The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The absence of decentralisation of the administration and unplanned urbanisation are the main causes of the chronic traffic jam in the city, which kills a lot of productive time of the city dwellers.

Experts said this yesterday at a roundtable meeting on 'Remedies to Create Suitable Environment for Plying Public Transport, Non Motorised Vehicles' and Walking' organised by Save Environment Movement (SEM) at the National Press Club.

They said along with decentralisation and planned urbanisation, increase in service standards of public buses, friendly environment for plying of fuel free vehicles as well as restricting running of private cars within the city limits are needed to reduce the traffic jam.

Experts urged the government to take immediate steps to decentralise the administration and relocate some government offices outside the capital by developing other major cities and towns, which would minimise the burden on the capital.

Creating suitable environment for pedestrians and developing the habit of riding the bicycles would lead to easing of traffic jam in the city, they hoped.

Dr KM Maniruzzaman, professor of Urban and Rural Planning Department of BUET said about 50 persons could travel in a bus, while the same number of people can be carried by at least 30 to 40 private cars.

Former Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC) said traffic system should be planned in such way that the transport cost remains within the limit of people's ability.

Dr AQM Mahabub, Chairman of Geography and Environment Department of Dhaka University said the facilities for walking should be developed first as large number of people use footpaths. Convener of SEM Abu Naser Khan moderated the roundtable, which was atended by Prof Dr Zobaer Bin Alam of Civil Engineering Department BUET, Dr Selina Hayat Aivi, Municipal Chairman, Narayanganj and Social Worker KM Jahangir.

Barisal Correspondent

Continuous downpour and gusty wind has disrupted normal life making agriculture, fishing and communications uncertain in the Barisal region since Friday night

Barisal city experienced light to moderate rainfall, which created problems for the city dwellers, office goers and the poor. Atendance in offices, courts and educational institutions was less than normal. Water level of the river Kirtonkhola is touching the danger level. Roads in the city remained submerged in rainwater.

Barisal Port authority hoisted cautionary signal No.2. Hundreds of passengers in different points of the region became stranded after suspension of plying of smaller water vessels along different routes of Barisal, Patuakhali, Bhola and Barguna districts since Friday night

Red Crescent has been constantly monitoring the weather situation.

The sources said rivers and the sea have become turbulent Tourists have left Kuakata seashore. Fishermen suspended fishing due to the adverse weather.

Aus and Aman paddy cultivation was also hampered and standing crops remained under water due to the downpour.

Meanwhile UNB adds: The deep depression crossed Orissa coast of India near Paradwip early Sunday and now it lies over Orissa and adjoining area as a land depression, according to a Met office bulletin.

Besides, many fishermen were feared dead or went missing in rough sea in Bagerhat, Laxmipur, Barisal, Bhola and other coastal districts. In Bagerhat, some 50 fishermen were feared dead following Friday night's storm in the Bay of Bengal. Around 12 trawlers capsized and many went missing along with hundreds of fishermen on the bay during the storm.

Over 100 shrimp enclosures in four upazilas of Bagerhat were washed away by walls of water, causing a reported loss of over Tk 50,000 lakh.

Sources said over 300 thatched houses were also damaged in 10 unions of Swarankhola, Morelganj, Mongla and Rampal upazilas as water levels in rivers and canals of the district suddenly swelled by 3 to 4 feet Besides, three anchored trawlers capsized in different local rivers in Swarankhola and Mongla upazilas Sunday morning. Coastguards rescued eight fishermen of 'MV Mayer Doa' in Kachikhali Shukpara area of Swarankhola upazila but they could not salvage the sunken trawler. Meanwhile, the district administration has opened three control rooms and taken precautionary measures in the coastal belt following unusual rise of water in the rivers and canals.

Sports Reporter

The final of the First ICC World Twenty20 Championship will be held today which begins at 6.00 PM (Bangladesh Standard Time) at Johannesburg in South Africa. Pakistan and India, the two powerhouses of world Cricket, will face each other in the final. Bangladesh Television, ESPN, Star Cricket will telecast the match live from the capital of South Africa.

Pakistan cruised into the final defeating New Zealand by six wickets in the first semifinal on September 22.

On the other hand, India stormed into the final beating Australia by 15 runs in the second semifinal on the same day.

It may be mentioned that Pakistan faced India in their Group D match on September 14. The match ended in a sensational tie in Durban. Later, the result of the match was decided in bowl out and India won the match.

The whole cricket world is expecting to watch an entertaining final from both sides.

