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Head lines Halt environmental degradation: PM The Independent Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia has called for protecting Bangladesh from environment degradation by expanding the forest areas and maintaining normal flows and navigability of rivers, reports BSS. The water bodies should have adequate pollution-free water. We have to maintain bio-diversity and fertility of land by stopping misuse of chemicals. We have to keep ground water at its normal level through its optimum utilisation," said Begum Zia while speaking at a function in observance of world environment day yesterday. Identifying illiteracy, poverty, lack of awareness and pressure of population as major reasons for environmental pollution, Begum Zia said her government would be equally attentive towards solving these problems side by side with the ongoing movement for protecting the environment. Organised by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the function of the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre was also addressed by Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Forest and Environment Minister Shajahan Siraj, Major (retd) Abdul Mannan MP, Environment and Forest Secretary Sabihuddin Ahmed, UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh Jorgen Lissner and Director General of Department of Environment Hedayetul Islam Chowdhury. UNB adds: Khaleda Zia said the movement for protection of the environment should no longer be confined to mere formal activities like meetings, seminars or distribution of leaflets. She called for overcoming inertia and rendering voluntary service to preserve environment without looking for the government and foreign funds. "We should be more serious about it because a big danger of environment disaster is close to us," she told the function mentioning expert views that 15 per cent of the country’s landmass may go under the sea. Protective measures should be taken from now to avert a possible danger, she said. "Give the earth a chance" is the theme of this year’s World Environment Day. Ministers, MPs, diplomats, representatives of NGOs and environmentalists attended the function. The Prime Minister said the Environment Ministry or the government alone could not bear the full responsibility to protect the environment. The people should share the national and international efforts to protect the environment. "Everyone – individuals, parties, clubs, organisations, associations, society and NGOs – should come forward and work for it," she said. The Prime Minister said the country must move forward towards progress. But at the same time adequate care should be taken to ensure that the environment is not damaged in the process of development. The Prime Minister said the causes of environment pollution are not similar everywhere. Similarly people of all regions in the world are not equally responsible for damaging the environment. "But we have to understand that many people suffer from environment hazards although they are not responsible for damaging the environment," she said. Khaleda said Bangladesh is not industrially developed to cause pollution from industrial wastes, which are more responsible for polluting the environment. Referring to the steps taken by the environment ministry to protect the environment, she said the communications ministry also did a good job by taking initiatives to stop plying in city roads of vehicles emitting black smokes polluting the air. She said people from all sections should extend cooperation for effective implementation of the programmes for protection of the environment. The government departments are required to take suitable and realistic measures to stop river pollution and encroachment of riverbanks, she said. Later, the Prime Minister formally opened an environment fair and went round some stalls. UNDP resident representative Jorgen Lissner suggested introducing green tax providing for fine for environment polluters and incentive to protectors. Welcoming the suggestion, Finance Minister Saifur Rahman said the government would actively consider the suggestion to encourage health environment practices and discourage unhealthy practices. He also stressed the need to stop import of old cars causing environment hazards and piling up of junks. Population, FP professionals concerned Fertility rate remains static despite rise in contraceptive use by Enamul Huq, The Independent Although the prevalence of contraceptive use increased from 44.6 per cent to 53.8 per cent over the last five years, the total fertility rate (TFR) remained static at 3.3, far above the government goal of replacement fertility, this was revealed in the recent Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. The survey raised considerable concern among the population and family planning professionals in the country. Experts said the main explanation for the absence of an expected decline of TFR in the face of increasing contraceptive prevalence was a shift from more effective methods to less effective ones, an increase in less effective traditional methods (largely withdrawal and periodic abstinence), high discontinuation rates of temporary methods (pills and injectables being the most important) and a long-term decline in surgical contraception. Experts said surgical contraception is the most prevalent contraceptive method in the world, During the 1980s it also proved popular in Bangladesh, with approximately 500,000 procedures in 1985. Beginning in the late 1980s, the number of procedures declined dramatically, to a current level of about 50,000 procedures per year. The percentage of married couples using female sterilisation declined from 9.1 per cent in 1991 to 6.7 per cent in 1999-2000. The percentage using male sterilisation declined from 1.2 per cent to 0.5 per cent. Experts said a lack of co-ordination between government and donors resulted in discontinuity in supply of contraceptives, duplication of efforts, or even donations of inappropriate products. They opined that highly effective permanent methods should be more readily available. Experts said the government must expand its involvement in the procurement of contraceptives using government funds and World Bank credits. They say donor fund would not be sufficient to meet demand under any future scenario of programme growth. They said the government and the donors would need to focus additional resources to ensure the efficiency and timeliness of procurements. They said the government needed to continue to focus attention on improvements in logistics management. They said many policy changes would be required to make contraceptive security a reality. Dhaka, Delhi on right' direction to solve problems; Morshed Khan by Diplomatic Correspondent, The Independent Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan on Wednesday said that Bangladesh and India are moving in the right direction in resolving various issues and problems. He said the leadership of both Bangladesh and India "are mature enough to make efforts for progress in bilateral relations. Replying to questions at a press