The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Calling upon the representatives of local government institutions to discharge their responsibilities with utmost sincerity for greater interest of the nation, Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said his Government would decentralise power through strengthening the local government bodies.

"As an elected representative, you have enormous responsibilities and people expect transparent, neutral and accountable services from you," he said, adding there is no alternative to establish good governance in local government levels in flourishing democracy in the country.

He said the Caretaker Government would implement recommendations of the Committee for Accelerating and Strengthening the Local Government Institutions through vesting authorities in the local government bodies and freeing them from unnecessary intervention of the MPs.

Decentralisation of central Government's power through strengthening the local government institutions would help build a true participatory democratic system in the country, he added.

The Chief Adviser said this while inaugurating the Conference-2008 of the Elected Representatives of Local Government Institutions at the National Parade Square in the capital.

According to sources, around 10,000 elected representatives of local government institutions- Union Parisads, Pourasabhas, and city corporations, attended the conference.

Presided over by LGRD Adviser Md Anwarul Iqbal,

the inaugural function was addressed by LGRD Secretary Sheikh Khurshid Alam and Chairman of the Committee for Accelerating and Strengthening the Local Government Institutions Dr A M M Shawkat Ali.

Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed, Regulatory Reforms Commission Dr Akbar Ali Khan and Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Lt General (retd) Hashan Mashhud Chowdhury addressed the plenary session of the Conference.

Joint Secretary of LGRD ministry Mizanur Rahman read out the summary of the report on Accelerating and Strengthening the Local Government Institutions at the inaugural ceremony.

Referring to various demands of the elected representatives of local government institutions, the Chief Adviser said the Government was very much aware of their administrative and financial problems.

In this context, he assured them of increasing their monthly honorarium in line with the recommendations made by the committee on Accelerating and Strengthening the Local Government Institutions.

Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed said the present Caretaker Government has been trying to play an effective role on different important matters aimed at giving democracy a strong footing towards the path of ensuring good governance.

"It will be such an arrangement where the rights of people and their participation in all development efforts will be ensured,' he added.

Listing various steps taken by the Government, he said the government after assuming office has taken a number of pragmatic steps to establish good governance ensuring law and order along with taking steps in holding a free, fair and neutral election by 2008.

He said the works for strengthening the election commission and preparation of a flawless electoral roll with photographs are progressing fast to hold a credible and acceptable parliamentary poll.

The Chief Adviser said the government is providing all necessary support to implement the election road map announced by the Election Commission (EC).

Advisers, representatives of development partners and high civil and military officials were present on the occasion. About the government's ongoing anti-corruption drive, Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed said his Government has undertaken an all out initiative to free the society from the curse of corruption.

He said the Government along with its ongoing drive against corruption is implementing various programmes to recover government lands from grabbers and conducting operations against extortionists and terrorists.

He said the Government was taking steps against the institutional crimes side by side individual one as the ongoing drive against corruption has achieved tremendous success for establishing social justice and good governance.

The Chief Adviser called upon the elected representatives of local government bodies to play their firm role to build a social movement against all sorts of corruption.

Referring to the report submitted to him by the committee on accelerating and strengthening the local government institutions, he said there was a detailed description in the report including manpower structure, election process, eligibility of candidates and transparency and accountability in decision making process of the local government bodies.

He expressed the hope that the report and the recommendations put forward by the committee would help build a strong transparent and accountable local government structure.

The Chief Adviser said the Government has already directed the concerned authorities to examine the recommendations and take initiatives to implement those within the shortest possible time.

About price hike of essential commodities, he said the Government has taken some pragmatic steps to bring some positive impact on markets.

He said the Government has already taken steps to import 10 lakh tonnes of rice from different rice exporting countries, including India, Thailand and Vietnam to reduce the price hike.

Laying emphasis on increasing agricultural production to face the situation in future, he said we have also taken various measures to produce 28 lakh tonnes of urea fertiliser for distribution among the farmers in time.

Apart from this, he said steps have also been taken to provide HYV (High Yielding Variety) seeds to the farmers and ensuring uninterrupted power supply to boost production.

He also expressed hope for a bumper Boro production in the upcoming IRRI/Boro season.

Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed said the country has experienced two floods and a devastating cyclone in last year that left some adverse impact on the economy as rice are being distributed among the Sidr-affected people against 26 lakh VGF cards.

Besides, he said during the floods the government has distributed rice among the victims through its Test Relief programme in the flood-hit areas.

No Government had ever experienced three consecutive natural disasters in a single year, he added.