Staff Reporter

One day of the war in Iraq costs $720 million. How would you spend it?

The Iraq war has certainly been costly in terms of lives lost, with thousands of U.S. military personnel dead, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed. Also, the economic costs are far greater than most people imagine, with more than $1 trillion tax dollars spent in the first four years of the war, says the American Friends Service Commitee (AFSC).

One trillion dollars equals $720 million spent each day, or $500,000 (Tk 3.40 crore) per minute. The taxpayer money spent on the war is displacing millions of Iraqis and destroying their hospitals and schools instead of supporting health care, education and housing for people in our own communities, it says.

The AFSC is launching a national project to highlight the economic cost of the war and demand that Congress shift war funding to support human needs here and real solutions in Iraq.

The AFSC is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker) affiliated organisation which works for social justice, peace and reconciliation, abolition of the death penalty, and human rights, and provides humanitarian relief. The group was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends and assisted civilian victims of war.

Because Quakers traditionally oppose violence in all of its forms and therefore refuse to serve in the military, the AFSC's original mission was to provide conscientious objectors (COs) to war with a constructive alternative to military service. In 1947 AFSC received the Nobel Peace Prize along with the British Friends Service Council, now called Quaker Peace and Social Witness, on behalf of all Quakers worldwide.

Staff Reporter

A new political party named Bangladesh Gano Shakti Party was floated yesterday with a pledge to uphold freedom, democracy and national harmony.

The party emerged with former student leader, eminent banker and poet Tahmidul Islam as its President and former student leader and industrialist Alhaj Abdus Satar Bhuiya as General Secretary lending full support to the caretaker government

The party president Tahmidul Islam formally announced the launching of the party in a press conference held at the Jatiya Press Club in the city.

The new party came out to introduce a trend of sound politics to build a strong modern and economically strong Bangladesh free from poverty, terrorism, corruption and black money.

The core theme and principles on the basis of which party will forge ahead are: democracy, moral values, economic emancipation, national solidarity and world peace.

The organisers of the party said that promulgation of the state of emergency was necessary to control the chaotic law and order situation that prevailed earlier.

Besides, Presidium Members Dr Imamul Hossain Firoz, Dr Abdul Jalil, Adv Giasuddin Ahmed and members Adv Rezaul Karim Kanchan, Shakhwat Hossain, Nurul Alam Choudhury, Engr Mahmudul Hasan, Abu Mohammad Hossain, Kamal Uddin, Anisur Rahman, Moulana Shariful Islam Hazari, Freedom fighters Elias Uddin and Shah Tuku Abdur Rahman, among others, were present at the function.

Abdul Muqit Chowdhury

Supplication in Ramzan is very important Through supplication we express our need to Allah and seek mercy, forgiveness and salvation.

The holy Quran says, "When my servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them). I listen to the prayer of every supplicant, when he calleth on Me. Let them also, with a will, listen to My call and believe in Me : that they walk in the right way." (2:186) This verse directs us for supplication.

During Ramzan, we should seek forgiveness of our sins, thank Allah for His bounties and invoke His help. Supplication purifies our souls, inspires us to do good deeds and guards against errors and is of special merit and virtue in this month.

Hazrat Abdullah Ibne Masud (RA) narrated from the Messenger of Allah: "In every night of Ramzan a proclaimer on behalf of Allah goes on proclaiming, O searcher of welfare, come forward, and O searcher of evils, go back and after this the angel says, is there anyone seeking of Maghfirat (forgiveness) who will be forgiven ? Is there any repentant, whose repentance will be accepted ? Is there any seeker, whose things of seeking will be given? This proclaiming continues through every night" (Al Hadith)

So, the month of Ramzan is a great opportunity of the believers to seek Allah's infinite blessings.

UNB, Dhaka

Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury on Sunday said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has assured of its full support to Bangladesh for seting up a nuclear power plant The Advisor, who atended the 51st General Conference of the IAEA from September 17 to 21 in Vienna, Austria, briefed reporters about his trip and its outcome.

He said he had a successful meeting with IAEA Director General Mohamed El Baradei who assured him of providing full technical support to Bangladesh plan for seting up the nuclear power plant Chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan and other top officials of IAEA were present at the meeting. He said Bangladesh, as a follow-up of the meeting, would now submit a comprehensive plan to the IAEA by October 15 this year to install the 600-1000MW nuclear power plant

"In response, a high profile IAEA team, headed by its Deputy Director General, will arrive in Bangladesh between November and December to evaluate the safety and security issues," Tapan Chowdhury said. He said the IAEA chief wanted to know how serious Bangladesh is about seting up a nuclear power plant "We told him that we're serious because we're looking for alternative sources of energy next to our gas and coal resources."

