The New Nation - Internet Edition

65 political parties collect registration forms so far

UNB, Dhaka

A total of 65 political parties have so far collected forms from the Election Commission for registration to qualify for contesting the upcoming general election.

The prominent ones among the registration-seekers are Jatiya Party (Ershad), Bangladesh Workers Party, Bangladesh Muslim League, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, BJP, LDP, Gono Forum and BKSJL.

Amid objections from some major parties like Awami League and BNP, the registration of political parties with the EC under the revised Representation of People Order (RPO) began on August 27 and the last date for it is October 15.

On the first day, none of the lot did turn up to collect form for the registration, but on Thursday eight parties, Sunday 14 parties and Monday eight collected the forms while another 14 yesterday.

The political parties that collected registration forms Wednesday and Thursday are Bangladesh Labor Party, Bangladesh Workers Party, Janata Mahajote Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Inu), Samriddya Bangladesh Andolon, Jatiya Sadhinata Porishad, Janata Party, Sahashi Muktijuddya Janata Oikkya Parishad, Bangladesh Hindu League, Bangladesh Islamic Party, Bangladesh Tapshiljati Federation, Ganatanri Party, Bangladesh Islamic Front, Bangladesh Jamaat-e Hakk, Peoples Democratic Party, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon, People party Of Bangladesh, Desh Premik Janata Dal, National democratic Party and Sonar Bangla Party.

Ex-AL minister Rafiqul Islam released on bail

UNB, Dhaka

Former state minister for power and energy

during Awami League rule Rafiqul Islam was released on bail yesterday

after 16 months in jail.

Rafiqul walked out of the prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Medical University (BSMMU) at noon and went to Bangabandhu Memorial Museum in Dhanmondi to place wreaths at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

He was arrested by joint forces on May 29 last year under emergency law.

On August 20, the High Court granted him bail in two separate corruption cases, including Niko scam case in which AL president Sheikh Hasina is the principal accused.

Namaz-e-Janaza of Quamrul Islam held, burial today

BSS, Dhaka

Three separate namaz-e-janaza of former secretary and chief engineer of LGED Quamrul Islam Siddique was held in the city with state honour on Thursday.

Engineer Siddique, also a valiant freedom fighter, died of a massive cardiac attack in New Jersey, USA on September 1 at the age of 63.

The body of Siddique was brought to Dhaka by an Emirates flight this morning and was taken straight from Zia International Airport to LGED Bhaban in city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar at 11 AM.

The body was kept at the Bhaban for some time allowing people of all walks of life and LGED employees to have a last glimpse and pay their respect to Engineer Siddique, founder of local government engineering department (LGED) which is dedicated to the development of rural infrastructure and local level economies.

Before the first Janaza at LGED, a brief life sketch of the deceased was read out and the Chief Engineer of LGED Mohammad Nurul Islam delivered a short speech. Badrul Islam Siddique and Saiful Islam Siddique, the eldest brother and the only son of Quamrul Islam respectively, also spoke.

After the Namaz-e-Janaza, a smart contingent of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) gave the formal guard of honour to the freedom fighter as a mark of last respect from the State level.

LGRD and Cooperatives Adviser Anwarul Iqbal, Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda, election commissioners Sohul Hossain and Brigadier General (Retd) Shakhawat Hossain, former secretaries Hasanat Abdul Hye, Alamgir Faruq Chowdhory and resident representative of Pan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ms. Nobuko Suzuki Kayashima, among others, were present during the janaza.

After the first Janaza, the coffin was carried to the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB), where the second Namaz-e-Janaza was held at 1.30 PM. Later the third Janaza was held at the Azad mosque in Gulsan after Asar prayers.

Family sources said the body of late Quamrul Islam would be taken to his hometown Kushtia early today. The fourth and last janaza of Siddique will be held at Kushtia central Eidgah maidan this morning.

After the Janaza, the body will be brought back to Dhaka for burial at Banani graveyard.

EC eyes polls to flood-free Upazila

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The Election Commission is looking to hold elections to those Upazila Parishad not affected by floods, an EC official said yesterday.

EC secretary Muhammad Humayun Kabir told journalists at the regular briefing at the EC Secretariat they were making a list of the flood-affected Upazila.

He also told reporters the EC had held an interministry meeting earlier in the day on inclusion of expatriate Bangladeshis as voters.

Asked whether they saw the floods as the main obstacles to holding Upazila elections, Kabir said, "Flood has been affecting many district and Upazila. We are collecting situation report."

He said the elections to Upazila and Dhaka City Corporation are slated for October 23-30 and that the EC would announce the election schedules by the middle of this month.

