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Local buses are disappearing from the city’s busy routes forcing working class and low-income commuters to get stuffed into a bus after a long wait or travel by other modes of transport paying exorbitant fares.
   Ramshackle local buses, designated for specific routes, have silently turned ‘seating’ or ‘gate-lock’ buses and stopped taking passengers from small bus stops between starting and terminating points, thanks to negligence and lax monitoring of city transport authorities.
   Spacious, semi-luxury buses, known as counter service, have almost taken over the city routes, gradually crowding out local minibuses. Hundreds of commuters, including blue-collar workers and students, helplessly wait at bus stops to see buses are passing by leaving them behind.
   The self-styled hi-speed buses do not take fares fixed by the government on mileage basis. A passenger has to pay a minimum amount, set by the bus operator concerned, wherever he or she gets.
   Office-goers do not mind paying higher to travel in comfort during rush hours, but every extra taka matters a lot to low-income people, who travel by local buses for cheaper fares.
   ‘At least 30 counter service buses have crossed me before I get in a local service,’ said a Gulistan-bound day labour at Mirpur.
   ‘I have been waiting as I cannot afford the fare of counter services,’ he said urging the authorities concerned to take initiative to solve the problem of passengers of his income groups.
   A man was trying to get into a local minibus as it slowed down at Agargaon and was obstructed by the helper. He begged the helper to take him at least up to Farmgate, but the helper, joined by some of the passengers, shouted, ‘Don’t see it is a non-stop bus?’ The man was almost pushed down from the bus.
   A student of Jagannath University was delayed by an hour for an exam as no bus took him from Rampura Bazar stop and passed by him one by one keeping the door shut.
   A local bus driver said about 30 busses ply the two routes —Mirpur-Azimpur route and Mirpur-Gulistan— against about 300 counter service buses.
   ‘The number of local services is reducing day by day as the bus owners get more incomes from counter service,’ said the driver who has been on the steering for five years.
   ‘We charge Tk 1 for travelling from Mirpur 12 to Mirpur 10 while the counter service buses will charge at least Tk 5,’ he said.
   Owners only think about their profits and they have no headache for passenger services, he said adding he had to pay the owner Tk 3500 for a day.
   Officials at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, which gives route permits, said there is no such ‘seating’ or ‘non-stop’ service in their categories of public transport. ‘Local buses with route numbers are to ply specific routes and pick and drop passengers at designated bus stops,’ said a BRTA official.
   But none is there to stop local busses from changing their status themselves and charging fares as per their wish.
   A research study by Japan International Cooperation Agency shows city transports make 23 million trips per day— 7.5 million trips by bus, 8.44 million trips by rickshaws and the rest by other vehicles including cars.
   The study also suggested carefully re-examination of current fare charts of public transport taking into the passenger mix and affordability.
   According to the Dhaka City Corporation, the total road network of the city is around 2,200 kilometres, including only 210 km of main thoroughfare.
   About 7600 buses ply the 220 routes of the metropolitan area while the total permitted bus routes are around 150, transport experts said.
   But passengers’ woes continue due to flaws in route planning and uneven combination of public buses. People with low incomes are the worst sufferers from the capital city’s ill-managed public transport system.
   Over 4.7 lakh motorised vehicles including car, jeep, microbus, taxicab, CNG-auto-rickshaw, bus, minibuses, truck and human haulers were registered with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority in Dhaka till 2008, according to BRTA statistics.
   Of them, there are over 2 lakh cars, jeep, microbus and station wagons and over 15,000 public buses and minibuses.
   The statistics also show that nearly 2 lakh motor-cycles and 27,000 trucks and 25,000 human haulers are plying the city roads.
   Transport experts said increase of number of motorised transports is not the answer to traffic woes until the authorities strictly enforce traffic rules and monitor the public transport to protect the rights of commuters of all income groups, especially the low income ones, who make up more than a half of the city’s commuters.

The first ever complete information-based digital university will be set up in Gazipur as part of the present government’s vow to build ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021.
   Construction work of the proposed university named Bangabandhu Digital University will begin next year and the university is expected to launch academic journey in 2013.
   The university will be established on 18.4 acres of land at Kaliakoir of the district, according to sources at the science, information and communication technology ministry.
   Infrastructure development, preparation of syllabus and educational curriculum will be conducted by the Bangladesh Computer Society while the government will allocate land and provide policy support.
   South Korean KEXIN bank will provide $1.5 crore as soft loan to build the digital university as well as start its academic year.
   An agreement between the government and the Bangladesh Computer Samity has been already signed in this regard, ministry sources said.
   The BCS president, Mostofa Jabbar, told the news agency, ‘We would like to be a stakeholder in the huge commercial market of IT and we took the initiative of building a digital university in this regard,’ he said.
   The university would be a different kind of educational institute, where teachers and students would not use any book, they will use compact disk with soft copies of text books.
   ‘No paper-based examination will be held and traditional trend of memorizing lessons, notes and guides will not be practiced,’ he said, adding ‘No one can even get any chance to adopt unfair means of copying at the examinations as those will be conducted in digital format and results will be published just after completing the exams.’
   The BCS president said the university will have school section where education will begin at play group to secondary level. The students of the university will get post graduation degrees through using third generation (3G) IT and they will get internet facilities at every corners of the campus.

