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A parliamentary standing committee on Thursday formed a four-member panel to investigate alleged corruption and irregularities in the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, particularly in allotting plots.
   The parliamentary body also suggested that the city development authority should cancel plots for the lawmakers who had provided false statements while applying for the plots.
   The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings at a meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban formed the sub-committee headed by SK Abu Bakr.
   Its other members are Awami League lawmakers Dhirendra Chandra Debnath and Bazlul Haque Harun and Jatiya Party legislator TIM Fazle Rabbi.
   Briefing newsmen after the meeting, ABM Ghulam Mostafa, the parliamentary committee chairman, said the sub-committee had been asked to turn in its report in three months.
   ‘We have discussed the reported irregularities in the allotment of the Rajuk plots. Our stance is that Rajuk must cancel the plots allotted through irregularities,’ Golam Mostafa told reporters at the parliament media centre.
   ‘We have made it clear that the plots allotted to the MPs should also be cancelled if they have managed the plots by lying,’ he said.
   He also said the Rajuk must improve its service to the people.
   The parliamentary committee member Mainuddin Khan Badal said the Rajuk’s service was not up to the mark.
   ‘Rajuk is busy arranging plots and flats for the affluent sections by acquiring lands,’ he said.
   The inquiry committee was formed following reports that 15 MPs of both the treasury and opposition benches received plots through false declaration.

Chittagong City Corporation mayor M Manjur Alam says he does not have any desire to go back to his old party Awami League.
   ‘I contested the mayoral election by getting BNP membership, I don’t have any plan to rejoin Awami League…I hope the government will cooperate with me in developing Chittagong in line with its people’s expectation,’ he said while talking to journalists at an iftar party in the capital city on Thursday.
   Chittagong Journalists Forum Dhaka hosted the iftar party at the auditorium of Chittagong Samity, Dhaka.
   Chittagong Samity
   general secretary Syed Nurul Islam, CJFD president Saif Islam Dilal, general secretary Sontosh Shorma, former Chittagong Samity general secretaries ATM Piyarul Islam
   and M Jakaria and BAIRA general secretary Ali Haider Chowdhury, former president Shahinur Rahman, among others, addressed the pre-iftar discussion.
   Asked about his current post in the BNP, he said: ‘I’m not holding any post currently. chance is there…if the party gives me a post, I’ll accept it.’
   He said the corporation has already started its work to free the city from water-logging.
   Replying to a question, Manjur said the government had approved a project involving Tk 87 crore for infrastructure development ahead of the cricket World Cup, of which two matches will be held in Chittagong.
   ‘Meanwhile, we’ll arrange accommodation for 300 people at Foy’s Lake,’ he said.
   Manjur also said some 20 standing committees had been formed in the last three months to expedite development works and one of the committees
   was working to investigate whether or not any corruption affected the corporation in the last five years.

The national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports is gearing up for a ‘long march’ from Dhaka to Phulbari-Barapukuria in late October.
   The long march will start from Dhaka on October 24 and end in Barapukuria on October 30.
   Processions from across the country are expected join the march, the member secretary of the national committee, Anu Muhammad told New Age on Tuesday evening.
   The long march has been planned to press home the demand for implementation of the Phulbar agreement signed on August 30 by then BNP- led government and the oil gas committee in the wake of a mass upsurge in Phulbari against a planned open-pit mining of coal.
   The police fired on a protest rally in Phulbari on August 26, 2006 and killed three people.
   The six-point agreement included cancellation of the coal extraction deal with the multinational company Asia Energy, closing the company’s operation in Bangladesh and no coal extraction using open-pit method in the country.
   The Awami League-led government is yet to implement the agreement.
   The national committee has held a series of preparatory meeting with its district committees in Tangail, Sirajganj, Bogra, Gaibandha, Joypurhat, Natore, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Kurigram, Jessore, Khulna, Barisal, Faridpur and Gazipur, Anu Muhammad said.
   Bogra, Rangpur and Dinajpur are considered as the coal zone and till date 13 coal basins have been discovered in the area, he said.
   Moreover, five coal mines in Jamalganj, Barapukuria, Phulbari, Khalapir and Dighipara have been discovered, Anu said.
   The national committee will exchange views with different professional, cultural and social organisations in September 20-October 2 and hold cultural programmes, street dramas, film shows and photo exhibitions before the ‘long march’.
   The national committee held Dhaka-Coxe’s Bazar road march in the middle of last year.
   Earlier it held Dhaka-Mongla, Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Tangratila march to press various demands.

