Villagers besiege Barapukuria power plant

Thousands of people from different villages besieged Barapukuria 250MW power plant in Parbatipur upazila of Dinajpur on Tuesday to realise their two-point demand including smooth power supply.
Nearly 3000 villagers under the banner of "Dudhipur Pani and Bidyut Sangram Committee" brought out a procession and marched towards the power plant in the morning and laid siege to it around 10:45am.
Their demand also include stop lifting of excessive water from underground for the power plant as the villagers are not getting drinking water through tube-wells due to fall in water-level.
The villagers launched the agitation programme in the morning as the authorities concerned failed to meet their demands within their given deadline.
Earlier on September 4, they gave the September 13 time limit to fulfil their demands. They also threatened to besiege the power plant and cut electric supply lines to 14 pumps, which are lifting underground water for operating the power plant, on September 14 on the day.
Additional police and army personnel have been deployed around the power plant area to avoid any untoward incident.
Md Anwarul Haque, general secretary of the committee, earlier alleged that hundreds of tube-wells at Dudhipur, Ishabpur and Sherpur villages have remained inoperative for long as water level has fallen due to lifting of excessive water by the 14 pumps.
The villagers have to collect drinking water from far-flung areas and use tainted water released by the power plant for bathing and washing their clothes, they claimed, adding that skin diseases are spreading at the villages.

They said though the government has set up a 250MW power plant in the area, they are not getting smooth power supply. "We appealed several times to the authorities concerned to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the villages, but to no effect," they said.
Chief engineer of the power plant Bishwanath Haldar earlier told the correspondent that the ministry concerned and the Power Development Board are authorised to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the villagers.
According to the officials of Dinajpur public health department, the water releasing by the power plant was harmful to public health and widely spreading skin diseases. But the power plant authorities claimed that they were releasing water after treating it inside the plant.
-Daily Star

DSE turnover hits 4-month low

Turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange dropped to its four and a half month low on Monday as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s latest directive barring netting facilities for non-marginable securities came into effect on the day, the first trading day after a four-day Eid vacations.

 

Market operators said the suspension of netting facilities on the trading of non-marginable securities pushed down the turnover at the market.
Turnover at the DSE was Tk 1,028.36 crore on Monday, down by Tk 576.3 crore from the previous trading day on September 8.
Monday’s turnover was the lowest since April 20 when the turnover at the DSE was Tk 1,053 crore.
On September 5, the SEC suspended netting facility for non-marginable issues effective from the first working day after the Eid vacations to squeeze inflow of funds into the stock exchanges.
Stock prices also fell on Monday.
The benchmark general index of DSE decreased by 10.76 points, or 0.15 per cent, to close at 6,796.47 points.
Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, a former chief executive officer of the DSE, said the new directive of the SEC suspending netting facilities on trading of non-marginable securities -- against which investors are not entitled to get loans --mainly pulled down the market.
Market operators said net asset value-based margin loan evaluation policy and September 30 deadline for the adjustment of margin loans in line with the new policy prompted a selling pressure at the market.
DSE president Shakil Rizvi said at the opening trading hour index fell 120 points because of a selling pressure, but it regained some ground at the closing hour.
The downtrend would not last long, he added.
The broader DSE all shares price index decreased by 12.62 points, or 0.22 per cent, to close at 5,701.60 points on Monday.
A total of 250 issues traded on the market, 150 advanced, 91 declined and nine remained unchanged.
Beximco topped the turnover leaders with more than 1.95 lakhs shares valued at Tk 63 crore traded on the day.
The other turnover leaders were BSRM Steels, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, AB Bank, IFIC Bank, Bextex, Aftab Automobiles, National Bank, Titas Gas and One Bank.

