The New Nation - Internet Edition

Upstream rivers continue to swell: Dhaka region braces for serious floods

People from low-lying areas of Faridpur move to
safer places as the district is in the grip of flood.
FocusBangla

Staff Reporter

The country is bracing for possible major flooding in the next two days with heavy rain forecast for neighbouring India set to swell its rivers to dangerous levels.

Director of Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) Saiful Hossain yesterday said downpours expected in north-eastern India likely to cause problems for parts of Bangladesh.

Floods displaced thousands of families yesterday as rescuers braced for another day of heavy rains, our correspondents and agencies reported.

The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers breached their banks, inundating farmlands in the 16 stricken districts in the past two days.

Nearly 50,000 people were stranded on 'floating' villages in inundated central Faridpur district.

At least three children drowned in the district as they tried to cross a river on a raft. Local officials earlier said eight people died in the floods.

Nearly 20,000 people from the low-lying areas in Kurigram and Gaibandha districts were given shelter in schools and community centres. Another 100,000 people were waiting to be rescued, officials said.

In Bogra floodwaters washed away a portion of a dam, submerging at least 10 villages in the region.

Waters have receded since last weak and the country has escaped damage caused in north-eastern India, where millions have been affected by a river which burst flood defences and inundated large areas of Bihar state.

But, FFWC reports said, three major rivers - the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna - were all rising, particularly the Brahmaputra, the country's biggest.

"All three systems will rise which will affect the flooding situation, particularly in the southern central part of the country, as well as parts of the north," Head of FFWC Saiful Hossain said.

Inundating the north-western and north-eastern districts, that same water is now flowing south through the country's heartland - threatening to flood Dhaka, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Faridpur and Shariatpur districts in the south-central region.

Flood conditions in the northern region worsened with the Teesta and the Dharla rivers - two tributaries of the Brahmaputra - rising, said Mustafa Sarwar, deputy project director of FFWC.

At least 29 out of the country's 73 rivers monitored by the FFWC registered an increase in water levels over the previous 24 hours, with 23 now flowing above the danger level.

Flooding in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts will continue as the region (including Kachhar, Goalpara and Dhubri districts in the neighbouring Indian Assam Province) has been experiencing heavy rainfall for last few days.

Nearly 125,000 people in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Rangpur districts alone have been marooned, while two young girls drowned in flood waters in the Chalonbeel area in Tarash Sub-district earlier this week.

Hundreds of "chars" (river islands) have been submerged, trapping tens of thousands and prompting many people to shift to higher ground along flood embankments.

The marooned people are now suffering from an acute lack of drinking water and food, say relief workers, while livestock does not have enough fodder.

Road links between Faridpur and Char Vadrasan, Tepakhola and Goalunda, Faridpur and Sadarpur in the south-central region have been cut off. In Kurigram District relief office said more than 100,000 people on 276 chars did not leave their homes despite the floods.

According to a report by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), crops such as Aman (the mainstay of the country's rice production and a staple component of the population's diet), t-Aman (a locally developed hybrid paddy), Aush (a secondary rice crop whose volume is less than half of Aman), jute and vegetables on more than 100,000 hectares of land in the 15 flood-hit districts were submerged.

"Crops, especially t-Aman, will be damaged completely if the water does not recede within the next two to three days," DAE former director-general Ibrahim Khalil warned.

Mohsin Ali, deputy director of the DAE in Kurigram District, said that vegetables and crops, including Aman, on about 10,000 hectares of land have been washed away.

More than 20,000 hectares of Aman and Aus crops in Companiganj, Golapganj, Jaintapur, Kanaighat, Gowainghat, Fenchuganj and Beanibazar Sub-districts have been destroyed in Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, according to agriculture officials.

In the northern Rangpur District, the Aman crop has already been destroyed on several thousand hectares of land. In Lalmonirhat District, another 27,605 hectares has been destroyed.

Meanwhile, 92 medical teams have been dispatched to flood-affected areas to cope with potential disease outbreaks, said sources at the Director-General of Health Services office.

Flood situation Munshiganj district worsened yesterday as more areas are being submerged causing untold sufferings to the people.

Transport movement on Dhaka-Srinagar-Dohar route remained suspended as floodwater inundated Balasur area of Srinagar upazila.

According to the local administration, 1,097 families have become marooned only in Tongibari upazila due to flood.