Workers of three apparel factories at Savar and Ashulia on Thursday continued work abstention for the second day to push for their demands including payment of wages in arrears, overtime bills and festival allowance before Eid.
   Witnesses said after a day’s holiday on Wednesday, the workers of the Natural Benin Limited at Tangabari abstained from work to push for 13-point demand including full festival allowance, nine days’ Eid holiday, payment of wages in and overtime bills and removal of two production managers, Saroar Hasen and Rubel.
   The workers on Thursday morning joined work after an amicable solution had been reached at a meeting with the authorities. The authorities agreed to pay 60 percent of the festival allowance, the workers said.
   Sumon Talukdar, a worker, said, ‘When we understood that the authorities had backtracked, we abstained from work.’
   The factory’s managing director Masud Rana said they had assured of meeting the workers’ demands in phases but the workers were pressuring the management to meet the demands at one go which ‘impossible for us to do.’
   The Ashulia police officer-in-charge, Sirajul Islam, said a negotiation between the owners and the workers was under way. ‘We hope things will be settled.’
   He said the situation was under control and additional police forces were deployed to ensure the security of the factory.
   The workers of two more factories at Savar, Fa Apparels and Badrunnesa Sweater, started work abstention demanding an increase in wages and payment of festival allowance, overtime bills and manufacturing rate. The authorities assured them of paying overtime bills, the police said.
   The Savar police officer-in-charge, Mahbubur Rahman, said the situation was now under control.
   Additional policemen were deployed on the factory premises to stave off any untoward incidents, he said.

A man suspected of being a drugging gangster was killed and another was injured in mob beating at Jhorbhanga of Batiyaghata in Khulna early Thursday.
   The identity of the deceased, aged about 30 years, could not be established till Thursday evening. The injured is Miraj, 35, a resident of Rupsa in Khulna.
   The Batiyaghata police said a gang drugged Rabindranath Goldar and his wife at Jhorbhanga of Batiyaghata Wednesday night and burgled into their house.
   Rabindranath’s nephew, who did not eat the food, woke up at the sound when the gangsters were cutting the grille. He cried out for help and neighbours rushed in and captured two of the gangsters, the police said.
   The villagers beat them up, killing one on the spot. The other was seriously injured.
   The villagers sent the unconscious Rabindranath and his wife, Kamala Rani, to Batiyaghata upazila health complex.
   The police said no case was filed till Thursday evening. Miraj, the suspected gangster, has been sent to Khulna Medical College Hospital for treatment in police custody.

Sylhet Agricultural University authorities expelled the university unit president and three activists of of Islami Chhatra Shibir for different terms on charge of their involvement with a clash with the cadres of Bangladesh Chhatra League in which a teacher and at least 25 others were injured.
   The authorities also fined Tk 1,500 each some nine Shibir men and three BCL activists on the same ground, sources in the campus said.
   The decision was taken at the latest meeting of the university syndicate last month, they said.
   ICS university unit president Sabbir Ahmed was expelled for three years, its cadres Sayek Ahmed and Mokammel Haq for two years and Abdullah Al-Hares for one year.
   Besides, Humayun Ahmad Jani, Nazmus Saki, Abdul Bari, Manik Hosain, Rumel Ahmed, Shafiqur Wares Reza, Abdullah Al-Mamun, Mehedi Hasan and Shafiqul Alam of ICS and Nurul Al-Imran, Faruk Hosain and Mostafizur Rahman Khokan of the university unit BCL were fined Tk 1,500 each.
   At least 25 persons including university teacher Sultan Ahmed were injured in a clash between the BCL and ICS activists on the campus on January 5. ICS activists from outside the campus had allegedly joined the clash, the campus sources said.
   SAU register Jamal Uddin Bhuiyan confirmed the news of punishing the ICS and BCL activists.
   ‘The syndicate in a meeting has taken the decision following recommendation of the university’s Board of Residence and discipline,’ he said.

