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Agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury on Tuesday castigated the initiators of one-eleven for not taking any action against unauthorized BGMEA building built on Hatirjheel canal in violation of Water Body and Open Space Protection Act, 2000.
   ‘They gave lofty suggestions after one-eleven. But they themselves did nothing. It is correct that the Hatirjheel lake is being recovered. But the BGMEA building is still standing there tall,’ the minister said while addressing a launching ceremony of floating house named as ‘lift house’ at the Housing and Building Research Institute in the city.
   Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith inaugurated the innovative lift house, designed by young architect Prithula Prosun.
   The lift house concept is a result of research in amphibious architecture by Prithula Prosun, a student of Masters degree at Waterloo University, Canada. The house is designed to provide people housing and shelter during the floods.
   The houses would be built mainly with bamboo based on two buoyancy foundations in such a manner that it would float upwards with the rising of water level.
   Criticising the initiators of the political changeover on January 11, 2007 for not taking any action against BGMEA building built on Hatirjheel canal, Matia Chowdhury said, ‘They are the educated criminals.’
   Matia Chowdhury said recovering the occupied lands and water bodies from the land grabbers is an imperative to save the capital city. ‘The lands are occupied either by floods or by the land grabbers,’ she lamented.
   The minister, however, did not comment on whether the government would take any action against the building of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
   Presided over by state minister for housing and public works, Abdul Mannan Khan, the launching ceremony was addressed among others by ruling party lawmaker Aslamul Haque, secretary of housing and public works ministry Mahbubur Rahman and Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh president Tanveerul Haque Probal.
   Finance minister AMA Muhith thanked Prithula Prosun for coming up with a bright new concept in housing, especially for the flood-prone areas.
   The state minister for housing asked the real estate and housing companies for building houses for the poor section of the society.
   ‘Enough is enough. You have made enough fortunes. Now please do something for the poor people to help them meet their housing needs,’ said mannan Khan.
   The lift house, made under a pilot project with a cost of about Tk 6 lakh, has four rooms in two levels.
   Prithula said, the buoyancy of the lift house is achieved by two different types of foundations. One is constituted of some 8,500 re-used 500-milimitre water bottles and another is constituted of Ferro-cement.
   The house is equipped with solar panel and will have arrangement for rainwater harvesting.
   ‘The pilot project was taken keeping in view the need of poor people living in the outskirt of Dhaka city,’ she said. The durability of a lift house, which would remain captive on a permanent concrete structure, would be around 20 to 22 years.
   About the cost of making such house, Prithula said, the cost would be lesser if eight or ten lift houses are made for a community at a time.

Professionals at a discussion on Tuesday said submissive attitude of the Awami League-led government towards India and its diplomacy in giving out all in the name of ‘understanding’ and ‘gaining trust’ had put Bangladesh into a new struggle.
   The professionals, mostly leaning towards the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, came up with the views at a discussion on the ‘Evaluation of the prime minister’s tour of India’ organised by Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad in the Institution of Diploma Engineers Bangladesh in the afternoon.
   Former Dhaka University vice-chancellor Emajuddin Ahmed, writer and columnist Farhad Mazhar, Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum secretary general Aminul Huq, former Dhaka University pro-vice-chancellor AFM Yusuf Haider, former Institution of Engineers president ANH Akhtar Hossain, former Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists president Ruhul Amin Gazi and former Bangladesh Medical Association president AKM Azizul Huq, among others, spoke at the programme chaired by the Sammilita Peshajibi Parishad president, Mahmudur Rahman. Journalist Showkat Mahmud read out the keynote paper.
   Farhad Mazhar said in broader sense the deals signed with India during the prime minister’s visit to New Delhi related to security and military issues or some sort of framework which would allow India to use the Bangladesh territory and infrastructure to deal with its trouble-torn north-eastern states.
   He also criticised the prime minister for
   giving blank support for India in being elected a member of the UN Security Council.
   ‘If India is elected member to the Security Council, there will be no scope for Bangladesh to raise its issues in international arena,’ he said.
   Farhad said India was intending to make Bangladesh a battlefield to increase its influence over the sea. ‘It is now trying to blame us for their internal disputes. We have seen that the Indian intelligence had arrested a leader of ULFA from inside the Bangladesh territory… No one had uttered a single word against such act.’
   ‘India has changed its security policy after 2001 amid increased strength of Maoists, a strategic relation between Maoists and Islamists and insurgency in India’s north-east. Now it wants to have a small war in Bangladesh and the international world will remain in India’s favour because of the deals signed with Bangladesh,’ he said.
   Farhad was also critical of BNP leaders for making only rhetoric abut Indo-Bangla relations and asked them to wage a movement if they really mean what they say.
   ‘If you think you will put BNP in power and share the cream, you will never be successful.
   I have reasons not to believe in what you are saying here as it is clear to me that you are here only to oppose the Awami League and not to fight against Indian aggression,’ he said, asking all to be prepared for another war of independence.
   Emajuddin Ahmed said the deals signed with India would increase the gap between the two countries instead of reducing it as people would resist India when it would use Bangladeshi infrastructure in keeping with the treaties.
   He said the prime minister had skipped issue of the Tipainukh dam which was related to the lives and livelihood of millions of people.
   Mahmudur Rahman said by signing the deals and a 50-point joint communiqué, the prime minister had harmed the country’s sovereignty and she had served only the interest of India.

