Main Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

The pay of government officials and employees has been increased by up to 74 per cent but no effective measures have yet been taken to curb corruption and ensure good governance.
   A secretary-level official’s monthly pay and other facilities now amount to over Tk 1,00,000 as the consolidated salary for a top bureaucrat has been increased to Tk 40,000 from Tk 23,000 in the seventh pay scale.
   ‘The amount of salary and perks for a secretary as stipulated in the seventh pay scale is rational. But the government should take measures to improve the efficiency of the officers and purge the bureaucracy of corruption and irregularities,’ a former adviser to a caretaker government, Dhiraj Kumar Nath, told New Age on Monday.
   He said that the main objectives of increasing the pay were to ensure good governance and make officials and employees more accountable.
    ‘The government must change the 30-year-old civil service code of conduct and rules to make bureaucrats more accountable and service-oriented,’ said another retired bureaucrat.
   He, along with several other retired and in-service officials, also said that the government should update the Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules 1985 to ensure exemplary punishment for dishonesty and laxity in service.
   The official said that the establishment ministry has long been working on the draft of the Civil Service Act but has made no visible progress so far.
   ‘A secretary will draw Tk 40,000 as consolidated monthly pay plus 50 per cent of his salary as house rent and 30 per cent increase in allowances for domestic help, entertainment and heath,’ said a finance ministry official, adding that the government is yet to publish a gazette notification for the new pay scale.
   Besides the increased salary and allowances, a secretary is entitled to 24-hour use of a car that will cost the government over Tk 35,000 each month for driver’s salary, fuel and maintenance, according to an establishment ministry official.
   The official said that the secretaries enjoy unlimited talk-time on both cellular phones and land telephones.
   A secretary-level official was getting Tk 23,000 as consolidated monthly salary with an additional sum of 50 per cent of the pay as house rent, Tk 500 as health allowance, Tk 625 as entertainment allowance and Tk 1,000 for household help as stipulated in the sixth pay scale introduced in 2005.
   Officials of the joint secretary-level and above are entitled to mobile bill and entertainment allowance besides health allowance. An additional secretary’s basic pay, which was Tk 19,300, has been fixed at Tk 33,500, while that of a joint secretary has been increased to Tk 29,000 from Tk 16,800.
   ‘Only pay-hike will not help make the bureaucracy accountable and free of corruption if the service rules are not updated…The officials should keep in mind that the people’s expectations will increase since the pay-hike will exert more pressure on taxpayers,’ pointed out DK Nath, also a retired secretary.
   He, however, said that the lowest basic pay should not be less than Tk 5,000 as the salary gap between the highest and the lowest grades, which now stands at 1:9.5, should not be more than 1:8.
   A special cabinet meeting on November 11 approved the seventh pay scale for some 1.2 million employees and officers on the government’s payroll, with retrospective effect from July 1 this year. The increase in the monthly salaries will range from 56 to 74 per cent, with the highest pay raised to Tk 40,000 from Tk 23,000 now and the lowest to Tk 4,100 from Tk 2,400.
   The implementation of the National Pay Scale 2009 for all the 20 grades of public servants will cost the exchequer an additional amount of Tk 6,222 crore in yearly revenue expenditure.
   The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has reportedly expressed concern that the new pay scale might cause inflation, leading to the price-hike of essential commodities.
   When asked on November 5 about the planned administrative reforms, the prime minister’s adviser, HT Imam said that the government had prepared a draft of a new Civil Service Act, and initiatives have also been taken to update promotion rules and the transfer and posting policy.

ARMED Forces Day, November 21 that is, for us, the democratically oriented Bangladeshis, is the political symbol of organised resistance against the forces of un-democracy, the forces of economic inequality, the forces of cultural oppression, et cetera, for, on that day in 1971, our army, navy and air force launched a coordinated and comprehensive attack on the occupation forces of Pakistan that eventually brought in the decisive victory of our liberation war. A ‘terrible beauty was born’ on December 16 the same year: The nine months of bloody war, following more than two decades of painful political struggle, delivered Bangladesh, with the promise of pervasive democratic freedom for the surviving Bangladeshis, and their offspring to be born in this politically liberated land.