District administration with the help of army distributed 10 kgs of rice to each of the affected families in Tongibari upazila on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Meteorology Office in Dhaka yesterday forecast light to moderate rain or thundershowers at many places over Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions and at a few places over Rajshahi, Dhaka and Khulna divisions today.

Moderately heavy rainfalls are also likely at places during the period, the met office said.

The government has allocated 1,893 mts of rice for the flood-affected people of the district.

Meanwhile, erosion by the river has taken a serious turn in last 24 hours in the Tongibari upazila rendering some 69 families homeless.

Row over physiotherapy college: 50 injured in hospital clash

Fifty people were injured in a clash at Pangu
Hospital yesterday between the Hospital employees and the
Physiotherapy students undergoing training there. NN
photo

Staff Reporter

At least 50 people were injured in a clash between the physiotherapy students at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) and hospital doctors and staff, over establishment of a full-fledged college.

The situation came under control after police and Rapid Action battalion intervened.

Police arrested nine persons including a teacher of NITOR in this connection.

NITOR was asked by higher authority to suspend all classes until further notice, NITOR director AKM Ishaq said.

Hospital patients and their visitors were forced to search for safe refuge, the director said. The 3rd and 4th class employees of the hospital locked the collapsible gate and started beating us indiscriminately inside the conference room," said a female student of the physiotherapy department.

She claimed at least 30 students were injured in the attacks.

Suman, Runa, Nirupam, Liza and Masum, students of NITOR, sustained serious injuries in the clash. They were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital along with 15 other injured students.

Students of the physiotherapy department had long been demanding establishment of a separate college for physiotherapy students and recognised them as doctors, source said.

The students blamed the hospital director for provoking the employees against the students to suppress their demands. "The government allocated Tk 30 crore for Physiotherapy College in the current fiscal year. But the director is trying to siphon off a portion of the amount, using his influential quarter," Farzana, one of injured students alleged.

Dr MA Ishaq told the New Nation that the violence sparked off around 11:00am as students vandalised their classrooms, teachers' rooms and damaged office furniture and windowpanes. As hospital staff tried to obstruct them, the students grew more violent and clashes ensued.

The students said that Dr MA Ishaq asked them to come up with an application containing their demands in the morning. The students then went to the conference room of the hospital at about 10:00 am to take necessary preparations for that.

Employees of the hospital alleged the students first started beating some doctors indiscriminately after locking the collapsible gate from outside in the morning.

They said they came to the scene after some doctors sought their help to protect themselves from the students' wraths.

A ward boy said excesses by the students triggered the clash at around 11:00 am.

Lutfar Rahman officer-In-Charge of Tejgaon police station told the New Nation that they saw some physiotherapy students vandalizing the hospital equipment and confined its director to his room.

MA Ishaq filed a case with Tejgaon police station against 18 people, he added.

"We have detained 10 students and physiotherapy teacher Humayun Kabir from the scene," he said.

The arrested were Zobair Alam, SM noman, Samsul Islam, Moien Ahamd, Moniruzzaman, tasli Uddin, Rafiqul Islam, and Rashul.

Later, the physiotherapy students at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity (DRU) condemned the attacks on them and demanded establishment of a separate physiotherapy college, which has already been approved by the Health Ministry.

They also demanded unconditional release of the students and teacher Humayun Kabir.

Mayor Kamran freed on bail

Sylhet City Corporation Mayor Badruddin Ahmed Kamran
being greeted by his supporters in front of Sylhet Central
Jail gate as he was released on bail from the prison
yesterday. Banglar Chokh

BSS, Sylhet

Mayor-elect of Sylhet and Awami League leader Badaruddin Ahmad Kamran was released on Thursday from the prison on bail.

Officials and witnesses said Kamran walked out of Sylhet Central Jail at about 2:10 PM. He was greeted by his wife, family members and a large number of party leaders and workers.

"Insha Allah, I will make Sylhet City Corporation an accountable institution," the mayor-elect told the gathering expressing his gratitude to the city dwellers for his election before going home straight from the jail.

'Kamran was brought to Syleht jail from Sylhet Osmani Memorial Medical College Hospital on Wednesday as he was being treated there.

Kamran, who held the mayor office once before, is accused in four cases filed during the present caretaker government.

He was arrested on April 6 last year in the much-talked- about Kitchen Market case and released on bail on May 8 that year, but was arrested again weeks later under the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).

A High Court bench comprising Justice Sharif Uddin Chakladar and Justice Emdadul Haque granted him bail on August 27 in two cases, one filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission on charges of ill-gotten wealth and the other for defying the EPR.

