The New Nation - Internet Edition

President urges engineers: Utilise your talents to attain self-reliance

Chittagong Correspondent

President Professor Iajuddin Ahmed said here on Tuesday that optimum utilization of resources in the productive modes would only help change the socio-economic status of the nation.

"We have to design the national development plan foreseeing the country's future as far as the year 2100," the President said.

He said that the development schemes should be long term and drawn on the basis of the ideas what would take the nation out of poverty and confirm prestigious position among the global society. The President was addressing the first convocation of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) as the key-person at its campus on Tuesday morning.

Advisor to the Caretaker government on Education and Commerce Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman joined it as the special guest, while former Chief Advisor to the caretaker government and former Chief Justice Mohammad Habibur Rahman delivered the convocation speech.

Vice-Chancellor of the CUET Professor Shyamal Kanti Biswas delivered speech of welcome at the convocation.

Branding the engineers as the architect of development, President said that they produce the development ideas and plan of action in the light of their talent, creativity and alternative thoughts.

"We want to be a self-reliant nation and today's engineering graduates, I hope, will feel it even more," the President said asking the engineers to engage their best efforts in building the nation. Calling better relation between teachers and students as the prerequisite of quality education, the President hoped that the CUET would continue to contribute for upholding the spirit of education and building dependable knowledge base.

He welcomed introduction of Mining, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering department and said that the department would help expedite searching and exploring natural resources across the country.

He urged the graduates to uphold the honour of their certificates and said, "today's certification pushes you to the struggle of practicality and don't forget ordinary millions' contribution behind your achievement".

He advised the graduates to be sincere, honest, patriotic and pro-people for making their achievement meaningful.

Justice Habibur Rahman, the convocation speaker, in his speech said that there was no alternative other than blending the talent and skills of engineers in expediting national self-reliance.

"Unfortunately we feel comfort to depend on foreign advisors for the development of the country ignoring the talent and skills of our engineers and technologists," the convocation speaker said expressing his disappointment.

He put emphasis on sustainable technology to cut foreign dependency and said, "We've to ensure food for all, create scopes for pragmatic research aimed at supporting the problem-hit people.

He hoped that the government would not think investment for Science and Technology as misuse.

Dr. Hossain Zillur Rahman said that the commercial capital of the country needed architects and planners for letting the mega-ideas to come true.

"Department titled 'Architecture & Urban Planning' will be an easy answer to the need," he said suggesting the CUET authorities to pursue a proposal in this regard.

He said that foreign investment would not be attracted in the absence of required technologists and engineers in the respective sectors.

Urging for delivering quality education he said that engineering universities should be made the focal point of technical education and research.

Highlighting the university's success stories Vice-Chancellor of the CUET Professor Shyamal Kanti Biswas in his welcome address sought cooperation from the government for the quick implementation of CUET projects.

Soon after the convocation speech, the President made the formal announcement of conferring degrees.

Later, he handed over gold medals to seven of the graduates in recognition to their excellence in the research and brilliant results in the post graduation degree in Master of Engineering and Master of Science and Engineering.

A convocation march was brought out from the southeast corner of the CUET central field just before the formal inauguration of the convocation by the President, which paraded the CUET campus and ended at the convocation venue.

More than 1400 engineering graduates and postgraduates including seven expatriates had been given certificates at the convocation.

Saudi minister says: Send workers having knowledge of Saudi culture

Staff Reporter

Saudi Deputy Minister for Labour, Ahmed Abdulraham-Al-Mansour, urged Bangladeshi authority to send workers with adequate knowledge about Saudi culture, lack of which often embarrasses both the sides.

Meanwhile, about 130 Bangladeshi workers have been staging protest in Saudi Arabia, in front of Bangladeshi Consulate Jeddah for last 10 days, protesting against alleged maltreatment by their Saudi employer.

The protesting Bangladeshi labours have complained that they had to run-away from their work, as they were unpaid for last 16 months.

"Our companies have not renewed our resident permits, which made us officially illegal. Now we are in a constant fear of being deported without receiving our dues," said a protester to the Arab News. This technical hazard has prevented us from searching another job as well, he added.

According to the report, Saudi employers have resorted to maltreating Bangladeshi labour, using such legal complications. Protesting labours however demanded immediate action from the Bangladesh Consulate in Jeddah to, help their countrymen.

Here in Bangladesh, the Saudi Deputy Minister called for sending skilled workers in accordance to the changing labour market in his country, which prefers skilled hands.

