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Head lines Water transport workers threaten strike from Sept 20 STAFF REPORTER, The Independent Bangladesh Noujan Sramik Federation, the apex body of water transport worker yesterday said that it would go for indefinite strike across the country from September 25 if their demands were not met by September 20. The leaders of the federation announced that their next agitation programme would start from Muktangan on September 21. The federation demanded fulfilment of their 26-point ultimatum served earlier that includes: increase of salary, steps to prevent accidents, proper implementation of marine laws, ensuring safety and dredging of the rivers. The leaders at a press conference held at the National Press Club, said that a section of corrupt government officials and the owners of the launches are responsible for increase of the accidents that took more than 60 lives of workers and more than 1,000 passengers in last two years. The owners engage agents to allure passengers to board a launch till it is overloaded, they alleged. The proprietors also hire hooligans to intimidate the workers, they added. Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam, General Secretary of the Federation read out a written statement while vice-president Md Shah Alam, office secretary Mahmudul Haque Akkas, cultural secretary Saifur Rahman Dulal, central members Md Shahjahan and Ayub Ali Master were present at the press conference. Staff negligence blamed for power station mishap SHAHNAJ BEGUM, The Independent The probe committee on the Mirpur power sub-station accident has said that negligence on the part of the duty officials and lack of monitoring were the main causes of the accident in which an old transformer was burnt on Friday. It committee categorically said that it did not find any sign of sabotage in the accident, sources said. The probe committee will submit its report to Iqbal Hasan Mhamood, the State Minister for Power, at his office at 1pm today (Sunday). Authoritative sources said that the five-member committee headed by Dewan Zakir Hossain, Joint Secretary of the ministry, blamed the staff who were on duty on Friday morning. Sources said the committee also highlighted issues related to the fire brigade and civil defence. The committee found that the fire brigade and civil defence authorities have no capacity to fight electric fire. It said that the civil defense department was inadequate to face the challenges of any installation of the modern city. It may be mentioned that three departments were engaged in this sub-station. The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) is the operator of the sub-station, DESA is the structural chief and DESCO is the user of the electricity. Lack of coordination among the officials on duty is creating confusion in the sub-station. Meanwhile, the Power Ministry is thinking of deploying the army in its all important installations, including power stations and grid sub-stations in the country. In a letter to the Home Ministry, the Power Ministry sought its cooperation for the deployment of the army in such installations, especially in the capital city. It may be mentioned that the government has already deployed the army in several power stations in the country. The Power Ministry wants to include some big grid sub-stations in the list. DESA and DESCO sources said there are 18 grid sub-stations in the capital. Of these, four were under the jurisdiction of DESCO. Upward revision of govt land prices planned STAFF REPORTER, The Independent An upward revision of prices of government land will take place soon to keep pace with the prevailing higher rate of private land. This was decided in an inter-ministerial meeting held at the conference room of the Finance Ministry yesterday. The meeting also decided to finalise details of the pricing later following the evaluation of relevant data. The present pricing of the Rajuk land was done in 1993. Against this backdrop the Ministry of Public Works and Housing submitted a proposal for upward revision of the government land prices and yesterday’s meeting agreed in principle to that proposal. Law Minister Barrister Maudud Ahmed, Land Minister Shamsul Islam and Works Minister Mirza Abbas attended the meeting with Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman in the chair. However, the meeting decided that not only the land of the Works Ministry or Rajuk in particular but all other land belonging to other ministries like road and highways, railways all over the country should come under fresh valuation. Saifur Rahman told newsmen that the meeting was unanimous on the issue of prices of government land which should be refixed keeping pace with upward market rates. "The meeting felt that its appropriate pricing needed to be worked out. The price remained depressed over the past decade, " he added. On the matter of new pricing he said that forthcoming meetings would deal with the issue. But before the refixation of land prices government would consult with the cross section of people to assess its various impact including that on prices of private sector land, the Minister said. On the issue of grabbing of public land, the Finance Minister said it needed to be better protected. Underscoring the need for new outlook in the management of the government assets he said that the grabbers take hold of land after it is cleared of unauthorised occupation by the government. This can