An alliance of 14 federations of apparel workers urged the industry owners on Thursday to pay the wages according to new rates as well as arrear dues and festival allowance to employees before 27th of Ramadan.
   Garments Sramik O Shilpa Rakkha Jatiya Mancha (The national alliance for safeguarding garments workers and industries) leader Tapan Saha said that the previous practice of some of the owners to shut down their factories without paying the dues to the workers before Eid was totally unacceptable.
   Speaking at a news conference at Asad Auditorium, he and other labour leaders requested the government to take stern action against the owners who deprive the workers.
   They demanded of Kushiara and Out Right Garment factories to paying the wages and other dues of the workers.
   They also demanded reop-ening of the closed factories.
   They also demanded implementation of the new wages and setting detained labour leaders and workers free and withdrawal of cases against them before Eid.

Khulna University physics department lab technician Md Nazrul Islam was sacked on Thursday on charges of harassing some girl students of the mathematics department.
   An office order signed by the registrar in-charge Gazi Abdullahel Baqui on Thursday said Nazrul had been sacked for his misbehaviour with the students of mathematics department.
   The office order also declared Nazrul ineligible for any post at the university in future.
   A number of mathematics students and official sources said Nazrul used to harass girls students. After he harassed some girl students last on Monday, the students the next day filed a complaint with the director of students’ affairs through the department head.
   The officials said the director of students’ welfare the same day sent the complaint to the vice-chancellor. As the allegations were proved true, the authorities sacked the technician on Thursday.
   A university release said Nazrul was sacked for his misbehaviour with mathematics department students and though the technician had tendered his resignation, the authorities did not accept it.

A college girl was killed as a running train knocked her down at Pubail rail crossing in sadar upazila of Gazipur Thursday.
   Witnesses said the Dhaka-bound train knocked down Shamima Akter, 2nd year student of Pubail Ideal Degree College, while she dared to cross the rail gate at about 9:00am. Fatally wounded she died on way to Bangladesh Medical College Hospital at Uttara.
   A meritorious student, Shamima was daughter of Shafiqul Islam of Punsohi village in Jangalia upazila.

Security was heightened in and around the war crimes tribunal amid a threat to blow up key-point installations across the country given on Wednesday in an e-mail sent to the law commission chairman deman-
   ding release of four Jamaat leaders.
   The tribunal registrar, M Shahinul Islam, at a briefing in his office, said the tribunal had received the mail, forwarded by the law commission chairman, which read: ‘All key-point installations will be blown up and you and the police will be hit if “our national four leaders” [Jamaat leaders] are not released before Eid.’
   He said the mail, which also contained two mobile numbers, was sent on Wednesday by unnamed Shura leaders to the law commission chairman, Justice MA Rashid, who later forwarded it to the tribunal.
   The tribunal and the law commission are fun in separate offices in the old High Court building on the Supreme Court premises.
   ‘Security has been tightened with the deployment of additional forces on the tribunal premises to stave off any kind of subversive activities,’ Shahinul said.
   The law and home ministries have been also asked to ensure security for the tribunal, he said.
   Shahinul said the tribunal had submitted the e-mail to the Shahbagh police and the police said they would take action after inquiry.
   When Shahinul was asked what the phrase ‘four national leaders’ meant, he said, ‘It means the four leaders, who are now detained in jail on war crimes charges.’
   Top Jamaat leaders amir Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed and senior assistant secretaries general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Mollah were arrested in June and July.
   Shahinul, however, said no threat could stop the tribunal proceedings, which will resume after competition of the reconstruction of the tribunal building.
   Asked about the completion of the reconstruction work, he said it might be completed by September 5.
   He also said no people would be allowed to enter the tribunal office without being checked.

