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The Power Cell has recommended to the government installation of a 100MW wind-based power plant in Chittagong.
   The cell made the recommendation last month after the Power Division had asked its research and planning wing to make a plan for installation of windmills in the country for generating electricity to reduce dependency on conventional energy, officials said.
   Power secretary Abul Kalam Azad told New Age on Thursday, ‘We are examining the recommendations of the cell on installation of the 100MW wind-based power plant. We will also try to tap other renewable resources along with the wind.’
   Officials of the Power Cell said in the proposal that they recommended carrying out a detailed feasibility study on installation of the wind mill in Chittagong.
   ‘In fact, the cell made the recommendations after scrutinising a proposal of a US-based company to install a 400MW wind-based power plant at Patenga in Chittagong. We pointed that initially the power plant should be of 100MW capacity and installed away from Patengna, preferably at Sitakunda,’ said an official.
   He said the power plant should be installed through inviting open tender as many companies are now interested in setting up wind-based power plant in Bangladesh.
   Earlier, in June, adviser to the prime minister, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, told reporters that they had asked the Power Cell to make recommendations on installation of a 50-MW wind-based power plant.
   The official said the installation cost of a 100MW wind-based power plant could be around Tk 1,000 crore to Tk 1,500 crore while the production cost of each unit of electricity would be around Tk 10 to Tk 12 because of the huge capital.
   ‘Although there is no fuel cost in generating electricity from a wind mill, the high capital cost pushes up the price of electricity. As wind mill is environment-friendly many people opt for wind power. The per unit production cost of gas-based electricity is around Tk 2 while it is Tk 8 to Tk 10 in oil-based power,’ he said.
   Although Bangladesh has been considering installation of wind-base power plants, experts earlier found that wind speed in most parts of the country was not suitable for large wind power plants.
   Two 1MW wind turbines have so far been installed at Muhuri at Feni and in Cox’s Bazar but they are not very successful in generating electricity regularly.
   Different studies including that of the Local Government Engineering Department showed that annual wind speed in the coastal belt ranges from 2.96 metres per second to 4.54 m/sec at Kuakata.
   Power officials, however, said wind blows at an average speed of 5.5 to 9.5 m/s at 20m above the ground in some places of the country including Chittagong almost throughout the year.
   ‘With this wind speed and the new technology, it is now possible to generate large amount of electricity although earlier we believed the wind speed should be over 10 m/s for generating electricity,’ said an official.
   The country is facing a shortfall of nearly 2,000mw of power a day due to the limited capacity of electricity generation.
   Bangladesh’s more than 80 per cent power is generated using natural gas but with the current shortage of gas, the government is looking for alternative energy sources like coal, fuel oils, wind and solar.

The Highway Police has deployed teams of detectives to check extortion on the highways and ensure smooth journey for passengers and uninterrupted transport of goods before the two major religious festivals of the country.
   ‘We have assigned the Highway Police to roam around the highways in plainclothes to stop extortion on the roads and to facilitate smooth journey for the tens of thousands of homebound people ahead of Eid and Durga Puja,’ a highly placed source in the Highway Police told New Age on Thursday.
   Leave for the members of the Highway Police has also been postponed for such duty, said the official.
   The top officers have also asked the detectives to arrest the members of the Highway Police if they are involved in extortion or any other crime.
   ‘If the department has certain information on smuggling of goods or the carrying of illicit items in any commercial vehicle, only then will they stop it,’ the source said.
   The Highway Police took the decision on September 4 and asked the police not to stop any vehicle for checking without prior information.
   After the decision, the police arrested at least 12 suspected criminals, eight from Savar and one from Kanchpur and three from other areas, for their alleged involvement in extortion.
   Despite this move by the Highway Police, the local police of different districts are engaged in extortion and are collecting sums between Tk 200 and Tk 1,000 from each vehicle, alleged the Highway Police.
   ‘We have some information that the policemen of Valuka are collecting money from vehicles after stopping them at Palash Filling Station,’ said the source.
   ‘Crimes are committed by local police but the blame is levelled against our members.’
   According to sources, the strength of the Highway Police is 2,042 and it has 44 outposts under four zones — Chittagong, Comilla, Sylhet and Gazipur — in the eastern division, and 28 outposts under three zones — Bogra, Kushtia and Gournadi — in the western division.
   ‘The detective teams are working in the buses and trucks in plainclothes in the areas of their jurisdiction and they will see whether there is any unnecessary stopping of the vehicles on the highways for unnecessary checking,’ said a senior official of the department.
   The Highway Police have also collected a number of wreckers (tow trucks) to remove the vehicles that have been forced to stop due to tyre puncture or engine failure to prevent congestion on the highways.
   The assistant inspector general of the Highway Police, Shah Abu Saleh Mohammad Golam Mahmud, said that all the personnel of his department have been given necessary instructions to keep the highways safe for passengers.
   ‘The officials of both the western and eastern divisions have been kept alert to ensure smooth transport of goods so that the supply of essentials remains normal,’ he said.

