Archive for September 18th, 2006
Monday, September 18th, 2006As 19 power generation units remain shut down, the country is reeling under perennial power cuts with daily power supply shortfall exceeding 2200 megawatts (MW) -- the highest power shortage in the country ever.According to the data from the Power Development Board (PDB), against the 'official' demand of 4,300 MW yesterday, the country's power plants were producing 3,126 MW in the peak hours. But according to the power demand chart of the Rural Electrification Board (REB), Dhaka Electric Supply Authorities (Desa) and its company Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco) and the PDB, the demand for power was 5,400 MW -- ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006The Awami League (AL) led 14-party opposition combine at a grand rally in the capital today will announce the final round of agitation seeking to force the ruling alliance to concede the demand for electoral reforms.Thousands of the opposition leaders and workers from different districts were already bound for Dhaka yesterday to join the rally at historic Paltan Maidan.For the last few days, the 14-party has been going all out to mobilise more than a million people in the rally with a view to proving the popularity of the demand for reforms.It has instructed its leaders and workers ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman HM Ershad was acquitted of graft charges yesterday in yet another case filed against him during the previous BNP government in connection with allotment of plots of land violating government laws. The acquittal is also the fourth for him in a month. In its verdict, the First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court that began the trial in 1998 observed that the former president has been harassed with the case for the last 14 years."It has been proven that the case was filed on political grounds to harass the former president," Judge SM Mojibur Rahman said ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday fined 13 former directors, a former managing director and a company secretary of the Oriental Bank Ltd for breaching securities rules.The directors and the managing director were fined Tk 500,000 each while the incumbent company secretary Tk 100,000, sources said.The payments will have to be made to the stock market regulator by bank draft or pay order within the next 15 days.The former directors were disciplined for not furnishing the commission with uninterrupted audio-visual records of the 18th annual general meeting (AGM) held on October 16, 2005.The bank had submitted edited minutes of the ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006A prison van crammed with arrestees was waiting in front of Pallabi Police Station in the city yesterday afternoon. Among the grim faced insiders, one--continuously sobbing in a corner of the van--looked too innocent to be a victim of mass arrest.Fighting back tears, the youth, Mohammed Russell, said he is a day labourer and came all the way from Netrakona to collect some pending bills from a man in Kafrul.He said Kafrul police picked him from Mirpur Section-13 on his way to Kafrul. "I was supposed to go back home this morning. I do not know how my family will ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Rejecting outright the proposed pay structure for the garment workers, owners urged the government to return the matter to the Minimum Wage Board immediately and fix a revised lowest wage instead of a full-fledged scale.Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) at an emergency general meeting at their office yesterday also condemned the workers' leaders for 'provoking' the workers without considering the real situation.They questioned who would take the responsibility of the workers if the factories are shut down and the workers become unemployed as a result of 'unrealistic wage hike'.The BGMEA members gave the association's executive committee full authority ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Although the essential security alarm system at Chittagong and Mongla ports for ships, remained off for the last four consecutive days, the government and high officials of the Chittagong Port Authority seem to be in no hurry to immediately restore the system.When contacted, State Minister for Shipping Quamrul Islam echoed Port Chairman AMM Shahadat Hossain, who downplayed the disruption as a 'rumour'. Quamrul Islam also does not see any problem in disconnecting the mobile phone lines which are a vital part of the alarm system.He told The Daily Star last night that everything is fine and the collapse of ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Bangladesh yesterday called for enhancing the dormant South-South Cooperation for fostering peace, security and economic development in the less developed hemisphere of the world.The call was made in the country statement presented by Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan on the second day of the 14th Nam (Non-Aligned Movement) Summit in Havana.The Summit concluded with the adoption of Havana Declaration and an outcome document, reaffirming the principles and objectives of Nam and calling for solidarity among its members to address the challenges facing the Movement.Delivering the statement on behalf of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, Morshed recognised the relevance of ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday cautioned that those who want to foil the upcoming general election will have to bear all the consequences as the people will not allow them to execute that plot.She said the people of Bangladesh are ready to resist any move to foil the election."Whoever doesn't want the election to be held is enemy of the people, country's development and democracy. They (opposition) will have to be resisted," Khaleda, also chairperson of the ruling BNP, told a big public meeting in Barisal.She noted that a political vacuum would be created in the country if ...
(read more) Monday, September 18th, 2006Irked by the ongoing election campaign through posters, billboards and wall writings by aspirant candidates, the Election Commission (EC) has planned to stop the campaign before declaring the election schedule. "These are immoral activities. But we can not take any step at this moment due to legal limitations," Abdur Rashid Sarkar, secretary of the EC Secretariat, yesterday told reporters at his office.The EC will soon hold meetings with the police administration and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) as they have jurisdictions to stop the unauthorised campaign, he said."We will ask the police administration and Dhaka City Corporation authorities to ...
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