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The Planning Commission on Sunday approved the Annual Development Programme of Tk 30,500 crore for the 2009-10 fiscal with an expectation of collecting 58 per cent of ADP from local resources, official sources said.
   Next fiscal year’s ADP was approved at an extended committee meeting at the commission’s auditorium on Sunday.
   ‘We have tried to include development projects in the next fiscal year budget, keeping the present government’s election pledge in view,’ officials of the planning commission quoted the planning minister, AK Khandker as saying, at the extended meeting.
   The minister also said the officials of the planning commission should work out strategies to expedite the implementation
   of the development programme for the next fiscal year.
   The size of the ADP will be Tk 30,500 crore, which will be higher by Tk 7, 500 crore compared to the revised ADP of the current fiscal. The size of the revised ADP has been fixed at Tk 23,000 crore. The original development outlay for the current fiscal was Tk 25,600 crore. Of the next ADP, the local resources will be Tk 17,655 crore while foreign resources Tk 12,845 crore.
   One of the important elements of the next ADP is the huge amount of block allocation. There is a proposal to make it Tk 1000 crore, which was only Tk 50 crore in the revised fiscal year.
   However, there was not much talk about the block allocation in the meeting, meeting sources said
   Generally, it is alleged that the block allocation creates opportunity to
   use the ADP fund for political purposes, sources added.
   Senior officials of the commission said most of the ministers could not assess the development need. The block allocation will help them take up project or projects out side the purview of the ADP projects.
   The director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Mustafa K Mujeri also former chief economist of the Bangladesh Bank told New Age the block allocation should be fixed rationally, or else it might be misused by the ministries.
   The rail communication department will receive the highest allocation. The prime minister has already directed the shipping ministry to prepare the programme for capital dredging of different rivers including the River Gorai.
   The entire railway communication will be modernised and attempt will be made to set up the double track system on all the important routes. The entire Dhaka –Chittagong rail route and the Parbotipur –Dinajpur route will be brought under the double track system. Besides, the new rail track will be set up between Dhohazari and Gumdung of Cox’s Bazar.
   The Syedpur Railway Workshop will be modernised to facilitate construction of rail coaches inside the country. Much talked about projects like Padma Bridge, 4-lane Daudhandi-Chittagong high way, Ganga barrage, under ground rail, and elevated expressway will be included in the next ADP. The Bridge Division of the Railway has already been directed to appoint project directors for the under ground rail and elevated expressway.
   The development assistance for upazilla parishads and pourashavas will be increased. Upazilas will get Tk 300 crore
   and pourashavas Tk 150 crore as development assistance.
   The volume of development assistance for union parishads will remain the same, which was Tk 115 crore previously.
   The executive committee of the National Economic Council will give the final approval to the next fiscal year ADP in the third week of this month.

The Supreme Court on Sunday retained its stay on a High Court order granting bail to former state minister Lutfozzaman Babar of the BNP in an arms case.
   On October 30 in 2007, a Dhaka metropolitan special tribunal sentenced Babar to 17 years’ rigorous imprisonment for unauthorised possession of firearms and ammunition.
   Disposing of a state petition for leave-to-appeal against a High Court bail order, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division passed the order.
   The bench also advised the convict-appellant to take necessary steps for early hearing on his appeal pending with the High Court against the trial court verdict.
   Earlier, on May 28 in 2007, the joint forces during the past military-backed caretaker government conducted a raid on Babar’s Gulshan residence and recovered four firearms — a shotgun, a .22 bore rifle, a pistol, and a Brazilian revolver — and two magazines and 297 bullets in a bag.
   The additional attorney general, M Enayetur Rahim, appeared for the state while Rafique-ul Huq for Babar.