Palin attacks Obama’s 'change agenda’

Sarah Palin

BBC Online

John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has made a stinging attack on Democratic presidential runner Barack Obama at the US Republican convention.

She gave her first major campaign speech to an enthusiastic crowd at the convention in St Paul, Minnesota.

Defending her small-town roots, she attacked Obama as having talked of change, but done nothing of substance.

McCain made a surprise appearance on stage, with her family, saying: "Don't you think we made the right choice?"

The Arizona senator has been formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate in a roll call vote by state delegations. He is expected to accept the nomination on Thursday.

I've learned quicklyt , that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone Sarah Palin In a speech designed to rally the party base, she spoke of her family, including her elder son, who is about to be deployed to Iraq in the US Army, and her younger son, who has Down's Syndrome.

The mother-of-five highlighted her background as a small-town "average hockey mom" and stressed that she was not part of the "Washington elite".

In a salvo directed at media commentators who have questioned her qualifications, she said she was "not going to Washington to seek their good opinion" but to serve the people.

Palin praised the "determination, resolve and sheer guts" of McCain and said she was honoured to help him.

Palin also attacked Obama's "change agenda" and suggested he was more interested in idealism and "high-flown speech-making" than acting for "real Americans".

"In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers," she said.

I liked the parliamentary-style jabs at Obama

"And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

She also targeted Obama's experience as a community organiser and remarks he made earlier this year when he spoke of "bitter" working-class people "clinging to guns or religion".

"I guess that a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organiser', except that you have actual responsibilities," she said.

"I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening."

Mrs Palin - who supports drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - said that while drilling "will not solve all of America's energy problems", that is "no excuse to do nothing at all".

Former Governors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee opened the night by hailing McCain and attacking the Democrats.

Romney, a one-time rival of McCain for the Republican nomination, used his speech to hammer the Democrats over their "liberal" agenda.

DMP to have copter

Mamunur Rashid

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) will procure a Helicopter to give air-support to the city dwellers.

Source said, DMP authority has completed papers and sent to the Police Headquarters for bringing new helicopter. The HQ will send it to the Establishment Ministry for approval.

Police source said, if the Helicopter was added to the DMP police that would be latest chopper and all the gadgets that make it effective in fighting crime, assisting rescues, even dumping water on fires.

The goal is to educate local emergency service providers and police officials about the aviation unit so they can use it in their own law enforcement and rescue efforts.

"We want to get the message defused to all local rescue workers that this helicopter is available free of charge," source added.

"Police helicopters can cover an area in an hour that it would take 12 police cars to cover," source said.

The operating expense of running the new chopper is about Tk 20,000 per hour, not including personnel.

The DMP unit has been in increasingly high demand in recent years as more agencies learn about its capabilities. The new model is equipped with a forward-looking camera that provides night vision and can be downlinked to a remote video station.

It also does homeland security surveillance by making daily patrols over the city crime zone, drug traders, mugging, reservoirs, and railway and electrical lines.

"The helicopters are being used for a lot more things than we thought," police source added said. "

Justice Fazlul Huq granted bail for 3 months

UNB, Dhaka

The High Court Thursday granted anticipatory bail for three months to Justice Fazlul Huq, a former adviser of the Iajuddin-led caretaker government, on surrender Thursday following arrest warrant against him in an ill-gotten wealth case.

The vacation bench of the HC comprising Justice AFM Abdur Rahman and Justice SM Emdadul Huq passed the order following a petition filed by the accused former Supreme Court judge a day after the trial court issued the arrest warrant against him. The HC bench also asked the petitioner to surrender to the trial court within the timeframe for regularizing the bail.

Considering accused Justice Fazlul Huq's 'high image' in society, the bench granted him anticipatory bail, court sources said.

Earlier in the day, another Division Bench comprising Justice Zinat Ara and Justice Syed M Ziaul Karim turned a deaf ear to his petition seeking anticipatory bail.

Later, ex-deputy attorney general Helal Uddin Mollah, a counsel for the accused, rushed to the Chief Justice for remedy.

The Chief Justice sent the petition for hearing at another Division Bench after officially receiving the order of embarrassment from the earlier bench.

After securing interim bail, Justice Fazlul Huq told reporters that he had been implicated in the graft case for "harassing" him.

On April 13, Justice Fazlul Haque was sued by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) for illegally amassing money and concealing information about his wealth.

