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A project involving Tk 10,000 crore has been undertaken to construct a 60-kilometre circular road around the Chittagong city.
   The Japan Bank for International Cooperation has taken the mega project under build-operate-transfer basis, sources at the Chittagong Development Authority said.
   The bank undertook the project responding to the CDA call for upgrading road communication network in the city and to make it free from traffic congestions, they said.
   The JBIC floated an international tender in April and the construction of the road is likely to begin in the first quarter of the next year, the sources said, adding that the construction of the road would be completed within four years of its beginning.
   They said implementation of the project would be initiated through the construction of a 12-km road stressing between Shah Amanat International Airport and Faujderhat point on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.
   The Chittagong Port Authority will construct the Shah Amanat Bridge, the sources said adding that the existing Kalurghat-Shah Amanat Bridge Road would be extended and meet the outer circular road.
   The CDA has been constructing a road from Faujderhat point of the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway to Baizid Bostami Road and it would be stretched to the Oxygen Kuaish Road and touch the outer circular road.
   The CDA chairman, Shah Mohammed Akhteruddin, said construction of the outer circular road would open a door of potentials regarding the development of the port city alongside easing traffic congestions.
   ‘The outer circular road will play a significant role in multifaceted development of the port city,’ he said adding that they would establish several satellite towns centring the road.
   On completion of the bridge, vehicles from three hill districts, Cox’s Bazar and different upazilas in Chittagong will be able to enter the city from different points and it would reduce their time, he said.
   ‘The road will ease traffic congestion alongside bringing a momentum in vehicular movements on the city roads,’ he said adding that the JBIC would implement the project under close supervision of CDA.

The committee formed to investigate reasons for cracks at the Khulna Nagar Bhaban, Khulna City Corporation building, is yet to submit its report even after expiry of the deadline six days ago.
   The corporation authorities on April 29 formed the three-member body, headed by Khulna University of Engineering and Technology’s civil engineering department chair MA Bashar, asking it to submit the report within 10 days.
   Other members of the committee are corporation’s chief executive officer Tapan Kumar Ghosh and acting chief engineer Nazmul Islam.
   The construction work of the Nagar Bhaban began in 2001 and was completed in 2007, according to corporation sources.
   Cracks appeared at the building, built at a cost of Tk 5.96 crore, after a little more than one year of its inauguration on April 4, 2007, the sources added.
   A member of the committee said they could not complete investigation on time as the committee head found a little time in doing the job as he had to remain busy with with academic works.
   During investigation, he said, they had found cracks at seven points of the Nagar Bhaban walls and most of cracks surfaced on the fourth floor of the building.
   ‘We are seeing whether the cracks at the building resulted from faulty design or electric wiring, use of substandard materials and moistures.’
   He, however, said primarily the committee found no major problem with the construction of the building and it was quite repairable.’
   ‘We are trying to submit the investigation report at the earliest, he added.

Two suspected miscreants, one of them a close aide to top terror Jisan, were arrested in possession of a firearm and six bullets at Badda in the capital Tuesday night.
   The police in separate drives also picked up 127 more people and seized three arms, ammunition and drugs.
   The Badda police arrested Akil Mahmood alias Dano Babu, 28, a close aide to Jisan, and Maruf, 19, along with a US made revolver and six bullets.
   In another raid at Jhilpar, the Badda police arrested two more miscreants — Mehedi Hassan, 18, and Tareq, 19 — and seized two US-made revolvers and 16 bullets from them.
   In another drive at Gendaria, the police nabbed three robbers — Abul Kalam, 31, Babul Hossain, 30, and Milon, 28 — along with a pipe-gun, three rounds of bullets, three bombs and a machete.
   The police also arrested drug peddlers Liton and Rakesh with 153 bottles of Phensidyl, heroin and cannabis from Dhupkhola.
   At Uttara Model Thana, a CNG auto-rickshaw was seized and one Nur Nabi, 20, was arrested.
   The police arrested 119 more people from different parts of the capital as part of their regular anti-crime drives, the police said.

