The New Nation - Internet Edition

Irregularities unearthed in cops rationing

Mamunur Rashid

The law enforcers found at least 500 policemen involved in corruption with the rationing system at the Riot Police Barracks at Mirpur.

Source said at least 5,000 riot policemen are housed in two barracks at Mirpur. Some 2,500 policemen each live in the North and South zones. Every policeman, like other law enforcers, was entitled to receive Government food ration.

It was learnt that in July the law enforcers found one police constable had demanded ration for one child just after three months of his marriage. The police authority investigated into the matter and found out at least 210 cops of the South Barracks were drawing ration for their unborn children from the Government.

In the North Barracks over 200 policemen were collecting monthly ration in the same way.

Source said most of the recently married policemen were lifting food ration showing children in their families.

According to the Government rule one policeman will get two units of ration after his/her marriage and one unit more after the birth of their first child and one unit more after two children. When unmarried police personnel gets one unit per month. The highest is four units for a family.

Many of the cops, in connivance with the police administration, submit application for ration from the Government for children either born or not. The applicants even show their nieces or nephews as their children to avail of the highly sought after government ration.

Source said that the monthly ration for cops per unit contains rice 10 kg, wheat 10 kg, soyabean oil three litre, sugar two kg, vegetable ghee 500 gm milk powder two kg and a hunk of fire wood for only Tk 29.

A single unit police ration is worth at least Tk 1,500 in the open market.

The Detective Branch of Police, which is conducting the investigations, found countrywide corruption with the rationing system. The DB will submit its report within a short time.

A senior police officer unwilling to disclose his name told the New Nation that no body could take ration submitting fake documents. From now on birth certificates of children will be necessary for taking ration against their wards.

The Deputy Commissioner of Mirpur South Zone Anwar Hossain told the New Nation that all those found guilty would face departmental proceedings and will also have to return the money thus illegally drawn from the police authority.

Arrest warrant against Shah Alam

Court Correspondent

Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Dhaka Md. Azizul Haque yesterday issued warrant against Bashundhara Group Chairman fugitive Ahmed Akbar Sobhan alias Shah Alam, his wife Afroza Begum and 4 sons in a case filed for amassing wealth worth Taka 107,81,89,557/- beyond their known sources of income and concealing facts about their income.

The Metropolitan Sessions Judge fixed August 14 for compliance of the warrant order against the fugitives.

The accused were charged with concealing facts about their income amounting to about Taka 14 crore 17 lakh in their wealth statements.

Other accused are 4 sons of Shah Alam. They are : Shahadat Sobhan, alias Tanveer, Safayat Sobhan alias Sanveer, Sajeen Sobhan Anveer and Safowan Sobhan alias Tajveer.

Shah Alam's wife and son were accused of abetting him. During the investigation the IO ACC Deputy Director Mahabubur Rahman allegedly found, the wealth belonging to Shah Alam and his family members is about Taka 625.23 crore of which they have amassed wealth worth Taka 606.66 crore illegally. It was also mentioned, the six accused earlier whitened Taka 498.84 crore, which was not brought to the instant case.

Shah Alam also paid Taka 21 crore to former State Minister for Home detained Lutfozzaman Babor to save his son Sanveer from murder charge in connection with Humayun Kabir Sabbir murder case.

Army to work as strike force in big polls

UNB, Dhaka

Removing public confusion over army's magistracy power during the next polls, Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain yesterday said Bangladesh Army would work as striking force with law enforcing agencies who cannot deal with magistracy."The Commission can bestow the magistracy power upon anyone who remains out of the law enforcing agencies," he told reporters, replying to a question, at the Election Commission Secretariat.

Sakhawat said that magistracy means the "power of instant judgment," which the law enforcing agencies are not empowered to exercise.

He said army remained a part of all big elections in the past and performed as the striking force.

The Election Commissioner said as the elections to more than 300 upazilas would be held in October, it would not be possible to maintain the law and order merely with RAB, police and Ansars.

Asked whether army would be deployed during the upcoming upazila elections, he said: "If we deem it necessary after assessing the situation, army may be deployed during these elections."

He, however, said army would work under the command of the Election Commission and they would not guard the polling centers.

Asked about the voters' fear for army's presence during elections, Sakhawat said army always comes out at times of the country's need. They work during storm and flood and distribute the VGF cards among the people. "Political parties did not raise any objection (about army deployment) during their dialogues with the Commission."