The Chief Adviser said the Government with the help of all concerned had been able to face the aftermath of the natural calamities successfully.

He sought all out cooperation from all to implement the rehabilitation programmes in the Sidr-hit areas in a transparent manner.

Staff Reporter

Urging the local government representatives to help fight back rice hoarders to ease the market prices, Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed yesterday said unscrupulous traders have pocketed Tk 900 crore through manipulating price of rice after the Eid-ul Azha.

Terming containing the hoarders as the unprecedented challenge, he said the main challenge for the Caretaker Government is to control the soaring prices of essentials and keep the market stable till the next Boro harvest.

"I consider this price-hike as a disaster. The responsibility of our Government is to keep their prices under control till the next Boro harvest," he told the Conference of elected representatives of the local government institutions at the National Parade Square in the capital yesterday afternoon.

Gen Moeen said the hoarders of foodgrains and a phenomenal rise in the prices of essentials, including rice and wheat, in the international market have created an unprecedented situation at a time when the country has lost over two million tonnes of rice due to two floods and a cyclone last year. "Some millers are not milling rice aggravating the supply situation for making undue profit," he said asking the representatives to identify them and pass their information to the law-enforcing authorities.

"Every citizen must remain vigilant until the next boro harvest," the Army Chief said suggesting that every small piece of land should be used now to grow crops and spices to beef up the supply situation.

He said, "India is now exporting milk products while we can produce only 20 percent of our requirements." The Army has taken 'milking cow' and fisheries development programmes, he said adding similar other activities must grow all over.

He said the Government would give loans, fertiliser, diesel and seeds to farmers. The country needs a collective effort to overcome the situation and make sure that no impediment hinders the efforts.

The Army Chief emphasised the need for the proper distribution of fertiliser saying all efforts are on to make sure adequate supply of fertiliser to the farmers, if possible in the open market.

Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, Chairman of the Regulatory Reforms Commission Dr Akbar Ali Khan, Governor of the Bangladesh Bank Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, and Chairman and General Secretary of the Bangladesh Union Council Chairman Association Enayet Hossain and Shamim Al Amin, among others, spoke on the occasion.

Gen Moeen decried the pervasive corruption and said the country's annual economic growth would have reached double digit if the resources were used properly without siphoning those at different levels.

In some cases only 40 to 50 per cent of the allocation was used, he said adding the government is now trying to wipe out corruption from society. He said he is dismayed seeing the condition of the Dhaka Bypass Road which has become dilapidated only after four months of its opening to traffic.

The Army Chief said, "Singapore achieves spectacular growth despite the fact it has not enough natural resources like ours." They did it only with able and honest leadership at the national level, he said asking the representatives to select good leaders in the next polls.

Terming the local representatives as the main driving wheel of the nation, he said the Armed Forces were working shoulder to shoulder with the local people in the cyclone-hit areas, which they had also done after the floods.

"With you in the side the nation can face any crisis," he told them emphasising cooperation in nation-building activities. He said the donation to the Army Chief of Staff fund for cyclone victims has so far stood at Taka 18 crore and Taka 10 crore has been used to rehabilitate the affected people and their economic recovery.

Referring to the law and order, Gen Moeen said he was grieved seeing the killing of men by men in city streets on October 28, 2006. "I have never seen in my life the killing of an animal like this," he said.

The country is now calm and this peaceful situation must be ensured, he said adding the future leadership must take lessons from the past anarchic situation.

General Moeen also urged the local government representatives to motivate

voters to judiciously use their votes to elect honest people through the next elections without selling their votes for money.

Appreciating the Anti-Corruption Commission's (ACC) anti-graft drive, he urged the ACC to remain alert against corrupts but make sure innocent people are not harassed.

He also urged the local government representatives to identify and eliminate corrupts from all tiers so the people could do business properly and live in peace.

The Army Chief said the Government is working for holding a free and fair election and the voter list with national identity cards is being prepared now to that end. About two crore voters and their identity cards have already been prepared, he said adding the scale of this operation has no match anywhere in the world.

Gen Moeen said it will be a bigger list over eight crore voters compared to a seven crore voter list prepared by France.

Dr Akbar Ali Khan said since the strengthening of the local government institution was the major promise of the country's two major political parties, the caretaker government can hold the election of the local government along with the national election.

They have no reason to oppose it, he observed.

Earlier, Chairman of the Bangladesh Union Council Parishad Enayet Hossain demanded Tk 5,000 for a union parishad chairman as salary and Tk 3,000 for a member saying they have to spend money from their own resources at many occasions.

