the director general of Islamic Foundation, Shamim Mohammad Afzal, to withdraw his insolent and provocative remarks he had made at a seminar on
   Saturday and seek apology in public.
   Speaking at a roundtable on Role of religious leaders to combat terrorism’ at National Press Club, the Islamic Foundation chief Afzal reportedly said, ‘The terrorism and the militancy that have been prevailing across the world, are being nursed by the Islam and Muslims … There is no terrorism and militancy among the Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.’
   No personalities of Hindu, Bouddha or Christian religion had ever made such preposterous, insolent, provocative and untrue comments on Islam or Muslims, said Nizami.
   Afzal’s insolent remarks on Islam was unpardonable, he said.
   ‘If there was no terrorism in other religions, then who are killing Innumerable people in Afghanistan, Palestine and India’s Gujrat and Kashmir?’ the Jamaat leader asked.
   He apprehended Afzal was installed as chief of the Islamic Foundation to undermine the image of peace loving Bangladesh where people of all faiths are living in harmony. Nizami drew attention of the government to the audacious remarks of Afzal and demanded his immediate removal from the Islamic Foundation.

A man was killed and five were injured in a road accident at Iswarba of Kaliganj in Jhenidah Sunday morning.
   The deceased was Abdur Rahim, 32, son of Maizuddin of village Barogheghati.
   The police said the accident took place when a human hauler collided head-on with a passenger bus from Kaliganj at Iswarba.

A Sirajganj court on Sunday sentenced a lawyer to five years’ imprisonment in a cheating case.
   The chief judicial magistrate, Md Arifur Rahman, also fined the accused, Md Goljar Hossain, a resident of Jhikira at Ullapara in the district, Tk 5,000, in default to suffer six more months in jail.
   According to the prosecution, Goljar, a lawyer of Sirajganj, realised Tk 1 lakh from Abdul Latif, the owner of Laboni Steels, in the Sirajganj municipal area in 1999 in the name of supplying bricks for building construction.
   As the lawyer failed either to supply bricks or repay money, the businessman filed a cheating case.

Two million children, aged six months to five years, are affected by acute malnutrition, and one in four households in the country is now facing severe food insecurity, according to a survey released on Sunday.
   The survey was jointly conducted by the World Food Programme, UNICEF and Institute of Public Health Nutrition.
   Out of those two million malnourished children, half a million are suffering severely and desperately need appropriate treatment, said the experts. The survey was undertaken to assess the impact of the increase in prices of food items in Bangladesh in 2008.
   Health and family welfare minister AFM Rahul Haque, secretary of food and disaster management Mokhlesur Rahman, UNICEF representative Carel de Rooy and WFP representative John Aylieff were present at the programme in which the survey was launched.
   According to the survey, 58 per cent of the households claimed that they did not have sufficient food in the last twelve months. The real household income dropped by 12 per cent between 2005 and 2008.
   At the end of 2008, the purchase of food took up 62 per cent of total household expenditure, 10 percentage points higher than the national average of 2005.
   To cope with higher prices of food, people got themselves into a deeper spiral of debt from which it will take months to recover.
   ‘Even if the prices of food are now falling, the crisis is far from over,’ said John Aylieff. ‘The proportion of households’ income that is now being spent on food is already higher than in 2005, and the impact of the global financial crisis on the poor is a major concern.’
   The survey also showed a clear link between malnutrition and household food insecurity. The families suffering from food deficit also had a higher percentage of malnourished children.
   ‘The situation of child malnutrition in this country is a silent emergency,’ commented Carel de Rooy.
   ‘Not only is malnutrition a direct cause of death among children, but it is also a significant underlying cause of child mortality. It affects the development of the child, increases the risk of women dying during pregnancy/childbirth and contributes to neo-natal mortality,’ he said, adding that it has a dire impact on the society at large, and affects school performance, healthcare costs and productivity. Unless malnutrition is reduced, Bangladesh is unlikely to achieve and sustain the Millennium Development Goals.
   The survey was undertaken throughout the country from November 2008 to January 2009, with representative samples collected from all the six divisions and both urban and rural areas. A total of 10,378 households were surveyed and the health and nutrition status of 4,175 children, under five years of age, was assessed.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday accused the government of terrorising voters and harassing supporters of its candidates for by-elections to six constituencies scheduled for April 2.
   BNP’s office secretary Rizvi Ahmed at a briefing at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office said the government was showing its real face and attempting to influence the by-elections by terrorising the electorates, harassing BNP’s candidates and their supporters. The local administrations seem to be working as a tool, he said.
   ‘In Kishoreganj 6 constituency, police had laid siege to the house of Rafiq, upazila unit secretary of BNP, Friday night and arrested his younger brother. In the same constituency, an inspector of Rapid Action Battalion was asking Mahfuz, a councillor of local municipality, to immediately leave the constituency,’ Rizvi said adding that both were organisers of the party
   candidate’s election campaign.
   ‘In Bogra, local Awami League leaders were obstructing campaigns of BNP’s candidate and standing committee member Moudud Ahmed. They even harassed his wife Hasna Moudud when she went on campaigning,’ he added.
   Rizvi said similar obstructions were being created in other constituencies and that the party would inform the Election Commission about the incidents.
   Asked about the chief election commissioner’s claim that the local administrations were working neutrally, Rizvi said
   as the head of a constitutional body, the chief
   election commissioner should delve a bit deeper into the matter and should not make superficial remarks.

