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Head lines CHAPAL BASHAR, AGARTALA, The Independent Sept 19: People of the Indian State of Tripura welcomed with cheers two BRTC buses which arrived here this afternoon from Dhaka following the inauguration of Dhaka-Agartala Bus Service in the Bangladesh capital today. A huge enthusiastic crowd gathered at Akhaura border checkpost to receive the buses decorated with flowers. The buses carried passengers which included senior officials of the government, artistes, journalists and invited guests. The Akhaura border checkpost was colourfully decorated with banners, festoons and flowers to welcome the buses from Dhaka. A team of local artistes welcomed the buses and the passengers rendering the famous Tagore song "Esho Esho Amar Ghorey Esho Amar Ghorey" (Come to my home). Bangladeshi singers, who came with the buses from Dhaka, also joined the local artistes and sang the song in a chorus. The crowd also raised slogans saying "Long Live India-Bangladesh Friendship". The two BRTC buses started their journey towards Agartala from Dhaka at about 10:10 am. It took about four hours to reach Akhaura close to Agartala which is 151 kilometres from Dhaka. The road from Ashuganj (Bhairab) to Akhaura was also decorated at many points with arches, banners and festoons to celebrate the inauguration of the bus service. People gathered on both sides of the road at many points and cheered when the buses passed by the road. The direct bus service from Agartala to Dhaka was also inaugurated here at the Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) office premises. Communications Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda, Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways BC Khanduri and the Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar were present at the function. However, due to mismanagement of the host BRTC, the guests who came to Agartala by the buses, had to suffer a lot at the Akhaura checkpost. There was no preparation at the Akhaura checkpost for smooth immigration of the passengers of the buses. It took three hours for the immigration authorities on both sides to allow the passengers to cross the border. The journalists who came from Dhaka could not cover the inauguration of the Agartala-Dhaka Bus Service here this afternoon. A cultural function was arranged here tonight on the occasion of the launching of Dhaka-Agartala-Dhaka Bus Service. Buses roll off on maiden trip to Agartala STAFF REPORTER, The Independent The long awaited Dhaka-Agartala International Bus Service was introduced yesterday morning with the maiden trip of two buses through a colourful inauguration programme at the Sarak Bhaban in the city. Communications Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda and Indian Minister for Road Transport and Highways Maj. Gen. (Retd.) B.C. Khandhuri jointly inaugurated the cross-border bus service at 10:10 in the morning by cutting the ribbon and releasing colourful balloons in the air. Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan, Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar, State Minister for Communications Salahuddin Ahmed and BRTC Chairman Advocate Taimur Alam Khondaker, among others, were present. Earlier, at the inauguration ceremony held at Sarak Bhaban auditorium on the eve of the maiden trip, Foreign Minister Morshed Khan said that the bus service would enhance the mutual cooperation and economic well being of the people of the two countries. Terming the trip a ‘milestone’ in the relation between
the two countries he said that the inauguration of the new bus route would
open new avenues in the field of communication and help bring the two
peoples closer. Communications Minister Nazmul Huda said that a new chapter of relationship between the two countries would open up with the launching of the bus service. Expressing the hope that the bus service would open a new horizon of relationship between Bangladesh and India’s northeastern region he added that the direct bus link would strengthen the cooperation between two countries. "It will also increase trade, commerce and exchange of art and culture between the two countries" he added. Terming the inauguration of the bus service a ‘historic event’ in the friendly relation between the two countries Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar said that by this the long cherished dream of the two countries was going to be implement. "It (bus service) will materialise a long-cherished dream of the people of Bangladesh and Tripura. Existing fraternal relations between the two countries would be further strengthened and confusions in many fields would be removed with greater interactions’ he added. Indian Road Transport and Highways Minister Maj. Gen. (Retd.) B.C. Khandhuri said that the commencement of the bus service between Dhaka and Agartala would strengthen the traditional bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. " Our cooperation is multi-faceted and already covers a vast area. It is gratifying that our economic and commercial relations have flourished and diversified significantly during the last decade. Transport linkages forged between the two