He demanded more allocation to local government from budget and ownership over local resources to create local funds, besides freedom to function without intervention of the higher authorities.

Staff Reporter

The government has already taken steps to import 10 lakh tonnes of rice from different rice exporting countries, including India, Thailand and Vietnam to reduce the price hike.

Disclosing this, Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said of the 10-lakh tones of rice that would be imported, contract was already signed for four- lakh tones and soon agreement would be signed for the rest six-lakh tones.

A high level official delegation will visit India this week to finalise the import of five-lakh tones of rice while about two lakh tones will be imported from Thailand. Rice will also be imported from Vietnam. Besides, imported rice has already started coming to the country, he added. The Chief Adviser said this while inaugurating the Conference-2008 of Representatives of the Local Government Institutions at National Parade Square in the capital.

The soaring price of rice is likely to come down as numerous initiatives have been taken by the government and different countries have expressed their willingness to export the cereal to Bangladesh at rational price.

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Friday spoke to Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on planned purchase of rice from India.

The Adviser informed the Indian Minister that an official negotiating team would visit India soon in this regard, a foreign ministry release said.

The state-owned trading firm State Trading Corporation (STC) of India and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) have already invited bids for supply of pre-boiled and white rice to Bangladesh.

The bids would close on January 8 and the decision on the tender would be taken on the same day, STC said.

The suppliers should have exported a minimum 50,000 tonnes during calendar year 2007, STC and NAFED said on their websites. On Thursday Bangladesh has imported 100,000 tones of rice from India at more than US$400 a ton.

A huge quantity of rice is entering Bangladesh through different land ports, border sources said. Hundreds of trucks of rice are now waiting at Petrapol port of India to enter Bangladesh.

The soaring of price of rice halted on Friday after climbing to Tk 34 per kilogram of low quality coarse rice. Price of per kg of rice rose by Tk 9 to 10 over the month. However, on Friday price of rice fell by Tk 0.50 per kg in the local market.

According to the trading corporation of Bangladesh, price of rice rose by 65 to 77 per cent over the year.

Staff Reporter

The visiting Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan yesterday urged the caretaker government to initiate the process for holding trial of 1971 war criminals.

"An initiation by the present government will help the next elected government take the issue forward," she said while briefing reporters after a seminar on 'Campaign for Human Dignity' at LGED Extension Building at Agargaon in the city.

Irene Khan said the Amnesty International (AI), a UK-based human right watchdog, was ready to help the government with its experience on war criminals trial in different countries.

She said the international laws on war crimes are changing continuously but many of these changes and provisions were not in place in 1971.

The Bangladesh-born AI Secretary General arrived in Dhaka yesterday morning on a six-day visit to lead a delegation to discuss human-rights issues with the government, political parties and civil society representatives.

During the visit, Irene Khan is expected to call on Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed, Adviser for Law and Information Barrister Mainul Hosein, Adviser for Foreign Affairs Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and Army Chief Gen Moeen U Ahmed.

Irene Khan hailed the government for taking steps to form a national human-rights commission and for separating the judiciary from the executive and observed that a real opportunity has come for the caretakers to bring institutional reforms for a better future.

Asked what type of institutional reforms the AI is speaking of, she said there needs to be a strong independent judiciary, police reform, action to address torture and ill-treatment, RAB and the military need to be held accountable for human rights violations, an effective National Human Rights Commission, freedom of information legislation, freedom of the media and protection for human rights defenders and social activists.

Replying to a question she said the AI is not in favour of or against the state of emergency. "We are saying that human rights can also be kept even in a state of emergency," she said.

Meanwhile addressing the seminar Irene Khan said Bangladesh should immediately go for institutional reforms of the government bodies with a view to ensuring human rights for all in the country.

"There is no alternative to reforms in each regulatory body of the government to ensure people's welfare in the country, she said.

Irene Khan said civil society could play a very significant role in supplementing the efforts of government towards ensuring human rights by providing them with all kinds of available services.

She said the current mission of AI would give special emphasis on freedom of press, poverty alleviation, reforms in judiciary and education system.

Chaired by Irene Khan, the programme, jointly organised by AI and Manusher Jonno Foundation, was moderated by MJF Executive Director Shaheen Anam.

The seminar was also addressed, among others, by economist Dr Atiur Rahman, environmental expert Dr Inun Nishat, Prof Mahmuda Islam, a Dhaka University teacher, Adviser to AI Secretary General David Petrasek and Dr Meghna Guhathakura.

Atiur Rahman said lack of good governance, access to information and government services are the main reasons that have made poverty deep rooted in the country.