   The armed forces of Bangladesh came into existence from the womb of the country’s war of independence that the Bangladeshis – the Bengalis and the members of other ethnic communities living in Bangladesh – fought out from the neo-colonial rule of Pakistan which had imposed political repression, cultural oppression and economic inequalities on the people of Bangladesh. Our freedom fighters – men and women, civil and military – laid down their lives with the clear objective of setting up a democratic republic in the liberated Bangladesh which would ensure democratic freedom of the people at the political level, material equality at the economic level, social equality at the cultural level, etc, irrespective of the citizens’ political, gender, ethnic and religious identity. Besides, the state was also supposed to provide a political environment conducive for intellectual freedom in which the socially engaged intelligentsia will work and debate various political and philosophical discourses with a view to expanding the people’s democratic freedom at all levels and in all possible directions. The constitution of the newly set-up state called the People’s Republic of Bangladesh rightly promised its citizens the environment to ‘prosper in freedom’. The Armed Forces Day, therefore, belongs to every Bangladeshis who cherish freedom, and work towards expansion of freedom to the social, political, economic and cultural lives of the Bangladeshis in general, while our armed forces always need to uphold the original spirit of the historic day in the interest of all of us – the citizens, civil and military.
   However, the subsequent groups of the mangers of the state, political and military, did not live up to the constitutional commitments of democratic freedom, and thus did not allow the people at large to ‘prosper in freedom’. As time and again the elected political authorities failed to deliver public good because of their parochial partisan interests, the generals used the armed forces to usurp power, directly or indirectly, which in most cases, particularly in the cases of General HM Ershad and General Moeen U Ahmed, proved to be extremely counterproductive. While the politician rulers brutally used civil administration against the democratic aspirations of the people, the military rulers used the military administration similarly against those. The result was obvious: At different points of historical time, both the political and military leaderships earned disaffection of the people, which benefited none – neither the political class nor the armed forces as institutions and nor, of course, the people at large. Consequently, the country has not been able to progress the way it should have – both politically and economically.
   Now, after several rounds of undemocratic rules by the elected and unelected political and military regimes, it is really disappointing to see that there is still no visible sign that the political leadership, and the powerful military wings, particularly the unduly influential ones, that they have intellectually internalised the ideals of our liberation war – upholding democratic aspirations of the people that is. They rather still appear to be out to ‘punish’ and ‘humiliate’ the forces of democracy, big or small, that work towards democratic emancipation of human beings in general and the people of this country in particular. New Age is a case in point.
   Those who genuinely cherish the idea of the democratic emancipation of human beings believe in all kinds of democratic freedom – political and economic, cultural and intellectual, et cetera, because freedom is a comprehensive idea, which needs to be realised and celebrated wholly. And those who believe in the comprehensive idea of democratic freedom know that freedom has to be secured at all levels of human existence – individual, familial, social, national and even international, for familial, social, national and international orders influence the life of all individuals on earth in many ways, directly or indirectly. And those who know that democratic emancipation of people is related directly to freedom of all kinds and at all levels understand that the cherished freedom can neither come nor be secured without constant as well as active struggle and proactive vigilance. So, the democratically oriented sections of the people across the world fight, individually and collectively, for democratic freedom at all levels of human existence and, and they do it in all frontiers. While fighting for freedom, they even kill and get killed, and thus make the human life meaningful. Without struggle for democratic freedom of the humans, human life cannot fully realise its meaning. In this part of the world, we, the living Bangladeshis, are proud predecessors of our freedom fighters – men and women, civil and military – who killed and got killed in 1971 for our people’s democratic aspirations to be met unhindered in the independent state of their own.
   A media organisation committed to democratic values, New Age unequivocally believes that it must uphold the spirit of the country’s liberation war – the political, economic and cultural emancipation of the people that is – to realise the dreams of our valiant freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country’s liberation on the one hand and contribute in its own humble manner to paving the way for the republic to earn an honourable position in the international community of states on the other. With this objective in mind, New Age has consistently fought for democratic freedom of the people in Bangladesh, and beyond, since its inception in 2003. The paper was critical of the undemocratic aspects of governance by Khaleda Zia’s elected administration, was highly critical of the military-controlled unelected regime of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, is critical of the undemocratic dimensions of governance by the elected government of Sheikh Hasina, and will continue to be critical of the governments to come, in case they fail to work towards democratisation of our society and state. New Age’s human optimism that the governments would deliver according to their public pledges would never die, while such optimism would never prevent the paper from remaining intellectually pessimist that they may not, and therefore will keep constant vigilance on the governmental performances.