The detective police arrested six young men from Moghbazar and Khilgaon in Dhaka early Sunday in connection with the killing of businessman Mobarak Ali at Merul Badda in the city on May 12.
   The police produced the six — Rajib Howlader, Ferdous Hossain, Polash Khan, Mohammad Ramzan, Shafin Laskar and Jhantu Islam — all in their early twenties, in the chief metropolitan magistrate court and sought a 10-day remand for interrogation. The court granted five days.
   Mobarak Ali, 65, father-in-law of Delwar Hossain, managing director of Toba Group, sustained bullet wounds as assailants fired gunshots at the car he was in. He was taking his three grandchildren to their schools at the junction of road no 13 and 14 of Merul DIT project at about 7:15am on May 12.
   He died on way to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The three children, however, were unhurt.
   After the incident, a DB police team, led by assistant commissioner Sulaiman, arrested a suspect, Rajib Howlader, from his residence at Sonalibagh of Moghbazar at about 3:30am on Sunday.
   Based on his statement, the police team arrested his five associates, Ferdous, Polash, Ramzan, Shafin and Jhantu, from their respective residences at Sonalibagh, Nayatola, Greenway, T&T Colony under Moghbazar and Khilgaon by 6:30am.
   During preliminary interrogation, the six reportedly told the police that they were nine who killed Mobarak Ali upon the instruction of their ‘big brother’.
   The whole plan was coordinated by Polash Khan locally while another person supplied four small firearms for the killing.
   The assailants assembled at an abandoned house at Madhya Badda Natun Sarak in the morning and after planning, they took position at different places, including in front of the house of Delwar Hossain on May 12. Four of them, Rajib, Ferdous, Jhantu and Shafin, were took position at the junction of Road 13 and 14 of Merul DIT project with firearms while two others took position in front of Delwar’s house, police said quoting the arrested.
   ‘We were told to fire shots at the car but we did not know who was travelling in the vehicle,’ said Rajib while talking to newsmen at the DB office on Sunday.
   After the killing, the assailants assembled at Malibagh level crossing and went to the Abu Dharr Ghifari College where they deposited the firearms to their ‘boss’.
   Meanwhile, briefing newsmen, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque said they had already sent a letter to the police headquarters urging it to request Interpol to arrest the most wanted criminal Zeeshan who was demanding toll from the businessmen in Bangladesh from Dubai over telephone.
   The telephone number which was used to demand toll from Delwar Hossain before and after the May 12 was traced as being used in Dubai, he said.

The mural of Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia in the Bangladesh Open University was dismantled at dead of night Saturday.
   The registrar of the university Manjur-e-Khuda said the decision to dismantle the mural was made at a meeting of the university authority as it ‘distorted the history’.
   Pictures of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani were also included in the dismantled mural.
   Pictures of Khaleda Zia and Ziaur Rahman were highlighted in the mural, which were set at a cost of Tk 20 lakh when Dr Ershadul Bari was the vice-chancellor in 2003.
   A section of the teachers and employees of the university protested at dismantling of the mural in presence of security men. They demanded immediate restoration of the mural.
   BNP activists took out a procession and held rally in the afternoon protesting at the dismantling of the mural.

Two cases were filed on Saturday with the Hathazari police in connection with early Friday’s clashes between Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir in Chittagong University in which at least 15 leaders and activists of the both groups were injured.
   Chhatra League activist Masum Mia, also a physics student, Saturday night filed one of the cases on Saturday against 35 named Islami Chhatra Shibir activists and 20 to 25 unnamed activists.
   The accused include Nachar Ahmed, Abul Kashem, Rezaul, Matin, Ashiqur, Mansur-ul-Majumder, Saiful and Shamsuddin Ahmed.
   The other case filed Sunday afternoon by Islami Chhatra Shibir activist Salauddin Kader, also a Bangla student, is against 28 named Chhatra League activists. The accused include Alam, Rashedul, Rakib, Asad, Jahangir, Ujjwal, Sanjay and Bappi.
   Another case was filed on Saturday with the Hathazari police against 15 Chhatra League activists on charge of injuring Rashed Khan Menon, the university correspondent of the daily Amar Desh.
   Court sources said the students arrested for their suspected involvement in the clashes would face the hearing for the second time in Monday. They were all sent to jail on Saturday.
   The investigation committee, headed by Professor Mohammed Kamal Hossain, has started work, said the acting proctor Chandan Kumar Poddar, also a member on the committee.
   A group of Chhatra Shibir men were holding a meeting at Shaheed Abdur Rab Hall Mosque at 8:00pm Thursday and the clashes began at midnight past Thursday when a group of Chhatra League activists asked them not to continue with the meeting.