Inun Nishat called for making the country's national disaster management system more active and action-oriented to protect the ecology leading to ensuring food security.

Mashiur Rahaman

Price of gold in local market is feared to increase by next week, coping up with the international market price hike. The precious metal was traded at all time high rates of US$868 per ounce round the globe yesterday.

According to the USGOLD.COM, market price of the yellow metal further increased by US$26 per ounce in international market within two month (Nov-Dec) as it was recorded US$ 840 per ounce in November 2007. The gold index started the year 2007 with US$625 per ounce rate, reported the US gold market expert.

The price is, however, expected to flourish further, as informed.

"While local gold price was already high, we will have to increase the price more if international gold market continues its upward move," said Dilder Ahmed Saleem, Secretary General of Bangladesh Jewellery Association (BJA).

According to him, additional price of gold would be added with present cost within this week, evaluating current international market price.

"But we will not increase the price as much as we have witnessed in the US and UK markets. It will be somewhere in the middle per unit," he added while talking to The New Nation.

At present market rate, Old (Shanatan) gold category is Tk1558 per-gm, 18 carats is Tk1,690 per-gm, 21 carats is Tk1,869 per-gm and 22 carats category is Tk1,986 per-gm.

"Present price was increased only two months ago. We have witnessed a significant customer decline in our business for this higher rate. And further gold price hike would damage our business even further," added BJA General Secretary.

According to him, customers, only who have a family wedding to perform, come to buy jewelleries now at our shops. Even then they purchase as minimum as possible as present gold rate is beyond the rich of middle-income families, he added.

"Gold as gift items do not exist any longer in the market as such customer rarely come to look gift items," he further added.

"Many families even have kept their weddings pending, expecting the gold prices to come down a little in the new year. But we have to disappoint them further," said Dilder A Saleem.

According to the USGOLD.COM analysis, the rising global oil price and dollar rate inflation in US have contributed to gold price hike. As this soft metal has been proved the only existing asset, remained profitable during last decade, more buying trend is expected.

It will increase the price even further in coming days, added experts.

Staff Reporter

The city committee of Awami League urged the Caretaker Government to ensure proper treatment of detained party Chief Sheikh Hasina and withdrawal of 'false and fabricated' cases against her.

Alongside the legal means, the meeting called for formulating various organisational programmes to mobilise public opinion for her release.

This was urged at a meeting at the party office at Bangabandhu Avenue in the city yesterday where City AL acting President MA Aziz presided over.

In the meeting, the city committee presented a 10-point resolution and stressed on intensifying the movement for releasing Sheikh Hasina, who is now facing a number of extortion and corruption cases.

In the 10-point resolution, the meeting demanded withdrawal of cases against AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil, city AL General Secretary Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and other leaders.

The meeting said that the government has failed to control the high price of essentials. A famine-like situation prevails in the country due to indifference and inefficiency of the government.

The city AL leaders demanded introduction of OMS, VGF, Test Relief and Food-for-Work Programmes and if necessary giving subsidy to rice for saving the poor people.

They urged the party workers to join the movement to press for holding trial of the war criminals of the Liberation War.

They asked the party's city, thana, ward and union committees to draw up programmes on the occasion of Bangabandhu' Homecoming Day on January 10.

The meeting decided for holding workers meeting in each thana, union and ward from next week to strengthen the party.

It criticised the 'dilly-dallying' tactics of the government regarding the release of Dhaka University teachers and demanded their immediate release by lifting the cases.

UNB, Dhaka

Anti-Corruption Commission chairman Lt General (retd) Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury Saturday said the role of elected representatives of local government bodies is indispensable in combating and preventing rampant corruption in the country. He called upon the grassroots-level elected representatives to join in the drive to resist and prevent corruption, as a purge is underway in the interim period against corruption in high places. "Corruption will have to be stopped…And your role is indispensable in this regard," the ACC chairman said at the daylong Conference of Elected Representatives of Local Government at the National Parade Square.

The crusader against corruption made it clear that all of the people of the country are not corrupt and said it would have to be exposed who are responsible for the bad reputation of Bangladesh as a corrupt country.

Making a clarion call for resisting the corrupt, the former Army chief advised the representatives not to try to make corruption acceptable on the pretext of needs.

He urged the attending local representatives to convey the message of combat against corruption to the people, saying that no one else will be able to convey this message better than they will. Replying to a question from a representative, the ACC chairman categorically said there is no relationship between the ongoing anti-corruption drive and stagnancy in the economy. Meanwhile, the current drive has thrown a good many business tycoons as well as top politicians, bureaucrats and so behind bars.