A Chhatra League leader beat up the Rajshahi University correspondent of the Daily Star on the campus on Wednesday night for filing reports on the organisation’s illegal activities.
   The correspondent, AM Zahid, also fourth year student of mass communication and journalism department, in a complaint submitted to the university proctor on Thursday accused Dulal Hossain alias Raihan Dulal, former education affairs secretary of BCL’s RU unit of the attack.
   Proctor Chowdhury M Zakaria told newsmen that they would send the complaint to Motihar police station for recording it as a criminal case against Dulal.
   When contacted, Abul Khair, officer-in-charge of the police station, told New Age Thursday afternoon that they had heard about the incident and taken security measures. He said police were yet to get the complaint. ‘We will take action as soon as we get the complaint.’
   Zahid and a few other students who witnessed the incident said, Dulal had attacked him in front of Shaheed Suhrawardi Hall at around 11:00am when he along with some other students was returning to the hall after dining out.
   Dulal, also an MBA student of the marketing department, came by a motorcycle, stopped in front of Zahid and pounced on him hurling abuses for publishing reports on the BCL activists’ attacks on students and the Shaheed Habibur Rahman Hall provost on August 18, 2010 and December 22, 2009.
   Dulal struck Zahid repeatedly with a bamboo stick.
   Dulal brandished a pistol to scare away other correspondents including, Ismail Hossain, Shahidul Islam, Asadur Rahman, Lutfar Rahman and Khorshed Alam, who tried to save Zahid.
   At one point, Zahid ran away and took shelter at Madar Bux Hall. The on-duty police and university correspondents of different dailies rescued Zahid and took him to the RU medical centre.
   After the attack, Dulal called journalists on their phones and warned of ‘dire consequences’ if they lodged any complaints over the incident, said Ismail Hossain, president of RU Sangbadik Samity.
   After the incident, the Sangbadik Samity held an emergency meeting of its executive committee and condemned the attack on Zahid.
   They called on the RU vice-chancellor and submitted a memorandum to him demanding arrest of Dulal and his expulsion from the university.
   Vice-chancellor M Abdus Sobhan assured the correspondents of justice and security.
   Presidents and general secretaries of Rajshahi Metropolitan Press Club and Rajshahi Union of Journalists expressed concern over the incident and demanded exemplary punishment of the persons responsible.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, will be requested by the home ministry to raise the issue of sending Ansar and BDR members to UN peacekeeping missions when she will attend the 65th UN General Assembly next month.
   The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the home minister, Sahara Khatun, at his ministry Thursday afternoon, the meeting sources said.
   At the last 64th UN General Assembly, the prime minister drew the UN attention to send the Form Police Unit comprising women members of the Bangladesh Police.
   Responding to her call, the UN gave permission to send the women FPU. Presently, the women FPU comprising 150 women police are engaged in UN peacekeeping operation in Haiti.
   The meeting also formed a 4-member committee headed by the additional secretary of the home ministry, Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, to examine the possibility of sending members of Ansar and BDR to UN peacekeeping missions.
   Three other members of the committee are Benazir Ahmed, DIG (Admin) at the Police HQ, Lieutenant Colonel Nasim of BDR, and Mizanur Rahman, deputy director general (Ansar & VDP).
   The committee will find out the ways to send members of Ansar and BDR as Form Ansar Unit and Form BDR Unit in consultation with the United Nations through the foreign ministry.
   Official sources said in 2005, 15 Ansars were sent to UN peacekeeping mission as members of Armed Police Battalion. They returned after six months.
   According to existing UN policy, there is no provision to send members of Ansar and BDR to the UNPKM missions.
   Presently, around 12,000 members of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and nearly 2,000 members of the Bangladesh Police are successfully participating in different UNPKMs.
   IG of police, directors general of BDR and Ansar, and officials concerned attended the meeting.

