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South Korea on Thursday offered to set up a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh to meet the country’s growing demand for power.
   The visiting South Korean deputy foreign minister Lee Yong-Joon made the proposal when he called on state minister for foreign affairs Hasan Mahmud at the latter’s office.
   ‘As we have various proposals [for setting up of a nuclear power plant], we will examine which one suits the country best,’ Hasan Mahmud told reporters after the meeting.
   Yong-Joon told reporters that his country wanted to set up a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh as Korean Electric and Power Company had constructed such plants in some 20 countries and six more projects would be implemented overseas.
   ‘We are very efficient in nuclear energy and so far our technology has proved to be one of the safest in the world,’ he added.
   When asked about the latest situation in recruiting Bangladeshi workers in South Korea, Yong-Joon said that the ongoing global recession would make some one million South Korean nationals jobless.
   He said in the present situation South Korea would not recruit workers from overseas.
   ‘We will again recruit foreign workers when the country’s economic condition improves,’ he said.
   South Korea in 2007 included Bangladesh in Employment Permit System, its official recruitment system, to employ workers in various sectors.
   Though South Korea has recruited hundreds of Bangladeshi workers, the process stalled amid a global recession.
   The deputy foreign minister of South Korea arrived here on Thursday on a two-day visit.

Poor people must be provided with quality livelihood and good health services to free them from the ‘neglected’ diseases including tuberculosis, said speakers at a discussion Thursday.
   They warned the audience that the number of multiple drug-resistant TB patients is gradually increasing, which is dangerous for the community.
   They stressed the need for strengthening referral services and creating awareness among the TB patients and physicians for continued treatment of the disease.
   They pointed out that tuberculosis in children is a neglected area, and should be given due attention.
   New Age and BRAC jointly organised the discussion on ‘Tuberculosis control: social participation’ at the BRAC Centre in Dhaka. New Age editor Nurul Kabir moderated the discussion.
   ‘The number of defaulting patients is huge and many of them have become multiple drug-resistant due to anomalies in the treatment of TB, which is a slow killer,’ said Professor Mahmudur Rahman of the Dhaka Community Hospital.
   He warned that the providers of services to the TB patients must not become dependent on treatment alone.
   The local pharmaceutical companies do not produce drugs for TB, he alleged.
   Mahbub Hossain, executive director of BRAC, said the multi-partnership approach with the participation of the people of all spheres of society would be helpful for the taking of effective preventive measures against tuberculosis.
   Professor AKM Shamsul Haque stressed the need to develop a standard practice in prescribing drugs, improve the referral system, and strengthen coordination and monitoring in the authorities providing services to the TB patients.
   Tuberculosis remains a major public health problem in Bangladesh, which ranks sixth among the world’s 22 high TB-afflicted countries. According to a recent estimate, more than 3,00,000 new TB cases and 64,000 TB-related deaths occur annually in the country.
   Increasing population, rapid urbanisation, poverty, malnutrition, congestion, illiteracy and lack of awareness further aggravate the TB problem.
   New Age editor Nurul Kabir stressed the need for political intervention to free the poorer section of the community of neglected diseases like TB.
   ‘The existence of a huge number of TB patients is a matter of disgrace for our society. We must get rid of this stigma by making the poor free of such diseases,’ he said.
   ‘Why don’t the pharmaceutical companies ensure corporate social accountability in addition to corporate social responsibility?’ he asked.
   Professor Kaniz Maola of the Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital said a good number of TB patients are deprived of treatment facilities due to failure of diagnostic laboratories to ascertain the presence of the disease.
   On the other hand a number of physicians start prescribing TB medicines before getting the laboratory reports, she alleged.
   Dr Tahmeed Ahmed of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, said, ‘TB in children is a neglected area…The health providers do not do enough for child patients with TB as there is a myth that children cannot be infected by TB.’
   Stressing the need for continued treatment of all the TB patients, Dr K Zaman of ICDDR,B said that the delay in treatment can cause more TB infection in the family as well as the community.
   Sara Zaker called on all concerned to provide a simple solution for raising the awareness of TB patients. ‘The people must be provided with smart, small and simple messages. We cannot create panic.’
   Professor Pravat Chandra Barua, director of Directorate-General of Health Services, said that economic empowerment of the patients and their families is important as patients in poorer families lack social and family support.
   He said the country has some challenges to face in implementing the programmes of prevention of childhood TB, smear-negative and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.
   Dr MMR Chowdhury of the United Hospital said, ‘TB is not a disease for the poor any more as many rich people have been visiting the hospitals for TB treatment.’
   ‘We are not safe unless we ensure good health for the domestic servants also,’ he said.
   Faruque Ahmed, director of BRAC’s health programme, initiated the discussion and his colleague Dr Shayla Ahmed presented the keynote paper. Sheepa Hafiza, another director of the BRAC, Dr MA Hamid Salim, country director of Damien Bangladesh, Dr M Lutfor Rahman of the Urban Primary Health Care Project and singer Fakir Alamgir, along with others, participated in the discussion.
   They said that the major challenges facing the anti-TB programme are how to improve and increase the detection of smear-negative and extra-pulmonary TB cases, manage TB in children and prevent relapses, improve referral services in public and private hospitals and clinics and the private medical practitioners.
   Multi drug-resistant TB must be prevented by improving the efficiency of the diagnostic laboratories, correct categorisation of patients and regular treatment.
   Many cases still remain undiagnosed due to lack of awareness both in the patients and health workers. Moreover, many smear-positive patients do not even complete the course of their treatment. These cases generally lead to the development of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis, which is very difficult to cure.
   The member countries of the United Nations have set a goal, which is one of the much-talked-about Millennium Development Goals, to reduce the incidence of TB (per capita prevalence and death rates) by 50 per cent from the 1990 levels by 2015.