Replying to a query, he said the Election Commission has already requested the government for changes in the administration within August. "If necessary, we'll again request the government."

On former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, he said the Commission requested the authorities concerned to inform her about the voter registration and she {Khaleda) might become voter after her consideration. "The process of becoming voter is a legal matter."

When his attention was drawn to some newspaper reports that upazila elections might be held on political lines, the Election Commissioner said the Local Government Ministry would deal with the issue.

"I think the political parties should not get involved with the upazila elections, as during dialogues with the Commission they said local government elections should be non-partisan," he said.

Youth Day today

BSS, Dhaka

The International Youth Day will be observed here as elsewhere across the globe today with the theme of "Youth and climate change: Time for action."

The Ministry of Youth and Sports and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have jointly chalked out programmes in observance of the day.

The day's programme will begin this morning through a colourful rally from the National Museum to the Shaheed Minar at 8 am. After the rally, a seminar on the day will be held in the conference room of Juba Bhaban at 11 am.

This was stated at a 'meet the press' at IDB Bhaban at Agargaon here on Monday.

Youth and Sports Secretary Dr M Golam Mostofa Talukdar spoke as the chief guest on the occasion while UNFPA country representative Pornchai Suchitta as the special guest. Presided over by Director of Youth Development Department M Nasiruddin, the programme was also addressed by Project Director of Youth Development Department M Mizanur Rahman and National Programme Officer of UNFPA Dr Nur Mohammad.

Mostofa said the youth could play a vital role in creating mass awareness about adaptation and mitigation efforts to face climate change.

"We could make our development sustainable and maintain ecological balance with the youths through providing them with proper knowledge and training," he said.

Fertiliser crisis hits Aman seedbed preparation

Staff Reporter

Crisis of TSP and MOP fertilisers has been hampering preparation of Aman seedbeds in a good number of districts and production of this important crop

Will suffer if steps are not taken immediately to ensure adequate supply of these two inputs to the growers.

The officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) visited

64 districts late last month to monitor the availability of fertilisers to the Aman growers.

They found that farmers of most of the northern districts have been facing the crisis of TSP and MOP fertilisers, according to sources in DAE.

The Agriculture Ministry has been informed of the acute crisis of these two types of fertiliser, sources said. When contacted, Kafil Uddin, President of Fertiliser Dealers Association, said the government has supplied sufficient quantity of TSP and MOP fertilisers to all the districts in the country.

He wondered why farmers of some districts are not getting TSP and MOP fertilisers when they are available in plenty in the local markets.

The government has fixed the target of Aman production at 136.59 lakh tonnes from 58.20 lakh hectares of land this year.

BB releasing US dollar to keep forex market stable

Pulack Ghatack

Bangladesh Bank (BB) is injecting foreign currency into the commercial banks to enable them to pay key import bills without destabilising the currency market.

The central bank provided US$41 million during the last week to help commercial banks clear import bills of oil and other essential items of their clients.

The central bank will continue to provide such foreign currency support to the commercial banks mainly for making import payments of essential items, including fuel oils, officials in the central bank said.

This will help import of essentials items undisturbed, and will ultimately help taming inflation, an official of the central bank told this correspondent.

"Our aim is not to keep Taka overvalued or undervalued against the Dollar, we are mainly keeping the market stable," he said.

Meanwhile, a money market analyst of a commercial bank said, |"the inter-bank foreign currency market is remaining largely stable for a quite long time with the taka appreciating a little."

According to BB statistics the buying and selling rate of US dollar was Tk 68.52 yesterday which has been varying from Tk 68.48 to Tk 68.53 over the week.

The central bank was trying to weaken US dollar against Taka by increasing the inflow of foreign currency in the market to keep it steady.

Depreciation of Taka is distasteful to importers and consumers in the country as it results in price rise in the highly import-dependent commodity market with an increased import cause.

But, export earners and overseas remitters hail it, for a strong dollar helps them adding more Taka with their foreign currency income.

Apparel exporters are saying that the dollar fell by over 4 per cent to an average of Tk 67 (depending on the terms of exports) at present, compared to Tk 70 plus they negotiated end of 2006.