Milk producers in Sirajganj, who feed Milk Vita, ended a 10-hour strike under which they had stopped supplies Thursday afternoon, after the authorities gave the assurance to look into their demands, which include raising the price of their produce.
   They have been also demanding announcement of the schedule for electing a new committee of the milk producers’ cooperative union of Milk Vita, a public sector company under the ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.
   The farmers in the cooperative union had called the strike Wednesday after the Milk Vita management refused to raise the price of milk from Tk30 to Tk 35 per litre, remove its general manager Mohammad Nasim Ahmed and announce a date for the election of a new committee
   They distributed leaflets explaining their long standing demands.
   LGRD and Cooperatives state minister Jahangir Kabir Nanak on Thursday said that the government was considering raising the procurement price of milk keeping in view the interests of the farmers as well as the consumers.
   He requested the producers to resume the supply of milk to the state-run cooperative company from Friday morning if not by Thursday evening.
    ‘We cannot accept that farmers will have to waste thousands of litres of milk for a single person. We will look into allegations against the general manager and take action accordingly,’ Nanak had told reporters in his office.
   He said the authorities could not hold elections to the cooperative union due to some legal barriers.
   ‘We will hold the elections soon after the court resolves the matter,’ he said.
   Mohammad Chayon Islam, MP, from Shahzadpur and Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, MP, from Ullahpara gave the assurance that the government would look into their demands.
   Milk Vita deputy general manager Khandaker Aminul Islam, however, said that the factory of Milk Vita and its purchasing centre at Baghabari remained open.
   He said that some farmers supplied milk to the public sector company.
   The farmers demonstrating for long to press their demands did not attend the annual general meeting of Milk Vita in Dhaka on August 24.
   The government had, Nanak said, increased the procurement price earlier by Tk one a litre without raising the selling price.
   The state minister assured the consumers that Milk Vita would be able to resume normal supply of milk from Friday.
   He, however, warned that the government would go tough if any quarter tried to raise milk price exploiting the present crisis.
   Mil Vita continued with production of powdered milk with the milk collected on Wednesday, but the production of condensed milk, ghee and cream remained suspended, the factory officials said.

The chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the food and disaster management ministry, Mohammad Sayedul Haque, on Thursday observed that proper utilization of 70 per cent fund of the various government programmes is a big achievement, even if the rest of fund is pilfered.
   ‘Curbing pilferage of funds allocated to different projects as part the social safety net programmes is a big challenge as honest people have become rare nowadays,’ Sayedul Haque, an Awami League lawmaker, told a discussion meeting.
   ‘I have told the people of my area that I want at least 70 per cent of the fund to be utilized properly, no matter if you pocket 30 per cent of fund,’ he said. ‘Nobody will be spared if less than 70 per cent of fund is not used properly.’
   The Centre for Policy Dialogue organized the meeting to discuss two safety net programmes — Employment Generation for the Hardcore Poor and the National Service — at BRAC Centre Inn.
   CPD’s chairman Rehman Sobhan moderated the discussion meeting.
   CPD’s additional director (research) Fahmida Khatun presented a study report that the organization conducted on the implementation of the government’s two safety net programmes.
    Referring to the two new safety net programmes launched by this government, the lawmaker said that the Sheikh Hasina-led government always works for the betterment of the hardcore poor.
   He said the government would take up more such programmes for alleviating poverty.
   In response to the observations made by some of his previous speakers, Sayedul Haque said that there is no alternative to agriculture to ensure sustainability in reducing the unemployment rate in the country as well as in the alleviation of poverty.
   The CPD’s study said that the process of selecting beneficiaries of the government’s two new safety net programmes is highly supply driven and controlled by the local-level political agents.
   The CPD recommended more active participation of the non-political non-government organizations and members of the civil society in the process of selecting beneficiaries of the programmes.
   The two new but important programmes have drawn some attention to the need for a comprehensive approach in designing the social safety net programmes in Bangladesh, the study report observed.
   Speakers, however, called on the government for taking up programmes, instead of piecemeal efforts, which will guarantee sustainable employment opportunities for the youths for the country’s sustainable development.
   Swapan Adnan, professor of the National University of Singapore, suggested structural transformation of the economic system for ensuring sustainable employment opportunity programmes.
   He was also sceptical of the government’s notion that funds of the social safety net programmes would not be pilfered any more as henceforth the funds would be disbursed through banks.
   ‘The banking sector is not free from corruption. It was found earlier that the officials of the banks concerned would set aside for themselves ten per cent of the loans or other funds for the farmers,’ he observed.
   According to statistics in 2005, 40 per cent of the people are living below the poverty line while 25 per cent people are hardcore pore. Currently there are around 70 social safety net programmes being run countrywide.