The government is making a fresh list of freedom fighters aiming to correct the previous list, which was prepared during the past BNP-Jamaat coalition regime, as the names of many false FFs were included in the list.
   The convenor of the recently formed convening committee of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad on Thursday announced that the elections to the central, district and upazila command councils would be held in October next.
   ‘After completing the listing of freedom fighters, we are planning to hold the elections to the central, district and upazila command councils of the sangsad in October, 2009,’ said Helal Morshed Khan, the convener of the new committee, while addressing a press conference at the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs.
   The prime minister and chief adviser of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad, Sheikh Hasina, earlier on March 04, 2009 formed a convening committee of the sangsad with a view to holding elections to its different tiers.
   ‘We need to correct the list of the freedom fighters before the elections by dropping the names of the false FFs from the list which were enlisted by the BNP-Jamaat coalition government,’ Helal said.
   He invited all to help fresh listing of the freedom fighters by asking the committee in writing by June 7 to drop the names of false FFs and enlist the names of the dropped out genuine FFs.
   ‘A five-member committee, led by local deputy commissioner, has already been formed in the districts to sort out the applications of the genuine FFs and the false FFs of their respective areas,’ he added.
   After sorting out the applications, the committee will send the list of the genuine FFs and false FFs to the liberation war affairs ministry by July 25, and the ministry will publish the final list of the liberation warriors by August 31, 2009.
   Replying to a query, Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachchu, a member of the new convening committee of the sangsad, said ‘Our main objective is to bring back democratic practices in the organisation.’
   When his attention was drawn to an allegation that some members of the dissolved central command council were distributing money among the freedom fighters to pull their supports in favour of them, the convener termed it baseless and unfounded.
   Referring to the alleged corruption of Tk 76 crore by the leaders of the immediate past committee, member of the convening committee Kazi Sajjad Ali Zahir said, ‘The matter is now under the investigation of the Anti-Corruption Commission.’

Awami League activists hacked and wounded 10 people and looted valuables worth around Tk 5.5 lakh from two houses at Alukanda in south Keraniganj upazila after failing to occupy waqf land of a mosque Thursday.
   Nine of the injured were admitted to Mitford Hospital.
   Witnesses said AL activists Amzad and Mukter had long been trying to occupy the land of Saheb Bari Jame Masjid.
   About 30 AL activists, led by Amzad and Mukter attacked the house of Masjid committee chairman Aurangjeb alias JB Member and committee member Mojibur Master. They ransacked the houses and looted cash and valuables.
   On resistance, the goons hacked indiscriminately leaving 10 people, including women wounded.
   JB Member said he was confined to south Keraniganj thana when he went to file a case on the incident.