The activists of different socio-cultural organisations and human rights groups on Friday formed a human chain in Rajshahi city demanding immediate arrest and exemplary punishment of the killers of businesswoman Urmi Akhter.
   Over 100 people joined the human chain programme at Saheb Bazar crossing at 10:00am demanding arrest and trial of the killers of Urmi, owner of the Glamour Cream company in Rajshahi.
   Addressing the human chain, speakers alleged that the law enforcing agencies were yet to arrest the killers of Urmi, who was killed by her husband Milon at their residence at Bosua area in the city on July 30.
   They also alleged that the in-laws of Urmi were trying to shift the murder charges to others.
   They called upon the administration to arrest the culprits responsible for the killing of Urmi immediately and ensure fair trial of the murder case. They also threatened to go for a tougher action programme unless proper action against the killers was not taken immediately.
   Rajshahi City Rakkha Sangram Parishad convener Jamat Khan, district unit Mahila Parishad general secretary Kalpana Roy, cultural activist Hasib Panna, Urmi’s elder sister Ayesha Akhter, teacher Shirina Parvin, and former student leader Masudul Mahmud Pial, addressed the protest programme.

The government will start distributing medicines free of cost among swine flu patients next week through 95 city corporation healthcare centres in the capital, health officials said.
   The swine flu medicine will also be available at three selected pharmacies in every upazila headquarters, five drug shops in each district town, 50 pharmacies in Dhaka city and 10 drug shops in each of the five remaining cities – Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal and Sylhet – tentatively from Sunday, they said.
   The director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease control and Research, Mahmudur Rahman, also the director of National Influenza Centre, told New Age Friday that health centres of the Dhaka City Corporation would start free distribution of anti-viral Oseltamivir capsules among swine flu patients by Sunday.
   ‘The capsules will be distributed free of cost as per prescription of the physicians at the centres,’ he said.
   Shawkat Ali, chief health officer of the Dhaka City Corporation, said that they expected to get the supply of the medicine from IEDCR on Sunday. ‘We will requisition medicine for ten patients per healthcare centre. Distribution of the medicine will start as soon as we get the supply,’ he said.
   Each swine flu patient has to take 10 capsules and the government fixed the price of each capsule at Tk 150.
   The drug administration, meanwhile, published the list of the selected drug stores which would sell the swine flu medicine. Nine pharmaceutical companies have so far been registered as producers of the anti-viral drug.
   Mahmudur Rahman said that the selected companies would supply the medicine to the drug stores.
   Health officials said if any drug stores other than the selected ones were found selling the medicine, they would be punished.
   The government has so far confirmed the death of two swine flu patients. But according to unofficial counts, four persons died of H1N1 infection till date.
   The virus infected at least 311 people in the country since the first case was detected on June 18.

The state minister for home, Shamsul Haq Tuku, said on Friday that law would take its own course regarding charges of corruption and misuse of power against
   Tarique Rahman, Arafat Rahman and Giasuddin Al-Mamun.
   He rejected repeated demands by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that all charges against BNP leaders
   including Tarique be withdrawn.
   The BNP maintains the charges were pressed purely to politically harass its leaders.
   Mamun is known as a close friend and business partner of Tarique, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s elder son, Arafat being the younger one.
   Tuku told a public meeting at Selanda Bazaar in Sathia Upazila of
   Pabna on Friday that all cases against common crime suspects would
   lose merit if charges against the three were withdrawn.
   Tuku said they allegedly siphoned off thousands of crore of taka from power sector alone during the BNP-Jamaat coalition
   rule in 2001-2006, and there was no way for the government to withdraw the cases on political consideration.
   The state minister later held a meeting with police officials about the district’s security.
   The BNP on Friday repeated its demand for withdrawal of all cases against its leaders, including Khaleda and her sons the way it had been
   done for prime minister Sheikh Hasina and many other ruling Awami League leaders.
   BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told the reporters after a party programme: ‘The government is adopting dual policy in case of withdrawing political cases. This is unfortunate.’
   Home minister Sahara Khatun told the parliament on Thursday that as many as 494 ‘politically motivated’ cases were on
   the process of being cancelled.