700 projects to get EEF aid

The government has decided to assist about 700 firms from its Equity and Entrepreneurship Fund (EEF) including one for crocodile farming in Mymensingh.
Under the EEF terms and conditions, a project worth at least Tk 2 million, may receive 49 per cent financial aid if it invests the remainder from its own funds.
Projects in agriculture, fishery, agriculture and food processing, and information technology sectors are eligible. The financial assistance, in the form of loans, is repayable within eight years.
The government has approved 183 such projects since January and 500 others are now in line for similar assistance, Mohammad Iftekhar-Uz-Zaman, currently in charge of running and managing the EEF, told the news agency.
Of the 183 projects, there are 16 IT projects, each of which will receive between Tk 20 million and Tk 100 million, said Zaman, also the general manager of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh.
Asked if the financing had already begun, he said, ‘Eight firms have so far received the loans. But many parties are yet to complete 51 per cent investment and complete the full registration procedure of the land that will house their projects.’
‘Financial help will be provided to them once these formalities are completed.’
Around 1,000 firms have approached the government for assistance, for which there is around Tk 30 billion will be needed, however, the government has confirmed that there would be no problem with financing, said Zaman.
Most of the projects are related to agriculture, fisheries, and food processing while others are in the IT sector, he informed.
The government formed this fund in December 2000 to finance risky but promising projects. The Bangladesh Bank was then assigned to run and manage the EEF.
The charge was handed over to the ICB in June 2009, by which time the EEF had disbursed Tk 5.08 billion to 251 projects, of which 34 were related to information technology.
The ICB has since financed Tk 44.2 million for eight projects, of which two were IT and the others agriculture and food processing.
Iftekher-Uz-Zaman said, ‘We have taken a long time just to ensure efficient EEF financing.’
Before handing over EEF to the ICB, Bangladesh Bank had received 3,150 applications, of which 150 were for IT projects.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 projects were short-listed.

Hasina alerts govt high-ups

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday alerted her cabinet colleagues that the opposition might try to destabilise the country within the next couple of months in a bid to foil the upcoming trials of war criminals, according to highly placed government sources.

The premier issued the warning while chairing a weekly cabinet meeting in Bangladesh Secretariat.
Hasina, also the president of ruling Awami League (AL), directed ministers, state ministers, lawmakers and other authorities concerned to alert the people about the threat as well.
"The opposition was saying that they will launch a movement after the Eid. We will have no objection if they do that staying within the legal bounds. But the fear is that they might carry out destabilising activities in a planned way in the name of a movement," the premier was quoted as saying, by a cabinet member.
The sources told The Daily Star that the warning came following information from different intelligence agencies at home and abroad that an attempt on the prime minister's life might be carried out between this month and November.
The intelligence agencies also said simultaneous multiple sabotage might be carried out as well during the period by the anti-liberation war forces, in collaboration with an Indian separatist organisation and different local militant outfits.
They said the opposition might take the chance to mislead the people about some of the government's major initiatives including the move to try the war criminals, according to one of the sources who had talked to the prime minister recently.
AL insiders said before the premier departs for the US on September 18 to attend the UN general assembly, she might brief some of her close aides about the latest situation of the country and their tasks.
Mahbubul Alam Hanif, a special assistant to the prime minister, said Sheikh Hasina's life is under threat at all times.
The defeated forces of the liberation war, the killers of the father of the nation and their collaborators, the masterminds and patrons of the August 21, 2004 grenade attack, and the international arms smugglers who tried to smuggle 10 trucks of arms and ammunition through Bangladesh the same year, might try to assassinate the premier, he said yesterday.
"As she is the leader of the House, the prime minister, and the president of ruling Awami League -- the administration, and the law enforcement and intelligence agencies will take all possible measurers to thwart any attempt on her life," he added.
About the ruling party's preparation to thwart any such attempt, Hanif, also the acting general secretary of AL, said they will organise rallies at district headquarters, and grand rallies at divisional headquarters to mobilise public support for the government's move to try the war criminals, and to counter the opposition's anti-government propaganda.
Welcoming opposition leader Khaleda Zia's statement that they want to help the government, the AL spokesperson urged her to join the parliament to criticise the government.
"But the people won't allow any movement to save the war criminals, and to cover up the corruption and misdeeds of the Zia family including Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko," he said.
He hoped that the opposition leader will understand the pulse of the people, and refrain from engaging in negative and destructive politics.
-Daily Star

Road crashes kill 63 in five days

At least 63 people, including two police sub-inspectors, were killed and 203 others injured in more than 32 road accidents across the country in the last five days.
Of the total accidents, 10 were involving motorcycles colliding with passenger buses or crashing into trucks or microbuses while overtaking.