A group of miscreants hacked a person to death at Rahimpur of Harinakunda in Jhenaidah Wednesday midnight after his family failed to pay Tk 5 lakh as ransom, the police said.
   The deceased was Thandu Munshi, 35, son of Nasir Uddin of Teltupi.
   The Harinakunda police officer-in-charge, Jahangir Alam, and the victim’s family said a group miscreants had abducted Thandu from Jhenaidah town on Wednesday, demanding a ransom of Tk 5 lakh.
   The criminals later hacked him to death. The body was sent for a post mortem examination.

Politicians, experts and teachers at a seminar on Thursday called for scrapping the newly enacted law on upazila parishads, which restores parliament members’ authority over the elected local bodies, in order to establish an effective local government structure.
   Some lawmakers attending the seminar shared the views and felt the need for resolving the dispute arising from the enactment of the law.
   The speakers at the seminar on ‘The newly emerged conflict between the MPs and upazila chairmen’, said it was imperative to solve the crisis right away for the betterment of democracy.
   The Upazila Parishad (Reintroduction of the Repealed Act and Amendment) Act 2009 should be scrapped, as it has been enacted in violation of the constitutional provisions on local government, they observed.
   Non-governmental research organisation Neeti Gabeshana Kendra organised the seminar at the National Press Club.
   ‘Decentralisation of power is a must for establishing true democracy which is only possible by empowering the local governments. The new law is obviously a hindrance to it,’ Dhaka University professor Emajuddin Ahmed said in his presidential speech.
   Sujon secretary Badiul Alam Majumder described the new law as unconstitutional and expressed doubt over its sustainability. ‘The constitution forbids allowing parliament members such kind of power and it will lead to anarchy in the whole local government structure.’
   ‘The High Court has also given some rulings over the past few years against this type of authority. So we have reason to doubt its sustainability,’ he added.
   The speakers urged the government to rescind the law without delay, provide adequate budgetary allocations for the local governments, and also to specify the role of women vice-chairmen in the elected upazila parishads.
   ‘Proper decentralisation of power is impossible without reducing central authority over the local governments,’ said Revolutionary Workers’ Party general secretary Saiful Huq. He demanded adequate budgetary allocations for the elected local governments for their true empowerment.
   Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s lawmaker Shammi Akter stressed the need for a proper solution of the problem, ‘Conflicts among us [lawmakers and elected local representatives] will not improve the atmosphere, if not worsen it.’
   The ruling Awami League’s organising secretary Mahmudur Rahman Manna, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee for local government and rural development, Rahmat Ali, former secretary Sarfraz Hossain, former MP Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Upazila Chairmen’s Association leader Harun-ur-Rashid and Ghatail upazila chairman Nazrul Islam Khan addressed the seminar, among others.

Lawmakers, local government experts and NGO people at a roundtable in Dhaka on Thursday said grassroots revenue collections should be increased to strengthen local government bodies.
   They said union and upazila parishads should have a share of taxes collected from local sources which would help such bodies to become financially independent.
   The local representatives who also took part in the discussion protested at the interference of lawmakers in local government activities.
   The Governance Advocacy Forum, a platform of 33 non-governmental organisations, organised the discussion on the national budget and local government. The organisation’s coordinator Mohsin Ali moderated the roundtable.
   Speaking as chief guest, retired Appellate Division justice Mohammad Golam Rabbani said it was expected that the government would frame local government laws in line with the constitutional provisions. ‘People will not have their freedom in real sense unless we cannot delegate authority to local government bodies.’
   Economist Kazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmed said the government should not have linked the lawmakers with the local government system. ‘The local government bodies should be given administrative and financial authority for effective decentralisation.’
   Haripur union parishad chairman in Rajshahi Bozle-Rezbi-Al-Hasan said the lawmakers were receiving allocations for development work without resolution from the parishads. ‘The lawmakers should do their own job and let us discharge our responsibilities.’
   Lawmaker Sanjida Khanam said local revenues should be increased besides the government budgetary allocations for development works under the local government bodies.
   ‘There should be a bridge between the lawmakers and the local government bodies as we also make some commitments to the people for local development,’ she said.