Some energy experts, academics, politicians and business people on Sunday suggested that the government should take immediate steps to install power plants fuelled by imported coal as it would take time to arrive at a political consensus on the question of extraction of coal from the country’s own mines.
   They also recommended for reaching a consensus on developing the country’s coal fields as soon as possible to meet the growing demand for energy demand and tackle severe electricity crisis.
   ‘We should go for imported coal-based power plants as we have not been able to take any decision on coal extraction from our own coal mines because of differences in opinion over mining method,’ vice chancellor of Ahasanullah University of Science and Technology, M Anwar Hossain, said at a roundtable on ‘Energy Source for Power Generation’ at CIRDAP auditorium.
   He suggested for developing necessary infrastructures for import of coal and install 500-1000MW coal-fired power plants. ‘The government should arrange funds from its own source to install such plants on a priority basis,’ he said.
   The chairman of parliamentary standing committee on power and energy ministry, Subid Ali Bhuiyan, said that coal could be imported from neighbouring countries for running power plants to save the power sector which is facing a ‘massive crisis’.
   ‘We have to go for coal-based plants as soon as possible. A political solution is needed for extraction of coal from our own coal mines. But meanwhile we can import coal to run our power plants,’ he said.
   Subid Ali also suggested the government to give the highest allocation for the power sector in the coming budget.
   He informed the meeting that around 1.5 crore energy saving CFL bulbs would soon be distributed among consumers free of cost.
   Chairman of Summit Group, a leading private sector players in power business, Md Aziz Khan, recommended that the government should allow installation of coal-based independent power plants as well small-scale captive power generation unit run by imported furnace oil.
   Professor Ijaz Hossain of BUET, who presented the key-note paper at the roundtable, also suggested for import of coal from India, Indonesia or Australia.
   State minister for power Shamsul Haque Tuku and former state-minister for energy during the BNP-led government AKM Mosharraf Hossain blamed the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports for not allowing ‘extraction of coal’ in the country.
   Former Petrobangla director Muinul Ahsan recommended that the government should go for open-pit mining at Barapukuria coal field. He also favoured the agreement with Asia Energy for developing the Phulbari coal field saying that it would not be ‘easy’ to scrap the deal.
   Geologist Rafidul Islam Khan, however, said that no one in Bangladesh was against the extraction of coal but there were differences of opinion over the mining method. ‘We need such method which is profitable and environment friendly. Those who are calling for giving the coal fields as early as possible [to foreign companies] are not thinking about the benefit of the country rather they are thinking about their own benefit by grabbing consultancy,’ he said.
   Former state minister for power during the previous Awami League government, Rafiqul Islam, and former state minister for power during the BNP-led government, Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, also spoke at the roundtable.
   Energy and Power, a fortnightly magazine and German technical cooperation agency GTZ jointly organised the roundtable.

The government will spell out in the 2009-2010 budget its development guidelines for the next five years in line with the ruling Awami League’s election manifesto and in view of current global recession, finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has said.
   Muhith told a pre-budget discussion on Sunday that the government would go for coal-based power plants to resolve the crisis of energy, which is widely considered the biggest impediment to development at present.
   ‘There is no question of gas export when we don’t have sufficient energy. We have to opt for coal-based power plants, no matter whether we extract our coal or not,’ he said. ‘We have to formulate a coal policy and unless we adopt the open-pit method of mining, extraction level will be a maximum 7.5 per cent,’ added Muhith.
   Former finance and planning adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam called upon the media to play a ‘constructive role’ in favour of a ‘cost-effective way’ of mining to use the coal resources in national development.
   Aziz suggested a budgetary outlay of about Tk 116,000 crore, which is around 17 per cent of gross domestic product, for the next fiscal even if it might be ‘ambitious’ and said public spending must be increased. ‘Capacity of the administration must be enhanced for ADP implementation,’ he pointed out.
   Spelling out the size of the annual development programme worth Tk 30,500 crore for the next fiscal, the finance minister said the development budget would not be ‘ambitious’, if right signals could be given in terms of carrying forward reforms, acceleration of project implementation and proper motivation of people, including the private sector.
   ‘The next budget will provide broader guidelines of development for the next five years in conformity with the [ruling] party’s election manifesto,’ he told the meeting organised by Economic Reporters’ Forum at the National Press Club.
   Responding to Mirza Aziz’s concern that ‘too many people’ demanded tax waiver in the name of global recession, Muhith made his stand clear that there would be no new tax exemption and that direct tax would be the major source of revenue earning.
   The president of International Chamber of Commerce, Bangladesh, Mahbubur Rahman, recommended ‘settlement outside the court’ of a good number of disputes related to tax collection. ‘Any business establishment should pay Tk 2,500 as tax,’ he said about increasing revenue earning.
   The finance minister mentioned that the government would simplify the taxpaying procedure so that the people were encouraged to pay taxes without fear of harassment. ‘Everybody [having taxable income] has to pay a minimum tax,’ he said hinting at expanding the tax net by strengthening tax collection from the people having taxpayer’s identification number.
   About the concerns over the slump in rice price during the current boro harvests affecting the farmers, he said public representatives of all tiers had responsibility apart from the government to ensure that the farmers got fair price during official procurement.