While talking to The New Nation, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Fazlul Hoque said that it would be extremely difficult to maintain the export growth if dollar falls further, even by only one taka.

Bangladesh's exports and remittances were about US$14 billion and US$8 billion respectively in 2007-08.

Some economists claim that the local currency was slightly overvalued against the US dollar since early June. But there is also strong plea from the others who say price of Taka should be increased further to make import of essentials easier.

However, the central bank is intervening into the inter-bank foreign exchange market by buying and selling US dollar directly to cheque market volatility.

As part of the intervention, the central bank has bought US $9.50 million from the commercial banks last week. Last December, the central bank also purchased at least $37 million from the commercial banks as part of its policy intervention.

The central bank has started intervention in the market by selling the US currency directly to the commercial banks since October 29, 2007 to keep the market steady. The central bank of Bangladesh has since sold US $735 million to the commercial banks as part of its intervention in the market, the officials confirmed.

BB officials are saying that the apparel exporters have no reason to be scared as the dollar weakened against almost all currencies, including those of Bangladesh's competitors in the sector.

Moreover, there is a sign of depreciating the Taka against dollar in the coming months as the market would see rising demand for the greenback to settle the increased L/Cs opened last fiscal year.

According to latest figures from Bangladesh Bank, L/C opening increased by 45 per cent to US$ 24.44 billion during the last fiscal year as compared to the previous fiscal year (2006-07).

"Exporters may be facing some pressure for a while but the market trends show it would turn to their favour in the coming months," said the market analyst, requesting anonymity.

Babu, Shamim, Rahmatullah to be chargesheeted Kh Mosharraf, Azam granted bail

Desk Report

The High Court yesterday granted bail to former minister Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain and Awami Juba League general secretary Mirza Azam in two separate corruption cases for three and two months respectively.

Meanwhile the Anti-Corruption Commission is going to charge-sheet Awami League leaders Akteruzzaman Chowdhury Babu and AKM Rahmatullah , and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's brother Shamim Iskander in separate graft cases.

Upon a petition, a Division Bench comprising Justice Sharif Uddin Chaklader and Justice M Emdadul Haque Azad granted bail for three months to former minister Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain in GATCO scam case.

The Bench also stayed for three months the case proceedings and issued a rule upon the ACC to explain in four weeks why the case should not be quashed.

The same HC bench granted bail for two months to Awami Juba League general secretary Mirza Azam in a corruption case. Granting the interim bail, the Bench stayed for four weeks the proceedings of the corruption case.

The Bench also issued a rule asking the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to explain within four weeks why the case should not be quashed.

Mirza Azam, also a former Awami League lawmaker, was sent to jail after he surrendered to the Metropolitan Sessions Court here on July 16 following a High Court (HC) order.

On July 14, the HC had asked him to seek bail on surrender to the trial court as it had already issued a warrant of arrest order against the accused petitioner.

ACC deputy director Mobara Khanam had filed the case with Ramna police station on January 10, accusing Azam of amassing wealth illegally worth Tk 53.62 lakh and concealing information about his property.

ACC director general (admin) Col Hanif Iqbal told reporters a regular briefing yesterday afternoon that the anti-graft watchdog has approved the submission of four charge sheets.

The ACC will submit charge sheet against Chittagong district (South) AL president and ex-MP Akteruzzaman Chowdhury Babu for acquiring wealth worth over Tk 8 crore beyond known sources of income.

Former AL lawmaker Rahmatullah and his wife Halima Rahmatullah will be charge-sheeted in the case filed against them for amassing illegal wealth worth Tk 5.17 crore and concealment of assets worth Tk 4.65 crore.

Former Prime Khaleda Zia's brother Shamim Iskander, a former Bangladesh Biman flight engineer, and his wife Kaniz Fatema will be charge-sheeted for earning illegal assets and hiding information of wealth worth about Tk 1.34 crore.

The ACC will press charge against former NBR member Jahurul Haque and his wife Afia Haque in the case filed against them for amassing ill-gotten wealth worth Tk 1.22 crore and concealment of information of assets worth Tk 93.91 lakh.

Workers unrest at 4 garment factories

UNB, Savar

Workers at four garment factories here yesterday stopped work and staged demonstrations to realize their various demands, including payment of arrears and removal of five labor leaders, as a latest spell of unrest continued jolting the export industry.