The Department of Environment in a drive against vehicles using hydraulic horns on Tuesday filed 23 cases and realised Tk 20,900/- in fines in Baridhara.
   A DoE team, led by deputy director (implementation) Sukumar Biswas, stationed a court in front of a hotel from 11:30am to 2:30pm and after checking many vehicles filed 23 cases against cars, buses and trucks using hydraulic horns, which are very loud and hurt the eardrums.
   Executive magistrate Abul Bashar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman and officials of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police took part in the drive.
   Sukumar Biswas said the DoE would continue this type of drive in the coming months.
   ‘We have seized 15 hydraulic horns today (Tuesday). Car users are using hydraulic horns randomly, openly defying the rules,’ he observed.
   Fakhruzzaman said that the authorities had also decided to conduct a drive against banned polythene on January 31, but the venue is yet to be selected
   He said that such drives would help create awareness of noise pollution in the people.
   Due to lack of proper implementation of the Noise Pollution (Control) Act 2006, sound pollution has increased alarmingly in the capital, posing serious health hazards to the city dwellers, he added.
   Sound pollution is mainly caused by the honking of horns, the machines of mills and factories, stone and brick breaking machines, overloud musical systems and indiscriminate use of loudspeakers.
   According to the rule, the allowable noise level in Dhaka city is 50 decibels at daytime and 40 decibels at night in the silent zones that include areas adjacent to hospitals and educational institutions.
   The permissible limit of sound in residential areas is 55 decibels at daytime and 45 decibels at night, and 60 decibels at daytime and 50 decibels at night in industrial areas.

Foreign affairs minister Dipu Moni on Tuesday called upon the major arms producing and arms procuring countries to halt the ‘mindless’ ever-increasing spending on weapons.
   She urged all the countries to start negotiations on disarmament as well as to establish a world free from the scourge of nuclear weapons.
   The minister made the call while delivering a statement at the plenary session of the United Nation’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Tuesday morning, according to a news release by her ministry.
   Dipu Moni attended the conference since Bangladesh is now the president of the Conference on Disarmament, the sole multilateral body for disarmament negotiations. Countries become presidents by rotation.
   She urged the conference to start negotiations on a legally binding framework that would contain the nuclear weapons-owning nations’ assurances of security to the non-nuclear states, as well as provisions of banning production of fissile material for nuclear weapons and other explosive devices, and on banning militarization of outer space.
   Mentioning that the global arms expenditure reached at least $1.46 trillion in 2009, Dipu Moni stressed the need of freeing these resources for global development in order to expedite the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
   She also reiterated Bangladesh’s constitutional commitment to general and complete disarmament.
   Abdul Hannan, Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva, presided over the session attended by delegates and representatives of most of the 65 member countries.

The parliament speaker, Abdul Hamid, on Tuesday instructed the lawmakers and ministers to address the lawmakers as ‘sangsad sadasya,’ the Bangla phrase for a member of parliament, instead of ‘saangsad,’ also a Bangla word for a member of parliament, as used by a section of the media.
   He also requested the media to write ‘sangsad sadasya’ in line with the constitution and the Rules of Procedure instead of the word ‘saangsad.’
   ‘I have noticed that some of you address the MPs as “saangsad.” But you should address them as “sangsad sadasya” according to the constitution and the Rules of Procedure,’ Hamid told parliament referring to his rulings he issued in the past.
   The instruction came after the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, had been frequently calling the lawmakers as ‘saangsad’ during the regular question-answer session in the parliament on Tuesday.
   ‘“Saangsad” is used in the neighbouring India. The media also write “saangsad” instead of “sangsad sadasya.” We should not use “saangsad.” I request the media not to write “saangsad” too,’ the speaker said.