Dhaka is serious about settling all its pending issues with India, including Tipaimukh Dam construction and sharing of water of 54 common rivers, through discussions, said the state minister for foreign affairs, Hasan Mahmud, on Sunday.
   He said, ‘Bangladesh is always serious about protecting its national interest. We hope we will be able to resolve issues of the Tipaimukh dam and sharing of water of 54 common rivers through discussions with the new government in New Delhi.’
   Referring to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s win in the Indian elections, the state minister hoped New Delhi would have a stable government and contribute positively to the democratic process in the region.
   ‘Bilateral relations between Dhaka and New Delhi will deepen further with the new governments in Bangladesh and India,’ said Hasan.
   Talking with media in his office Sunday afternoon, the state minister observed that India was a big neighbour of Bangladesh and relations with India were very important.
   ‘It is important to have understanding from both sides in resolving the outstanding issues through discussions,’ he said.
   On growing concerns about India’s construction of the Tipaimukh dam on international river Barak which would cause catastrophic ecological impact on north-eastern Bangladesh, he said Dhaka had already conveyed its concerns to New Delhi and expected the issue would be resolved through discussions.
   Asked about the recent Indian media report that during his visit to Dhaka, India’s external affairs secretary Shiv Shankar Menon had conveyed to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, that she was on hit list of militants, the state minister said that Menon had separate talks with the prime minister and he did not know what they discussed.

The government will prepare a fresh list of the recipients of allowances for the old and the widows in the next fiscal year beginning on July 1, officials said.
   Elected members and female members at every ward in the union parisads and representatives of local lawmakers in their respective constituencies have been asked to prepare the lists, a parliamentary committee was told in a meeting on Sunday.
   The upazila level lists will be prepared based on primary information obtained by the ward-level committees, said a press statement issued by the parliament secretariat after the meeting of parliamentary standing committee on the ministry of social welfare.
   ‘The list will be finalised only after the local lawmakers approve them,’ it added.
   Presided over by the committee chairman, Mozammel Hossain, the meeting observed that the previous list prepared by the BNP-led alliance government was politically biased to some extent, meeting sources said.
   Social welfare minister Enamul Haq and other members of the committee including Md Monirul Islam, AKM Bahauddin, Md Abdul Majid Khan, Md Jashim Uddin and Abdul Monin Talukder attended the meeting where they had detailed discussion on the registration process of voluntary organisations working across Bangladesh.
   It emphasised strict enforcement of law. If needed, it also suggested amendment to the existing Voluntary Organisation Registration Act 1961 to ensure transparency of the organisations engaged in so-called social service and awareness movement.

With a view to expanding ICT awareness in all strata, specially the young generation, World Telecommunica-tion and Information Society Day was observed on Sunday with the theme ‘Protecting children in cyberspace’.
   The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, in association with SPLASH Group, launched a two-day programme featuring ICT fair, online gaming competition, essay and quiz competition on ICT knowledge with the ICT minister, Yafes Osman, launching the programme at the Chittagong Institution of Engineers.
   Yafes said the nation needed to be educated to transform Bangladesh into a digital country.
   People of all professions, including farmers and students, are required to have computer literacy to acquire knowledge and information, he said. The BTRC chairman, Zia Ahmed, said the prime objective of his organisation was to make people aware of ICT knowledge.
   The Chittagong mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, and the postal and telecommunication secretary, Sunil Kanti Bose, addressed the inaugural session among others.
   A seminar titled ‘The Role of ICT in Economic Development’ was held with Professor Shyamol Kanti Biswas of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology in the chair. The chief executive officer of GrameenPhone, Oddvar Hesjedal, read out the keynote paper.
   Another seminar titled ‘Digital Bangladesh with Vision 2021’ is scheduled to take place today.
   BTRC also organised essay and school quiz competition on ICT knowledge along with illustration competition on digital Bangladesh. Students of 30 schools of Chittagong participated in school quiz competition.
   There will be ICT hook stall for the visitors and commoners as well. The prize giving ceremony is scheduled be held today at the IEB auditorium.
   World Telecommunica-tion and Information Society Day is being celebrated since 1969 to raise people’s awareness of various aspects of ICT.