not continue, he felt. Works Minister Mirza Abbas said price fixation of Rajuk land was last carried out in 1993 and the new proposal seeks to bring a balance between the prices of public and private land. He said the proposal would cover all lands, under the Works Ministry or other ministries. There is a need for refixation of land prices in the light of a rise in its prices all over the country, he stated. Whether the proposed new pricing would push up the price of private land or not the Minister said that the pricing would be done in a way so that there would be a balance between the prices of private and public land. Tk 45 crore allocated for CHT uplift BSS, RANGAMATI, The Independent Sept 13: The Government released Taka 45 crore as special allocation to the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) to carry out different development activities in the current fiscal through the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, officials said. The Ministry distributed the allocation to different agencies and institutions to carry out development activities in the three hill districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban to bring about a positive change in the socio-economic condition of the downtrodden people living in the region. Major portion of the total allocation was released to the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB) for implementing different projects including socio-economic development and rehabilitation of landless people as well as road construction. The CHTDB, established in 1976, will implement 47 projects out of 54 in the region with an allocated amount of Taka 37. 50 crore out of the total sanctioned amount of Taka 45 crore, officials said. The highest allocation of Taka three crore was given to the Highland Settlement Project (2nd phase), while Taka four crore was released to power Development Board to implement CHT Electrification Project (2nd Phase) and CHT Solar Project to bring the remote areas of the region under electric supply network, officials added. An amount of Taka 1.60 crore has been given for the uplift of the socio-economic condition of the people of this region through development and extension of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC). Taka 90 lakh was given to Cotton Development Board for implementation of CHT integrated development and rehabilitation programmes. The Ministry also gave Taka 35 lakh to Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute to introduce local cultivation system through hill farm management development, Taka 25 lakh to the Development of Agriculture Extension for development of irrigation management in Khagrachhari hill district. The officials said that Taka 40 lakh was given to Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) of Bandarban hill district for implementation of water supply and sanitation project. Bangladeshi-born is new British HC DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, The Independent Britain and Pakistan have appointed new High Commissioners to Bangladesh. Bangladeshi-born British citizen Anwar Chowdhury is the new United Kingdom High Commissioner to Bangladesh, according to a Foreign Ministry press release yesterday. He replaces David Carter. Prior to his new assignment, Chowdhury was serving as Director, Policy Markets, Technology and Innovation in the Cabinet Office of the British government. He also served as Assistant Director of the Defence Ministry, Strategist in Engineering Establishment, Consultant/Engineer Siemens Plessey. Born in June 15, 1959 in Sunamganj, Chowdhury left for England in his childhood. He graduated in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Salford University in 1985, and did MBA at Durham University the same year. He has a daughter and a son from a previous marriage. Besides, being fluent in Bengali, he can speak Urdu and Hindi and rudimentary German . Manzar Shafique, a career diplomat, has been appointed Pakistan’s new High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Foreign Ministry sources said. He is coming from Baghdad. Shafiq will replace Iqbal Ahmed Khan who is due to leave Dhaka within a couple of days after completing his tenure.
Donors
to provide funds for edn of working children
The Bangladesh Observer
Donors will extend all
cooperation in implementing literacy programmes for working children in
the country, reports BSS.
According to the
Department of Non-formal Education (DNE), as many as 3.51 lakh working
children would be given education under the programme at six divisional
headquarters.
The literate working
children will be given training on various subjects under a separate
programme. Their employers will provide all technical cooperation for
them. The DNE has been implementing four projects for the illiterate
youths in the country.
A total of 29.61 lakh
illiterate youths under 15-24 aged group are being given education under
the DNE Project-1 while 81.79 lakh people from 11-year-old to 45 are being
educated under the project-2 and 2.28 crore people under the project-4.
According to the sources as many as 1.85 lakh illiterate people were given education under the four projects. Now, the literacy rate in the country has stood at 65 per cent.
New HYV rice
with low production
cost gaining
popularity The Bangladesh Observer
SRI, a high yielding
variety (HYV) of rice, has been gaining popularity gradually among the
farmers due to its low cost production and economic viability.