ACC assistant director Mohammad Ibrahim filed first information report (FIR) with Ramna police station against him on charge of acquiring wealth beyond known sources of income and concealment of information about wealth worth over Tk 97 lakh.

It has been alleged in the FIR that the assets Justice Fazlul did not mention in his wealth statement were earned by him illegally when he was Adviser of the previous caretaker government.

The FIR states that when he took over as Adviser, his neat asset was worth about Tk 67.83 lakh. But, after becoming Adviser, his neat assets amounted to about Tk 1.14 crore and 1.24 crore respectively in 2006-07 and 2007-08 tax years.

According to the FIR, the difference has been created through "illegal earning" when he was the Adviser of the caretaker government.

It has been accused that he piled up huge ill-gotten money beyond known sources of income between October 2006 and January 2007. With a big chunk of the illegally earned money he made bank deposits through his son Dr Afjal Hossain Raj, daughter's husband Tariqur Rahman Prince, son's friend Abdul Malek, Sujaul Hasan Sujon and Ataul Haq. Also bought with the ill-gotten money were cars and flats besides investment in the Justice Fazlul Huq Foundation.

The former Supreme Court judge, who stood in as head of the caretaker government for a short while after President Iajuddin had stood down, transacted about Tk 13 crore in different banks in the names of the above-mentioned persons during his days in state power.

Furthermore, it has been learnt that the former Adviser siphoned off more money through his daughter and son-in-law, who reside in London.

The case was filed under sections 26(2) and 27(1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2004, section 5(2) of the Corruption Prevention Act 1947 and section 15 of the Emergency Power Rules 2007.

Justice Fazlul is one of the 35 corruption suspects whose names appeared on the fourth and final list published by the ACC on October 4, 2007 under the ongoing purge against corruption in high places.

Hasina’s parole extended till October 6

Staff Reporter

The Caretaker Government yesterday extended the time frame of provisional release of Former Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina from detention till October 6 to facilitate he better treatment.

The Home Ministry in a notification issued this extension order which said that the order would be applicable from September 7 to October 6 under the conditions put during her release.

Sheikh Hasina was freed from imprisonment on medical ground on June 11 and she took off for USA on June 12 for medical treatment.

This is the second time of extension of Sheikh Hasina's provisional release. Earlier on August 5, Sheikh Hasina's husband M Wazed Mia formally requested the Chief Advisor (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed to withdraw the case against her and to extend the time frame of her release. Following his appeal on August 7 the Government extended the time frame of her enlargement, which is due to expire on September 6.

Sheikh Hasina's special assistant Hasan Mahmud told The New Nation that sheikh Hasina had instructed her followers not to appeal again for extension of the provisional release, as they continuously demanded for her unconditional release.

Hasina, facing a graft case, was arrested amid a crackdown on the political elements following the January 11, 2007 changeover.

Khaleda has to secure bail for release

Staff Reporter

Detained former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia might be released on bail shortly.

However, she has to secure bail from the higher court in all cases filed against her as she refused to apply for her release on parole or executive order of the Government. Of the four cases filed against her Begum Zia has already obtained bail in two cases-- Zia Orphanage Trust and Baropukuria Coalmine--from higher court.

The lawyers of Begum Zia is learnt to take preparation to seek her bail in NIKO and GATCO cases soon.

Adviser for Commerce Hossain Zillur Rahman yesterday told reporters that the release of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia depends on securing bail in all cases filed against her.

Briefing journalists at his ministry the Commerce Adviser said Khaleda Zia has to seek and secure bail in all the cases she faces first and then she will be released once the issue of bail is sorted out legally.

The Adviser made the comment a day after her son Tarique Rahman was released after securing bail in all 13 cases filed against him.

Meanwhile, Speaker Barrister Jamir Uddin Sircar addressing a meeting of the BNP said Begum Zia would be released like Tarique Rahman under legal process.

He said democracy would be restored if Begum Zia is released and hoped that BNP would return to power under her leadership if the elections are held in a free and fair manner.

Replying to a question on dialogue with BNP, Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur said that they would hold dialogue with BNP within the month of Ramzan.

"The invitation for the dialogue has long been sent to BNP and the Government now just awaits for BNP's response," he said.

The Adviser said participation of all political parties in the forthcoming parliamentary polls had been ensured.

Asked on the possibility of lifting the state of emergency, he said that Government is discussing ways to handle the emergency in a manner, which serves the purpose of all people.

Hossain Zillur said the parliamentary polls would be held towards end-December as endorsed by the people and no-one should have any doubts about that.