The Board of Investment has agreed to pay the due rents for 35 months from February 1995 to December 1997 to the owners of the premises, Jiban Bima Corporation.
   The decision to settle the outstanding of Tk 1.53 crore in two installments was taken at a meeting attended by representatives of the prime minister’s office, the BoI and the JBC at BoI auditorium on Tuesday, official sources said.
   At the meeting JBC also proposed to increase the rent of the 25,000 square feet premises covering three floors of the Jiban Bima Tower from Tk 17.50 per square feet to Tk 22 per square feet. The BoI is yet to respond on the enhancement of rent, the sources added.
   JBC also accused the BoI of damaging the central cooling system of the tower by stacking furniture in small rooms of the rented premises.

A Dhaka court on Tuesday ordered the body of college teacher Chandan Kumar Chakravarty, which two women of two religions have claimed as his widows, to be donated to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for research.
   Dhaka additional chief metropolitan magistrate Mohammad Hakim Ali gave the order on the claims of the two wives, Tithi Chakravarty who is Hindu and Aklima Akhter Poly who is Muslim, as he found it tough to decide by which religion the deceased should be buried.
   ‘It is better to donate the body to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for the public good because it is tough to identify which religion Chandan, in fact, belonged to based upon the scrutiny of papers presented by his two wives,’ the magistrate said, giving his ruling.
   Mohammad Sultan Salauddin, lawyer for Chandan’s first wife Tithi Chakravarty, said they were not happy with the order and so would appeal.
   Abu Abdullah Bhuiyan, lawyer for second wife Aklima Akter, who claims Chandan converted from his original Hindu faith to Islam when they were married, also said they were satisfied with the court’s decision.
   Chandan, a 45-year-old teacher of Khilgaon Ideal City College and resident of nearby Chowdhurypara, was stabbed to death on December 25 in the locality. His body has been lying at the DMCH morgue since then, as the two wives battled in court for the right to bury Chandan according to their respective religion.

At least 10 people were injured, four of them critically, in a clash at Nainamati in Pabna Monday night.
   The police and local sources said the fight broke out during a heated argument in a gathering of local youngsters at a tea stall.
   The contenders used iron rods, sharp weapons and hockey sticks, injuring at least 10 people.
   A case has been filed with the Pabna police.

The High Court on Tuesday asked the government to submit a report to the court in three weeks stating the number of ships that have been imported to the country for scrapping since March 17, 2009 when the court ordered no entrance and scrapping of any ships in the Bangladesh territorial waters without being pre-cleaned at source or outside the territory of Bangladesh.
   The High Court bench of Justice M Imman Ali and Justice M Abu Tariq also asked the director general of shipping to state in the report how pre-cleaning of such ships outside the territory of Bangladesh was ensured before being brought to Bangladesh.
   The court also ordered the government to frame, in three months, necessary rules on ship-breaking based on the obligations of Bangladesh under the Basel Convention 1989, the Environment Conservation Act 1995 and the Environment Conservation Rules 1997.
   The court came up with the orders after hearing a petition filed by the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association in pursuant to the High Court verdict delivered on March 17, 2009.
   Moving the petition, the association’s counsel Iqbal Kabir told the court the High Court in its March 17, 2009 verdict ordered no entrance and scrapping of ships without being pre-cleaned outside the territory of Bangladesh and without clearance from the Department of Environment.
   Despite the verdict, the Department of Shipping arbitrarily continued with authorising import of ships containing hazardous materials, Iqbal said.
   He alleged arbitrary support for the industry from the government and lack of monitoring by the labour department had killed at least 23 workers and maimed 44 people in 2009.
   The court expressed its dismay at the lack of initiative of the government to regulate the industry and ensure labour and environment protection therein.
   The High Court bench of Justice M Imman Ali and Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal delivered the verdict on March 17, 2009 after hearing a writ petition filed by BELA in 2008.
   In the verdict, the court ordered the environment department to ensure the closure of all ship-breaking yards operating without environmental clearance certificate in two weeks.
   The court also ruled no-ship breaking operation should take place without the legally mandatory environmental clearance.
   The court also ordered no entrance into Bangladesh’s territorial waters of the hazardous vessels listed by Greenpeace, an international environmental watchdog.
   It ordered no scrapping in Bangladesh’s territorial waters of any ship without being pre-cleaned at source or outside the territory of Bangladesh and until appropriate scrutiny of relevant information as to their waste content and cleaning is done by authorities in line with applicable laws and proper infrastructural facility is in place to deal with such ships.
   The government has to ensure that ships are only broken after guaranteeing safe working condition for labourers and having in place appropriate disposal arrangements for hazardous wastes and protection of environment, the court said.
   The court in 2009 also directed the environment and forest ministry to frame, in three months, necessary rules on ship-breaking based on the obligations of Bangladesh under the Basel Convention 1989, the Environment Conservation Act, 1995 and the Environment Conserva-tion Rules 1997.
   The ministry was also asked to inform the court after three months on the status of framing of the rules.