Six tonnes of SRI variety
of rice are produced on an acre of land while highest four tonnes of rice
have been yielded now in the country. Only nine SRI plants are needed for
sowing on a square metre of land against 20 plants of other varieties,
said Abu Bakar Siddique, a senior scientific officer of BRRI here
yesterday.
Talking to BSS at the
two-day ‘PETRRA communication fair’, which concluded yesterday at Hotel
Sheraton, Bakar Siddique said despite more benefit, the SRI seeds are not
gaining popularity among the farmers due to lack of adequate publicity.
“Cultivation of the SRI variety of rice is also economically viable as it requires only one-third of water needed for other HYV rice cultivation,” he said adding that the variety is being produced in Satkhira district from 2000.
It is now gaining
popularity among the framers in other south-western districts, he said.
Apart from SRI, the
scientists of BRRI have also developed new technology for cultivating rice
and ducks on a same land. The farmers of Sylhet, Comilla, Barisal and
Khulna regions have been using the modern technology.
When asked about the new
technology, Rafiqul Islam, another senior scientific officer of BRRI, said
the profitability of the new technology (rice with ducks) is about 102
percent higher than that of conventional practices. He said the new
technology is suitable for T. Aus and T. Aman.
Citing research findings, Rafiq said duck dropping would save Taka 2,600 which is spent for chemical fertilizer per hectare. Besides, ducks effectively control weeds and insects which help produce one tonne more rice per hectare.
The agricultural scientists who gathered at the fair at Hotel Sheraton, however, said the average rice production in the country rose to 2.28 tonnes per hectare from 1.05 tonne after using HYV seeds developed by BRRI.
The 78 percent of the
country’s total rice production comes from the HYV seeds, they said and
adding that the BRRI has developed some 41 high yielding modern varieties
so far. Ties with Pakistan to be strengthened: PM UNB, Dhaka, The
Daily Star She expressed the hope when outgoing Pakistani High Commissioner Iqbal Ahmed Khan made a farewell call on her at her office yesterday. The prime minister thanked the envoy for his role during his four-year tenure in Dhaka in improving the relations between the two countries. The envoy hoped that Prime Minister Khaleda Zia would soon pay a bilateral visit to Pakistan, saying that people of his country "are eagerly waiting to accord her a warm reception". Reiterating Pakistan's support to Bangladesh's candidature for OIC secretary general, he hoped that the other OIC members would also extend their support to the Bangladeshi candidate. "There is a scope for the two countries to work closely to strengthen the Muslim Ummah and we would utilise the opportunity," Khan was quoted as saying. He also hoped that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Khaleda Zia would meet in Kuala Lumpur in the forthcoming OIC Summit. He thanked the prime minister for her government's cooperation in discharging his duties here. His next assignment is in Iran. Mentioning two important events during his tenure: free and fair general elections in October 2001 and Pakistani president's visit to Dhaka last year, the envoy said he spent best of time in his career in Bangladesh. He appreciated Bangladeshi people's pleasant and amicable behaviour and said all the sweet memories would remain in his "heart forever". The prime minister conveyed her best wishes to the Pakistani president and the prime minister through the envoy. Khan's wife accompanied him during the farewell call. Commerce minister urged not to sign any agreement at WTO meet Staff Correspondent, The Daily Star Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad ( SKOP) yesterday urged the Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury to refrain from signing any agreement in the on-going World Trade Organisation ( WTO) meeting that might go against the interest of Bangladesh. The SKOP leaders at a meeting at Muktangan also urged the government to inform the nation about its stance on the WTO meeting. The SKOP leaders also urged the government to raise voice in favour of duty and quota-free access of products of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) to the market of the developed countries. They demanded initiatives for migration of unskilled and semi-skilled workers of the LDCs to the developed countries under the provision of 'comparative advantage' of the WTO. They also urged the government to speak for removal of barriers to medicine production and its export. Wajedul Islam Khan, Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, Roy Romesh Chandra and Delwar Hossain Khan addressed the rally. |
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