Hundreds of travelers and their vehicles were stranded as angry consumers blockaded the North Bengal highway Thursaday demanding restoration of power supply to Protapbaju in Shibganj upazila in Bogra.
   Witnesses said, the blockade caused untold sufferings to traveling public in the scorching heat.
   Common consumers as well as businessmen in the area alleged that as they refused to pay Tk 20,000, Power Development Board’s residential engineer took no initiative to repair a transformer that had gone out of service 12 days back.
   They said that PDB ignored their repeated requests to restore power supply.
   They said that the indifference of PDB compelled them to blockade the highway in the afternoon.
   Within fifteen minutes, said witnesses, a contingent of police rushed to the spot from Shibganj police station and the consumers withdrew the blockade after police gave the assurance that the transformer would be repaired.
    PDB too quickly gave the assurance to the consumers that it would repair the transformer immediately.
   PDB, however, denied the allegation that its residential engineer demanded money for repairing the transformer.

The Supreme Court Bar Association president, Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, has termed false and fabricated confessions reportedly made by former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s personal secretary Saiful Islam Duke about Tarique Rahman’s involvement in the August 21 grenade attack.
   ‘He (Duke) did not make any such confessional statement,’ he told reporters at the BNP central office.
   Mahbub Hossain said statements being made by different ministers and public prosecutors that Tarique was involved in the grenade attack were completely false, fabricated and baseless. He claimed that Tarique’s name is nowhere either on CID report or police forwarding.
   The SCBA president urged the media to refrain from dishing out false campaign against Tarique, the senior vice-chairman of the BNP.
   He cautioned that if the police do not stop making such false propaganda against Tarique, criminal proceedings would be drawn against them.
   Mahbub Hossain alleged that the police had been trying to collect untrue statement about Tarique by torturing the arrested BNP leaders.
   BNP leader Rafiqul Islam Mia, SCBA secretary Bodruddoza Badal, Dhaka Bar Association president Sanaullah Mia and Masud Talukdar were, among others, present at the press briefing.

The 112th birth anniversary of Abul Mansur Ahmad, a renowned litterateur, journalist and politician, will be observed today.
   Prayer sessions will be held in Dhaka and Mymensingh to mark the occasion.
   One of the great satirists of Bangla literature, Abul Mansur Ahmad was also a renowned politician, lawyer and a leading journalist. He was the editor of daily Krishak, Nabajug and Ittehad in undivided Bengal and a pioneer in progressive journalism.
   A successful politician, Abul Mansur was the provincial education minister in the United Front’s Cabinet under Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Huq and the central minister for commerce and industries in the Awami League government of Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. He was known for his strong stand on matters of interest to East Bengal.
   Abul Mansur’s publications include great satires like Aina, Asmani Purdah, Gulliverer Safar Nama and Food Conference. His works also include important writings on the social and political history of Bengal. He has two autobiographical writings — Atma Katha and Amar Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachhar (50 years of politics as I have seen it).
   Abul Mansur always propagated secularism in a manner unparalleled in the forties, fifties and sixties. His contribution to the opposition movement in the early days of Pakistan was extremely significant.
   He wrote about the language issue from the early forties and contributed to the 1952 Language Movement as the editor of the Ittehad. He was the author of the election manifesto of Jukta Front (a grand coalition of the three giants of our politics — AK Fazlul Huq, Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy — in the 1954 elections in which the Muslim League was ousted from power.

