The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Bagerhat

The recent storm and heavy rainfall due to depression in the Bay has caused loss of over Tk 13 crore in agriculture and fisheries sectors of the district.

District Disaster Management and Relief office said the storm that swept over the district in last three days till Wednesday more or less caused damage to 74 unions, out of 75, in nine upazilas.

The storm damaged 1,590 dwelling houses, standing crops on 100 acres of land and uprooted 50,000 trees causing loss of Tk 7.70 crore.

Fish worth Tk 6 crore was washed away in Fakirhat, Mollahat and Chitolmari upazilas, the fish cultivators claimed.

Besides, ferry movement on Bhairab river remained disrupted for the last two days due to the damage of pontoon of Muniganj ferry ghat.

Moreover, 30,000 people in different upazilas were living in the dark till Wednesday as 26 electric poles have been uprooted in the district due to the storm. Deputy Commissioner Shahidul Islam said Disaster Management and Relief Ministry has allocated Tk 2 lakh for the affected people of the district.

India's robust growth does not mean WB slashes lending to it

PTI, Washington

The fact that India is posting strong economic growth does not mean that its portfolio and structure within the World Bank would have to be trimmed to make way for higher lending to other countries, President of The bank Robert Zoellick has said.

In a press meet ahead of this weekend's annual meeting of the bank and the International Monetary Fund, Zoellick told reporters that he will be visiting India shortly and find out the areas in which the bank is doing well and where it should be better.

"Because of the strong capital base, the deployment of our resources shouldn't be seen as a zero sum trade off. We can do more for many parts " Zoellick said in response to a question by PTI.

"For India in particular, you still have a very large number of poor people, about 600 million, in the rural areas. So the one reason I am going to India is that I want to hear the Indian plans and how we can support them," he added.

"But in general, for countries like India and China, what I have found is that the lending is less driven by financial needs and more by packaging the knowledge and expertise of the lending. And one of the things that I also want to explore (in India) is what we can do through the IFC and other bodies of the Bank," Zoellick said.

"So one of the reasons that I want to get to India very early-I had the chance to meet the Finance Minister at the United Nations General Assembly-was to get a sense of what they (India) think we are doing well and what we think we should be doing better" he said.

Zoellick stressed that a number of issues and strategic themes will be discussed at this year's annual meeting that will include governance and corruption, the deepening interaction with the IDA Group and sustainable development and climate change.

The top Bank official noted that the institution could play a meaningful role in climate change.

However, the developing countries will have to shed their anxieties that the allocation of Bank's resources for climate change runs contrary to and competes with traditional developmental projects.