The four factories are Beximco Fashion Ltd, Tista High Fashion and A-One in Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) and Jonoran Sweater Factory in Nishchintapur area of Ashulia.

But the situation in Jamgara area, where Sunday's labor unrest took place, returned to normal today (Monday).

Some 2,000 workers from Beximco Fashion demonstrated in front of Customs gate of DEPZ at 12 noon, demanding payment of their arrears.

Arsenic problem may worsen Inaction of govt, NGOs blamed

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh may find it difficult in the future to cope with the growing arsenic problem in its groundwater due to reluctance of the concerned parties, including the government and NGOs, experts told an international symposium here yesterday. "The concerned parties, including the government and NGOs, are reluctant about the severity of the arsenic problem in Bangladesh and it might make the matter worse in the future," said Dr Dipankar Chakraborti, Director of Research of the School of Environment Studies, Jadavpur University, India.

The symposium titled 'Arsenic Calamity of Groundwater in Bangladesh:

Contamination in Water, Soil and Plants' was organised at a city hotel as part of a research programme of a group of scientists from Japan and Bangladesh. Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue was present at the function as special guest.

The research team, led by Dr Kingshuk Roy, Associate Professor at Nihon University in Japan, has been conducting periodical field surveys on arsenic contamination in soil, water and plants in different parts of Bangladesh.

Dr Kingshuk Roy was supported by Dr Nobuyuki and Dr Sadao Nagasaka, two of his colleagues from Nihon University, and MIM Zulfiqar of Social Development Foundation in Bangladesh.

Some findings of their survey conducted on plants species in different villages of Narayanganj district showed some crops such as roots of water spinach (pui shakh) and the roots of wax gourd (Chal komra) having strong affinity to absorb arsenic from soil-water.

Asian Trade Expo begins

Asian International Trade Expo-2008 began at
Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city
yesterday. Focus Bangla

BSS, Dhaka

The 10-day Asian International Trade Expo 2008, a trade show to display various products produced in the Asian countries, has been inaugurated at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre in the city yesterday.

Additional Secretary of the Industries Ministry Elias Ahmed inaugurated the show as the chief guest while President of the American Chamber of Commerce Syed Ershad Ahmed and Group Director of Rahim Afroz Group Munawar Misbah Moin were present as the special guests.

President and Group Managing Director of Conference and Exhibition Management Services (CEMS) Ltd Meherun N Islam chaired the function.

150,000 tons petroleum to be imported from Maldivian co

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh will import 150,000 metric tons of petroleum fuels from the National Oil Company Ltd (MNOC) of the tiny island-state Maldives, spending some US$ 183.44 million worth Tk 1273.07 crore.

The Advisors Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday endorsed a proposal giving a waiver to the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) under which it could import the quantity of gasoline without a state-to-state deal.

According official sources, BPC will make the bulk import of petroleum of different grades through signing a direct agreement with the supplier, the state-owned MNOC.

The Energy Division moved the procurement proposal on behalf of the BPC.

This is for the first time Bangladesh is going to import fuel from a Maldivian company.

Normally, the country imports petroleum from different Middle-Eastern countries like Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to meet its annual demand for 2.5-2.7 million metric tons of liquid fuels.

The meeting, presided over by Finance Advisor Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, also recommended a fund-allocation proposal for procuring office furniture for the newly installed Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) that will deliver clemency to penitent corrupt in the wake of the current purge launched by the army-backed interim regime.

Reports prepared on the basis of audit reports of different state-owned enterprises, including PDB, Chittagong Port Authority and Mongla Port Authority, were placed in the committee meeting.

Marina Mahathir calls on Iftekhar

UNB, Dhaka

Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, daughter of former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and a professional journalist and social activist called on Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury at the Foreign Office yesterday.

Speaking to the media afterwards, Dr. Iftekhar Chowdhury said that they discussed a range of issues including Marina Mahathir's interest in women's education, NGO activities, and social welfare, said a press release.

The Foreign Adviser praised her father as a "great leader" and said Marina was an important personality in her own right. He also described Bangladesh-Malaysia bilateral relations as "excellent".

Marina Mahathir said although Malaysia looked developed there were a lot of things to learn from Bangladesh.

She said she was deeply interested about this country and looked forward to all her programmes here. She also answered to some questions on the current political situation in Malaysia.