Bangladesh faces potential swine flu risks because of increased international travel and population density although no confirmed case of the flu has yet been reported in the country, experts said at a seminar in Dhaka on Thursday.
   The virus H1N1, which causes the flu, can be transmitted through respiratory droplets of infected individuals, they observed.
   They asked the people to remain cautious and maintain personal hygiene to guard against it. There was no reason to panic about or take aggressive measures.
   The World Health Organisation on May 19 said that 40 countries had officially reported 9,830 cases of swine flu infection, including 79 deaths.
   Sixty-eight of them died in Mexico, 5 in the United States, 1 in Canada and 1 in Costa Rica, according to the WHO report.
   James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh organised the seminar, ‘H1N1 virus: global and local perspectives,’ at the Sasakawa Auditorium of ICDDR,B in Dhaka.
   ‘In order to prevent any potential outbreak of the disease in Bangladesh, people must improve their respiratory hygiene by sneezing into their elbows, and not into their hands or into the air, practice social distancing, wash hands often throughout the day with soap and water, and stop smoking as it impairs the respiratory system,’ said Stephen P Luby, head of programme of the Infectious Disease and Vaccine Sciences Division at the ICDDR,B.
   The participants also gave a detailed account of how the virus travelled from person to person in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
   ‘Preventive measures such as screening at 3 airports, 2 sea ports and 10 land ports by setting up health support desks have been taken to help prevent any possible epidemic in Bangladesh,’ Be-Nazir Ahmed, associate professor and principal scientific officer of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, said.
   ‘If anybody is diagnosed to have the flu, he will be administered a five-day anti-viral course,’ he said.
   WHO national consultant Selina Khatun gave a presentation on WHO’s strategy in preparation against any potential outbreak of the H1N1 virus in Bangladesh.

The Workers Party of Bangladesh president, Rashed Khan Menon on Thursday said the youth of the country could play a role in establishing a non-communal and democratic Bangladesh.
   Menon said it at the opening session of a conference of the Dhaka City Unit (South) of Juba Moitri at the Dhaka District Sport Council auditorium.
   The people in the last general elections voted to power the Awami League- led alliance to establish a non-communal and democratic Bangladesh and the government must fulfil people’s expectation, Menon said and he called on the youths to come forward to bring about a change in the party’s role.
   It is impossible to bring any change in its role by chanting slogans only as the change must come from within the system, Menon said.
   Menon urged the youths to foil any conspiracies against holding of the trial of the war criminals of the war of independence.
   The president of Sammilita Sanskrik Jote, Nasir Uddin Yusuf Bachchu said the youths had played important roles in the past and they should continue to play the same role in future.
   Chaired by Juba Moitri leader, Mostafa Alamgir Ratan, the conference was addressed, among others, by Workers Party politburo members Nurul Hasan and Safiuddin Ahmed, central leaders Hazera Sultana and Quamrul Ahsan and Juba Moitri president, Noor Ahmed Bakul and general secretary, Sadakt Hossain Khan Babul.

The World Bank does not provide any information on its projects in Bangladesh, obstructing stakeholders’ access to information in areas such as project agreement, implementation and monitoring, said participants in a consultation meeting.
   They demanded public disclosure of all information related to WB projects as well as its funding procedures.
   The meeting, held at the Dhaka Reporter’s Unity on Wednesday, was organised by research and advocacy organisation Voice and the Bank Information Centre. Former Appellate Division Judge Golam Rabbani presided over the meeting.
   In his keynote speech, the Voice executive director, Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, said according to the WB’s Inspection Panel Annual Report, there were allegations of lack of transparency, even violations, of its disclosure policy, he added.
   He cited violations of the disclosure policy in a significant number of cases.
   BRAC University professor Dr Piash Karim said the World Bank was losing its legitimacy worldwide because of imposition of neo-liberal conditions on the states.
   Accusing the World Bank of taking advantage of the global financial crisis, he said it was eager to expand its lending base. He demanded that the World Bank’s lending policy and the project agreements should be made public so that people could voice their opinions on the project documents.
   Sangbad executive editor Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul said the World Bank should facilitate access to all documents to help people to give their opinions. People’s right to know should be ensured, making the documents available in their respective languages, he said.
   The meeting was addressed, among others, by Article 19 country director Tahmina Rahman, DNet executive director Dr Ananya Raihan, Omar Tarek Chowdhury of Bangladesh Nari Pragati Sangha, Revolutionary Workers Party general secretry Saiful Haq and Equity and Justice Working Group convener Rezaul Karim Chowdhury.