The Chittagong Develop-ment Authority has undertaken a short-term plan involving about Tk 600 crore for development of road infrastructure in the port city.
   Under the plan, the authorities will construct five flyovers, expand the existing city roads and build a tourist rail line from Battali railway junction to airport and Patenga sea beach.
   The CDA has already submitted all schemes, except the tourist rail line to the ministry for government approval.
   The prime minister, who declared in her last election campaign in Chittagong that she herself would oversee the development of the port city, has accepted the CDA plan, state minister of environment and forests Dr Hasan Mahmud told the news agency.
   The prime minister Sheikh Hasina held a special meeting with the state minister of environment and forests Dr Hasan Mahmud and CDA chairman Abdus Salam last week.
   ‘As we have presented the scheme to the prime minister and requested her for a special sanction of Tk 500 crore for implementation of the short-term plan, she came to know about the projects in details and responded positively for allocation of the fund,’ the state minister said.
   Under the plan, five flyovers will be constructed at Bahaddar Hat, Muradpur, Sholashahar, GEC crossing, Kadamtali. Besides, the existing roads from Baddarhat to Chakbazar, Kadamtali to Pathantuli, Port connecting to Jahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium would be made double-way, he said.
   The government has undertaken a plan involving about Tk 100 crore to make the existing Andarkilla Jamme Mosque into a 20-storey building and beautification of Andarkilla area, he added.

The industries minister, Dilip Barua, on Monday said the on-going anti-adulteration drive will continue to ensure safe food for all as around 2.50 lakh people are attacked with cancer while 2.20 lakh with diabetes every year for consumption of adulterated food.
   ‘We’ve taken initiatives to make the Bangladesh Standarda and Testing Institution as a modern organisation and increase its manpower,’ he told a roundtable on ‘food safety for Bangladesh’ at BIAM auditorium.
   The minister said they had successfully conducted a country-wide anti-adulteration drive during the month of Ramadan as some businessmen are engaged in adulteration in hotels, petrol pumps (filling stations), mineral water plants and shops of essential commodities.
   Stressing the need for need for ensuring safe and quality food at all levels, he said there should be a social campaign to create awareness among the people.
   ‘The country doesn’t have the necessary number of food warehouses, which I think, is a very essential for ensuring safe food.’
   The minister said there is a trend among some businessmen to mix harmful chemicals in various fruits, vegetables and fish in a bid to make a windfall. ‘The government is fully alert in this regard and it’s also committed to protecting the consumers’ rights.’

The Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, on Monday demanded immediate steps to restore congenial atmosphere at the educational institutions in Rajshahi city.
   Leaders of the JCD Rajshahi city unit made the demand while addressing a news briefing held at the BNP city unit office.
   They alleged the activists of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, student body of the Awami League, have destroyed the academic atmosphere at all the educational institutions in the city by unleashing terrorism.
   Students of all the educational institutions including Rajshahi University, Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology and, Rajshahi Medical College are feeling insecure because of attacks by BCL men, they said.
   They (BCL activists) are now busy occupying seats and attack on the general students at all the educational institutions, the JCD leaders alleged.

The third founding anniversary of the Sylhet Agricultural University was celebrated on Monday amid festivity and jubilation.
   The university vice-chancellor, Professor Abdul Awal, inaugurated the day-long celebration programmes in the morning by cutting a cake.
   The programmes included a procession, voluntary blood donation, plantation of trees and a cultural function, according to campus sources.
   In his inaugural speech, the vice-chancellor sought cooperation of all quarters in developing the university as an international standard institution for higher studies.
   A colourful procession was brought from the university campus and it paraded through different city streets.
   Teachers, students, officials and employees of the university participated in the procession led by the vice-chancellor.
   The students arranged a voluntary blood donating programmes in the university auditorium in the afternoon.
   The university authorities also released fish fry into different ponds on the campus. Saplings of various kinds of trees were planted in different places on the campus.
   Later, a cultural function was held in the university auditorium in the evening, campus sources said.

Admission tests for the first-year honours courses at the Islamic University in Kushtia under 2009-10 academic session will begin on November 16, university sources said.
   The admission committee took the decision at a meeting held on Monday at the administration building with the vice-chancellor, Professor M. Alauddin, in the chair.
   The admission tests for 22 different departments will be held on November 16, 17, 18 and 19.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country till 6:00pm today.
   Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged, Met Office said.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:18pm and rises tomorrow at 7:06am.
   Country’s highest temperature 34.5 degree Celsius was recorded on Monday at Cox’s Bazar and lowest 17.4 degrees at Srimongal.