   New Age knows that persuasion of such an editorial policy earns appreciations of the well-meaning people on the one hand and invites troubles from the established authorities on the other. While in a few years of its inception, the paper has become the most respected Bangladeshi English language daily in the country and beyond, it has several times been exposed to the wraths of the governments, particularly the military-controlled government of Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed.
   A few politically ambitious generals and some of their lackeys in the armed forces behind Fakhruddin’s puppet administration harassed and intimidated New Age in all possible ways, including attempts to close down the paper, because the paper effectively stood in the way of the regime’s illegitimate ambition to cling to power, because it loudly protested against the regime’s evil design to distort the country’s political process by way of implementing the so-called ‘minus two’ formula, because it protested against the regime’s unlawful torture and harassment of the country’s politicians and businessmen, because it refused to print ‘stories’ maligning the political class supplied by a sections of the unruly DGFI officials, because it protested against the regime’s subservience to some foreign diplomatic missions, because it criticised the regime for its anti-people economic policies, because it frequently cautioned people that the regime was using the armed forces as institutions for its parochial purposes and thus isolating the armed forces from the people at large which would prove counterproductive for the national interests, and, on top of those all, the paper demanded democratic freedom of the people to freely choose their representatives for running the affairs of the state. We strongly believe that, unlike many, New Age did the right job, and which it did precisely in compliance with the spirit of our liberation war that promised political, economic and cultural freedom of the people.
   The quasi-military regime is gone for quite some time now, but some of those unruly DGFI men are still there in the office concerned calling the shots, particularly in ‘punishing’ those, including New Age, who opposed the unlawful activities of Fakhruddin’s government and the military men behind it. Those are the officers who has made sure that New Age, the country’s second largest English language daily, does not get honour of carrying the special supplement on the historic Armed Forces Day, sponsored officially by the Armed Forces Division attached with the Prime Minister’s Office. Not only this, the officers in question have also deprived New Age, and some other contemporaries, of the professional opportunity to cover the historic function held inside the cantonment by way of not issuing any ‘security pass’ to any New Age correspondent, although they have done it for some other newspapers. It is indeed hard to believe that the government of Prime Sheikh Hasina would pursue a policy to ‘punish’ New Age for opposing the military-backed regime in favour of the survival of the political class when the politicians were out in the cold. But it is also true that a few military officers in the army bothering the media are still enjoying the government’s political indulgence. We doubt that the handful of army officers who still remain vindictive towards those who spoke for democratic governance by the people’s elected representatives can do any service to the political incumbents. Rather, their activities, intended or unintended, may disturb the process of electoral democracy to take firm root in our society by way of disrupting the process of open political polemics essential for strengthening of the democratic process of any country.
   On the part of New Age, we are definitely offended by the unreasonable behaviour of the Ministry of Defence, and believe that it owes clarification as to why under an elected authority a few intelligence officials would intimidate those committed to democratic causes. However, under any circumstances New Age will remain committed to its greater cause – working towards democratic emancipation of the people at large within the framework of our nation state, and beyond. On the occasion of Armed Forces Day, we, therefore, iterate our old conviction that strong armed forces professionally committed to the democratic spirit of Armed Forces Day would help us to not only defend our country against foreign powers but also create a pervasive democratic environment required for our people to ‘prosper in freedom’. The country has no other alternative for achieving the objectives of the war of national independence.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina has said process is underway to declare all the national award-winning and war-wounded freedom fighters as the very important persons.
   ‘Besides, freedom fighters will be allowed to take free journey in buses, trains and launches,’ she said.
   Hasina, who is also in-charge of defence ministry, was addressing a reception accorded to gallantry award-winning freedom fighters and their successors at Senakunja at Dhaka cantonment marking Armed Forces Day 2009 on Saturday.
   The reception was attended by 35 freedom fighters from the three services and 11 civil freedom fighters and their successors.
   The prime minister said the Awami League which had spearheaded the liberation war along with the patriotic people of the country always worked for the welfare of the freedom fighters and their families.
   During the 1996-2001 tenure, she said, the then Awami League government introduced allowance for freedom fighters, quota facilities for their children in government jobs and many other welfare activities, including preserving memories of the liberation war.
   She said the Awami league government had kept the process on in its present tenure as well.
   Hasina presented before the freedom fighters all the steps taken by the present government since it has assumed office.