briefing at the Conference Room of the Foreign Ministry, he brushed aside reports that recent bilateral trade talks results were a casualty of Bangladesh initiative to defuse India-Pakistan tension as "baseless". He said that the Indian High Commissioner who met him on Wednesday denied that any such developments had taken place. Morshed Khan, however, expressed grave concern over the latest developments between India and Pakistan as one million troops of both the countries are still deployed along their borders. "We are seriously concerned as we are under constant threat of a nuclear war," the Foreign Minister said at a press conference at his office yesterday. He apprehended that a couple of million people of this region where one-fifth of the entire population of the world lives, would be annihilated within 10 minutes of a nuclear war. "We are to save ourselves from this nuclear threat. We must express our concern. If anyone takes it otherwise, we have nothing to do," Morshed Khan said. He clearly stated that Bangladesh had no intention to interfere into the internal affairs of other countries. In this respect, he noted that Bangladesh had already expressed its position and concern over this problem to the US and other big powers. The Foreign Minister renewed his call to both India and Pakistan to resolve their issues through a meaningful dialogue. Replying to a question about the possibility of mediation by Bangladesh in defusing tension between India and Pakistan, Morshed Khan said that Bangladesh was trying to find ways how to help remove tension. In this connection the Foreign Minister said that he was looking forward to visiting India, Pakistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar at earliest mutual convenience. The dates of the visit are now under negotiation. Earlier, the Foreign Minister briefed newsmen about the outcome of his three-week visit to Botswana, the United States and Canada. He pointed out that in Washington, he had talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other US leaders on bilateral issues as well as regional and international issues of common concern. He informed that the US leaders had appreciated various development programmes including empowerment of women, micro-credit, poverty alleviation and other reforms. The matters relating to establishment of peace in Afghanistan also came up for discussion. He said that the US had assured of taking measures for avoidance of double taxation to boost trade between the two countries. The Foreign Minister said he had correctly presented the population and flood problems to the US leadership. UNB adds: Asked if Bangladeshi diplomats would be called back from New Delhi and Islamabad in view of the current situation, Khan replied in the negative. Bangladesh will remain fully engaged and help the two neighbours find a peaceful solution for themselves, he said. Asked if Dhaka’s diplomatic efforts would hamper Indo-Bangladesh trade negotiations ahead, he said the Indian leadership is mature enough and would not mix up it with the situation in the region. Khan was asked if the issue of gas export was discussed during his meeting with the US Secretary of State in Washington on May 20. He said when they wanted to know about the usage of the natural gas, he told them that a decision would be taken in light of recommendations by expert committees now working on it. The Foreign Minister said the question of Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) was not raised at any level of his talks with the US officials, including those from the Pentagon. The matter was neither raised nor discussed, he told a questioner. In reply to another question, he said he did not go to the United States with apparels on his agenda. He, however, told Powell that people in Bangladesh want to know why they would not be enjoying the duty-free market access like 73 other LDCs in the Sub-Saharan and Caribbean regions since the country is moving in a right direction with all its reform, poverty alleviation and empower-ment programmes as well as contribution to global peacekeeping. The Foreign Minister said Colin Powell in reply assured that he could understand the situation and had taken note of it. The Foreign Minister said he handed over to Powell a letter of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia addressed to President Bush, seeking economic benefit for LDC countries from G-8 meeting to be held in Canada this month. Referring to his meeting with the Canadian leaders, Khan said Canada agreed to give some market access to Bangladesh products and assured that they would raise the matter in the G-8 meeting. He said the Canadian government also agreed to make easier the process of visa for Bangladeshi students studying in Canadian universities and colleges. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Reaz Rahman and Foreign Secretary Shamser Mobin Chowdhury were present in the press conference. Tk 855.42 cr foreign aid for power sector Staff Reporter, The New Nation Government expects Tk 855 crore 42 lakh from donor agencies in power development sector in fiscal 2002-2003.A total of 51 projects are incorporated in the next Annual Development Programme (ADP) of which four are new. There is no new project incorporated in the ADP in power production, according to Planning Commission sources. The National Economic Council (NEC) approved on Tuesday the ADP for fiscal 2002-2003 amounting to Tk 19200 crore. In this ADP a total of Tk 2275 crore 42 lakh was allocated in power sector where Tk. 1420 crore, the major portion, would be met from local resource. Out of 51, 24 are foreign aided projects of which two projects are new. Two new projects included in upcoming ADP under Power Grid Company of Bangladesh are 'Ishwardi-Baghabari-Sirajganj-Bogra 230 KV Transmission Line Project and Khulna-Ishswardi-Bogra-Boropukuria KV Transmission Line Project. An amount of Tk 378 crore 76 lakh has been allocated for the first one of which Tk 232 crore 54 lakh will be provided by Asian Development Bank (ADB). The later project, also funded by ADB, costs total Tk 891 crore 20 lakh, of which the amount of foreign aid is Tk 546 crore 42 lakh. One project was incorporated in the ADP to extend the distribution system of nine rural electrification units under Rural Electrification Board (REB) costing a total of Tk 953 crore 68 lakh. The amount of foreign aid in this project is only tk 256 crore 20 lakh. Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) will conduct one new project along with its ongoing ones. This project is aimed to strengthen DESA's distribution system costing around Tk 10 crore to be funded by local resources. Besides, another four new projects are incorporated as technical assistance including 'Technical Assistance for Implementation of Bangladesh Power Sector Reform', 'Feasibility Study for Rural Electrification Programme in the districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts', 'Environmental Verification and Management Training for Rural Electrification Programme' and 'Study for Development of Renewable Energy'.
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