"We can assist Bangladesh in developing skilled manpower, if necessary," he told reporters after the Saudi-Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting in the NEC conference room yesterday in the capital.

Welcoming skilled workers from Bangladesh, the Saudi Junior Minister said workers need to know the Saudi culture, social norms and values as well as the labour laws.

"Lack of knowledge about the rules and regulation creates problem," he said, adding that outbound workers should also ensure that they have legally proper appointment letter and they should know their job in Saudi Arabia.

Replying to a question, he said he would not bring sweeping charges against all the recruiting agencies that recruit workers to Saudi Arabia and allegedly cheat workers from Bangladesh.

He, however, suggested ensuring transparency of the local recruiting agencies.

Harvesting likely to start by April-end: Wheat output to rise

Staff Reporter

Wheat production in Bangladesh is expected to rise by over 80 per cent in this wheat season, supported by favourable weather.

According to the official of the Ministry of Agriculture, the lot is likely to reach upto 1.4 million tons, which would play a vital role to ease domestic food shortage.

Harvesting of wheat started late last month, which is expected to complete by the end of the current month. This year, wheat was cultivated on over 400,000 hectares of land and has reported to enjoy a supportive weather till now.

"We expect a bumper crop of wheat," said agriculture department officials, if nature have a mercy upon us. Bangladesh is estimated to have lost three million tons of food, including rice and wheat in last fiscal year due to a series of floods and Cyclone Sidr.

Officials also informed, wheat production would surpass a target of 840,000 tons by 66.67 per cent.

"Wheat production will cross the target due to favourable weather conditions, particularly timely rain and long lasting winter," Kshirode Chandra Roy, Director of the state-run Wheat Research Center said.

Bangladesh's Food and Disaster Management Ministry has started a drive to buy 50,000 tons of wheat from farmers to secure food stocks.

"We have fixed the price at Tk26 ($0.38) per kg for procurement of the wheat direct from farmers," Pius Costa, a senior official of the food ministry said.

Bangladesh consumes 3.5 million tons of wheat a year, partly met by Government and private sector imports with the reminder being met by overseas grants.

The country's rice and wheat imports by the end of this fiscal year should reach 4 million tons, they said.

Garment workers go berserk

Staff Reporter

At least fifty people were injured in a clash between garment workers and police in Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) area following unrest over their various demands yesterday.

Witnesses said the clash broke out in the DEPZ's old area at noon when police tried to resist the angry workers of a foreign garment factory, 'Experience', as they went berserk. Sources said the factory workers turned violent as its management failed to meet their various demands, including holiday on Fridays and better lunch.

At one stage, they ransacked the factory damaging its windowpanes and furniture. They also attacked the police as they tried to control the situation, and threw brickbats on them, leaving at least 20-25 law-enforcers, including OC of the local police station Qumrul Islam and SI Mokhlesur Rahman, injured. Police charged batons on the unruly workers to disperse them.

Hand over power to elected govt before situation spins out of control: AL

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League leadership yesterday urged the caretaker government to hand over power to an elected government before the situation spins out of control.

"The seeds of a movement have already been sown with programmes like hunger strike and a signature campaign. We don't want to take to the street to realise our demand. So, the government should take pragmatic steps for holding the stalled general election as soon as possible," AL presidium member Tofael Ahmed said at the party's Bangabandhu Avenue central office.

He was talking to party workers at a token-hunger strike staged by Awami Mohila League, the women front of AL, to press their demand for unconditional release of Sheikh Hasina. The hunger strike started in the morning and ended in the afternoon with fruit juice offered by Tofael Ahmed.

Tofael said there is a doubt in public mind whether the stalled elections would be held as per the announced roadmap as time is running out fast and an immediate announcement of the election schedule can only remove the confusion over the elections.

Speaking on the occasion, party senior presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury demanded release of detained party chief Sheikh Hasina before the historic Mujibnagar Day on April 17.

She said the government should immediately hand over power to an elected government through holding the elections after withdrawing the ongoing state of emergency.

Another presidium member Abdur Razzak criticised the government for its failure to control the skyrocketing prices of daily essentials and asked the government to take effective initiatives to control the price hike.

Suranjit Sengupta, another presidium member, said the country is now passing through a crucial time and there could be a mass upsurge as people are getting impatient with the price spiral.

Another presidium member Begum Matia Chowdhury asked the government to hold the general election without resorting to any dillydallying tactics and said all the tactics so far played by the government have been proved futile.