Also, a good number of people were killed when passenger buses hit small vehicles like CNG-run auto-rickshaws, microbus and pick-up vans. Reckless driving caused most of the accidents.
On and the day before the Eid day, four people including a five-year-old boy were killed in road crashes in the city's Shyamoli, Adabar, Uttara and Kafrul areas.
A woman was killed and another 35 received injuries as a Gopalganj-bound bus fell into a ditch on Dhaka-Aricha highway at Dhamrai in Dhaka yesterday.
Our Kushtia correspondent reports, four people were killed and 30 others injured on Kushtia-Bheramara highway in Kushtia yesterday when a Daulatpur-bound bus turned turtle after its driver lost control over the steering wheel.
The accident occurred around 1:00pm.
In Rangpur, five people were killed and another 20 wounded in two separate accidents on the Eid day. One of the accidents occurred when a Panchagarh-bound bus fell into a roadside ditch near Pirganj bus stand while the other was a head-on collision between two motorcycles.
Two people were killed and four more injured in two accidents at Sitakunda in Chittagong yesterday, reports our Chittagong correspondent.
Meanwhile, a mother and her daughter died after the private car carrying them skidded off Dhaka-Sylhet highway near Osmani Nagar on September 10.
In Gopalganj, three people were killed and two more injured in three separate accidents during the three-day Eid vacation.
Two of the incidents were head-on collisions involving motorcycles. The other accident occurred when a passenger on a bus roof got tangled with an electric wire at Moksudpur on Dhaka-Khulna highway.
In another accident, three people were killed and 50 others injured near the district's police lines intersection on Dhaka-Khulna highway around 6:00pm yesterday. Police said the number of casualties may rise.
Our Faridpur correspondent reports a police sub-inspector was killed when a passenger bus hit his motorcycle on Dhaka-Khulna highway on September 10.
Another sub-inspector was killed when a bus hit his bike from behind near Rupsha Bridge in Batiaghata upazila on Dhaka-Khulna highway yesterday.
At least eight people -- three in Dinajpur and five in Bogra -- got killed in separate accidents in the two northern districts since September 8. Two friends were killed on Lalmoni-Burimari highway in Lalmonirhat when a goods-laden truck hit their bike on September 10.
Our Patuakhali and Barisal correspondents reported eight deaths in seven road mishaps since September 9.
News Agency UNB reports: A minor boy was crushed under the wheels of a speedy bus yesterday near Abdullapur bus stand on Dhaka-Mawa highway.
Meanwhile, three people were killed and 40 others injured in a head-on collision between two buses at Kadampur under Dakkhin Keraniganj thana on September 9 while nine passengers were killed and 15 others injured when a bus and a Leguna pickup van had collided head-on on Dhaka-Sylhet highway on the same day.
An assistant engineer of Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd (BTCL) was also killed in an accident on Chittagong-Bandarban road on the same day.
Drivers of two buses were killed as their buses collided at Abdullahpur on Dhaka-Mawa highway on September 9.
-Daily star

People start returning to city

City dwellers, mostly working people, are returning to the capital after celebrating Eid with their near and dear ones in the countryside.