   She said the sate allowance for 7,838 freedom fighters under the Muktijoddha Kalyan Trust and martyred families had been increased by 40 per cent while the number of freedom fighters receiving underprivileged allowance had also been increased to 1.25 lakh from the previous 1 lakh and their allowance had also been increased to Tk 1,500 from 900.
   The government has increased medical allowances for the war-wounded freedom fighters apart from taking a programme for providing rations to the martyred and wounded freedom fighters’ families.
   During the last fiscal, Tk 108 crore was given in allowance to 1 lakh underprivileged freedom fighters while Tk 72 lakh was given in financial assistance to 1,480 freedom fighters for marrying off their daughters and meeting the medical, educational and house building expenses, the Prime Minister said.
   The other steps taken by the government included free transport facilities for freedom fighters of 65 years of age and above, modern training for the wards of the freedom fighters to build them as skilled human resources and keeping aside 30 per cent quota in government and semi-government jobs for their children.
   Hasina said the government had also taken steps to complete the construction work on the Victory Monument at the city’s Suhrawardy Udyan (previously known as Race Course Maidan where Mujib had called for the liberation war).
   Hasina also sought cooperation of the people of all walks of lives in turn Bangladesh into a modern developed country in line with its election pledge.
   In the reception, the prime minister presented gifts to 46 gallantry award-winning freedom fighters and family members, including close relatives of Shaheed Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir Bir Shreshtha, Shaheed Sepoy Hamidur Rahman Bir Shreshtha, Shaheed Sepoy Muhammad Mustafa Kamal Bir Sreshtha, Shaheed Muhammad Ruhul Amin, Bir Shreshtha, Shaheed Flight Lieutenant M Matiur Rahman Bir Shreshtha, Shaheed Lance Naik Nur Muhammad Sheikh, Bir Shreshtha and Shaheed Lance Naik Munshi Abdur Rauf Bir Shreshtha.

Nearly 2,200 upazila secondary education officers and employees will observe Eid-ul-Azha without salaries and festival allowances due to the administration’s callousness.
   As the salaries of such officials and employees have remained halted since July, they also had to observe Eid-ul-Fitr in September without any pay.
   The government in May this year announced that the jobs of all such officers and employees who have been working under four projects of the education ministry will be brought under the revenue budget.
   The upazila secondary education officers are assigned to oversee the academic activities of secondary-level schools and madrassahs of 474 upazilas across the country. They also monitor the distribution of stipends to the students of secondary and higher secondary classes, and implementation of the system of school-based assessment of the students of Class VI to IX.
   ‘After the announcement that their jobs would be brought under the revenue budget, the education and finance ministries needed some information and documents about such manpower. Despite several requests, the chiefs of the projects did not supply the necessary papers,’ said education secretary Syed Ataur Rahman. ‘This is the reason for the delay in disbursement of their salary.’
   ‘So far my as knowledge goes, they will get their salaries soon, but I am not sure whether they will get them before Eid-ul-Azha,’ he added.
   Brushing aside the education secretary’s claim, M Afzal Hossain, director of one of the four projects, said they had sent the necessary papers in due time to the ministry. ‘But the officials concerned paid no heed and that is why the officers and employees are not getting their salaries in due time,’ said Afzal, who is the director the Secondary Education Stipend Project. Among the 2,200 officers and employees, nearly 1,200 are under Afzal’s project.
   ‘Like Eid-ul-Fitr in September, we will have to observe Eid-ul-Azha too without salaries and bonuses,’ sadly said a secondary education officer.
   Non-payment of salaries for four months has landed these fixed-income people, irrespective of their status, in deep trouble and misery.

Taliban militants blew up an empty school in a tribal town in northwest Pakistan on Saturday severely damaging the building, officials said.
   Militants planted explosives near the building in the Khyber region’s Bara town, around 20 kilometres south of Peshawar, local administration chief Farooq Khan said by telephone.
   ‘The explosive device was fitted with a timer,’ he said. It went off in the afternoon when the school was closed, he said, adding that nobody was injured.
   Taliban militants blew up a government-run girls’ school in the same area on Monday night. That school was also badly damaged.
   Bara is close to Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, which has been hit by a series of bomb blasts in recent weeks.
   Meanwhile, a bomb exploded near the building of a non-government organisation offering treatment to the blind in northwest Peshawar city on Saturday, injuring one person, the police said.