The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, on Tuesday told in parliament that the government has fixed maximum 30 per cent rate of interest for micro-credit schemes against allegation that some micro-credit operators realise higher interests from the loan recipients, mostly poor people.
   Responding to a question from Shafiqul Islam, MP from Sirajganj-4, the minister said that the micro-credit regulatory agency has appointed a research organisation to study the interest rates aimed at bringing them down to a rational level.
   ‘Based on the study, the authorities will give a direction for rationalising the interest rate,’ the minister said, as the lawmaker alleged that high interest rates on micro-credits did not help eliminate poverty in Bangladesh.
   The minister said that most of the poor people were deprived of getting services from the regular banks and other financial organisations while the micro-credit operators helped them with collateral-free small loans which in many ways help eradicate poverty.
   But the micro-credit operators’ rate of interest is slightly higher as their operating cost is higher, Muhith said.
   Tuesday’s parliament session resumed at 3 pm with speaker Abdul Hamid in the chair.
   Replying to another question, the minister said the government also disbursed funds for micro-credit operation through different non-governmental organisations.
   He assured the House that the government has been working hard to remove complexities in agriculture loan disbursement. The minister, however, admitted that there were some anomalies in the process.
   In reply to another question, the finance minister said that it was impossible for the government to disburse interest-free agricultural loans.
   Replying to a question from Fazle Hossain Badsha of Workers Party, Muhith said that funds from the World Bank were cheaper. Bangladesh pays only 0.75 per cent interest rate against soft loan from the World Bank and there was no instalment in the first 10 years and the loans are paid back in 40 years.
   In response to a question on capital market, the finance minister said that Bangladesh’s market was still insignificant. ‘But we’re trying to make it vibrant,’ he said, adding that there are only some 443 companies listed in the share market.
   He further informed that there were some 83 companies under Z category which did not hold regular annual general meetings and never paid any dividends.
   ‘We’re trying to bring them to order but lack of necessary legal provisions holds us back from controlling them,’ said Muhith.
   The minister further informed that there were some 176 companies under the A category and some 11 companies under N category (newly listed).

The 19th council session of Rajshahi University unit of Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student front of ruling Awami League, is scheduled to be held in the campus today (Wednesday) amid fears of clashes between rival factions.
   The university authorities have relaxed an on-going ban on political activities in the campus for Tuesday and Wednesday, upon directives from ‘upper level’, to enable the ruling party’s student front to hold their council, a top official of the university administration claimed.
   ‘We relaxed the restrictions for Tuesday and Wednesday on the direction from upper level authorities although the university syndicate had imposed a ban on political activities on the campus’, RU Proctor Prof Chowdhury Mohammed Zakaria told New Age.
   AL presidium member Obaidul Quader is expected to be present at the council as the chief guest while Rajshahi city mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, AL organising secretary Abu Sayeed Al Mahmud Swapan, Khaled Mahmud Chowdhury MP and Prime minister’s personal assistant Saifuzzaman Shekhor would attend the sessions as special guests.
   The incumbent president of RU BCL unit, Ibrahim Hossain Moon, will preside over the council which will be inaugurated by BCL central president Mahmudul Hasan Ripon while BCL general secretary Mahfuzul Haidar Chowdhury Roton will address it as the main speaker.
   The organisation insiders at the campus said that nine candidates submitted their CVs for the post of president while 24 for the post of secretary till filing this report.
   The RU BCL council is being held more than five years after the tenure of the existing committee expired on October 28, 2005.
   Earlier, a 101-member committee was formed on October 28, 2004 when Ibrahim Hossain Moon and Ayen Uddin were elected as president and general secretary respectively.
   Meanwhile, a tense situation was prevailing on the campus ahead of the BCL council as rival groups of BCL central president and general secretary were in a standoff facing each other.
   BCL sources said BCL central president Mahmudul Hasan Ripon and general secretary Mahfuzul Haidar Chowdhury Roton recently sent two types of posters ahead of the today’s council.
   BCL activists blamed that both Ripon and Roton printed the names of their respective favourite leaders in those posters.
   The BCL RU unit leaders and activists were likewise divided in two groups vying for their slots in the new committee, party insiders said. One group is supporting the BCL president and another supporting the general secretary.
   The president candidates are Awal Kabir Joy, Akibur Rahman, Deepayan Sarker Deep, Sumon Kanti Baroi Rony, Aminur Rahman Mithu and Ahmed Hossain.
   The general secretary candidates are Abu Hossain, Shamima Akhter, Mizanur Rahman, Sabuj Sarwar and Fuad Hasan.
   Sources said incumbent RU BCL president Ibrahim Hossain Moon was supporting Awal Kabir Joy while general secretary Ayen Uddin threw his weight behind Ahmed Hossain to be the next president of BCL Rajshahi University unit.