The police rescued six children and arrested two female human traffickers at Sharsha Bazar on Thursday.
   Acting on a tip-off, law enforcers raided a bus and arrested two human traffickers — Hosney Ara and Renu Begum — at noon.
   Six children — Alim, 8, Milton, 9, Riaz, 8, Jihad, 7, Milon, 8, and Mohammad Ali,9 — were rescued. They all hailed from Rianda village in Sarankhola upazila of Bagerhat.
   The police said two women were taking the six children to India for trafficking.
   The rescued children were handed to the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers’ Association.

Freedom fighter Gazi Amir Hossain died of cancer at his residence in Amtali upazila on Wednesday at the age of 70. He is survived by his wife and three sons. He was buried at his family graveyard at Nilganj village under the upazila with state honours.

Journalist and language veteran ATM Shamsuddin has been admitted to Shamarita Hospital in the city following brain haemorrhage.
   He is now under treatment of Dr MN Alam, a medicine specialist, at the hospital, family sources said on Thursday.
   ATM Shamsuddin worked in different capacities in Daily Sangbad, Ittefaq and Janakantha. He played an important role in the 1952 language movement in Chittagong as a member of All-Party Language Movement Committee.

The third anniversary of the death of the now-defunct Eastern News Agency chief editor Golam Rasul Mallick will be observed today, said a release issued on Thursday.
   Golam Rasul founded the Eastern News Agency, the first private news agency in the erstwhile East Pakistan, in 1969. He worked with different daily newspapers and news agencies.
   A prayer session and a programme to feed the destitute will be held after the juma prayers on the occasion.

Md Hafizur Rahaman, captain of the Faridpur district football team, died of blood cancer in Padma General Hospital in Dhaka on Thursday. He was 33.
   He was survived by his wife and mother.
   His namaz-e-janaza was held at the Faridpur Stadium after the asr prayers and he was buried in the Alipur graveyard in Faridpur town.
   Hafiz served as the captain of the district football team and represented the Bangladesh youth team abroad. He had also played for the Agrani Bank and the Badda Jagarani Club for more than 10 years.

A Dhaka Court on Thursday summoned three lawyers to appear in court on June 17 to face a defamation suit filed by former Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Delwar Hossain Saydee.
   Sayedee sued Liton Miah, Safayet Hossain Sajib and Rajib Hossain on defamation charges for filing a petition seeking 36 people, including former Jamaat-e-Islami amir Golam Azam, incumbent amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, and central leader Saydee to be declared war criminals and to be barred from contesting elections.
   Additional district and sessions judge SM Saiful Islam passed the order after hearing the defamation suit filed by Sayedee demanding Tk 100 crore in compensation.
   Accepting the case filed by the three lawyers
   for hearing, additional district judge Iftekhar Ahmed on May 11 summoned the 36 people, including a dozen who had already died, to appear in the court on July 20.

The Mineral Resources and Energy Division has sent a proposal to the cabinet committee for renewal of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation’s contract with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation for two years.
   The proposal is likely to be placed before the purchase committee, headed by finance minister Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, on Sunday for approval, said officials.
   The BPC’s one-year extended agreement with KPC expired on 31, 2008 and further extension of the agreement became uncertain as the KPC imposed some conditions on the opening of letters of credit, like engaging international banks authorised by the KPC for opening the LCs.
   After both sides came to a consensus for extending the contract again in March, the BPC sent a proposal to the energy division for getting the government’s approval.
   The KPC was the major source of refined fuel oils for the BPC till 2008 as the latter had imported around 22 lakh tonnes of diesel, kerosene, octane and jet fuel annually from the KPC in the last five years.
   The BPC, following deadlock with the KPC, then reached an agreement with Malaysia’s Petronas Trading Corporation to import around 12-15 lakh tonnes of the fuels mentioned above. The country’s total annual import of fuel oils is around 37-38 lakh tonnes, including 13-14 lakh tonnes of crude oil.
   ‘If the purchase committee approves the extension of the contract, BPC will start negotiating with the KPC on how much fuel oil it wants to import and the premium rate, carrying and other charges,’ said an official.