Business leaders on Sunday claimed that productivity of industries had decreased by 10 per cent as they were losing 20 to 25 per cent of their working hours because of frequent power outages.
   ‘In terms of monetary value, the productivity loss because of power outages will stand at $1.5 billion,’ said Annisul Huq, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries at a conference on ‘Energy Sector: Challenges of Adding New Capacity’, organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue.
   Annisul said that in the seven days from March 10-17, he had found that there had been around 14-24 hours of power cuts in 70 working hours at five industries in and around Dhaka.
   ‘It means that on an average we have lost 20-25 per cent of our working hours, and as a result the productivity loss is around 7 per cent,’ he said at the session, which was part of a two-day conference on ‘Development with Equity and Justice: Immediate Tasks for the Newly Elected Government,’ held by the CPD at the Bangladesh China Friendship Conference Centre.
   Shahedul Islam Helal, president of the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries, said that on an average the factories face around 130 hours of load-shedding in a month. ‘In the real sense the actual loss of working hours is almost double as it needs time to start the machineries when electricity returns,’ he said.
   Power and gas officials, however, told New Age that the loss in working hours should not be that much as most of the industries use their own generators or captive power plants. ‘These captive power generators get gas at a considerably subsidised rate and they can be easily operated three to four hours a day,’ said an official.
   Annisul said that private sector would assist the government in replacing old power units. He suggested that the government could impose surcharge on people making calls on mobile phones to arrange funds for gas exploration.
   Former power secretary and teacher of economics and finance at the North South University, M Fouzul Kabir Khan, presented the keynote paper at the session, which was chaired by a member of CPD board of trustees, Syed Manzur Elahi.
   Fouzul recommended that five power projects should be prioritised: the 450MW Bibiyana, 150MW Bhola, 150MW Sylhet, 125MW Barapukuria third unit and 300MW Siddhirganj plants because of availability of gas and coal. He also called upon the government to ensure that no muscle or political power can affect the tender process in the power sector.
   He suggested extensive gas exploration in both onshore and offshore areas and formulation of the coal policy after consulting all the groups concerned.
   Fouzul observed that the prime minister should not have kept the power and energy ministry under her jurisdiction as she has to remain busy with other important national issues.
   Professor Nurul Islam of the BUET said that every time the successive governments proceeded to finalise the coal policy, they wanted to serve the interest of the controversial UK company, Asia Energy. ‘No one took any action against the deal with Asia Energy, although the corruption surrounding its Phulbari deal is much larger than all the corruption in the energy sector,’ he observed.
   The State Minister for Power and Energy, Shamsul Haque Tuku, avoided giving any specific guideline how they would improve the situation in the energy sector, only saying that the Awami League’s election manifesto had given such guidelines. ‘We will follow the election manifesto,’ he said.
   The CPD’s executive director Mustafizur Rahman, presided over the session, which was attended by energy experts, academics, power and energy officials, representatives of lending agencies, business leaders and Members of Parliament.

Fourteen deputy commissioners, who were earlier withdrawn from field administration and attached to the establishment ministry, have been given various posts in different ministries.
   The establishment ministry issued two gazette notifications to the effect on Sunday.
   Ziaur Rahman Khan has been posted as project director of the Government Primary School Reconstruction and Repair Project; Md Abdul Haq has been made secretary to the Bangladesh Land Port Authority; Md Ashraf Shamim has been sent to the Board of Investment as director; and AMA Rahman has been posted as director of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.
   Akhtaruzzaman Md Mostafa Kamal has been made director of the Department of Narcotics Control; Saifullah Mokbul Morshed has been posted as deputy secretary to the Parliament Secretariat; Mushfique Ahmed Shamim has been made director of the Shilpakala Academy; Md Tajul Islam has been sent to the Shishu Academy as director; and Mohammad Safayet Hossain has been sent to the expatriates’ welfare ministry as deputy secretary.
   Mohammad Nabiul Haq Molla has been sent to the industries ministry as deputy secretary; Md Mofazzel Hossain has been posted to the environment and forests ministry as deputy secretary; Md Nurul Amin has been posted to the social welfare ministry as deputy secretary; and Mahbubul Alam has been sent the health ministry as deputy secretary.
   The above-mentioned officials were withdrawn from field administration on March 16 last year.