   The bomb was planted behind the two-storey building housing the German-funded Comprehensive Health and Education Foundation in the city’s University Town neighbourhood, senior police officer Imran Kishwar said.
   ‘It damaged the outer wall and one office employee was wounded. His condition is stable,’ Kishwar said.
   The group’s head, Daud Khan, said the early morning blast damaged some office equipment.
   ‘We are engaged in providing treatment to the blind people in North West Frontier Province. Our teams visit different parts of the province and offer treatment to local people suffering from eye diseases,’ he said. ‘We receive funds from Germany.’

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, requested the leader of the opposition in parliament, Khaleda Zia, to lead her deputies back to parliament as the two rival political leaders exchanged pleasantries at Senakunja get-together Saturday night on the occasion of Armed Forces Day.
   ‘How are you?’ the prime minister smilingly asked her political archrival. The speaker, Abdul Hamid, looked on as the two main figures in parliament spoke, against the backdrop of a latest parliamentary standoff.
   Hasina requested the speaker to woo the boycotting opposition into parliament. ‘Bring her in parliament,’ the prime minister said. In response the speaker said, ‘I’ve not yet been frustrated. I’ve not given in — am trying.’
   The prime minister also exchanged pleasantries with invited guests assembled under big canopy at the Senkunja grounds at 8:35pm after delivering her statement on Armed Forces Day.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has decided to enforce automated traffic signalling from today.
   ‘Police will not manage the traffic by raising their hands from tomorrow,’ DMP commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque told newsmen at a briefing at his office on Saturday.
   He also said that the DMP would start an awareness building campaign for drivers as well as pedestrians Sunday which would continue till December 7.
   The law enforcers from December 8 will start fining vehicles for violation of lane rules and automated traffic signals.
   The police chief said most of the main roads in the city would have three lanes –private cars, jeeps and vehicles carrying VIPs will use the first lane, buses, mini- buses, covered vans and pick-ups will use the second lane while motorbikes, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, human haulers and tempos will ply the third lane.
   ‘Exceptions will only be for the president and the prime minister while all other vehicles, including those of the rest of VIPs have to abide by the automatic traffic signals,’ he added.
   The DMP chief said that 12 teams comprising senior officials with video cameras would monitor traffic at important intersections, including Sonargaon, Sheraton Hotel, Shahbagh, Mohakhali, Kakoli, Kakrail, Farmgate, Manik Mia Avenue, Gulshan1, Gulshan 2, Baridhara, Gulistan and Jatrabari.
   ‘It will be strictly controlled by the new automated traffic signals from Sunday and the authorities will launch a big publicity campaign to persuade people to go by the systems,’ Hoque added.
   The law enforcers will also launch a drive against fake licence holders immediately after the experimental period ends on December 8.
   A fine of Tk 1,000 has been fixed for violating traffic signal or suspension of driving licence for three months for the driver violating the rules.
   DMP assistant commissioner (public relations) Shyamal Mukharjee told New Age, ‘The DMP commissioner met with traffic police officials on Saturday to finalise all details and discussed the issues at a meeting with transport owners on November 18 to implement the decision.

Armed Forces Day was observed Saturday with due solemnity and enthusiasm across the country.
   On this day in 1971, the Bangladesh Armed Forces comprising army, navy and air force, came into being and launched an all-out attack on the occupation forces. The historic day is being observed as the Armed Forces Day every year.
   The programmes of the day began with the offering of munajat after Fajr prayers at all mosques at the army garrisons, naval bases and establishment as well as air force bases throughout the country seeking divine blessings for the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation and development and progress of the Armed Forces.
   The president and supreme commander of the Armed Forces, Zillur Rahman, and the prime minister and defence minister, Sheikh Hasina, gave separate messages on the occasion.
   The president and prime minister paid their deep homage to the members of the Armed Forces, who made supreme sacrifices in the War of Independence, by placing wreaths separately at the Shikha Anirban at Dhaka cantonment in the early morning marking the day.
   During placing of wreaths they stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of respect to the memories of the martyrs as the bugles played the last post. A smartly turned out contingent of the army, navy and air force presented salute on the occasion.
   The chiefs of three services, chief of army staff general Md Abdul Mubeen, chief of naval staff Vice Admiral Zahir Uddin Ahmed and chief of air staff Air Marshal SM Ziaur Rahman also placed wreaths at the Shikha Anirban.