The BNP’s standing committee member, Moudud Ahmed, on Thursday called for finalising any decision to restructure the Bangladesh Rifles or rename the 200-year-old frontier guards only after thorough discussion in the parliament.
   Moudud, also a former law minister, said there is no reason to rename the institution that has a heritage of more than two centuries just because of a rebellion.
   ‘Institutions cannot be blamed for occurrence of any rebellion.
   There have been rebellions in the army, in the air force and in the ansars, but the names of those institutions have remained unchanged,’ Moudud told reporters.
   He also mentioned the staging of a number of ‘dramas’ in the Bangabhaban which had not resulted in the changing of its name.
   Moudud, who was once vice-president in Ershad’s government, said the rebellion in the Pilkhana was a conspiracy to
   weaken the army and the real perpetrators need to be identified through proper investigation and be given exemplary punishment.
   Moudud said, in reply to a question, that the BNP has finalised the convening committees of 64 districts and work is going on to prepare a mode of operation for them. The committees will be made public after completion of the preparation of the guideline. The sudden illness of BNP’s secretary-general, Khandaker Delwar Hossain, has delayed the process, he said
   Besides forming the convening committees, the party will also form six separate committees for each of the six divisions to oversee the activities of the convening committees, Moudud added.
   ‘We have tried to accommodate honest, qualified, sincere and devoted leaders in the committees in a bid to revive the party’s image,’ he said.
   When asked about the formation of the convening committee of the Dhaka city unit, Moudud said it has been left to the party’s chairperson, Khaleda Zia, who will finalise the committee.
   He also ruled out existence of any division in the party. ‘BNP is a united party. There is nothing called reformist or anything else,’ he said.
   Moudud also hinted that the party’s associate bodies would be restructured after completion of the formation of the convening committees of the district units.

The minister for home affairs, Sahara Khatun said on Thursday that the government was determined to root out extortion and militancy from the country at any cost.
   Meanwhile, the state minister for homes, Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj said that the constitution of Bangladesh did not allow the state mechanism to be used against any neighbouring country.
   Sahara Khatun and Tanjim Ahmed were addressing as chief guest and special guest respectively at the installation ceremony of the new executive committee of the Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Thursday, with the CRAB president, Akteruzzaman in the chair.
   The inspector general of police, Nur Mohammad, Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner, AKM Shahidul Haque and Standard Bank Limited chairman, Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed attended the function as guests of honour.
   In her speech, Sahara said that the law enforcers were instructed to take stern actions against all the criminals irrespective of their party affiliations.
   ‘Some successes against militancy have already been achieved,’ she said.
   Sahara said that the government had taken some steps for the wellbeing of the law enforcers by providing cent per cent ration to the police, conferring first class officer’s status on an officer-in-charge of a police station and increasing their allowances.
   She now sought cooperation of the mass people to improve the law and order as it was impossible for the government alone to improve it.
   Sohel Taj said the government had assured the law enforcers that they could dig out the root of the 10-truckload of arms haul case without facing any hindrance.
   The function was addressed, among others, by DRU general secretary, Pathick Saha and CRAB members Bashir Ahmed, Gaffar Mahmud, Madhusudan Mondal, Fakhrul Alam Kanchan and Abul Khair.

Engineering and Survey Institute students in Rajshahi on Thursday staged a sit-in at Saheb Bazar demanding immediate release of the students arrested in connection with clashes in the Bangladesh Survey Institute in Comilla.
   Sixteen students of the Survey Institute in Comilla were injured in clashes with the police on Wednesday as they rallied for direct recruitment of diploma-in-survey degree holders to the post of assistant settlement officers in the institute.
   Several hundred Engineering and Survey Institute students in Rajshahi boycotted classes and brought out a protest procession in the city.
   They had later blocked the road in the Saheb Bazar crossing about half an hour. They also placed their five-point demands to the authorities and asked the government to meet them immediately.
   The demands are recognition of the institute students as diploma holders for recruitment, their recruitment in various positions such as survey diploma holder, sub-assistant settlement officer, deputy assistant land surveyor, building inspector, sub-assistant engineer (survey) and taxation officer, transfer of their institute from the local government ministry to the education ministry and inclusion of modern technologies in their curriculum.