The police on Friday allegedly beat a former army official after taking him in the Babukhali police camp at Mohammadpur in Magura.
   The police reportedly uprooted the nail of a finger of the leg of former army lance corporal Toyyebur Rahman with the pliers during the torture for four hours.
   Assistant subinspector of police Lutfar Rahman, also in charge of the police camp, accused of doing so was immediately suspended.
   Local people then brought out a procession against the police and laid siege to the police camp. The acting police superintendent of the district visited the place to calm down the people and rescue the injured former army official.
   The former army official, being treated in Magura General Hospital, alleged Lutfar was forcibly giving Toyyebur’s daughter Jannatul Ferdous Tonni in marriage with Ronnie, a servant at the police camp. Lutfor picked up Toyyeb from his house Friday morning, held him hostage and tortured him for four hours, he alleged.
   The police superintendent termed the incident unfortunate and gave an assurance of taking action against the accused.

The Bangladesh Juba Union, associate youth body of the Communist Party of Bangladesh, will hold a march towards the parliament on Sunday, demanding formulation of a youth policy to solve different crises faced by the youths, especially to ensure their employment.
   The leaders and activists of the organisation will hold a rally in Muktangan at 2:00pm and will march towards the parliament to hand over a youth charter, formulated by them, thorough the speaker of the parliament to the members of the parliament.
   The organisation at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity announced its six-month programmes demanding education and works for all and mobilising youths to participate in the movements for saving national wealth and create pressure on the government for holding trials of war criminals of 1971.
   The president of the organisation, Kafi Ratan, general secretary Hasan Hafizur Rahman Sohel, Tarique Hossain Mitul and others were present at the press conference.

At least 56 villages in 12 unions under Tala and Kalaroa upazilas in Satkhira district have been inundated and about 50,000 people on the bank of the silted river Kobadak have become marooned. The water, which entered their villages after overflowing the river’s banks, could not recede due to lack of drainage facilities.
   The affected people are passing miserable days due to the water-logging which has taken a serious turn. Other areas are being flooded almost everyday.
   Due to massive siltation and the resultant loss of depth, the river Kabodak has lost its capacity to hold water properly, as a result of which flooding occurs in the areas adjacent to its banks during every rainy season.
   Almost all the houses of the affected villagers are now under knee-deep water and over 200 homeless families have taken shelter on high lands and roads in different areas. The people, living under the open sky, have to make do with temporary shelters if they mange to make any.
   The most affected unions are Sarulia, Tala Sadar, Islamkati, Dhandia, Kumira, Khalishkhali, Magura, Jalalpur and Nagarghata in Tala upazila and Deara, Jugikhali and Joynagar in Kalaroa upazila.
   Most of the areas are under two to three feet of water at present. The villagers are almost isolated from other areas and boats are the only means of communication.
   There is a severe shortage of food and drinking water in those places. Most of the tube-wells were submerged under 3 to 5 feet of water in Raripara and adjoining villages on the banks of the Kabodak.
   Dysentery and skin diseases have broken out in many areas.
   Standing crops on about 25,000 acres of land were submerged, causing a huge loss to the farmers in those areas. At least 20 shrimp enclosures and over 1,254 ponds were flooded and fish worth Tk 40 lakh were washed away.
   Some people told this correspondent that they would not be able to cultivate Aman rice this season and there would be no scope to grow winter vegetables as the water would remain stagnant for another couple of months if drainage measures could not be taken.
   ‘We have no other alternative but to die, along our family members, if we do not grow Aman crop this rainy season,’ said Dulal Chandra Mondol a farmer of Raripara village.
   Water-logging in the areas has become a regular event year after year and it has made the lives of the people miserable and stopped agriculture production during the rainy season, said Sarulia Union Parishad’s chairman, Matiar Rahman.
   Many species of vegetation and wildlife have become extinct in the areas where water-logging has become a problem since the early ‘80s, he added.
   The Water Development Board’s authorities are not taking any measures to drain the stagnant water and mitigate their suffering, locals alleged.
   Local people and UP leaders have demanded re-excavation of the silted river, but to no effect.
   Relief operation for the affected people in the flooded areas is yet to start though they are suffering tremendously, said local people.
   Awami League lawmaker Engineer Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Satkhira’s deputy commissioner Md Abdus Samad have visited some flood-affected areas in the last three days.
   Samad told New Age that the district administration would take measures to mitigate the suffering of the affected people. He said due to massive deposit of silt in the Kobadak, the water overflows its banks every year and floods the nearby areas. A proposal to re-excavate the Kabodak has been sent to the concerned ministry, he added.