Bus and launch terminals and Kamalapur railway station are overcrowded with people returning to the capital.
At least 50 per cent of the city’s over 1.20 crore people had left for the countryside by road, railway and waterways to celebrate Eid, transport operators estimated.
Returning people said at the terminals on Monday that they faced less of hassles in coming back compared to what they experienced while leaving the capital.
At Sadarghat launch terminal, Abdur Rahman, on return from Madaripur said he had suffered a lot while going home.
But the journey back was hassle-free with no comparable rush of passengers.
Reazuddin Ahmed said on return from Barisal that though he would love to spend a few more days at his village home he had to return to his work.
Arifur Rahman, a toll collector at Sadarghat launch terminal, said the vessels on return trips were less crowded this year.
‘Some people prefer to return early to avoid hassle,’ he said.
But he expects the rush to increase in a day or two.
About 50 launches anchored at the terminal on Monday until the afternoon, said port personnel.
Twenty trains arrived at Kamalapur railway station until Monday evening carrying a large number of returnees.
All the Dhaka-bound trains had to carry excess passengers, said Bangladesh Railway senior commercial officer, Abu Sayeed Ahmed.
‘Ekota Express carried about 950 passengers against the capacity of 600,’ he said.
‘Considering the pressure,’ Sayeed said, ‘We want to continue special services between Dhaka and Dewanganj until September 16.’
Mahbubur Rashid, who returned to the city from Jamalpur, suggested that the Eid holidays should be increased to least five days.
Several passengers said that rundown buses and inter-city express trains made their journey uncomfortable.
City dwellers, who returned on Monday, said that they had to suffer a lot due to traffic jams on Dhaka-Khulna, Dhaka-Rajshahi and Dhaka-Chittagong and other routes a day before the Eid.
Travellers said that road accidents aggravated traffic jams on major highways before and after the Eid.
People were under great pressure to go home on Wednesday or Thursday and return on Sunday or Monday morning, said Abu Daud Md Isa, who had to spend 10 hours on the way to reach Jhenaidah.
‘Usually, it takes five and a half hours to reach my home,’ he said.
The finance minister, AMA Muhith, however, opposed the idea of extending the Eid vacation as no newspapers are available during such holidays.
Gabtoli, Sayedabad and Mahakhali inter-district bus terminals were overcrowded with passengers, mainly apparel workers.
Transport companies abnormally increased bus fares on different routes, said travellers.
A private bank employee, Rakib Hasan, on return from Magura, said that bus fare on the Dhaka-Khulna routes were raised by Tk 100 to Tk 150 per passenger.
He said he had to buy a chair coach ticket of Hanif Paribahan at Magura bus terminal for Tk 400, which was much more than the usual rate of Tk 250 to Tk 270.
Waiting travellers at Gabtali terminal, however, said that extortionists collected money in the name of Tafazzal Sardar without any reason.
Jahidur Rahman said Rapid Action Battalion did not help passengers against extortionists.

Govt behaving like emergency regime, says Khaleda

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia said on Saturday that the government was behaving exactly like the emergency caretaker administration.

 

Exchanging Eid greetings with foreign diplomats as well as people from different walks of life at a reception hosted by BNP at Eskaton Ladies’ Club, she said that the people celebrated Eid in distress.
She expressed her solidarity with the common people of the country, who are far from well and had to celebrate Eid in acute distress.
She conveyed her Eid greetings to the people.
She recalled that two years ago on September 11, 2008, the emergency caretaker government had released her from jail.
She asked the government to solve the sufferings of the people by holding discussions with all concerned.
Khaleda said BNP wants the country’s prosperity and development and would with support from the people restore peace and security in the country.
Lack of employment, she said, was causing distress to the people. She said that during her just concluded pilgrimage to Makkah Munawara to perform Umrah, she came to know that the Bangladeshis working there were facing problems renewing their work permits.
BNP observed the second anniversary of Khaleda’s release from jail on the day.
The two-year emergency caretaker government had sent her to jail on September 3, 2007 and freed her on September 11, 2008.
‘I was released on this day two years ago,’ she said.
‘It seems to me’, she said, the Awami League led-alliance government was repeating whatever the emergency caretaker government had done.
She said that the AL-led government filed cases against many BNP leaders under false charges only to harass them.
She said, ‘Mirza Abbas is still in jail with many others.’
Responding to a question, Khaleda said she spoke on phone to Tarique and Arafat, her two sons, now staying abroad for treatment.
Suffering from acute pain, they are not well and would need prolonged treatment, she said. After exchanging Eid greetings, Khaleda drove straight to the grave of the late president Ziaur Rahman and said prayers there.

495 people infected with anthrax in 9 districts

In all 495 anthrax infected people were detected in nine districts across the country until Monday, including 16 new patients identified in last 72 hours, seven of them in Rajshahi district, said Mahmudur Rahman, the director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Diseases Control and Research.

