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Burglary was committed in three stalls at the Ekushey Book Fair on the Bangla Academy premises on Monday in the absence of enough security measures.
   Shamim Publishers, Step Towards and Bangabandhu Boi Mela placed complaints to the fair organisers saying they had found their stalls ransacked in the morning.
   Jakir Hossain, publisher of Bangabandhu Boi Mela, said they had locked their book in a trunk but found it damaged in the morning.
   ‘We are not sure how many books have been stolen from our stall but it is sure that the security at the fair is weak as burglary took place at the fair on the very second day,’ he added.
   Shahida Khatun, director of Bangla Academy, however, said the fair authorities had visited the stalls and found that no books were stolen.
   She said they had already strengthened the security on the academy premises during the night.
   She also said the stalls, which were closed by the copyright task force on Sunday for selling books of other publishers, had placed their publications to the authorities and they were selling others’ books as their publications were in press till Sunday.
   ‘They can have a chance to appeal to the organisers if they have their own publications,’ she added.
   She said they would decide whether the allocation of stalls would be cancelled permanently at a meeting Monday night.
   According to the fair information centre, 101 new titles hit the book fair on the 8th day of the month-long event.
   Collection of poems led the tally of new arrivals on the day with 24 titles, followed by 21 novels, 12 collections of short stories, five collections of essay, four collections on mathematics and six books for children.
   Salesmen and publishers claimed the highest 791 books were released in the first seven days of the fair when 606 titles were released in 2009 and 522 in 2008 during the same period, but the sale was not satisfactory this year.
   The academy held a seminar on ‘Language movement martyr Abdul Jabbar’ as part of the month-long series seminar on ‘Stories from the history of Language Movement 1947-1953’.
   Writer Akhter Hussain read out the keynote paper at the seminar while Ashrafuzzaman Selim, and Farid Ahmed Dulal joined the discussion chaired by writer and journalist Rahat Khan.
   The seminar was followed by a cultural programme.

Crimes have increased in the Rajshahi city as owners of residences, private boarding houses and hotels in the city are not going by the instructions of the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police for renting their establishments.
   RMP sources said the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police during the interim government published notices in the local dailies and made announcements through local cable video channel asking the owners of residences and boarding houses to collect information about the tenants along with their passport size photos before renting their establishments to them and submit the information and photos to the local police station.
   The RMP also asked the hotels to keep detail information about the boarders, and for that purpose, they also distributed forms among the residences, boarding houses and hotels owners, the sources said.
   At first, most of the owners of residences and boarding houses collected information about the tenants and submitted them to the local police stations.
   But in the absence of proper monitoring by law enforcers, the owners of residences and private boarding houses started ignoring the instructions, making space for criminal activities, the RMP sources said.
   Several months ago, the law enforcing agencies raided a residence at Tikapara in the city and arrested 14 suspected militants, including women. The residence owner and locals said that they were unaware about the activities of the tenants.
   The police also arrested a college student from a student boarding house at Sonadighi about one and half year back and seized huge number of porn CDs.
   In the backdrop of increased anti-social activities at hotels, the RMP detective branch conducted drives at different city areas and arrested men and women for their involvement in anti-social activities.
   Talking to the New Age, a residence owner, Abu Sayeed, of Sagarpara in the city said at first he would collect information about his tenants and submit them to the local police station.
   But as the monitoring in this regard became lax, he thought it was not essential to collect information about his tenants later.
   ‘The law enforcers did not ask me within a year why I did not submit report about my tenants although three new tenants have rented my residence,’ said Bijoy Chakraborty, another residence owner of the Bosepara area in the city.
   ‘It is difficult for me to collect information about my boarders and I have given the responsibility to a boarder to maintain the mess properly,’ said Towhid, a private mess owner at Sadhur More area.
   Admitting to the lack of maintaining information about tenants and boarders of the private messes and hotels, the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police commissioner, Nawsher Ali, told New Age that owing to the unawareness
   of city dwellers, it could not be implemented properly.
   ‘We want to implement the decision fully to improve law and order. But unawareness and non-cooperation on the part of the owners of residences, private messes and hotels, we are failing to maintain information about the tenants and boarders,’ the police commissioner said.
   He, however, said they would start the drives again soon.