Replying to a question, the Energy Advisor said delegations from neighbouring India, Pakistan, China and Russia also atended the IAEA General Conference and all these countries had offered technical cooperation to Bangladesh's plan.

"During our bilateral discussions, response from all these countries were very positive… Actually, we're very much excited to have such a positive response from the neighbours… their atitude was very positive," the Advisor said.

"India, Pakistan, China and Russia all are willing to provide technical support to our plan to set up the nuclear power plant," he added.

The Atomic Energy Commission Chairman said Bangladesh could set up the proposed 600MW nuclear power plant by 2015 if its plan is approved by the IAEA and it would require US$ 1.2 billion of investment

Bangladesh has a pre-independence plan to set up a nuclear power plant in Ruppur, Ishwardi and also conducted a feasibility study for three possible sites for such a power plant

But, no nuclear plant has so far been installed.

However, the government now has become serious about the project and a high-profile delegation visited South Korea last month to discuss development of a nuclear power plant

Staff Reporter

Dhaka Phone, a private land phone company, yesterday inaugurated its network in Dhaka city.

This was disclosed at a press conference held at the National Press Club organised by Dhaka Telephone Co Ltd, a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) approved by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

ATM Hayatuzzaman Khan, Chairman of Dhaka Telephone Co Ltd, Mustafa Rafiqul Islam and Mohammad Selim, directors of the company, spoke at the press conference.

Hayatuzzaman said, "Dhaka Phone got approval from the BTRC on September 9 this year. After expanding network in Narayanganj, Narsingdi, Chitagong, Sylhet, Khulna and Bogra, Dhaka Telephone Co now enters Dhaka city."

"To make the start, an 'Eid package' has been announced where set with connection at Tk 2,500 and RIM only Tk 75 have been offered. The package includes a call rate for same operator only at Tk 0.25 and to other operators only at Tk 1.15 per minute (peak hour) and Tk 0.95 per minute (off peak). BTTB local call is only applicable for Dhaka, Chitagong and Sylhet," he also said.

For the inhabitants of Dhaka all other client facilities like local, NWD, ISD phone call, call transfer, call forwarding, call barring will be available with every Dhaka Phone connection. Besides, the phone connection is facilitated with high-tech CDM 1 into fixed wireless telephone set by which now contacts from Dhaka to the country throughout are easier than ever. Dhaka Phone is commited to serve more client facilities in future, he added.

Abul Hashem Khan, Managing Director of Dhaka Telephone Co Ltd, MA Jalil and BMM Bulu, shareholders of the company, among others, were present at the launching ceremony.

Staff Reporter

Prof Dr Mohabbat Ali, former Chairman of the Department of Chemistry of Dhaka University, died of old age ailments in the city on Saturday night He was 88.

He died at his son's BCSIR Officers' Quarters residence at about 8:00pm on Saturday.

Namaz-e-janaza for Dr Ali will be held at Dhaka University central mosque at 10:30am tomorrow (Tuesday).

Prof Ali was the Chairman of the Chemistry Department during 1985-88 and Provost of Fazlul Haq Muslim Hall of the DU during 1974-87.

DU Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr SMA Faiz, Pro-Vice Chancellor AFM Yusuf Haider and Treasurer Prof Syed Abul Kalam Azad condoled the death of Dr Mohabbat Ali.

In a condolence message, they prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul and conveyed sympathy to the members of bereaved family.

DU Correspondent

Bangladesh Chhatra Union (BCU), an associate of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), condemned the fresh three-day remand granted to Manabendra Dev, Dhaka University Unit president of the organisation.

President of BCU Shamsul Alam Sajjan and General Secretary Khan Asaduzzaman Masum in a statement yesterday expressed deep shock and strongly protested against the fresh remand.

Earlier, he was taken on a four-day remand in this connection.

It may be mentioned that the law enforcing agencies arrested him from his residence on September 16.

The statement said he was being taken on remand repeatedly despite his having no connection with the DU violence on August 20-22.

BSS, Dhaka

Floods in the country are on the retreat and the situation will continue to improve further in next 24 to 72 hours, Food Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) said in its observation report yesterday.

With the major rivers the Brahmaputra-Jamuna and the Ganges- Padma falling further, they will maintain their falling trend in next 24 to 72 hours along with most of the rivers in the country.