However, he said, they were considering whether there was any real problem in holding the elections.

The EC Secretariat in a letter to the water resources ministry secretary asked for a list of flood-prone districts and Upazila and which districts were flooded in Sept-Oct last year, Kabir added.

The Election Commission in its meeting on Monday discussed the matter, he added.

A high EC official requesting anonymity told bdnews24.com that the Election Commission was considering holding the first round of elections on Oct 23 and 27 before the national elections.

It is being considered for the sake of managing massive activities needed and to control law and order situation, the official added.

Besides, the EC plans to hold the DCC elections on Oct 30, he said.

Kabir, the EC secretary said the schedules would be announced 40 to 45 days ahead of the elections.

Chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda on July 21 for the first time told bdenws24.com and the BBC that they were planning to hold Upazila elections on Oct 23. At the time, the EC planned to elections to about 300 Upazila.

The EC and the government want most political parties including the Awami League and BNP to run the polls, but both the major political parties are opposing the Upazila elections before the general elections.

The EC is going to sit with 16 political parties on rules of registration under new electoral laws on Sept 6-9. The EC officials said the parties were expected to give their opinion about national and Upazila elections in the meetings.

The application for shifting address of probable candidates for the Upazila elections was placed in the meeting and it is undergoing scrutiny.

The EC officials sat with the foreign, home, expatriates welfare, and law, justice and parliamentary affairs ministries over inclusion of expatriate Bangladeshis in the voter list.

The EC secretary said, "The matter of including the expatriates in the voter list is under process. The proposal for amending the ordinances and the summary of inter-ministerial meeting would be sent to the law ministry next week."

He however, did not comment on whether the expatriate Bangladeshis would be able to become voter before elections this year.

Once the Voter List Ordinance 2007 and the Voter List Rules 2008 are amended, there would be no legal barrier to Bangladeshis living abroad temporarily and holding dual citizenship to become voter.

The EC secretary said the final voter list of DCC was published yesterday and the final printing of the voter list for Dhaka city would be complete in a week.

Until on Thursday 61 political parties have collected application forms for registration with the Election Commission, he said.

44.8m mobile phone customers in country

BSS, Dhaka

Country's mobile phone operators added 14.4 million new customers in the last one year till July this year, raising the total number of users to 44.8 millions.

According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), there were 32.37 million customers of six mobile phone vendors till July last year. But the number reached 44.8 millions in July this year. However, the data of the month of August is yet to be available.

Of the six operators, the sources said, Grameenphone (GP) maintained its solo lead in terms of customer acquisition by adding 5.11 million subscribers in the last one year. The number of GP users is now 20.84 millions which was 15.73 millions till July last year.

Banglalink, which was in the number three position, clinched the second spot surpassing AKTEL. The number of Banglalink users reached 9.90 millions till July this year, adding 3.39 million customers in the last one year. However, the Egyptian telecom vendor touched the milestone of 10 million subscribers last month.

AKTEL, which is mainly owned by Telecom Malaysia International, slipped to the number three position. It added 1.31 million subscribers in the last one year raising the total number of its customers to 7.98 millions.

The market's new entrant Warid Telecom grabbed the number four position, surpassing Citycell and TeleTalk. The number of customers of Warid Telecom, the Emirates telecom vendor which was launched last year, reached 3.48 millions in July this year. The number was 1.14 millions till July last year.

Citycell, the country's first and only CDMA operator, slipped to the fifth spot losing .36 million customers in the last one year. The number of Citycell subscribers is now 1.31 millions which was 1.67 millions till July last year.

The state-run TeleTalk now remained at the bottom place losing .02 million subscribers in the last one year. The number of TeleTalk customers was 0.93 millions in July last year which is now 0.91 millions.

An official of the BTRC told BSS today that the number of mobile customers is increasing rapidly due to reduction in call charges and SIM prices.

By the end of this year, he hoped, the number of mobile subscribers would reach 50 millions.

ACC sorts out 1,766 applications for inquiry

BSS, Dhaka

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has sorted out 1,766 applications for inquiry out of a total of 79,633 submitted to the commission by different persons since December 12, 2004.

Director General (admin) Colonel Hanif Iqbal on Thursday said three committees sorted out the applications during the last seven months.

He said the ACC has taken only 2.25 per cent of the applications into cognizance as 60 per cent of the allegations were relating to land disputes and forged documents, 20 percent of police cases and 15 percent of family disputes.

No addresses of the complainants were found in five percent cases, he said adding the commission has already launched inquiry into 51 cases.

The DG said the ACC has sent names of 48 persons to the Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) and eight more applications, including five government officials, are still under consideration.