Most of the traffic signal lights, installed at seven points in the Barisal city at a cost of Tk 25 lakh, have remained out of order for long, affecting enforcement of traffic rules.
   The signal lights were installed at the Barisal city corporation, jail, Kakoli, C&B, Nabogram, Amtala and Zila School road crossings in 1994 and the traffic division of the police was given the responsibility of operating those signal lights, sources in Barisal traffic police and the city corporation said.
   The signal lights, however, have not been properly utilised as transportation in the city is largely dependent on rickshaws, with a general tendency to show indifference to traffic signal rules by the pullers.
   This led to the passivity of the municipal authorities in repairing the lights, the sources said adding that this also contributed, largely, to the failure of the traffic police in implementing traffic rules.
   Awlad Hossain, Barisal mayor in-charge, said steps were being taken in 2002 for activation of the lights but they had scrapped the plan as manually driven transports did not follow rules.
   Khan Syeed Hassan, Barisal metropolitan police commissioner, said if the BCC took steps for activation of traffic signal lights on city roads the BMP would try their best to execute traffic signal rules.
   As city bus services are going to start within a short time, mass awareness of traffic rules is very important at the moment, he added.

About 73 per cent of the street children in the Dhaka city suffer from chronic malnutrition while mortality and morbidity status among the street dwellers has reached an alarming level due to lack of basic healthcare services.
   This was revealed at a seminar organised in Dhaka on Wednesday by ICDDR,B to release the findings of a study on ‘Health Needs and Health Seeking Behaviours of Street Dwellers in Dhaka City’.
   According to the study, the disadvantaged street children are most vulnerable to various complicated diseases due to overcrowding, poor environmental status and unhygienic foodstuffs.
   M Jasim Uddin and Tracey Perezkoehlmoos of ICDDR,B presented the findings of the study in the dissemination seminar held in the Sasakawa auditorium of ICDDR,B.
   They said Bangladesh was among the countries having highest rates of growth of urban population at over 6 per cent annually.
   The study said massive urbanisation process was solely responsible for the large segment of street people in the Dhaka city and they remained beyond healthcare facilities.
   It found that the street children mostly came to Dhaka from the districts of Jamalpur, Sherpur, Mymensingh and Rajshahi.
   ICDDR,B in cooperation with Marie Stopes Clinic Society and Aparajeyo Bangladesh carried out the study among day labourers, rickshaw pullers, sex workers, butchers, beggars, aged between 15 and 49, at 11 major points in the city.
   Assistant director general of the Directorate General of Health Services Hosne Ara Tahmim spoke at the seminar as the chief guest while acting executive director of ICDDR,B MA Salam gave the welcome address.
   Chairman of the Department of Geography and Environment Science of Dhaka University AQM Mahbub and director general of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies Quazi Shahabuddin and Carel Van Mels of ICDDR,B spoke as designated discussants.
   The study recommended expansion of existing healthcare programmes to meet the healthcare needs of the street dwellers.
   It suggested developing a public-private healthcare mechanism to inform street people about availability of healthcare facilities.
   Hosne Ara said the accelerated migration from various districts to Dhaka city could be checked if the street dwellers across the country were provided with adequate healthcare services.
   Mahbub said street dwellers, to be about two lakh in the metropolis, were poorest of the poor in the society. Less than 15 years of old street children were not living with balanced food.
   Although the capital city has more than 500 hospitals, they cannot get better healthcare, he said.
   Salauddin said street dwellers had been gripped by a vicious circle of poverty due to their poor income growth, and simultaneously the impeded street dwellers were not seriously considered by the government and NGOs.
   Salam said various developing and developed countries, including India, China and USA, took multifarious steps in their respective health sectors to address health related issues, but such steps were not taken in Bangladesh.

The International Relations Club of the Department of International Relations of Jahangirnagar University accorded a reception to the freshers and bade a farewell to the fourth batch on Tuesday.
   As part of the programmes, a procession was brought
   out from the department premises, which paraded the campus. Teachers and students of the department participated in it.
   Arts Faculty dean Professor Mohammad Nasir Uddin was present as the chief guest.
   In the evening, a cultural programme was also held in the central auditorium of the university.

A Barisal court on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for possessing heroin.
   District and sessions judge M Shahidullah handed down the verdict against Khalilur Rahman, 35, of Torki Bandar in Gournadi upazila of the district.
   The judge also acquitted Qamrul Islam and Rafiqul Islam.
   The Rapid Action Battalion arrested the convict from Torki with 40 grams of heroin on September 2, 2007.
   Sub-inspector of police Tarok Biswas submitted charge sheet against the three on September 30, 2007.
   The judge after examining five witnesses and other evidence handed down the judgment.