Two cases were filed with a Jessore court on Sunday against war crimes suspects on charge of killing two freedom fighters during the independence war in 1971.
   Judicial magistrate Kaisarul Islam ordered the Monirampur police officer-in-charge to take legal steps after investigation.
   Abdus Sabur, son of martyred freedom fighter Yousuf Ali of Mobarakpur at Monirampur, filed a case accusing, Abdul Majid Dafadar, Mahbub, Meher and some other members of Razakar, a an auxiliary force which collaborated with the Pakistan army during the war, of killing his father on July 21, 1971.
   In the other case, Rafiq Uddin Sheikh, son of Ichhar Uddin Sheikh of Harergati at Monirampur, said that his nephew, freedom fighter Faizar Hossain, was killed by Razakar commander Bahadur Ali and some others of the village on October 10, 1971.

The 38th martyrdom anniversary of freedom fighter Lt Col NAM Jahangir will be observed today.
   On this occasion, fateha will be offered at the mazar of martyred freedom fighter at Comilla cantonment on April 3. Besides, doa mahfil will be held at Comilla CMH Mosque and at a mosque at Pangsha, Rajbari, ancestral home of Shaheed Jahangir, after juma prayers.
   Jahangir was killed in captivity by the Pakistani occupation forces during the Liberation War in 1971 at the age of 39. His was exhumed from the mass grave at Comilla cantonment in March, 1972 and buried on the premises of Comilla CMH with full state honours.

Satellite channel Desh TV video editing in-charge Aftab Uddin Khokan, who was killed in a road accident in Dhaka on Saturday, was buried in the Shahjahanpur graveyard on Sunday.
   The body of Khokan was brought to the Desh TV office after the post-mortem examination conducted in the Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue for public viewing and his namaz-e-janaza.
   The body was later taken to his house at Ahmedbagh and his second namaz-e janaza was held in mosque of the locality in the afternoon.

Rabiul Hossain Kochi, member of the Central Muktijoddha Command Council and vice-president of district Awami League, died of heart attack on Sunday morning in Dhaka at the age of 58.
   He is survived by his wife and two sons.
   The body was taken to his village home at Kalitara under sadar upazila in Noakhali for burial. His namaj-e-janaza was held on the premises of Noakhali court mosque.
   Lawmaker Ekramul Karim Chowdhury, district AL president Md Hanif and former lawmaker and district BNP president Md Shahjahan expressed deep shock at the death of Kochi.

Qul khwani of businessman Sirajul Islam Babul will be held at his Zindabahar residence in Dhaka today. He died at his residence on Thursday at the age of 57. He is survived by his wife, three sons and grandsons, said a press release.

The Bangladesh Rifles director general, Mohammad Mainul Islam, who has been promoted to major general on Sunday, leaves for New Delhi today on a three-day visit to meet his Indian counterpart, ML Kumawat, tomorrow.
   Foreign ministry officials told New Age on Sunday the scheduled meeting of the border officials would be a ‘familiarisation discussion’ between the directors general of Bangladesh Rifles and India’s Border Security Force.
   ‘The two countries will discuss border management from a wide perspective at the meeting of the border guards,’ said an official.
   Another official said Bangladesh, at the meeting in New Delhi, would express its gratitude to India for its cooperation in maintaining a peaceful border during the rebellion in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka in February 25-26.
   The top-level six-monthly meeting between the BDR and the BSF was slated for the last week of March, which became uncertain because of the rebellion of BDR soldiers.
   But the government decided to send the newly appointed BDR chief to the Indian capital to talk with the BSF chief. Major General Mainul Hossain is scheduled to return home on April 1, officials said.

The Chittagong mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury on Sunday said the anti-liberation elements were hatching a conspiracy to destabilise the government and the country and urged the freedom fighters to unite under one umbrella to foil the conspiracy.
   He said this while presiding over a meeting of the Muktijudda-Janata Mancha at the Laldighi Maidan in the city.
   Akhteruzzaman Chowdhury Babu MP, M Kafil Uddin, Kazi Enamul Hoque Danu and Jitendra Prashad Nath Mantu, among others, addressed the meeting.

The fifth death anniversary of Syed Zinat Ali, former senior information officer of Information Department, will be observed today.
   On this occasion, Qur’an khwani and doa mahfil will be arranged at his Ambagan residence at Moghbazar, said a handout.