countries; have led to easier movement of people and goods across our borders" he added. He also said that the Indian High Commissioner has been issuing over half a million visas annually to Bangladeshi nationals visiting India. " The cross-border bus service will materialise a long cherished dream of the people of Bangladesh and Tripura of India," he said adding that they also look forward to the operationlisation of the passenger train service between Sialdah and Dhaka at an early date. He also said that they would start talks on a Free Trade Agreement next month. " This will be a major breakthrough in our bilateral relations. It will increase bilateral trade, open new business opportunities and above all attract foreign investment into Bangladesh to tap the vast Indian market that will open up to Bangladesh’ he added. The two over-loaded, airconditioned buses left for Agartala at 10:10 in the morning yesterday from the Sarak Bhaban in the city. The maiden trip of the buses carried the Communications Minister, the Indian ministers and a select group of people including cultural activists, journalists and professionals to Agartala where they would join the second inaugural function in the afternoon. BRTC would operate two air conditioned buses from the city at 7am and at 2pm every day while Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC) would run one bus six days a week except on Sundays from the TRTC bus terminal at Agartala. The fare has been fixed at US $10. The route would be Dhaka- Bhairab Bazar-Brahmanbaria-Akhaura-Agartala and back. The two countries have a bus service already in operation between Dhaka and Kolkata, the first of its kind between the two countries, since April 1999. The agreement on the Dhaka- Agartala bus service was signed in 2001. India’s river-linking project will hit Dhaka’s water supply network KAMRAN REZA CHOWDHURY, The Independent The proposed Indian project of inter-linking of the common rivers and transfer of water from the rivers will cripple Dhaka's water supply network as the sources of surface water supplied to the city dwellers by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage (WASA) will be at risk. WASA sources say that the authority is heavily dependent on the two rivers—the Buriganga and the Shitalakhya— which are dependent on the mighty Brahmaputra that carries 60 per cent of river water into Bangladesh. If India diverts the flow of the Brahmaputra and the Padma, the two major common rivers, a catastrophic situation might arise in the 'unplanned' capital inhabited by over 10 million people. Experts say that the effect of the river diversion would be severest if India withdraws water in the dry season (December to March) when the flow of the two rivers reach the lowest level. "The Brahmaputra itself and its distributeries would surely die if India withdraws water during the dry season," Professor Jahir Uddin, a teacher of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, told a seminar on the inter-linking of rivers on the university campus. And the death of the Brahmaputra means death of all dependent rivers including the Shitalakhya and the Buriganga on which WASA is dependent for the capital’s water supply. "Instead of withdrawal in the wet season, India will surely withdraw water in the dry season. Because she releases water during the rainy season as we see in the case of Farakka," water expert Engineer Enamul Haq told The Independent on Thursday. WASA can supply 154 crore litres of water per day for the city dwellers against the daily demand of 160 crore litres. Of the total quantity, 80 crore -82 crore litres of water is extracted by deep tube wells from the underground while the rest comes from two rivers—the Buriganga and the Shitalakhya. About 3.9 crore litres of water is pumped from the Buriganga and supplied to the city dwellers after purifying in its plant in Chandnighat in the capital. Again, 22.5 crore litres of water is sucked from the Shitalakhya and supplied to the users after purification at the Sayedabad Plant at the eastern outskirts of Dhaka. The concerned government agency sources say that the Brahmaputra discharges 1.02 lakh cubic metres (Cumec) per second of water during the wet season. But the flow comes down to only 4,500 Cumec per second during the dry season. So, withdrawal of a little quantity of water will surely inflict a heavy toll on the Brahmaputra and its distributeries jeopardising the existence of the Buriganga and the Shitalakhya. WASA sources say that the demand for water in the city is increasing at a rate of four to five per cent per year. That is why, WASA has chalked out a plan to supply water from the river Padma via Mawa to meet the increasing demand of water for the city dwellers. As per the WASA estimates, additional 50 crore to 60 crore litres of water will be necessary for the city dwellers for household purposes only until 2010. So, the WASA has opted for pumping water form the Padma instead of extracting from underground source as ground water level is going down day by day. Again, the second Phase of Sayedabad water project, which would add another 22.5 crore litres of water to the WASA’s distribution network from the