   Later, the prime minister hosted a reception in honour of the family members of the Bir Shrestha and other gallantry award winning freedom fighters at the Armed Forces Division at Dhaka cantonment.
   During the reception, the prime minister called upon all to work from their respective positions being imbued with the spirit of the country’s War of Independence to build a happy and prosperous modern Bangladesh by eradicating poverty.
   Listing various pragmatic steps taken by her government for the welfare of the country’s millions of freedom fighters, she said it had introduced allowances for freedom fighters and quota system in government jobs and educational institutions for the wards of freedom fighters and free transportation in rail, launch and buses.
   Hasina said her government had taken steps to project the real history of the country, identify mass grave across the country and constructing memorials inscribing names and identities of the valiant sons of the soils who embraced martyrdom during the country’s War of Independence.
   At the function, the prime minister handed over gifts to seven ‘Bir Shrestha and 46 award winners freedom fighters and their children.
   State minister for liberation war affairs AB Tajul Islam, prime minister’s adviser Tariq Ahmed Siddique, chiefs of three services, prime minister’s principal secretary, defence secretary, principal staff officer of Armed Forces Division and high civil and military officials of government, among others, were present.
   After the reception, the chiefs of three services paid a call on the prime minister at the Armed Forces Division to mark the day where they apprised Hasina about their different activities.
   The prime minister inaugurated a web site on Liberation War ‘www.milhistory.bd’ at the AFD.
   Later, the chiefs of three forces paid a call on the president, Zillur Rahman, at Bangabhaban.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has vowed to fast-track the BDR mutiny trial.
   The prime minister expressed her determination while addressing a special programme in Dhaka cantonment to mark Arms Forces Day on Saturday.
   Hasina said, ‘I promise, if I live, I’ll see the trial completed.’
   Over 70 people, 57 of them army officers including the border force chief General Shakil Ahmed, were killed in February’s bloody mutiny at the BDR headquarters.
   The trial is set to start any day, with the government forming six special courts on November 15 to try some 3,500 border guards accused in the mutiny case.
   However, Bangladesh does not have a good track record of resolving major cases of national significance.
   Regarding the Thursday’s verdict in Mujib murder case appeals, 34 years after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family, she said, ‘No one who commits a crime is exempt from punishment.’
   ‘Justice and truth won with this verdict,’ she added.
   Hasina vowed all such killings — including the 1975 jail killing of four national leaders, former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria, and Awami League MP Ahsanullah Mastar, August 21, 2004 grenade attack on an AL rally — would be tried, she said.
   The prime minister also said her government was eager to continue its efforts to modernise the armed forces.
   She said she had asked the United Nations, at the recent General Assembly in September, to take more peace-keeping troops from Bangladesh.

The authorities are unable to rein in the unscrupulous real estate companies and land developers due to lack of strict laws as well as proper monitoring mechanism while most of the mushrooming companies are not registered with Rajuk.
   'We can't take disciplinary action against the unscrupulous companies who indulge in cheating and forgery with the clients as we don't have necessary laws,' Rajuk chairman Nurul Huda told New Age.
   Although there is no specific data on how many land developers and housing companies are doing business in the capital, Rajuk officials and people concerned believe there could be some 1,000 of them engaged in the business in and around Dhaka city.
   Sources in Rajuk said there were around 200 land developers out of the 1,000 companies while many of them were involved in both land developing and construction.
   Though it is mandatory for all developers to be registered with Rajuk, only 77 of them so far got registration with the capital development authority while only six others were in the process of securing registration, said Rajuk's chief town planner Jahurul Haque.
   Out of about 1,000 real estate and housing companies, only some 589 of them are registered with Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh, the platform of the private sector real estate and housing companies.
   'Once the Detailed Area Plan of the capital and the proposed Real Estate Management Law 2009 are passed, Rajuk will be legally armed to take action against unregistered companies,' he said.
   With the passage of DAP, now waiting at the ministry for vetting, the city will get specific land use plan in details. And the proposed Real Estate Management Law 2009 would make it mandatory for real estate companies to get registered with the Rajuk for pursuing any development business in the city, Huda said.
   He observed that once the provision of registering with Rajuk is made mandatory, they would refrain from indulging in any kind of misdeeds, cheating or forgery while the city development authorities would have the tool to take legal action against delinquent companies.