Dhaka-Kolkata train service to begin Apr 14

UNB, Dhaka

All necessary arrangements, including security and immigration measures, have been completed as Dhaka-Kolkata passenger train service formally kicks off from Pahela Baishakh (April 14).

In this regard, a formal agreement will be signed in Dhaka between Bangladesh and India either on April 10 or 11, it was stated at a meeting held at the Home Ministry yesterday afternoon with Home Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin in the chair.

Power supply worsens

UNB, Dhaka

The power-supply situation kept worsening in these hot days because the PDB had to shut down more plants for gas shortages, badly affecting life and business.

According to PDB officials, last week, they had to reduce production by 728 megawatts due to short supply of gas. But This week, they have to cut down generation by about 794MW for want of gas for fuelling the plants.

"Actually, we're getting more reduced supply of gas this week," said a senior official of the Power Development Board, wanting not to be quoted by name. "We have to keep 12 to 13 generation units under shutdown on a regular basis for shortage in gas supply," he added. The PDB generated 3500MW-plus against a demand for 4400MWs. However, experts believe, the demand is more than 4700MWs, but PDB officially does not admit the actual demand.

Last week, the average generation was about the same. An official said that as the demand is increasing fast, so the demand-supply gap is widening.

The PDB had to go for load shedding of more than 1000MWs to manage the mismatch between demand and supply. This year, urban areas are experiencing relatively more power shortages as the government is pursuing a policy to give priority to rural areas to support farming to make up for the crop losses caused by back-to-back natural disasters.

Chief Advisor's Special Assistant for Power and Energy Ministry Dr Tamim Monday said that the government policy would continue until the new crops were harvested.

The capital city of Dhaka has to face a load shedding between 700 and 800 megawatts regularly against its demand for more than 1800MWs, and the on-again, off-again power supply hampers normal life and business, especially production in mills and factories.

Many areas of the city have to experience outages for few hours in separate spells in the day as well as at nighttime.

The government now strictly maintains the shopping mall- closing hour at 8:00pm as part of a load-management chart.

SAFTA to promote effective regional ties: Iftekhar

Staff Reporter

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said that Bangladeshi export products were facing problem due to tariff barriers imposed by some South Asian countries.

He termed the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) as a powerful tool for bringing a positive economic change in the region.

" Our export to the region is faced with a number of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers, port restrictions, complicated customs procedures. Share in the total intra-regional trade of Bangladesh is 27 per cent, its share in regional export is 2.8 per cent only," he was addressing a seminar on "Regional Cooperation of South Asia: Benefits from SAFTA and the Way Ahead" at the BRAC Centre in the city.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the seminar. Adviser to a former caretaker government Syed Manzur Elahi moderated the programme while Prof Mustafizur Rahman delivered the welcome address.

It was also attended among others, by Annisul Huq, president of FBCCI, Mir Nasir Hossain former president of FBCCI and Feroz Ahmed, Commerce Secretary.

The Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said it is necessary to remove the difficulty that hinders integration of the region. He said the South Asian countries require deeper cuts in tariff rates, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, wider product coverage through reduction in the sensitive list, simplification of customs rules and banking procedures, mutual recognition arrangements and promoting cross-border investment for turning this region into an economically developed area.

FBCCI president Annisul Huq said free trade is not possible if the free movement in South Asian region cannot be ensured. He said that SAFTA would not be successful if all member countries do not get equal opportunity.

A joint report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Trade and Development Corporation (UNCTAD) on the benefits of SAFTA and its future was presented in the seminar.

The report stressed a supportive overall policy framework for the promotion of transport and trade facilitation.

Bangladesh's welfare gains, the report says, appear the highest with increase in global exports by a significant production increase of 5.5 per cent in wearing apparel and 3 per cent in leather.

Output in chemicals, rubber, and plastics also rose by about 2 per cent while global export went up by 10 per cent, which is a validation of indications that Bangladesh is an emerging competitive producer in chemicals like pharmaceuticals, plastics and ceramics.

India's export gains from SAFTA are expected to be limited to a few agriculture sectors and the auto sector where it has relative comparative advantage. Pakistan will be the main market for sugar exports in the region.

Sri Lanka's gains in the first phase of liberalisation are almost nil since, but this improves in the second phase when textiles see a growth of about 4 per cent.

Afghanistan, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal see good export growth in agriculture products and primary commodities with full liberalisation.