Shitalakhya, will be started soon. The Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh through Narayanpur under Nageshwari thana of Kurigram district. The river divides into two parts –one is Brahmaputra and the other is Old Brahmaputra in Dewanganj, Mymensingh. Again, the Old Brahmaputra meets the Meghna in Bhairabbazar in Kishoreganj being divided into two rivers—one Old Brahmaputra and the other Banar—at Toke in Gazipur. The Banar river later becomes Shitalakhya which passes through Narayangaj district. The Buriganga gets water from Kaliganga, Bangshi, Turag and Dhaleswari rivers and all the three rivers are directly dependent on the Brahmaputra and the Old Brahmaputra. The flow of the Buriganga during the wet season is 2,000 Cumec per second. In Mawa point of the Padma, the discharge of water during the wet season varies between 6,000 Cumec and 8,000 Cumec per second. So, further withdrawal of water from the Padma during the dry season will create a disaster at the lower riparian disrupting the navigation and morphology of the river. Call to resist environment pollution DU CORRESPONDENT, The Independent Speakers at a rally said yesterday that the country was now under the grip of air, water and sound pollutions and recently, the ship breaking industry of Chittagong added a new dimension to this. Addressing the rally, a group of environmentalists also called upon the Government to take necessary measures against all kinds of environment pollution including the one caused by the ship-breaking sector. Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (BAPA) organised the civic rally at Battala in front of the National Museum demanding protection of the coastal areas’ from the pollution of ship-breaking industry. Presided over by Abu Naser Khan, General Secretary of the BAPA, the rally was addressed, among others, by Golam Kibria, Dr Mahbub Hossain, Dr Nur Uddin, Numan Ahmed Khan, Abu Raihan Al Biruni, Tapan Kumar Nath, Ifma Hossain, Shamsul Momen Palash, Alamgir Hossain and Ashraf Amir Ullah. The speakers also said that the Government should formulate a policy for the ship-breaking industry with a view to saving the environment particularly the coastal areas from pollution. Later, the BAPA brought out a procession from the venue of their demonstration. The marchers moved towards the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) of Dhaka University. The people of Bhatiyari Kadam Rasul area under Sitakunda police station in Chittagong district and a large number of animals and trees of the locality were affected following a leakage of poisonous gas from the boiler while a ship was being scrapped on Tuesday.
Preparatory meeting on WSIS UNB, Geneva,
The Daily Star The call came as the third preparatory committee meeting on World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) is going to finalise the draft plan of action. The WSIS is scheduled to be held in Geneva in December. In the draft plan of action, the media community also demanded specific commitments to the development of community media for the poorest communities. Regarding media, the draft declaration said the existence of free and independent communication media, in accordance with the legal system of each country, is an essential requirement for freedom of expression and a guarantee of the plurality of information. Media community suggested deleting the sentence "in accordance with the legal system of each country" from the draft declaration, saying that local interpretation can be the cause of the violation of article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which ensure the freedom of expression of every citizen. However, most of the countries are not interested to pay heed to the proposals of the media community for changing the sentence, as any government cannot take any risk in this regard. The delegations of different countries and regions are very active regarding the final draft declaration, which will be signed by the governments next December. Terming the WSIS declaration as the world agenda for development of the world and the world ICT policy, the discussants expected more attention of the world people on WSIS. Around 50 heads of government, including Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, already gave their consent to attend the December meeting in Geneva. Meanwhile, a four-member delegation of the Bangladesh government, led by Ashabur Rahman, additional secretary of the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), attended the meeting. Reza Salim, member secretary of Bangladesh working group on WSIS, also attended the meeting as civil society representative. The delegation also includes MA Hakim of BTRC and Hafizur Rahman of BTTB. Bangladesh Ambassador to Switzerland Toufiq Ali is also attending the crucial meeting. The 10-day meeting began on September 15. Media organisations from different countries who got united here also impressed upon the preparatory committee of WSIS that a just and equitable information society strategy must be people-centred, inclusive, built on fundamental human rights and focused primarily on the reduction of poverty. Some media groups, especially of the developing countries, said free and universal access to basic education and affordable access to electricity are required before the world's poorest people can benefit from new ICTs. They mentioned that nearly one-third of the world's population still do not have reliable access to electricity. However, the draft Action Plan sets specific targets for access to the information society with a commitment to Internet access in every village by 2010 and in every school across the country by 2015. Parliamentary body on AIDS prevention Staff