   Against the backdrop of widespread allegations of fraudulence and deception in handing over plots or flats, and encroachment of private and public land by a section of real estate companies, the interim government in 2008 had approved a draft Real Estate Management Ordinance.
   'As most of the real estate and housing companies are not registered with the authorities concerned, they often indulge in cheating and forgery with the clients who don't have any legal means to seek justice,' said architect Iqbal Habib, also member secretary of Bangladesh Paribesh Anddalon.
   'Several hundreds real estate companies are giving advertisements for their unapproved projects, but the authorities concerned turned a blind eye to them,' he observed.
   REHAB president Tanveerul Haque Probal said a total of 589 companies are registered with the organisation. 'We take disciplinary action against the companies which are found guilty of fraudulence,' he said, adding, 'We hold two meetings a month for arbitrary settlement of disputes between the companies and clients. But we have nothing to do against the companies which are not registered with our organisation.'
   About the proposed Real Estate Management Law 2009, he said, 'There were some objectionable clauses in the law when it was proposed in 2008. It is a matter of pleasure that now the law is going to be passed, dropping those clauses that go against the interest of real estate and housing business.'
   But green activists who have long been insisting for passage of the law to preserve the rights of the consumers have expressed reservation about the proposed law which, they believe, would be contradictory to many provisions of the Building Construction Rules 2004.

The world's biggest atom-smasher, shut down after its inauguration in September 2008 amid technical faults, restarted on Friday, a spokesman for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research said.
   'The first tests of injecting sub-atomic particles began around 1600 (1500 GMT),' CERN spokesman James Gillies said.
   He said the injections lasted a fraction of a second, enough for 'a half or even a complete circuit' of the Large Hadron Collider built in a 27-kilometre long tunnel straddling the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva.
   CERN's director general Rolf Heuer said later the scientists had successfully managed to get particle beams once again circulating in the particle accelerator, and that they had been able to go ahead earlier than expected.
   'It's great to see beam circulating in the LHC again... we've still got some way to go... but with this milestone we're well on the way.'
   The LHC circulated its first beams on September 10, 2008, but suffered a serious malfunction nine days later.
   It said a failure in an electrical connection led to serious damage, and that scientists had spent the 14-months since repairing the machine.
   The LHC promises to unlock scientific mysteries about the creation of the Universe and the fundamental nature of matter.
   Since September 2008, the LHC's components have been tested to an energy equivalent of five teraelectronvolts at full power.
   The maximum output of what is currently the largest functioning collider in the world, at the Fermilab near Chicago in the United States, is one teraelectronvolt.
   CERN had said in August that upon its relaunch, the LHC would run at 3.5 teraelectronvolts in order to allow its operators to gain experience of running the machine.
   The first data should be collected a few weeks after the first particle beam was fired.
   CERN said the partial power level would be kept until 'a significant data sample has been gathered' and ramped up thereafter.
   Designed to shed light on the origins of the universe, the LHC at CERN took nearly 20 years to complete and cost six billion Swiss francs (3.9 billion euros, 4.9 billion dollars) to build.

Examinees across the country will take the mathematics and religious studies examinations today as per the schedule of the first-ever terminal exams of Class V students.
   Nearly 20 lakh students took Bangla and science examinations on the first day of the exams on Saturday, according to official statistics.
   The exams will end on November 24.
   A total of 19,80,180 examinees at 5,348 centres across the country were scheduled to take the tests but the education officials on Saturday said that nearly 10 per cent of the total students were absent.
   Of the total exam centres, five are overseas, and out of the total, 9,09,984 are male and 10,70,196 are female students.
   The public examinations, styled 'Terminal Exam for Class V Students', will mark the end to five years of formal schooling of nearly 20 lakh children.
   Students getting high scores in the public exams will be given scholarship. The results will be published on December 20.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines successfully completed pre- Hajj flights Saturday.
   The last pre-Hajj flight BG-275, has reached Jeddah with 228 Hajj pilgrims Saturday, a press release said.
   A total of 86 Hajj flights including 54 dedicated Hajj flights and 32 scheduled flights have ferried a total of 32,184 Hajj pilgrims to Jeddah. Of them, 8,209 Hajj pilgrims went under government arrangement.