The four-day 2nd Dhaka Tourism Fair will begin on August 21 at the Bashundhara City exhibition centre with the aim to boost local tourism sector.
   Parjatan Bichitra, a tourism-related magazine, will organise the fair in cooperation with the Tour Operators’ Association of Bangladesh and Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh.
   The Tourism Developers’ Association of Bangladesh will be the premium partner of the fair.
   The fair will be held to provide tourism related information to the visitors and explore more possibilities in this sector, Mahiuddin Helal, editor of Parjatan Bichitra, also coordinator of the fair, said at a press briefing at the National Press Club on Wednesday. A total of 140 stalls will be set up in the fair where a good number of national and international tourism related organisations will participate.
   A number of organisations from India, Nepal and other neighbouring countries will take part in the event to boost promotional aspects of tourism in those countries, said the convenor.
   Visitors will get all kind of information on tourism, in the fair, including information on attractive tour offers, hotels, motels, resorts, airlines and tour packages, for booking at discounted rates.
   The organisers said ethnic minorities’ cultural presentations would be an additional attraction for the visitors, besides seminar and workshop on tourism. A photography exhibition will also be held where photographers will be able to participate with pictures on tourism.
   The fair will remain open from 11:00am to 7:00pm every day, and the price of the entry tickets have been fixed at Tk 10 each, organisers said.
   Jamil Ahmed, Tourism Development Association of Bangladesh president, Muhaimin Saleh, Association of Travel Agents of Bangladesh president, Hasan Mansur, Tour Operators’ Association of Bangladesh president, Sayed Golam Kader, Public relation representative of the Nepal Tourism Board and Arup Sarker, representative of Kolkata, also attended the press briefing.

Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at a few places over Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and at one or two places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna divisions during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   Mild heat wave sweeping Dhaka and Khulna divisions and the regions of Rajshahi and Ishwardi may continue, it said predicting nearly unchanged day temperature over the country.
   The country’s highest temperature on Wednesday, 36.7 degrees Celsius, was recorded in Khulna, Jessore and Satkhira and the lowest, 22.4 degrees Celsius, at Rajshahi.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 6:34pm and rises tomorrow at 5:15am.

Tax lawyers proposed to the government that it should impose a 10 per cent tax on black money so that it could be used for the country’s benefit.
   The Bangladesh Tax Lawyers’ Association’s leaders, while addressing a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity’s auditorium on Wednesday, said that the government had earlier imposed a five per cent fine in 2007, in addition to the tax, to legalise untaxed money and the owners had lost interest in laundering their money as they would have to pay 26.5 per cent in interest.
   ‘To bring the large amount of untaxed amount under the tax net, the government should impose a tax of 10 per cent for the welfare of the country and investment of a huge amount of money in industries and other business concerns,’ said the acting secretary-general of the association, Mosharraf Hossain.
   The association’s leaders proposed a 13-point charter of demands, including scrapping of the approval system to simplify the tax-related disputes, re-inclusion of a judicial member in the tax tribunal and increasing the power of the tax ombudsman.
   The association placed a set of suggestions for tax collection which included imposition of taxes on the commercial incomes of non-government organisations, increasing the number of tax payers by spot assessment, imposing tax on the carrying capacity of marine vessels instead of their dead weight tonnage.
   The suggestions also included re-assessment of the market price of land in posh areas like Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani, Dhanmondi, Lalmatia in Dhaka and Khulshi in Chittagong to increase the revenue income, and imposing of taxes on the excess fees collected by the private universities and medical colleges during admission.
   The press conference was attended, along with others, by the association’s president Mokhlesur Rahman Bhuiyan, its senior vice-president Moinul Huda and former secretary-general Syed Ahmed.

Politicians on both sides of the partisan divide on Wednesday called for restoration of the political process through holding of credible and participatory elections at the earliest to make democracy sustainable.
   A section of them also stressed the need for discussions among the major political parties to work out a common strategy for the proposed dialogues scheduled to start on May 22 between the parties and the interim government.
   ‘Holding of credible national elections at the earliest is a must for reinstating the political process’, Awami League presidium member Abdur Razzak said at a discussion on ‘practising intra-party democracy’ in the capital. ‘Participation of all major political parties in elections is also necessary to make democracy sustainable’, he added.
   Online newspaper the-editor.net organised the discussion.
   Other speakers, including BNP joint secretary general Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Haque Inu, Communist Party general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim and Ganatantri Party president Nurul Islam shared the views saying holding of credible elections was the only way out of the present crisis. Gayeshwar Roy said the political parties should agree a common strategy for the dialogues with the government.
   He accused the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, for creating problems before the dialogues. ‘He [chief adviser] said the government does not have any agenda for the dialogue but in the next breath mentioned a number of ‘ambitious agendas’, Roy said.
   Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Haque Inu echoed the BNP leader. JSD joint secretary Shirin Akhter, former BNP lawmaker Zahir Uddin Swapan and lawyer Shahdin Malik also took part in the discussion. The-editor.net editor Selim Omrao Khan presided over the discussion