The death of a lion has brought to 20 the num ber of animals to have died in a Bangladesh zoo since the start of the year, leading to condemnation from wildlife experts on Friday.
   Bibekananda Chowdhury, acting chief zookeeper at Dhaka Zoo, confirmed to AFP that a lion had died Thursday after haemorrhaging, while a Royal Bengal Tiger was in a critical condition due to ‘old age’.
   A giraffe died on Monday following the demise of a tiger, a zebra and a tapir earlier in the year, with the total death toll now at 20, said a government official, who did not want to be named.
   The giraffe death prompted government officials to suspend the zoo’s chief and his deputy and to launch an enquiry, but wildlife experts said more action was needed.
   The Wildlife Trust of Bangladesh chief, Professor Anwarul Islam, said the zoo authorities lacked wildlife expertise to care for the animals.
   ‘They don’t have a wildlife biologist and the veterinarian cannot properly maintain the zoo. The zoo is for wildlife, not livestock,’ he said.
   Niaz Ahmed Khan, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said the high number of deaths was a ‘concern’ and called for government action to save the animals.
   Last year the zoo spent 800,000 dollars bringing 38 animals, including the three-year-old giraffe, from South Africa.

Two more crime suspects were killed in ‘encounters’ with the Rapid Action Battalion in Mymensingh and Kushtia early Friday.
   Ziko Parvez, also known as Samrat, 26, military commander of the outlawed Gana Mukti Fauz, was killed at Baliapara in Kushtia and Nasim, suspected of leading the crime ring Nasim Group, was killed in Mymensingh.
   In Mymensingh, the police said a battalion team arrested Nasim at Balashpur at around 10:00pm Thursday.
   Based on his statement, the battalion took Nasim to a spot on the bank of the River Brahmaputra at around 3:00am Friday for firearms recovery and arrest of his associates.
   When the battalion team reached the spot, Nasim’s associated fired into the lawmen, who fired back, leading to a gunfight that continued for about 15 minutes.
   Nasim tried to escape at one point and died in ‘crossfire.’ The battalion also seized a pistol, a bullet, a pipe gun and five sharp weapons.
   The body was sent to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.
   The police said Nasim was wanted in nine criminal cases lodged with the Kotwali police.
   In Kushtia, a joint team of the police and the battalion raided a place at Baliapara in the district headquarters on information that an extremist group was holding a meeting there at about 4:00am Friday.
   As the team reached the place, a band of crime suspects fired into the law enforcers. The lawmen fired back, leading to a gunfight for 20 minutes, the police said.
   After the fight, the lawmen found Samrat lying dead. They also recovered two light guns and seven bullets from the spot.
   The Kushtia police officer-in-charge, Faruque, said Samrat had five cases, including three for murder, filed against him with the sadar police.
   The latest incidents have taken the death figure from such ‘crossfire’ to 76 since the Awami League-led government assumed assume office on January 6.
   Human rights organisation Odhikar reported 19 people were killed in ‘crossfire,’ ‘encounter,’ or ‘gunfight’ across the country in August. Ten of the deceased allegedly belonged to different militant organisations.
   A battalion statement issued on September 3 said 577 people died in 472 ‘crossfire’ incidents after March 26, 2004 when the battalion was commissioned.
   Human rights organisations have since then been terming such incidents extrajudicial killings and urging the government to end such violations of human rights.
   The home minister, Sahara Khatun, however, recently said no ‘extrajudicial killing’ had been reported since the assumption of office by the Awami League government.