The education minister, Nurul Islam Naheed, on Monday said the forthcoming SSC examinations would go without having creative type questionnaire in mathematics.
   The government has decided not to introduce creative type question on the subject this year, he said at a news briefing in the conference room of his secretariat office prior to the opening of SCC examinations on February 11.
   In fact, he said, the SSC examinations this year would only see creative type questions in Bengali first paper and religious subject. The government is implementing the system this time to only limited subjects and plans to cover more subjects in phases.
   He further said the government would hold countrywide pre-SSC examinations at the end of Class VIII from this year, similar to one held this year at the closing of primary education at class five.
   The education minister said the government would give pre-SSC certificate to students having passed class eight, saying this type of examinations would not only contribute to improving the quality of education but also stop dropout ratio.
   Naheed said his ministry had an allocation of Tk 112.35 crore this year for bringing more education establishments under the MPO (monthly payment order) enrolment. It will help solve problems of a huge number of establishments and people waiting to benefit from it, he opined.
   The minister said the government had introduced a grading system for education establishment seeking MPO enrolment. Under it, if any one fails to fulfil MPO conditionalities their enrolment will not be immediately suspended or struck off.
   Rather they will be given time to fulfil conditions and gradually become eligible to benefits under the system, Naheed said.
   The education secretary, senior officials of the ministry and different education boards and education directorates were present on the occasion.
   The people working in educational establishments but not covered by the existing manpower organogram will also get MPO benefits.
   The government may also make a new policy to support transfer of teachers and other staff members of MPO beneficiary establishments to other establishments.
   Moreover, the posts of assistant teachers, lecturers, demonstrators and such other professionals in technical establishments have been taken under the MPO coverage.
   The minister further said the government has already upgraded the pay scale of headmasters of secondary schools and assistant headmasters of secondary schools and superintendents and assistant superintendents of dakhil madrasas.
   The benefit has gone to 3118 headmasters, 12400 assistant headmasters, 5141 superintendents and the same number of assistant superintendents, he said.

The Rajshahi mayor, AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, on Monday called upon the people to let their children know about the language movement and the history of the War of Indepen-dence.
   ‘Parents should discuss about the language movement and real history of the liberation war with their children so that they can know about the country’s real history,’ he said while addressing at a prize distribution ceremony at the Rajshahi divisional public library.
   The Rajshahi divisional public library organised the essay writing and recitation competition to mark International Mother Language Day and Language Martyrs Day.
   The mayor distributed prizes among the winners while the Rajshahi deputy commissioner, Shefaul Karim, presided over the function.
   The function was addressed, among others, by language movement veteran Abul Hossain, Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Abu Bakkar Ali and Barendra Nath Basu of the divisional public library.
   Emphasising the need for developing the children’s reading habit, the mayor said nowadays children did not want to come to library, rather pass their time with computers, with the private tutors and at the coaching centres which was why they could not acquire knowledge.
   He urged the parents to inspire their children to come to library for reading books.

A mobile court on Monday seized a huge quantity of consumer goods without BSTI approval from a shop at Swa Road-Amanatganj crossing in the Barisal city.
   Administrative magistrate Tazimur Rahman, accompanied with the officials of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution and the Rapid Action Battalion, raided Messer’s Twaha and Sayeda Enterprise.
   The team seized 7,200 bottles of Power Horse and Feelings energy drinks without the BSTI approval.
   They also seized 1,621 cartoons of date-expired biscuit, chocolate, vercimili, noodles and other food items from the warehouse of the enterprise.
   The law enforcers arrested Niaz Hossain, owner of the enterprise, manager Tapan Babu, and partner Litu.
   The police said Aslam Sheikh, BSTI field officer, filed a case with the Barisal Kotwali Model Police Station in this connection and the three arrested were sent to jail.

The Khulna city corporation councillors’ coordination committee to resist terrorism brought out a car procession from Nagar Bhaban Monday morning, demanding charge sheet in the KCC ward councillor Iqbal Bithar murder case without any delay.
   The procession, joined by KCC ward councillors, officials and staff, common people and different socio-cultural and professional representatives, also demanded exemplary punishment for the killers and the masterminds.
   After the procession, a rally was held on the Nagar Bhaban premises, where KCC mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque, panel mayors Ajmal Ahmed Tapan, Moniruzzaman Khan Khokon and Ruma Khatun, ward councillors Sheikh Yunus Ali, Md Maksud Hasan, Md Ashraf Hossain, Sheikh Kamruzzaman and Sheikh Shawkat Ali spoke.
   The KCC mayor, giving a deadline to the Khulna Metropolitan Police till February 14 to submit the charge sheet, threatened to declare tough movement if it was not submitted to within the deadline.
   Iqbal Bithar, who was also a presidium member of Bangladesh Juba League, was shot to death near his Musalmanpara residence in Khulna city on July 11.

A month-long handloom, textile and handicraft fair ended at the Brojo Mohon Institution ground of the Barisal city on Monday.
   The Bangladesh Benarasi Handloom Research Foundation organised the fair to attract people to use country-made products for boosting business, industry, economy and employment.
   A total of 80 stalls were accommodated in the fair and the participants have done a good business, claimed the organisers.

Weather is likely to remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy sky over the country till 6:00pm today.
   There are chances of rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty wind at one or two places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and the regions, the Met Office said in a forecast.
   Night temperature may rise by 2-3 degrees Celsius over the country.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:50pm and rises tomorrow at 6:35am.
   The country’s highest temperature, 30.2 degrees Celsius, was recorded on Monday at Khepupara and the lowest, 7.4 degrees, at Srimangal.