The 10th death anniversary of novelist and short story writer Shawkat Osman was observed through various programmes in Dhaka on Wednesday.
   Different socio-cultural organisations, including Shawkat Osman Smrity Parishad, placed wreaths at his grave in the city, said a press release.
   Reminiscing Shawkat, a discussion will be held at the Liberation War Museum at 6:00pm today. National Professor Kabir Chowdhury will attend the discussion as chief guest.
   With Professor Bulbul Osman in the chair, the discussion will be addressed, among others, by politician Haider Akbar Khan Rano, artists Hashem Khan and Roaiq-un-Nabi, writer Selina Hossain and architect Yasef Osman, son of Shawkat Osman.

Students against Repression, a platform of the general students of the University of Dhaka, on Wednesday served a one-week ultimatum to the authorities for taking punitive action against Dr Kamal, a teacher of the Department of Psychology, for alleged sexual harassment of a female student of the same department.
   The student, in a written statement, recently accused Dr Kamal of harassing her sexually.
   At a press conference in Modhur Canteen, the students threatened to besiege the vice-chancellor’s office on May 21 if their demand is are not met by May 20.
   They also announced a series of agitation programmes to press home their demand. As part of these programmes, they will stage a demonstration on the university campus today and form a human chain in front of Kalabhaban on May 17.
   The Students’ Movement against Repression, another platform of general students, had earlier threatened to call a strike at the university if the authorities do not take action against Dr Kamal soon.
   The University of Dhaka’s syndicate, at a meeting on Tuesday night, formed two probe committees to investigate the accusation.

Monoranjan Barua, chairman of Bangladesh Minorities Board, died of a cardiac arrest in the Dhaka Metropolitan Hospital on Tuesday. He was 73.
   He is survived by two sons and five daughters. His body was kept at Kamlapur Buddha Bihar and International Buddha Temple, Badda for the people of all walks of life to pay homage.
   His funeral will be held at his village home at Zohora in Patiya upazila of Chittagong.
   Monoranjan established Natun Chandra High School in his village. He was the senior vice-president of Bangladesh Buddhist Federation and involved in development of different Buddha Bihars.
   He was also the founder assistant organising secretary of Jatiya Party and the member of the Bikalpadhara Bangladesh convening committee.
   Prayer for the eternal peace of the departed soul will be held at his village residence on Friday.

BNP vice-president Tariqul Islam, also a former environment and forest minister, was produced in a Jessore court on Wednesday in connection with hearing in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
   He was taken to the Jessore central jail Tuesday night from the prison cell at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University hospital in Dhaka.
   Court sources said Tariqul was produced in the court of special judge Obaidus Sobhan for the hearing in the case filed by the commission’s deputy director Monjur Morshed with the Jessore kotwali police on September 9, 2007.
   The commission filed the case against Tariqul, his wife, Nargis Begum, eldest son Shantanu Islam Sumit, Sumit’s wife Lamia Islam and Tariqul’s youngest son, Aninda Islam Amit.
   Tariqul surrendered in court on February 5, 2007.

The fifth death anniversary of Afaz Uddin Ahmed, a social worker of Narsingdi, was observed on Wednesday.
   Afaz died of a cardiac arrest on this day in 2003.
   A doa and milad mahfil will be held at his village home at Hasnabad in Narsingdi after zuhr prayers today.
   Relatives and well-wishers have been requested to pray for the salvation of the departed soul.

Eight hurt as BCL rival groups
clash at IU
Eight students were injured as rival groups of Bangladesh Chhatra League, student wing of Awami League, clashed at Islamic University in Kushtia on Wednesday. The feuding groups also assaulted three teachers — Kamal Hossen, AHM Akhtarul Islam and Shahadat Hossen Azad — when they tried to pacify the melee created over sitting at the Chhatra League tent on the campus. According to witnesses, the clash ensued when Shahnur Alam Keramat, BCL university unit president, asked Rentu, an outsider BCL activist loyal to Jahangir, BCL university unit treasurer, to leave a sit in a tent. As Rentu declined, activists loyal to Keramat drove him out of the tent at around 1:45pm. The situation came under control with the intervention of the university proctor, AKM Matinur Rahaman, and the police at around 2:45pm.
— New Age