The leaders of the Communist Party of Bangladesh central committee on Friday said the Awami League-led government has failed to implement its election pledges.
   The government has failed to control the price hikes of essential commodities, improve law and order, solve the power, water and gas crisis in the country, the party observed in the resolution of its three-day central committee meeting which ended on Friday.
   Moreover, politicisations, extortions, criminalisation and tender manipulation have increased in the seven months rule of the government, it said. There is no alternative to strengthening the left political forces to come out of the axis of Awami League and BNP to save the country from the crisis, it also said.
   The central committee called on the people to make the half-day hartal, called by the national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports on Monday, a success.
   The meeting was held at its central office with the party president Monzurul Ahsan Khan in the chair.
   The party general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, central committee members Sahidullah Chowdhury, Mohammad Shah Alam, Sheikh Moniruzzaman, Syed Zafar Ahmed and Shahadat Hossain took part in the meeting

The mobile courts fined owners of different business enterprises Tk 26,000 and drivers of 15 vehicles Tk 30,500 in the city on various charges during the last 24 hours till 4:00pm on Friday.
   A team of the mobile court, led by executive magistrate Mohammed Monir Hossain, also sealed off a water bottling factory ‘Diman Pure Drinking Water’ on Ismail Kazi Road under Bakalia police station for not having approval from the authorities concerned.
   Another mobile court, led by executive magistrate Mohammed Masudur Rahman Bhuiyan, fined the owner of Oli Ahmed Jhal Bitan in Jamal Khan area Tk seven thousand for unhygienic condition and owner of Fulkali sweetmeat shop Tk two thousand for not inscribing retail price on the packets of vermicelli.
   Besides, a mobile court, led by executive magistrate Kul Pradip Chakma, fined the owners of Moon Bakery and Madhuban in Steel Mill area Tk seven thousand each for not inscribing manufacturing and expiry dates of curd. The same court fined four wayside vendors Tk 500 each and a grocery shop owner Tk 1,000 for cheating in measurement.
   A mobile court, led by executive magistrate Begum Sonia Afreen, conducted a drive in the City Gate area and realised Tk 30,500 from drivers of 15 vehicles for lacking documents and violating traffic rules.
   The courts conducted the drives in association with the Rapid Action Battalion, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.

The Bandar upazila administration imposed Section 144 prohibiting all kinds of meetings, processions and assemblies at Sonakanda under Kadam Rasul pourasabha in the district Friday morning.
   The police said Bandar upazila nirbahi officer, Rafiqul Islam, took the measure in apprehension of a possible clash between two rival factions of the local BNP calling meeting at the same venue.

An acute shortage of teachers in eight departments of the Islamic University at Kushtia has hamstrung the academic activities and contributing to session jam as a number of teachers have gone on leave and some departments are yet to appoint adequate number of teachers.
   IU sources said the teacher shortage is affecting the departments of biotechnology and genetic engineering, information and communication engineering, computer science and engineering, mathematics, al-fiqh, applied chemistry and chemical technology, English and management.
   The students of these departments are now caught in between one year to two and a half year session jam as they are not getting enough classes due to shortage of teachers, the sources said.
   The sources added that the mathematics department under the applied science and technology faculty and the al-fiqh department under the law faculty are facing acute shortage of teachers as the university authorities are yet to appoint necessary number of teachers even six years after its inauguration, the sources further said, noting the al-fiqh department has now only five teachers to run academic activities for six batches and the mathematics department has only three teachers for its five batches of students.
   Moreover, the bio-technology and genetic engineering departments under the applied science and technology faculty are running with only six teachers for seven batches. Of the total 12 teachers, six are now on education leave.
   The information and communication engineering department has now got six teachers out of 12 for its seven batches. Six teachers are on study leave, sources in the department said.
   The department of computer science and engineering is running with seven teachers out of 12 for its seven batches. Five teachers are now on study leave.
   Besides, the applied chemistry and chemical technology department has now ten teachers out of 19. Six teachers are on study leave, two on deputation and one on lien.
   The English department has now nine teachers out of 16. Four teachers are on lien, two on study leave and one on deputation. The management department under business administration faculty has nine teachers out of 14. Five teachers of it are on lien.