The other districts where people were detected with the infection, he said, were Pabna, Sirajgaj, Kushtia, Tangail, Meherpur, Manikganj, Shthkhira and Lalmonirhat.
At least six anthrax infected cows died in four villages in Aditmari and Lalmonirhat sadar upazilas in Lalmonirhat district on Sunday, district livestock officials said.
New Age correspondent in Lalmonirhat reports quoting veterinary surgeon at the district livestock office Bazlur Rahman that four of the infected cows died at Mohistoli, a village in Aditmari upazila and two more cows died at Baro Basuroya, a village in Lalmonirhat sadar upazila.
Bazlur Rahman said that treatment of at least 3,000 cows, suspected to be infected in 20 villages in three upazilas of the district, was going on.
The district livestock officer, Abu Hossain Sarker, said that the treatment of infected cows was delayed due to shortage of vaccines.
‘We have written to the ministry requesting for the needed vaccines,’ he said.
A handout issued by the Press Information Department on September 9 said the anthrax situation was under control with no new report of fresh cattle infection.
As of September 9, the handout estimated the number of infected cows at 39 and of goats at 55.
The handout said that the cattle were being vaccinated in all risky areas and measures were taken for quick examination whenever cows or goats fell sick.
‘There is no risk in taking meat or milk of healthy cows or goats,’ said the handout out.
The government requested the media to verify from the local Livestock Resources Department any news of anthrax infection or deaths of cattle before disseminating such news.

Big earthquake risk, little preparedness

Most essential buildings for providing earthquake victims with support, shelter and treatment are still vulnerable to moderate tremors indicating the authorities will be in real trouble after a disaster.

The government has so far failed to take initiative to retrofit vulnerable buildings like hospitals, schools and fire stations which would be used for victims' treatment, shelter and rescue operations after an earthquake.
The authorities will not be able to provide people with treatment if hospitals are damaged in the event of an earthquake. And damaged schools and colleges, which are used as shelters during disasters, will not be able to accommodate victims, said ASM Maksud Kamal, urban risk reduction specialist of Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) of UNDP.
Risk analysis of hospitals should be conducted and steps should be taken, he said.
Quoting a study conducted by CDMP in 2009, Maksud said an earthquake of 7.5 magnitudes in Dhaka city, originated in the Madhupur fault, will moderately damage around 241 hospitals and clinics. At the same time 10 hospitals will be destroyed.
About 90 schools will be destroyed while 30 police stations and four fire stations will be moderately damaged, he said.
Prof Mehdi Ahmed Ansary of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said fire fighters, the first to respond to such disasters, are also at risk as their stations, officers' quarters and barracks are susceptible to earthquakes over seven on the Richter scale.
There are 194 fire stations in Bangladesh and 119 of them, constructed in the Pakistan era, are considered more vulnerable, said Ansary.
The capital has 13 fire stations and 10 of them were constructed in the 60's, he said. The stations are the headquarters at Phulbaria, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Palashi, Postagola, Khilgaon, Tongi, Kurmitola, Sadarghat and Mirpur.
Former vice-chancellor of Brac University Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury said Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC-1993) recognises that buildings that are likely to have important roles after a disaster (termed essential facilities, which include hospitals, fire and police stations emergency preparedness centres, communication centres) have to be designed to survive bigger disasters than other structures.
In many areas under zone-2 and zone-3 of seismic zoning map of 1993, old buildings of that category may be severely damaged even in moderate earthquakes, he said. This would hamper post-disaster operations, he said.
Systematic study to identify these buildings is needed for carrying out a vulnerability analysis and retrofitting these buildings if necessary, Reza added.
Retrofitting brick structures would cost 10 percent the total construction cost and 30 to 35 percent in the case of reinforced concrete cement (RCC) structures, he added.
With polypropylene bands (PP bands), the cost of retrofitting RCC structures could be reduced, Reza said.
The people constructing buildings should use earthquake-resistant techniques, which will increase only 2 percent construction cost, he said.
He also spoke for evacuation drills thrice a year in key buildings.
There is an initiative to retrofit two buildings of Bangladesh Secretariat (building-1 and -4) and Dhaka Medical College Hospital under CDMP. An agreement is expected to be signed between CDMP and the Public Works Department soon, he said.
-Daily Star