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
Saturday, October 30, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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