The European Union ambassador in Dhaka, Stefan Frowein, has urged the civil society members to find a way to work together to elaborate common positions and lobby effectively to contribute in development and progress to make aid more effective.
   ‘This is especially true in Bangladesh… where civil society plays a crucial role as partner of the government improving the living conditions of thousands and thousands of people,’ he said while addressing a discussion at the National Press Club Tuesday morning.
   Voice (Voices for Interactive Choice and Empowerment) and Aid Accountability Group jointly organised the discussion titled ‘Role of the Civil Society on Aid Effectiveness’.
   Chaired by Voice executive director Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, the discussion was addressed, among others, by deputy Danish charge d’affaires Jan Moller Hansen, executive director of the Transparency International, Bangladesh Iftekharuzzman and coordinator of Nijera Kori Khusi Kabir.
   DFID adviser for Aid Effectiveness Bo Sundstrom presented at the session the keynote paper on ‘How to work more effectively together to deliver real development outcome’.
   The EU ambassador said: ‘We are debating aid effectiveness in Bangladesh for years now. I think good progress is being made. Government and development partners have intensely discussed the reform of the Local Consultative Group — the LCG — over the last 18 months.’
   He added: ‘Just recently we, the development partners, have finally agreed on a draft Joint Cooperation Strategy that can determine our relations and priorities in this area for the years to come.’
   Frowein noted that now it is up to the government to review and shape this document further through consultation with all stakeholders in order to ensure that the strategy really meets the needs of this country. ‘We hope that by May or June (this year) this strategy would be ready for signature,’ he said.
   The EU ambassador said: ‘Now we are all ready for the BDF (Bangladesh Development Forum) in February. This will be an important spotlight:
   For the first time in five years development agenda of Bangladesh will be in the spotlight of donors as well as government, civil society and media.’
   He hoped that the BDF would definitely become a key event for civil society organisations that want to contribute to aid effectiveness and development.
   Frowein said the non-government organisations in Bangladesh had not involved themselves very actively in the ongoing reform of aid management. ‘So far — like in many other countries — aid effectiveness debate has been held mostly between donors and government.’
   He also stressed the need for taking comprehensive steps to ensure aid effectiveness through maintaining accuracy and accountability.
   Jan Moller Hansen underscored ensuring public and political accountabilities to continue smooth flow of the foreign aids in Bangladesh.

A Bangalee organisation barricaded two roads in Khagracharhi and Rangamati on Tuesday, a day after hill people barricaded roads in the hill districts in protest over a land dispute.
   The roadblock-cum-siege called by the Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad disrupted movement of all vehicles on Khagracharhi-Dighinala and Rangamati-Baghacharhi-Baghaihat roads since morning.
   The PBCP general secretary, Md Abdul Majid, told the news agency over telephone, ‘The half-day siege is being observed protesting at the attacks on our organisation leaders and activists on Sunday.’
   Local people said during the road blockade, agitating pickets vandalised two trucks and another vehicle carrying medicine.
   In another incident at Jamtali in Dighinala, four motor cycles were also vandalised by the agitators enforcing the siege.
   Mohammad Abdullah, deputy commissioner of Khagracharhi said Dighinala upazila nirbahi officer had been asked to keep a close watch over the law and order situation in the area.
   Criticising the road blockade by PBCP, Janasanghati Samiti vice-president Ushatan Talukdar said, ‘They should not have launched their road blockade programme just to protest at one stray incident… It has been a very disappointing decision.’