The flood situation in the south central districts of Rajbari, Faridpur, Manikganj, Munshiganj, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Gopalganj, Chandpur and in Dohar and Nawabganj upazilas of Dhaka district is likely to improve further which will continue in next 24 to 72 hours, the FFWC report said. The flood situation in the north-eastern districts of Sylhet and Sunamganj have continued to improve slowly and likely to improve further in next 24 to 72 hours.

The small rivers around Dhaka district are also receding and will continue to retreat in next 24 to 72 hours.

Out of 73 river monitoring stations of FFWC, 11 are flowing above danger level, four marked rise, 51 have fallen, three are steady.

Most of the rivers in the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Meghna and the south eastern hill basins have marked falls, the report added.

Narsingdi Correspondent

At least 40 persons, including General Manager Dulal Krishna Roy and Narsingdi Correspondent of the New Nation Saifullah Mahmud Dulal, were injured when angry workers and employees of UMC Jute Mills went berserk over payment of wages.

Of the injured persons 11 were admited to local hospital and clinics. The clash continues when the report was filed last night

Angry workers and employees of United Meghna Chandpur(UMC) Jute Mills ransacked the office room of its general manager and beat him up in the district town over their arrear payment yesterday afternoon.

Around 3,000 to 4,000 workers and employees of the mill damaged the office room of GM DK Roy at 3:00 pm and beat him up. They demanded the wages and bonus of two month's arrear. The angry workers started sit-in in front of the GMC office last night Deputy Commissioner Zillur Rahman and Joint forces Commander Lt Col Jahangir visited the mill and assured the workers and employees of payment their arrears.

United Maghna Chandpur is one of the country's biggest jute mills which employ around 8,500 workers and 1,040 employees.

UNB, Dhaka

Six local and international firms submited Expression of Interest (EoI) to buy the problem-ridden Oriental Bank on the last day of submission of bid on Sunday.

The firms are: NGO-BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Agricultural Development), Summit Group, Domestic Consortium, Switzerland-based ICB Global Finance Group Holdings AG, Sri Lanka-based Hatol National Bank and UK-based East Invest Private Equity Limited.

They have submited EoI to participate in the bidding process initiated by Bangladesh Bank.

Official sources said the central bank would evaluate their track records, financial capability and other issues to ascertain the capacity to take over the Oriental Bank.

If the firms come out as responsive bidders in the EoI submission stage, the central bank will ask them to submit their final financial and technical offer under the bidding process.

The Oriental Bank is now operating under an administrative arrangement by the central bank, which recently invited the interested parties to submit their EoIs by September 23 along with their track financial and technical records of running a financial institution.

After a serious financial and liquidity crisis, the central bank dissolved the bank's board of directors, sacked its managing director and appointed an administrator to run the bank for the time being. The central bank had announced a bailout scheme on August 2 to sell 57 percent share of Oriental Bank through an open tender. The new scheme envisages a rise of the bank's paid-up capital to Tk 7 billions from the existing Tk 570 millions. The scheme stipulates Tk 4 billion as sponsor shares and the remaining Tk 3 billion as general shares.

Among the participating firms, BRAC is now running the Brac Bank as its subsidiary while Summit Group has business in power sector. The Domestic Consortium is local group of some banks and financial institutions.

The ICB Global Finance Group Holdings is a leading financial institution in Switzerland while Hatol National Bank is a Sri Lanka-based bank.

East Invest Private Equity Limited is an UK-based company, having a track record of investing 10 billion pounds sterling mainly in financial institutions in different countries of Europe, Africa and the Middle East

Court Correspondent

Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Dhaka yesterday issued warrants of arrest against former LGRD state minister Ziaul Haque Zia and his wife in two separate graft cases for dodging income-tax.

Earlier, Farjana Sultana, National Board of Revenue-NBR's Assistant Commissioner of Tax, filed a case against Ziaul Haque Zia for evading income-tax to the tune of Taka 5 crore 25 lakh while former state minister's wife was sued for evading income-tax to the tune of Taka 44,85,776.

The complainant prayed for warrants of arrest against accused former state minister Zia and his wife Nasima Haque, while Md. Azizul Haque, the Metropolitan Sessions Judge passed orders to arrest them. The Metropolitan Sessions Judge fixed September 27, the next date of the case.

Meanwhile, Judge Syed Zahed Mansur of Metropolitan Special Tribunal 9 of Dhaka continued recording the deposition of the Investigation Officer (IO) in the Arms case filed against former state minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar.

The Judge will again record the IO's deposition on September 26, the next date of the case.