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Mosquito menace has turned acute at different areas of the capital city due to absence of anti-mosquito drive by the Dhaka City Corporation.
   Local people of city’s different parts alleged that the city corporation had conducted no visible anti-mosquito drive during the last one and a half months to combat the menace, causing immense sufferings to city dwellers.
   They suffer the mosquito menace not only at their homes but also at offices, business centres, educational institutions, bus and launch terminals as well as railway stations. In addition, sales of mosquito coils and other repellents are on the rise because of mosquito menace.
   To protect them from mosquito biting, residents said, they have to spend a certain amount of money every month to buy mosquito coils, sprayers and other repellents.
   The people of most areas have vented their frustration on the anti-mosquito activities of the Dhaka City Corporation.
   ‘Over the last two months, we saw no DCC employees either to conduct the anti-mosquito drive or carry out the awareness campaign besides launching any clean-up drive,’ said Rosy Karim, a resident of East Goran.
   ‘In the last one month, I had to put extra efforts to keep my children out of the reach of mosquitoes,’ she added.
   Mostafa Uzzal, who lives in a rented mess at East Rajabazar, said it was very difficult for them to stay inside the doors at night without hanging any mosquito nets or using mosquito coils or other pesticides. ‘Even at daytime, we have to suffer the mosquito menace,’ he added.
   The city corporation conducted a three-day special clean-up drive and awareness campaign at some parts of the city from October 2 to eradicate larvae of Aedes mosquito and check the spread of dengue fever.
   The DCC has held mismanagement and ignorance of the duties by the zonal officers responsible for breeding of mosquitoes.
   When contacted, DCC’s chief entomologist Nasim-us-Seraj said, ‘We are providing all the ten zonal offices with necessary equipment to conduct the anti-mosquito drive and it is the responsibility of zonal officers to carry out the drive regularly.’
   In reply to a question, Seraj said zonal officials don’t want to work sincerely, causing hindrance to regular drive.
   The city corporation spent some Tk 12.50 crore last year to contain the mosquito menace while this year’s budget for the purpose is Tk 17.50 crore.

Use of polythene bags continues unabated at all the markets of the Khulna city for lack of effective drive by law enforcers to implement the ban on the environmentally harmful substance.
   The government banned production and use of polythene in 2003 in view of its harmful impact on environment but traders continue to use poly bags for packing their goods after sale.
   Absence of drive by law enforces and lack of awareness among the people is blamed for rampant use of poly bags in the city markets, according to green activists.
   Three categories of polythene have been kept outside the purview of the ban and are only those who need to pack their products for marketing can use them.
   Nobody is allowed to use polythene with thickness less than 35 mili-micron for inner liner, less than 50 mili-micron for packing fish and less than 55 mili-micron for packing other goods.
   But none can use polythene as shopping bags and to sell it in the open market, according to the rule.
   Sources in the different markets in the city said grocers, spice and fish traders continue to defy the ban as after sale they hand over their goods to the buyers in polythene bags.
   Poly bag suppliers are now using a trick to bypass the ban, the market sources said.
   They supply poly bags in the shops by sticking to them labels and logo of different products of reputed companies so that law enforcers can not notice them, they added.
   Sources at the conservancy department of Khulna City Corporation said drains in different areas of the city often get clogged with poly bags.
   The cleaners find it hard to clear the drains because of gathering of poly bags, they said. Ashraf-Ul-Haque of Dumuria upazila headquarters in the district, said he came to Moylapota Sandhya bazaar almost every day to sell fish.
   ‘I put fish in poly bags after sale and hand over it to my consumers because they want it.’
    ‘It is portable and I can keep it in my pocket and buy necessary goods from anywhere’ said a private firm employee Abdur Rahman of Khanjahan Ali Road area.
   Green activist Firoz Ahmed, member secretary of Khulna Nagarik Samaj, while talking to New Age, expressed concern about continued use of poly bags in the city markets.
   He stressed the need for creating awareness among the people of harmful impact of poly bags on the environment.
   The law enforcers should play active role in stopping use of poly bags, he added.
   The divisional director of environment department, Ashok Kumar Biswas, said they had already launched mobile court drive in the city and in all districts of division to seize poly bags.