Speakers at a rally marking the opening of a 5-day ‘Aila Monch’ programme at Shaheed Hadis Park in Khulna city on Tuesday demanded quick repair and reconstruction of the damaged embankments in Aila affected areas in the country’s south-western coastal belt.
   Aila Durgoto Sanghati Monch, a body comprising of political and civic group leaders working in Khulna to voice the problems of Aila-hit people, arranged the rally and set up the Monch at the pavement of the Park Shaheed Minar where continuous programmes would be held till January 30.
   Chaired by the Monch convener advocate Firoz Ahmed, the rally was also addressed by Khulna Bar Association former president advocate Abdullah Hossain Bachchu, SA Rashid of Communist Party of Bangladesh, Monirul Haque Bachchu of Biplobi Workers’ Party, Khalid Hossain of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Delwar Hossain Dilu of Workers’ Party, FM Iqbal of Samyabadi Dal, SM Faruk-Ul-Islam of Jatiya Shramik Fedaration, Proloy Majumdar of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, journalist Gouranga Nandy, Hasan Mehedi of Humanity Watch, Mahendranath Sen of Janaudyog and affected persons Debasish Roy and Dhiman Mandal, among others.
   The speakers said that though eight months have already elapsed since cyclone Aila hit the southwestern zone of the country, the damaged embankments have not been repaired and reconstructed. As a result, some 70,000 marginal farmers and crop-sharers have become jobless as they could not grow Aman paddy.
   The farmers would not be able to grow Boro paddy as saline water was still entering into the fields as the embankments were not repaired, said the speakers.
   They pointed out that a large number of people in the affected areas have already migrated and among them, around 15,000 have been living in different slums in Khulna city.
   According to a press release issued by the Monch on Tuesday evening, different programmes including students’ rally, photo exhibition on Aila, documentary films, processions, children’s human chain, etc would be staged as part of the programme designed to highlight the plight of the Aila victims.

Begum Rowshan Ara, professor and head of the obstetrics and gynaecology department at Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College and Hospital, recently received the FIGO Award for her contribution to women’s health care.
   The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics has been giving the award every year since 1997 female gynaecologists and obstetricians, who, through their daily practice or research work, contribute significantly to the improvement of health care for women.
   Rowshan Ara received the award in the nineteenth FIGO World Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics held in South Africa in October 2009.
   Born in Manikganj, Rowshan Ara completed her MBBS from Dhaka University in 1974 and post graduation from BCPS in 1983 and FICS in 1992. She taught at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital from 1983 to 1992.
   Rowshan had also received FIGO Young Gynaecological Award in 1991, Amartya Sen Gold Medal in 2007 for her work at community level for women’s health, Nari Kantha Foundation Gold Medal in 2004, Juba Kalyan Samity Gold Medal in 2009 and Independence Day Award from A1 Telemedia in 2009.

The government has placed more army officials at the health and family welfare and education ministries for appointment on deputation.
   The establishment ministry on Monday issued a number of gazette notifications, made available on Tuesday, to the effect.
   Brigadier General Md Abul Kalam Azad has been deputed as director general to the drug administration directorate and his service has been placed at the disposal of the health and family welfare ministry. Brigadier General Md Jahangir Hossain Mollik has been deputed as director to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
   Brigadier General Md Shahidul Haque Mallik has on deputation been appointed director to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, replacing Brigadier General Bazle Quader, who has been withdrawn to the army, and Colonel Abdur Rab Mia has been deputed to the health ministry for appointment as director to the Central Medical Storage Depot.
   Major Momtaj Aala Shibbir Ahmed has been deputed to the education ministry for appointment at the Bangladesh University of Professionals, withdrawing Lieutenant Colonel Md Farid Alam to the army.
   Brigadier General Mohammad Enamur Rahman, who was deputed as registrar to the Bangladesh University of Professionals, has been withdrawn to the army.