The 20th anniversary of death of eminent educationist, playwright and writer Nazma Jesmin Choudhury will be observed today.
   Nazma Jesmin Chou-dhury, a former teacher of the Institute of Modern Languages at Dhaka University and wife of renowned educationist Professor Serajul Islam Chowdhury, died of cancer in 1989.
   To mark the day, family members will serve food to the inmates of orphanages, says a press release issued by Nazma Jesmin Choudhury Smriti Sangsad.
   A Nazma Jesmin Choudhury Memorial Lecture will also be held at the auditorium of Modern Language Institute after Eid-ul-Fitr. Researcher and historian Professor Muntasir Mamun will deliver the memorial lecture.

The 130th anniversary of the death of Shah Sufi Syed Waliullah, the 4th spiritual leader at Azimpur Dayera Sharif, was observed on Friday.
   The day’s programmes included Quran khwani, isaley sawab, urs and iftar mahfil.
   A discussion on the life of Shah Syed Waliullah was held after the asr prayers.
   A large number of followers from across the country joined the urs and iftar mahfil, said a press release.
   Syed Ahmad Ullah Zubair, the incumbent spiritual leader of Dayera Sharif, led the concluding prayer seeking divine blessings for the peace, prosperity, progress of Bangladesh and greater unity of the ummah.

AKM Mustafijur Rahman Chowdhury, a businessman and father of Mushfequr Rahman, staff writer of the New Age feature section, died at around 11:30pm at Ibn Sina Hospital in Dhaka on Thursday. He was 72.
   Mustafijur Rahman was suffering from cancer and had old age complications and was taking dialysis from the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.
   His first namaj-e-janaza was held at Shekher Tek Jam-e Masjid at Mohammadpur in Dhaka. His body was taken to his village home at Sharishadi under Feni sadar where his janaza was held at the Sarishadi High School field.
   He was buried at the family graveyard. His
   Qul khwani will be held at his village home on Monday.

Bangladesh Photosangbadik Bahumukhi Samabay Samity was launched on Friday in Dhaka.
   The association also announced an 11-member executive committee to implement its housing project and to develop cooperation in workplaces.
   Abu Taher Khokon of New Age and Yasin Kabir of Focus Bangla were made president and secretary of the association respectively.
   Saiful Islam of Prothom Alo was made vice-president, Sanaul Haque
   of New Age joint general secretary, Habibur Rahman Habib of
   Bhorer Kagaj treasurer, Sohrab Alam of Sangbad organising secretary, Tapan Dey of Destiny office and publicity secretary.
   The executive members are Enamul Haque of Daily Star, Sanjib Kumar Basak of Samakal, Emran Hossain of Janakantha and Ziaul Islam of Prothom Alo.
   The other members of the association are Ataur Rahman Babu, Tarif Rahman, SM Gorky, Iqbal Hassan Nantu, Nasim Shikdar, Kajal Hajra, Akhtar Hossain, Mamun Abedin, Shafiuddin Ahmed Bitu, Emran Hossain, Anisur Rahman, Sajid Hossain, Zahidul Karim Selim, Monirul Alam, Rafique Ullah, Syed Zakir Hossain, Hasanuzzaman Tarun, Indrajit Kumar Ghosh, Sharif Sarwar, Manjurul Karim, Jiban Ameer, Khorshed Alam Rinku, Syed Hasan Ali, Sheikh Mamunur Rashid, Rashed Suman, Wahid Hasan Raza, Polash Khan, Mehedi Hassan, Kamrul Islam Ratan, Riaz Ahmed Suman, Mahbub Hossain Pial, AKM Jahangir, Sheikh Nasir, Maniruzzaman Monir, Nazim Uddin, SM Mintu, Shipan Ahmed, Selim Jahangir and Mizanur Rahman.

Leaders of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that invisible market manipulators are unduly hiking the prices of essential commodities so the government should identify and punish them.
   The FBCCI team, lead by its senior vice-president Abul Quasem Ahmed, while visiting Shantinagar kitchen market on Friday found that the prices of sugar and lentil had increased abnormally in a week.
   ‘Sugar and potatoes are being sold at much higher prices than those suggested by the government and trade bodies,’ said Quasem.
   ‘Market manipulators are working behind the scenes to inflate the prices, so the government should carry out an investigation and punish the perpetrators according to the rules,’ he said.
   Several directors of the FBCCI and members of its market monitoring team accompanied Quasem to the market.