The acting general secretary of Bangladesh Awami League, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, has said opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s youngest son Arafat Rahman will face trial when his parole comes to an end.
   ‘Koko is indulging in fun abroad using the freedom on parole in the name of medical treatment. Country’s people will not spare anybody who has destroyed the country through corruption,’ Hanif said.
   He was addressing a press conference at the party’s Dhanmondi office on Thursday afternoon.
   Asked about the opposition party’s threat to raise movement, the Awami League leader said his party would have no objection if the BNP raised a movement in the larger interests of the people.
   ‘But if they try to save the war criminals in the name of democratic rights and movement, they will be resisted,’ Hanif said.
   He said the High Court had already extended Arafat’s parole by another 40 days.
   ‘A hearing on his parole will be held on October 3. When parole will end, Koko will have to face trial,’ he said.
   Hanif further said Khaleda has smuggled huge amounts of money abroad. In this regard, Hanif said Khaleda during the last days of the last BNP government had taken 185 pieces of luggage to Saudi Arabia.
   ‘Investigation is on into that tour of Saudi Arabia by Khaleda Zia. After investigation, the real incident will come out,’ he said.

Mobile handset importer Quartel Infotech Limited on Monday launched seven models of Maximus brand in a programme in the capital.
   The models are M29i, M34, M38, M45i, M50c, M57E and M73i which feature dual SIMs, colour screen, camera, MP3, MP4, FM radio, GPRS and long power backup facilities.
   The Maximus managing director, Ahsan Ali Khan, general manager Muhammad Razib Hasan, senior officials and project dealers of Maximus attended the programme.
   Ahsan Ali Khan hoped the market share of the company would increase significantly with the marketing of the new handsets.
   Muhammad Razib Hasan and regional sales managers showed different features of the sets in the prgoramme, a release said.

A Dhaka court has granted police to interrogate Jamaat-e-Islami’s Dhaka city chief Rafiqul Islam Khan for two instead of five days at the jail gate.
   Judge Ismail Hossain of the Dhaka’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrates’ Court gave the order on Thursday in a case filed over attempted murder and arson with New Market police station.
   The same judge remanded the Jamaat leader for two days on Monday in the same case.
   He was arrested from a house at Mirpur on August 25 and the following day he was remanded for three days in Faruk Hossain murder case.

A programme involving Tk 1,000 crore is set for generating employment opportunities for thousands ultra poor all over the country.
   The ministry for food and disaster management will be implementing the programme, providing up to eight lakh extreme poor with the means of living during October to December when rural job scarcity leads many to starvation.
   The programme targets covering eight lakh poor people with a daily wage of Tk 120. The number of the beneficiaries would come down to 6.5 lakh if the wage increases to Tk 150.
   Similar to the food for work project, the programme will involve the poor people in different rural development projects.
   The ministry has planned disbursing the money to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts directly so middlemen cannot reap any benefit out of it as they usually do in such cases.
   The ministry also held a meeting with representatives of the Bangladesh Bank and state-owned commercial and specialised banks to implement its plan.
   Official sources said the central bank received a request from the ministry for allowing the extreme poor open bank accounts for Tk 10 like the farmers’ account.
   The BB governor, Atiur Rahman, told BSS Thursday that the central bank would offer Tk 10 bank accounts to the poor as it would ensure transparency of the employment project while assure hassle-free payment.
   ‘These accounts would stop payments to ghost workers who used to cash in on such programme without any participation,’ the governor said.
   He said the facility would also increase the depth of the central bank’s strategy for financial inclusion.
   He added that the accounts would remain active for all other banking purposes like a savings account.
   Atiur said the existing bank branches in rural areas would manage the accounts without facing any problem as each branch would be required to handle 150 such accounts.

Hundreds of families in West Rampur suffered power cuts for hours beginning 6 PM on Thursday.
   People in the neighbourhood said that the city’s power utility Dhaka Power Distribution Company took neither took complaints nor restored power supply until midnight.
   As a result they said that they also remained without water for long beginning the iftar time.
    They said that no consumer could reach the DPDC as all phones were hung up.
   Families with small children and ailing senior citizens suffered the worst.
   About two months back the neighbourhood remained without electricity for 23 hours at a stretch following a transformer burst.

