PM unhappy with DCC mayor's role

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday came down heavily on Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka for his 'negligence' in running the affairs of the corporation.

“The works of DCC are not going well, waste management is not being done properly,” she said while addressing a function at Gono Bhaban marking the handover of 100 waste collection vehicles by the government of Japan.
Hasina said the DCC mayor is not performing his duties properly. “I invited him to attend this ceremony but he did not come. It would have been better if he came and see the vehicles.”
In this connection, she said that it was the sole responsibility of the DCC mayor to keep the capital city clean.
The premier expressed her dissatisfaction over the activities of the DCC and its mayor.
-The Daily Star

Bangladesh ranked first

Bangladesh ranked first in the world by sending 10,748 peacekeepers in the United Nations (UN) mission, an ISPR press release said yesterday.

Among the peacekeepers, 10,581 are male and 167 are female, the release said.
Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Egypt and Nepal ranked 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th position by sending 10635, 8704, 5786, 5463 and 4735 peacekeepers respectively.
On 31 October, the UN published a report on "Ranking of Military and Police Contribution to UN Operations" for identifying the position among the participating countries of the world in UN Peacekeeping Operations.
Bangladesh is trying to send more peacekeepers in Western Shahara and Darfur so that she can build-up better image of the nation, the release added.

3 million Muslims perform hajj

Nearly 3 million Muslims performing the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia began making their way up the rocky desert Mount Arafat yesterday, chanting that they have come to answer God's call.

The white-robed pilgrims began their ascent at the crack of dawn, covering the Mountain of Mercy at Arafat in an endless sea of white as their chants "Labbayek Allah," or "Here I am, God, answering your calling," reverberated overhead.
The climb at Arafat is one of the cornerstones of the pilgrimage, which is required from every able-bodied Muslim at least once in their life time. It's the site where Islam's Prophet Muhammad delivered his farewell sermon and Muslims believe on this day the doors of heavens open to answer prayers and grant forgiveness.
As they began their climb from the tent-city in the valley, many of the pilgrims looked tired from lack of sleep, having spent the entire night praying. Charities and vendors along the way handed out food packages and umbrellas to shield the climbers from the harsh sun.
One of the pilgrims, Wassim Ahmad, from Mumbai, India, said this was his first hajj and that he felt like a child, reborn.
"Today is like judgment day," said the 29-year-old. "We have come to pray to God ... a new child has been born."
Alone and obviously on her first hajj, 46-year-old Egyptian, Um Sayed, kept asking people for directions.
"There is nothing greater than feeling that you are going to meet God," she said. "The whole body shivers."
Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifa are the three stops on the pilgrims' journey during the hajj, as worshippers trace the steps of Prophet Muhammad.
The hajj draws millions of worshippers each year, the sheer numbers a challenge in preventing stampedes at holy sites, fires in pilgrim encampments and the spread of disease.
This year Saudi authorities have taken new measures to improve crowd management, including launching a new light-rail system to transport pilgrims between the shrines.

Sale of advance bus tickets for Eidul Azha begins

Sale of advance bus tickets for going to the northern region of the country from the capital on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha had begun on "first come first serve" basis Friday, said bus transport employees.

Employees of famous bus transports for northern districts -- Nabil Paribahan, Hanif Paribahan, Shyamoli Paribahan -- SR Paribahan -- said that they started selling advance tickets as per the decision of the leaders of bus owners' association.

"Leaders of Bus-Truck-Motor Malik Samiti (association of bus and track owners) at a sudden meeting held on Tuesday fixed the date and the fares" said the employees.

Usual fare for travelling to greater parts of northern districts (excluding Sirajganj and Bogra) is Tk 300 to 450 (non air conditioned) but it would be Tk 400 to 550 during the Eid.

The association decided to fix the fare at the same rate as during the Eid-ul-Fitr, said Shafikul Islam, manager of Nabil Paribahan.

He said during Eid prices of tickets will be Tk 100 to 130 higher than the ordinary fare.

Shafik said the tickets for November 11 to November 16 would be counted as Eid tickets, but before the mentioned dates the fare would be as usual.

Manager of Hanif Paribahan Md. Samad said all ticket seekers would get ticket on "first come first serve" basis and "so we have fixed the first day on a holiday (Friday) for selling the tickets."

However, on visiting the Gabtoli area Friday evening, the FE correspondent found thousands of ticket seekers lining at row outside the ticket counters. Most of them were seeking tickets of November 13 to 15.
-FE

Biman pilots call off strike

In a late night development, pilots of Biman Bangladesh Airlines called off their strike following assurance of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

"From now on all the pilots have joined our respective duties on assurance of the premier to look into our demands," Captain Shah Alam told The Daily Star coming out of Gono Bhaban.

Captain MA Basit Mahtab, general secretary of Bangladesh Airline Pilots' Association (BAPA), and Shah Alam went to the residence of the premier on her invitation to talk about the deadlock between the pilots of Biman and its management.

"But the prime minister could not see us as she had family engagement. She sent her Assistant Personal Secretary Saifuzzaman Shikhor with her message," Shah Alam added.

"We placed our demands before him and he assured us that the prime minister would look into our demands seriously," added the senior pilot of Biman.

Following the pilot strike, Biman had cancelled all its flights scheduled for yesterday and today but three flights did take off yesterday under special arrangements with foreign crew flying the planes, sources at Biman's operation department said.

Flights for Sylhet, Kolkata and Jeddah took off yesterday.

Biman cancelled as many as nine flights scheduled for today.

"Thousands of passengers of cancelled flights were either stranded at hotels or at the airports both home and abroad," said a Biman high official wishing not to be named.

Talking to The Daily Star in the afternoon at least five passengers--Jakir Hossain, Rezaul Karim, Shafiqul Islam, Ahad and another passenger wishing not to be named--said some of them will loose their jobs and date of entry for their visas will expire if they fail to reach Dubai and Riyadh on time.

"I have only one day left to reach Dubai…I therefore cancelled my Biman ticket and will fly on Gulf Air to save my job," said Ataur, who was scheduled to fly by Biman today.

The row between pilots and Biman started after the airline increased the retirement age of pilots from 57 to 62 years through an order issued on September 9.

Biman, however, said it would not provide pilots over 57 years with various benefits, including rehabilitation and insurance benefits if a pilot loses his or her wings for medical reasons.

The national flag carrier also said pilots between 57 and 62 would be out of the purview of the existing accord between Biman and BAPA.

But pilots, citing a provision for consulting them in the present agreement, said the pilots over 57 should be covered by the existing contract.

They say Biman acted on its own without talking to the pilots.

In early October, some pilots challenged the Biman decision to increase retirement age at the High Court.

The Biman managing director claimed that pilots went to the court without lodging their complaints with Biman. He hinted that conflict among pilots is causing Biman problems.

On October 22, pilots started protesting by only doing their duty described in the accord between BAPA and Biman and nothing more.

On October 26 they started calling in sick when Biman withdrew four crewmembers from flight duty.

-Daily Star