Correspondent,
The Daily Star Deputy Speaker Akhtar Hamid Siddiqui heads the caucus while 16 others were made vice-chairs with Abdus Shahid, the chief whip of the opposition, as the first among them. Other members of the parliamentary group are Ashraf Hossian, ANM Ehsanul Haq Milon, Zahiruddin Swapan, Dr Mohammad Ali, Esrat Sulatana Elen Bhutto, Rashiduzzaman Millat and M Illius Ali of BNP, Lt Col (Retd) Faruk Khan, Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzak, Hamida Banu Shova, Advocate Promode Mankin, Syed Ashraful Islam and Tanzim Ahmed (Sohel Taj) of the opposition AL, Golam Mohammad Quader of Jatiya Party, and Shah Mohammad Ruhul Quddus of Jamaat-e-Islami. "We are unanimous irrespective of our parties on the cause of fighting the deadly HIV virus and the barbarous trade in human trafficking," said a statement signed by the lawmakers on September 17 and released yesterday. The lawmakers observed that it was their bounden responsibility to make the people, who voted them to the House, aware of the deadliness of the scourge of AIDS and the bane of human trafficking. According to the government data, the country has at present only 248 HIV-infected people, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS say the number of HIV-infected people is not less than 13,000 in Bangladesh. Twenty-six people have reportedly died of HIV infection so far in Bangladesh since the first case was identified in 1989. Human trafficking has been further adding to the risk of HIV as the trafficked women and children are usually sexually abused and traded. The parliamentary group also appointed a coordinator, three policy advisors, and one technical consultant to support its activities. Media for People (MFP), a development research organisation, was made the coordinator while Assistant Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Dr Nazmus Sahar Sadiq, Executive Director of the People's Empowerment Trust (PET) Shishir Shil and Regional Coordinatorof the ActionAid TIM Zahid Hossain, the policy advisors and Dr Nazrul Islam, head of Virology Department, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), the technical consultant. Bangladeshi women can eye jobs in S Arabia Rafiq Hasan,
The Daily Star This permission followed an inter-ministerial meeting a few months ago to withdraw restriction on sending women workers abroad as domestic helps, sources in the expatriates welfare and overseas employment ministry said. The restriction was imposed in 1998 under the Awami League rule in the wake of reports of some untoward incidents involving women workers abroad. The recruiting agencies are yet to get work orders from Saudi employers for domestic helps. "When the recruiting agencies obtain work orders from Saudi employers, we will visit their offices and facilities to see whether they fulfil the terms and conditions," said Dalil Uddin Mondal, secretary of the overseas employment ministry. None of the agencies will be allowed to send women workers abroad unless they fulfil the terms and conditions, he added. The terms and conditions are: A recruiting agency must operate a permanent training centre in Dhaka and a round-the-clock office in any major city in Saudi Arabia to take prompt legal actions in case of any untoward incident. The women workers must be given at least a 30-day training on household work. Saudi employers must give a minimum of US$ 500 a worker as migration cost and the recruiting agencies will have to show receipts of the remittance. The employers must also show they received permission from home, labour and foreign ministries for employing foreign maids. They will also have to pay for the return air ticket on expiry of a worker's contract. Local recruiting agencies must not charge more than Tk 10,000 from a worker for services like passport and visa processing. The workers must be above 35, preferably married and accompanied by husbands. Their salaries must be over 400 Saudi riyal a month with free food and accommodation. The government hopes around two lakh women workers can be employed in Saudi Arabia soon. Remittances sent by them will be about Tk 1,500 crore a year, sources said. Several lakh women workers, mainly from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia, work in the Middle East currently. Sources said demand for Bangladeshi women workers for household jobs were always high in those countries because of social and religious factors. Employers there prefer Muslim domestic helps, sources said, adding on many occasions, ambassadors of some of the countries in Dhaka requested the government to allow women workers to their countries. |
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