The state minister for home affairs, Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj said on Sunday that incidents of deaths in custody were a violation of human rights.
   He, however, said that the law enforcers had every right to defend themselves from the attacks of miscreants.
   ‘Death in custody is a violation of human rights, which this government does not support…But the law enforcement agencies will do everything required for their self-defence as per the constitution,’ Sohel Taj said after a meeting with a delegation of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association at the ministry.
   The BKMEA representatives led by Fazlul Haque expressed concern to the state minister over sudden deterioration in law and order, with incidents of vandalism and extortion rising in the readymade garments and knitwear sectors.
   Fazlul Haque said garments workers were not involved in the recent unrest in the sector. ‘Some outsiders are trying to create chaos in the export-oriented sector…The number of factories which cannot pay regularly is so small that it should not cause such unrest,’ he mentioned.
   He said the meeting had discussed formation of a private security force by the owners of garments factories to maintain order in the industries.
   The state minister said this government would not tolerate any threat of terrorism or extortion anywhere.
   He said the process to introduce the unit of industrial police was at the final stage.
   ‘The authorities have planned short, mid and long-term programmes to check the crimes that include mugging, extortion, terrorism and militancy,’ Sohel Taj added.
   He said that government would not spare anybody involved in crimes whatever political identity he might have.
   Sohel Taj said the Dhaka Metropolitan Police had already launched a revolving force patrol across the city in the evening to nab muggers and snatchers.
   ‘Each team of the revolving force will patrol with three cars to make the miscreants mentally weak and commuters feel secured…Such a move will be taken in other cities also,’ he mentioned.
   About the killings in the name of crossfire by lawmen, the state minister said the ministry was receiving reports on such incidents.
   He said deaths in custody had taken place during the rule of the previous government. ‘It is not a death in custody if a terrorist is killed during an encounter,’ Sohel Taj said.
   About the investigation into the 10-truck arms haul case in Chittagong, he said those who would be found involved in the deal, whether government officials or politicians, would be identified and brought to justice.
   Some 22 persons have been killed in so-called ‘crossfire’ so far since the Awami League-led alliance government assumed office on January 6.

Participants at a BBC talk show at Rajshahi were of the opinion that all political parties should come forward to curb militancy.
   They came up with such opinion at the
   dialogue organised by BBC Bangla Service at Rajshahi Medical College auditorium on Saturday night.
   Lawmaker for Rajshahi-2 constituency Fazle Hossain Badsha, also a member of politburo of the Workers Party, organising secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Mizanur Rahman Minu, also a former RCC mayor, ANM Saleh, associate professor of Psychology Department of Rajshahi University and also general secretary of Sushasoner Jonno Nagarik (SUJON) and Murshida Morshed, project director of Tilottoma, a leading NGO in Rajshahi region participated in talk show.
   ‘All political parties and the people in general should come forward and help the government to root out militancy from the country’, said Fazle Hossain Badsha.
   Mithila Farzana, a journalist of BBC, moderated the programme.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday asked the government to immediately release the Islami Oikya Jote chairman, Fazlul Haq Amini, who was sent to jail for his alleged involvement in an attack on a ruling party procession.
   ‘It is a part of the government design to repress the leaders of the opposition,’ the BNP secretary general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, said in a statement after the arrest of the IOJ leader.
   Amini and two of his associates were sent to jail as they surrendered in the court on Sunday, seeking bail in the procession attack case. He was denied bail.
   Following Amini’s arrested, a delegation of the IOJ, a rightwing component of the BNP-led opposition alliance, had a meeting with the BNP chief Khaleda Zia to inform her of the government action.
   At a joint press briefing by the IOJ and the BNP, the alliance demanded immediate release of Amini, a former lawmaker.
   IOJ secretary general Abdul Latif Nizami and BNP office secretary Rizvi Ahmed addressed the press at BNP’s Gulshan office.

Three candidates filed nomination papers for June 15 by-election to Sunamganj 4 — Sunamganj Sadar and Bishwambharpur — until 2:00pm on the last day for submission of nomination on Sunday.
   The deadline was 5:00pm. BNP candidate Fazlul Haque Aspia, former MP and former whip, submitted nomination papers at 12 noon and Awami League candidate Matiur Rahman submitted his at 2:00pm, said district election officer Uttam Kumar Pal. Abdul Alim Nijami submitted nomination as independent candidate, he said.
   The seat became vacant when Jatiya Party MP Mamtaj Iqbal died of heart attack on April 17.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday gave a cheque for Tk 20 lakh to Dhaka Reporters Unity for its development.
   The press secretary to the prime minister, Abul Kalam Azad, handed over the cheque to the DRU president, Shamim Ahmad, and the general secretary, Pathik Saha, at the Prime Minister’s Office.
   Addressing the DRU leaders, PM’s press secretary said the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was very sincere in resolving any professional problem of the journalist community.
   PM’s deputy press secretary Mahbubul Hoque Shakil and DRU office secretary Shukur Ali Shuvo were present on the occasion.

Freedom fighter Mahbubur Rahman died of cardiac arrest at his Malpara residence in Mushiganj town Friday night at the age of 58.
   He is survived by his wife and two sons. He was buried at Katkhali graveyard in the town with state honours after zuhr prayers.
   The sadar upazila chairman, Anisuzzaman and district Muktijoddha Sangsad commander, Mohammad Hossain, expressed deep shock at the death of Mahbubur.