The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has asked the ministries and departments concerned, city corporations and municipalities to beef up family planning programmes to control population boom in the country.
   The prime minister gave the directive during a meeting of the National Population Council at the Prime Minister’s Office Thursday morning.
   This was the first meeting of the reorganised National Population Council. The last meeting of the council, formed during the previous rule of the Awami League, was held in 1996.
   The reorganised National Population Council consists of 60 members including the prime minister as its chairman.
   Prime Minister’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed the newsmen after the meeting.
   Addressing the meeting, the prime minister called upon all to work for taking the country’s population growth to a stable condition and said that implementation of family planning programmes through the field level workers was needed to be started in full swing again.
   In this regard, she mentioned the past success of the programme involving one field worker for every 600 families.
   ‘Now we have to think how we can reactivate such programmes successfully,’ the prime minister was quoted as saying by her press secretary.
   Hasina asked the ministries and departments concerned to give special attention to the slums and rural areas for making the people conscious about the impacts of over-population.
   Emphasising on correct and timely statistics and information, she said without flawless data on demography and various demographic trends, population could not be managed well.
   About the activities of the non-government organisations, the prime minister said the outcome of the NGO activities in various development sectors including population was needed to be evaluated.
   ‘The NGOs spend lot of money… outcome of the NGO activities needs to be reviewed.’
   She underscored the need for increasing employment which, she said, could play an effective role in population control.
   The prime minister, however, termed the population as an asset. ‘I personally think our population as an asset. If we can give quality education and modern training to the people, the entire population can become a valuable asset,’ she said.
   Hasina recalled a speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman given on March 26, 1975 when the great leader had said if the population continues to increase by some 30 lakh every year then after 25/30 years, there would be serious shortage of land for agriculture.
   Mujib had emphasised on population control and adopted visionary policies for population control, she said.
   Hasina said if the Mujib could have implemented his policies, the country’s population would remain under control.

Donors including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, JICA, Islamic Development Bank and the Abu Dhabi Fund will provide $2,286.40 million (nearly $2.3 billion) for the construction of the much awaited Padma Bridge.
   Of the amount, the World Bank would provide the biggest chunk, some $1,200 million at the lowest rate, as revealed at the 15th meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on the communications ministry held at the Sangsad Bhaban.
   Chaired by committee chairman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, committee member and communications minister Syed Abul Hossain, M Zillul Hakim, Nazrul Islam Manju, M Abu Zahir, and M Golam Moula Roni attended the meeting.
   The meeting was informed that the Bridges Division would start the construction work of the bridge by January, 2011 and would complete the works by 2013.
   The meeting was also informed about the progress of the work on upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway into four lanes and recommended the works be completed maintaining its standards.

Bangladesh Railway has undertaken a project for construction of new railway lines from Kashiani to the grave of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tungipara via Gopalganj and renovation of railway lines from Kalukhali to Bhatiapara.
   The project cost is estimated at about Tk 11,000 crore and the evaluation committee has held a meeting, Bangladesh Railway West Zone chief engineer M Amzad Hossain told BSS.
   He hoped that the project would be presented before the Executive Committee of National Economic Council for approval soon.
   Under the project, 85 kilometres of abandoned railway lines from Kalukhali to Bhatiapara would be repaired and new 55 kilometres of lines would be constructed up to the grave of Mujib.
   As the present government took the initiative, the BR authorities issued letters to the illegal occupants to vacate railway lands.
   Millions of people in this region have long been demanding construction of railway lines and reopening of the abandoned route.
   A BR source said the railway lines from Bhatiapara of Gopalganj and Kalukhali in Rajbari had established links with Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna and North Bengal.
   But the route was abandoned in 1997 as part of the policy to reduce losses of the BR. After this, a group of unscrupulous people plundered and occupied the railway property. Some 80 cases were filed and 30 people were convicted in this connection.
   Kashiani upazila nirbahi officer Subhash Chanda Biswas said the reintroduction and expansion of railway lines up to Tungipara would bring tremendous development in communication system in this region.