He said the ACC has decided to submit charge sheet against former mayor of Khulna Kazi Aminul Haque on charge of acquiring illegal wealth of Taka 55 lakh and sub-registrar of Meherpur upazila Dewan Mozahar Hossain for amassing illegal wealth of Taka 50 lakh.

Besides, the ACC decided to lodge FIR against former Chief Engineer of Water Development Board (WDB) Muhammad Azhar Ali for causing damage of about Taka 58 lakh to the State, the DG said.

Save power, people told

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The Power Division yesterday asked the people not to waste scarce power by using extra lights, air coolers and other electric appliances.

It issued a press statement saying initiatives had been taken to enhance power generation to cope with the demand during the Ramadan.

The statement came a day after outraged people in Narsingdi vandalised local Rural Electrification Board office and an angry mob in Bogra put a blockade on Dhaka-Bogra highway on Wednesday to protest frequent power-cuts.

Power Division secretary M Fouzul Kabir Khan on Thursday said power generation increased 400 megawatts over the last one week but was far from enough to meet the increasing demand.

Attempts are on to cope with the situation by making 'equal load-shedding' all over the country, he said.

He, however, denied excessive power cuts anywhere.

Power-starved people in Narsingdi vandalised REB office and set fire to a private car, two pickup vans and six motorcycles to protest frequent outages in the early hours of Wednesday.

Angry people in Bogra put a blockade on Dhaka-Bogra highway in Ariabazar area under Shahjahanpur Upazila on Wednesday night.

On Aug 24, power loom workers in Narisingdi blockaded Dhaka-Sylhet highway.

Syed Wahidul Islam, general manager of Narsingdi REB-2, said, "We get 18 megawatts (MW) a day against a demand of 38 MW. On Tuesday, we got just 17 MW."

The Power Division in the statement said 3757 MW electricity was produced on Wednesday, 400 more than a week ago.

Additional power-cuts became necessary due to higher demand during iftar , tarawih prayers and sehri , it said.

A senior official at the Power Division, who wished not to be named, said power plants on Wednesday generated 1002 MW less power than their capacity.

Shortage of gas contributed to 831 MW of power not being produced. Thirty-six MW more power could be generated if there were enough water in Kaptai.

Besides, three power units that can produce 135 MW remained closed because of repairs.

The demand for power on Thursday was 4,400 MW and the highest production was 3,800 MW.

In the lead-up to Ramadan, the government made assurances that it would limit outages during the month.

The chief adviser's special assistant for power M Tamim had said outages would be kept to a minimal level during iftar , tarawih prayers and sehri , in part by ceasing routine maintenance work at power plants during the month.

TAC hears 8 more individuals seeking clemency

UNB, Dhaka

The Truth and Accountability Commission (TAC) Thursday heard eight more individuals, who applied for clemency in return of their ill-gotten wealth.

The three-member Commission headed by Justice Habibur Rahman Khan heard the pleas of eight government officials. They include sub-registrars, postmasters and officials from Titas Gas.

With the hearing of eight persons on the fourth day, the number of persons heard by TAC stood at 26. The TAC heard seven persons on the opening day (Monday) of hearing, four on Tuesday and seven on Wednesday.

The Commission is expected to hear 15 persons on Sunday.

50 injured in Habiganj clashes

UNB, Habiganj

At least 50 people were injured in separate clashes in the district yesterday.

In an incident, 30 people, including women and children, were injured in a fierce clash between two groups of people following an altercation over a development work of a mosque at Hurgaon village in Sadar upazila today.

Twenty two of the injured were admitted to Sadar Hospital.

In another incident, a clash was ensued between two groups of villagers over a land dispute at Manikpur village in Madhabpur upazila today, leaving 10 people injured.

Yet another incident, 10 people were injured in a clash between two groups of people following a dispute over a piece of land at Chargaon village in Bahubal upazila today.

Of them, seven persons were admitted to the Upazila Health Complex.

VCs appointed to two technology versities

UNB, Dhaka

The government has appointed vice chancellors to Haji Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University and Jessore Science and Technology University for a four-year term.

An official announcement yesterday said Prof M Afzal Hossain of Biochemistry Department of Bangladesh Agricultural University has been made VC of Haji Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University in Dinajpur. He replaced Prof M Ruhul Amin.

President Prof Dr Iajuddin Ahmed, who is also the Chancellor of Haji Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, gave the appointment.

In another order, Prof Dr RI Sarker, currently the project director of Jessore Science and Technology University, has been appointed VC of the university.

They got the appointment on condition that they would constantly stay on the campus.