The council session of the Swarupkati unit BNP was foiled after a factional clash in the upazila auditorium in Pirojpur on Tuesday.
   Witnesses said a faction of the party, led by the unit’s former president Shafikul Islam Farid, reached the council session being presided over by the leader of another faction, led by the unit convener Abul Kalam Azad. The clash began in the afternoon session centring on the elections to the 51-member committee.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council on Tuesday approved seven projects costing Tk 1,315 crore including river dredging, irrigation and road communications.
   Of the total amount Tk 166 crore will come from foreign funds as project assistance, said official sources.
   The seven projects were approved at a meeting of the ECNEC held at the Sher-e-Bangla Nagar’s NEC conference room with its chairperson Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presiding.
   The approved projects are construction of the Raipura-Narsingdi highway, second phase of construction of steel bridge under the Roads and Railway Division, rehabilitation of the Fouzdarhat-CGPRI-SRG-Chittagong section, construction of a four-storied factory building in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone, modernisation of vaccine manufacturing technology and research expansion under the fisheries and livestock ministry, construction of six roads in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and river dredging and improvement of irrigation facilities in Sujanagar upazila of Pabna district.
   Finance minister and ECNEC’s co-chairman Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, planning minister AK Khandakar, agriculture minister Matia Chowdhury, water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen, commerce minister Faruq Khan and shipping minister Shajahan Khan, along with others, attended the meeting.

Election Commissioner M Sakhawat Hussain on Tuesday termed the filing of the writ petition for fresh demarcation of the Dhaka City Corporation as ‘motivated’ and aimed at delaying the long over-due polls.
   ‘The writ petition was filed at a time when the commission is almost ready to hold the DCC elections. We believe that it is intentional and aimed at holding up the polls,’ Sakhawat told reporters in his office.
   The High Court on Monday asked the government and the Election Commission to explain in four weeks why they should not be directed to demarcate the wards of the DCC on the basis of the latest census before holding elections to the DCC.
   The chief election commissioner, Dhaka city’s mayor and deputy commissioner and the LGRD secretary have been asked to reply in four weeks. Shamim Molla, claiming to be a concerned Dhaka city voter of Khilkhet, filed the petition to seek orders for fresh demarcation of wards.
   When asked how they would reply to the rule, Sakhawat said they were yet to receive the High Court’s order.
   He feared that the petition proceedings in the High Court would delay the elections which are two and a half year overdue.
   ‘If anybody was genuinely concerned that Dhaka city wards have to be demarcated on the basis of the latest census, he should have filed such a petition two years ago,’ said Sakhawat.
   He urged all to refrain from filing such petitions and said that elections to some union councils have been overdue for 18-20 years due to litigation.
   The chief election commissioner on different occasions in recent times has said that the commission was planning to hold the DCC polls at the end of March this year.
   According to Section 27 of the Local Government (City Corporations) Act 2009, the wards of a city corporation have to be demarcated before elections on the basis of the latest census, the petitioner’s counsel Zakir Hossain told the court on Monday.
   The latest population census was conducted in 2001 and demarcation of the city wards should be done on the basis of that census, he said.
   The counsel also said that the number of inhabitants and areas of the DCC wards were different, so they should be demarcated on the basis of population to ensure that the development budgets for the wards can be allocated equitably.

Hazaribagh tanneries will have to start shifting to the new tannery estate near Savar immediately, in parallel to the construction work of the central effluent treatment plant there, which is yet to be completed, the industries minister, Dilip Barua, said on Tuesday.
   The minister was exchanging views with tannery industry leaders, officials of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation and local government officials at the Savar estate office on the outskirts of the capital.
   The tanners of Hazaribagh have previously sought for completion of the CETP as a precondition to start shifting the hugely hazardous and polluting industry that is currently located along the River Buriganga in the central area of Mohammadpur.
   Abdul Hye, general secretary of Bangladesh Tanners Association, reiterated previous demands that he said were mandatory to shift the industry.
   ‘We’ll be leaving the 50 years of history behind at Hazaribagh.’
   ‘The sector will be destroyed if realistic measures are not taken,’ he added.
   Rezaul Karim Ansari, president of Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods Association, said, ‘We don’t want to pollute the environment.’
   ‘But we need some Tk 4,500-5,000 crore to complete relocation of our industry.’
   The tannery leaders again asked for the government’s intervention in directing banks to continue existing liabilities on the new estate. The minister pledged to assist in this area.
   Both the tannery leaders, however, expressed their frustration with the delay in installing the CETP at the Savar estate, which was originally supposed to be set up with foreign aid or by the government, according to the memorandum of understanding signed in 2003.
   However, the government in 2009 decided that the plot owners would pay the money in instalments.
   Ansari said, ‘Unless the High Court extends its order, losses will rise to crores of taka.’