   Biman sources said all the Hajj pilgrims reached Jeddah smoothly. The successful operation was possible this year due to relentless efforts and cooperation of all, it added.
   The first Hajj flight was inaugurated on October 21 last at a simple ceremony.
   The Biman will start its return Hajj flights from December 2 to bring the Hajis back to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia.
   Biman Bangladesh Airlines has thanked all concerned for extending cooperation to make the Hajj operation a success.

Shamim Ahmad, chief of correspondents of UNB, was re-elected president of Dhaka Reporters Unity with a margin of 307 votes against his rival Parvez Khan Saturday.
   Pathik Saha, chief reporter of Bhorer Dak, was also re-elected general secretary defeating his opponent Hakikat Jahan Haki by 145 votes.
   Shamim secured the highest 508 votes while his rival Parvez Khan polled 201.
   Pathik Saha bagged 428 votes to beat Hakikat Jahan Haki who polled 283.
   The other elected office-bearers are: Vice-president Ajmal Haque Helal (371), joint secretary Galman Shafi (460), finance secretary Ashraful Islam (405), organising secretary Masiur Rahman Khan (466), publicity secretary ABM Ziaul Kabir Sumon (268), training & research secretary Motahar Hossain (387), sports and cultural AKM Kamruzzaman Hiru (unopposed), cultural secretary Mehdi Azad Masum (287) and office secretary Kazi Habib (344).
   The executive committee members are: Arif Sohel (354), Md Shafiqul Islam (350), Patrick D'Costa (339), Md Monir Hossain (327), Ashish Kumar Dey (326), Kamruzzaman Kajal (295), Osman Gani Babul (281), Mir Mustafizur Rahman (252), Showkat Ali Khan (201) and SM Mizanur Rahman (94).

Believe it or not - the authorities in Andhra Pradesh have issued a ration card in the name of Mahatma Gandhi along with his picture, reports Hindustan Times on Saturday
   What is more shocking is that the card named Nathuram Godse, the killer of Mahatma Gandhi, as his father. Godse, however, has been misspelt as Godsay.
   The card was issued in Chuttagunta village of Ramachandrapuram Mandal in Chittoor district. It carried the picture of Gandhi with the name of MK Gandhi Thatha (Thatha in Telugu means grandfather), age 65, father's name Godsay, address 15-46541, Gandhi Street, Gandhi Road. The address was that of a fair price shop owner.
   In June, a ration card issued to one Laxmi of Vizianagaram district with a photograph of tennis star Sania Mirza was detected.
   The white ration card issued to below poverty line families make them eligible to get rice at Rs 2 per kg and social security benefits like health insurance and housing.

Amnesty International has urged Bangladesh not to execute five condemned convicts, former army officers, sentenced to death for the killing of country's founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
   The international human rights watchdog said the killing of Sheikh Mujib and his family members on August 15, 1975 was grave human rights abuses and the killers should be brought to justice.
   'However, bringing people to justice must not itself violate the human rights of the accused,' it said.
   In a statement issued on Friday, AI urged the president, Zillur Rahman, to commute the death sentences 'as a matter of urgency'.
   It also urged the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to request the president to commute the sentences.
   'Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to kill the prisoner,' said AI.
   The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the appeals of the five jailed convicts, upholding a previous High Court order awarding death sentences to twelve former army officers in all, six of whom remain fugitive while one has since died as a fugitive in Zimbabwe.
   The five condemned convicts - retired major general Bazlul Huda, dismissed lieutenant colonel Syed Faruk Rahman, retired lieutenant colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, retired colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed and retired major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed - await their fate now in Dhaka Central Jail.
   'The death penalty violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights', AI said.

A London court has sentenced a 70-year-old Bangladeshi mother and her two sons to a total of 21 years for the violent dowry-related kidnap of her estranged son-in-law in 2008.
   Southwark Crown Court on Thursday found Sufia Khatun and sons Abu Hasnath, 40, and Abu Jahangir, 28, of East London, guilty of kidnap, false imprisonment and grievous bodily harm with intent and blackmail.
   Sufia Khatun, a grandmother, ordered her two sons to 'finish off' estranged son-in-law Abul Kalam if he did not pay the family £25,000, dowry, the court heard.
   Kalam, who separated from wife Momataz Chowdhury months before the incident, was beaten so badly he was left with a broken nose and cheekbone, which had to be reconstructed, the court heard.