CA for launching country-wide sports movement

BSS, Dhaka

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed on Tuesday called for launching a countrywide sports movement for protecting peoples health and providing recreation for them.

"Children, juveniles and youths from the capital city to the remote villages should be included in this movement", he added. Dr Fakhruddin made this call while distributing National Sports Award-2007 at the Osmani Memorial Hall organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for the Ministry of Youth and Sports Mahbub Jamil chaired the meeting while joint secretary of the ministry Sadruddin Ahmed gave address of welcome.

Mahbub Jamil presented a crest to the Chief Adviser.

Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser, Chiefs of three services, high civil and military officials, sports personalities and organisers were present.

Ten sports personalities, including eight sports persons and two organisers received awards from the Chief Adviser for their outstanding contributions to the field of sports in national and international level.

The recipients of the National Sports Awards-2007 are Sharmila Roy (Athletics), Ranjit Das (Football), Amir Hossain Patwari (Kabadi), Lt Commander (Retd) M Arshad (Swimming), Aminul Islam (Judo), Nurul Islam (Hockey), Engineer Sheikh Abul Hashem (Badminton), Prof Dr Rashid Uddin Ahmed (Basketball), Ataul Haque Mallik (posthumous) (Sports organiser) and Kazi Anisur Rahman (Sports organiser).

Each recipient got one gold medal and Taka 20,000. National Sports Awards was introduced in 1976 to recognise the contributions of the sports personalities in the fields of games and sports.

Referring to the celebration of the golden jubilee of the independence of Bangladesh in 2021, Dr Fakhruddin said it is now right time to visualise in what level we want to see the development of sports and games in the country.

14,000 children being used in begging in country

Staff Reporter

At present, at least 14,000 children are being used in begging in the country.

A beggar earns Tk 200 to 250 everyday in the metropolitan area. They have to pay tolls to muggers and police personnel from their earning money everyday. There are four organised beggars' associations in the city and most of the beggars use children for their professional reasons.

This was disclosed at a view exchange meeting organised by Projanmo Bachao, an alliance working against child abuse, at Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday. Wahida Banu, Convener of the organisation and Chairperson of Bangladesh Shishu Odhikar Forum, said as chief gust that children in begging were on the rise and they were also being used in different forms of violence.

"The government as well as NGOs, media, teachers, cultural activists and social workers should come forward to stop using children in begging," she said.

The organisation urged the NGOs to launch shelter home, education centre, day-care centre, drop-in centre, child development centre and rehabilitation centre for children who are being used in different forms of violence.

The speakers suggested using the religious institutions like mosques, churches and temples as well as developing the banks, government offices, garments and business centre as children's education centre during off time.

The government could increase the number of safe shelter homes and upgrade their services with modern facilities, they said.

They urged the police professionals, especially the traffic police, to take part to stop using children in begging.

Speakers appealed to the mobile phone operators to send SMS to their subscribers for raising awareness on the issue.

Zia International Airport, Farmgate, High Court Mazar and Azimpur Graveyard are the most desirable places for beggars in the city.

Eminent Bhawaiya singer and Projanmo Bachao leader Mostafa Zaman Abbasi, Jasim Uddin, ABM Sazzad Hossain, Babul Odhikari, Mahbubul Haque, Taslima Huda, among others, were present at the conference.

HC stays graft case against Tarique Rahman's wife

UNB, Dhaka

The High Court Tuesday stayed for two months the graft-case proceedings against Dr Zobaida Rahman, wife of detained BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Tariqure Rahman.

Responding to a petition, a division bench comprising Justice Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Justice M Emdadul Huque also issued rule upon the Anti-Corruption Commission to explain why the graft case against Dr Zobaida Rahman "should not be quashed". "The rule is made returnable in two weeks," says the court order. On September 26 last year, the ACC filed the case with Kafrul Police Station against Tarique Rahman accusing him of concealing information about his wealth and amassing wealth illegally. Dr Zobaida Rahman was also implicated in the case on charges of aiding and abetting her husband in protecting the ill-gotten wealth.

Hillary urges Bush to boycott Olympic ceremony

AFP, Washington

Democratic White House candidate Hillary Clinton Monday urged President George W. Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, saying he should press China over Tibet and Darfur.

"The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for presidential leadership," Clinton said.

"These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China," she said.

"At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government," the former first lady added. Before Clinton's call, White House spokesman Tony Fratto reiterated the administration's opposition to demands for leaders to boycott the Beijing Olympics.