Experts from home and abroad at a CIRDAP discourse in Dhaka Tuesday said funds would be flowing in for tackling the adversities of climate change but the victim countries lack adequate capacity to utilise the money with effective schemes for mitigation, adaptation and rural uplift.
   They advised that the countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Bangladesh, should develop fruitful institutional framework and capacity to use climate funds properly for sustainable development of the rural people, who are the worst victims of climate change.
   Their views came from a regional policy dialogue on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods as part of the second ministerial meeting of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific at its secretariat in Dhaka.
   Ministers and secretaries from the 14-member regional grouping are taking part in the ministerial meeting, which will be formally inaugurated by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, today.
   ‘The governments in Asia and the Pacific region should develop appropriate policy and institutional framework for taking opportunities of carbon markets and other adaptation and mitigation funds,’ International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development director general Andreas Schild told the dialogue, presided over by Iranian deputy minister J Khaleghani.
   He viewed that rural development requires new knowledge, technologies and understanding to create a policy framework for adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change.
   ‘A better understanding of the traditional coping and adaptive practices in the rural people is needed in order to plan intervention to enhance and adjust them to new climatic parameters or complement them with modern technologies where necessary,’ Andreas Schild said.
   He stressed the need for scientific data on climate change to adopt proper mitigation policies in this region.
   Andreas Schild said the climate change would be major impediment to the rural development action in various sectors, including agriculture, non-agriculture and infrastructure development.
   Ataur Rahman, director general of Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development, said the member-countries had achieved impressive but diverse achievements. ‘But the gains have not been shared equally among the citizens.’
   ‘So, for any discourse about improvement of the overall quality of life in rural areas, the government policies and strategies should first analyse how they influence their lives,’ Rahman told the meet from the country perspective.
   He said the CIRDAP governments should improve the situation through investment in rural people, infrastructure and agriculture and set policies about prices, land ownership, non-farm activity, credit availability and cost.
   S Narayan, visiting research fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, Singapore, said it was still a matter of debate whether any of the livelihood approaches — rights-based approach, governance approach and micro-finance approach — used in the past has been good enough to reach the required results.
   ‘Recent surveys of poverty estimates indicate that the economic growth of the CIRDAP member-nations has still to reach a majority of the poor,’ he said, focusing on the socioeconomic disparity.
   He said the member-countries should put emphasis on skill development, education and human development initiatives, revitalisation of agriculture through technology, market orientation and water management.
   CIRDAP director SK Singh said the development policy perspectives of the majority of countries in Asia and the Pacific region always placed rural development high on their agenda since a sizeable portion of them have rural areas and a vast majority of population are living in these areas.
   ‘These countries have taken several programmes, but the problems of rural areas have remained acute and perennial. So it is now a challenging task for policymakers to tackle the problems of poverty alleviation and providing livelihoods to rural people,’ he said.
   He said rural areas in most of the countries do suffer from various basic problems and among them rural livelihoods have emerged as a crucial issue for the policy planners.
   He said: ‘The present approach lacks proper coordination and consistency between the goals and variety of projects and schemes launched by the governments and donors.’
   BK Sinha, director general of the National Institute of Rural Development, India, and Durga P Paudyal, director general of CIRDAP, also took part in the policy dialogue on sustainable rural development in the changing perspectives.

Sylhet divisional unit of Bangladesh Petroleum Dealers, Distributors, Agents and Petrol Pump Owners Association has decided to suspend collection of petroleum products for an indefinite period from January 31.
   The association leaders at a meeting on Monday night came up with their decision to suspend lifting of petroleum products January 31 if the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation authorities fail to meet their three-point demand by this time, sources in the association said.
   The demands are to withdrawal of Buriganga Barge Depot from Sachnabazar under Jamalganj in Sunamganj, installation of a permanent depot of Jamuna Oil Company in Sylhet and to supply of adequate quantity of petroleum products to the depots of marketing agencies in Sylhet division.
   The association leaders have taken the decision to press the government to supply sufficient petroleum products to ease the farmers’ suffering during the ongoing irri and boro season, sources in the association said.

The police in separate raids seized 10,000 banned note books of Class VI to X worth about Tk 15 lakh in Pirojpur town Tuesday evening.
   A team of the police raided the residence of homoeopathy physician Shirin Akter at post office road and recovered 3,000 note books worth Tk five lakh. The law enforcers also recovered 7,000 note books from the town.