The education minister Nurul Islam Nahid on Sunday said the national education policy would be finalised upholding religious values.
   ‘The government won’t incorporate anything in the national education policy, which will harm religious values,’ he told a view-exchange meeting with leaders of Islami Education Protection National Committee at the conference room of the education ministry.
   Convenor of the committee Maulana Muhiuddin Khan, member secretary Maulana Muhammad and members Maulana Muham-mad Ishak and Maulna Syed Mosaddek Billah Al Madani, among others, addressed the meeting.
   Education secretary Syed Ataur Rahman, senior officials of the ministry and other committee members were also present at the meeting.
   Nahid said the draft of the education policy had been circulated through Internet eliciting public opinion. The government would consider the opinion of the people with due importance in finalising the policy, he added.
   The minister said the present government had taken initiatives to formulate a complete education policy for ensuring quality education.
   ‘We’ll finalise the education policy by December and we want to implement it for achieving the target.’ Nahid said the national education policy would be given importance on religious education to build moral character of students.
   Highlighting the importance of madrassah education, the education minister said the madrassah education would be time-befitting for improving the quality of education.
   The leaders of the committee handed over a set of recommendations on the draft education policy to the minister.
   The recommendations include incorporating basic education on respective religions of all faiths from class one, providing salaries, allowances and other facilities for teachers of independent ebtadayee madrassah, establishing Islami Arabic University, ensuring necessary facilities in madrassah education for women like general education.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police will take security measures for the people and cattle traders ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
   The decision was taken at a meeting held at the DMP headquarters on Sunday with the city police chief AKM Shahidul Hoque in the chair.
   Senior police officers, including the additional DMP commissioner Abul Kashem, chiefs of crime division, traffic division and detective police, attended the meeting.
   The meeting decided not to allow setting up of any makeshift cattle markets in the metropolitan area without taking permission from the Dhaka City Corporation.
   The police will also ensure security of the buyers and sellers at the makeshift cattle markets and will set up control rooms at each market to help them.
   Police check post will be set up at different points to check smuggling of rawhides and will ensure security at bus and launch terminals and railway stations.

A fire broke out at a law chamber in the city’s Segunbagicha area on Sunday, burning down air conditioners, computers, file cabinet, furniture and documents.
   Fire service sources said the fire broke out at the law chamber, housed on the third floor of 16-storey Tanaka Tower, at around 8:30am and spread to the adjacent rooms.
   Two air conditioners, two computers, one file cabinet, furniture and documents were gutted in the fire but no casualty was reported in the incident, they added.
   After hearing the news, the people staying in
   their apartments of the building got panicked and rushed down to the ground immediately. Some of them burst into tears in panic.
   On receipt of information, four fire fighting units from different fire stations went to the spot and put out the flames at around 9:45am.
   The cause for the fire and the extent of loss were under investigation till filing of this report at 6:30pm.
   Fire service officials said they managed to save property worth about Tk 12 lakh.

The admission tests of Ka unit and Cha unit at Chittagong University will be held at 10:30am and 2:30pm today.
   The admission test of Ga unit was held on Sunday.
   The admission test of Jha unit and Chha unit will be held tomorrow while that of Ga unit on Wednesday, Gha unit on November 12, Uma unit on November 14, Kha unit on November 15, and Kha unit on November 16.

Journalist Shahabuddin Ahmed was accorded a farewell reception by the Khulna Press Club on Sunday.
   Speakers at the programme, chaired by press club president AK Hiru, highlighted the contributions of Shahabuddin in the country’s print media.
   Fomer club presidents Monirul Huda, Begum Ferdausi Ali, Ali Ahmed, Wadudur Rahman Panna and Sheikh Abu Hasan, general secretary Zakir Hossain, vice-presidents Gouranga Nandy and Amiya Paul, among others, spoke at the programme.
   Shahabuddin has recently gone on retirement from English daily The Independent recently. He also served other newspapers including The Weekly Holiday, The Bangladesh Times and The Financial Express.
   In his farewell speech, Shahabuddin urged the journalists to work honestly and sincerely maintaing the ethics of journalism.

Weather may remain mainly dry with partly cloudy sky over the country till 6:00pm today.
   Night temperature may fall slightly over the country, Met Office said.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:15pm and rises tomorrow at 7:09am.
   Country’s highest temperature 34.2 degree Celsius was recorded on Sunday at Cox’s Bazar and lowest 17.7 degrees at Ishwardi.