Archive for February 16th, 2007
Friday, February 16th, 2007The Election Commission (EC) is preparing a set of reform proposals including the ones for independence of its secretariat and stringent electoral laws to ensure the next parliamentary election is free and fair.Making registration of the political parties mandatory, barring the utility service bill defaulters from contesting the polls, introducing transparent ballot boxes and increasing a candidate's election expenditure from Tk 5 lakh to Tk 10 lakh will also figure in the proposals. The commission will meet on Sunday to finalise those, sources said.The reforms envisage that civil or military bureaucrats cannot compete in an election before three years ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007Chief Adviser (CA) Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday called upon the public servants not to compromise on their need to be completely free from the influence of any individuals, vested groups or politics to regain the trust and respect of the people."As officials of the republic, you have to be completely free of individual, group or political influence. You (civil servants) have to be proactive in establishing an honest, impartial and neutral image. The people's trust and respect have to be earned. There is no scope for compromise on these issues," said Fakhruddin in his first address to deputy commissioners (DCs) and ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007Former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu was sent to jail yesterday after he turned himself in to a Dhaka court to seek bail in two cases for attempted murder and theft.The student leader-turned-politician whose name is closely linked with several crimes had been evading arrest since the joint forces launched a countrywide hunt for top corrupt people and criminals last month.The former president of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, student wing of BNP, captured a room at the MP Hostel immediately after winning the 2001 parliamentary elections from Lalbagh-Kamrangirchar constituency although no room had yet been allotted there to him.During his stint ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007Secretary to the Anti-Corruption Commission Mohammad Delwar Hossain yesterday publicly disclosed statement on his personal assets, income and expenditure.This is the first time a senior bureaucrat has made such a move.The 746 employees of the ACC at present would also make their wealth statement public within the next three weeks, the ACC secretary told the press while disclosing his wealth statement at his office.The ACC would publicly disclose findings of some of the major inquiries into various allegations of corruption by the end of this month or early next month, he added."From the legal and moral point of view, all ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007The government will act also against people in different professions accused of graft as part of its ongoing drive to curb the menace of corruption.Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Secretary Delwar Hossain yesterday said the anti-graft body knows how some influential individuals both in public and private sector hold back information about their massive incomes and wealth.He made the observations while publishing his wealth statement at a press briefing in his office yesterday.All of those arrested so far on allegations of corruption are leaders of the two major political parities. A few businessmen held on corruption charges too are involved ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007The army-led joint forces arrested the elder brother of detained former BNP lawmaker Abdul Wadood Bhuiyan yesterday. As part of their ongoing countrywide drive, they also arrested 1,449 others on various charges in the last 24 hours preceding 6:00am yesterday.Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel arrested eight top BNP leaders of Khagrachhari including Belayet Hossen Bhuiyan alias Saheb, elder brother of Wadood Bhuiyan, in separate raids early yesterday, our Khagrachhari correspondent reports.Belayet, chairman of Ramgour municipality and also the president of Ramgour upazila BNP, was arrested at his house.The other arrestees are Ramgour upazila BNP Secretary and Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Nurul ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007The government yesterday signed three credit agreements involving $ 170m with the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the plans to transform Bangladesh Railways into a well-managed and customer-focused organisation.Of the total amount, ADB is providing $130 million under two agreements while the World Bank $ 40 million in the third agreement.ERD Secretary Md Aminul Islam Bhuiyan inked the deals for the government of while Country Directors Hua Du and Zhu Xian signed on behalf of ADB and WB at a simple ceremony at ERD's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar office.Penny Davies of DFID, UK, Masami Tamura of ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007The government is working on enacting consumer protection act to protect consumer rights and competition law to define hoarding and increase competition in the domestic market, Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said yesterday.Addressing a discussion on immediate challenges for the caretaker government, the finance adviser also said he is in favour of scrapping the provision of whitening black money through investing in property in the coming budget."I will take up the matter in the council of advisers' meeting -- whether budgetary provision of whitening black money to be continued. But my personal opinion is that this provision should be ...
(read more) Friday, February 16th, 2007A top official of India's industrial giant Tata yesterday said they are exploring the possibility of starting off its $3 billion package investment project in Bangladesh through a good conclusion of the final deal.Tata's package investment proposals include setting up of a 2.4million-ton steel plant, a fertiliser plant, a 475MW gas-fired power plant and the development of Barapukuria coal mine through open-cast methodology.The project remained suspended since last July, before the previous government handed over power to the caretaker government."We are exploring the possibility of seeing if we can start off again from where we left last time and ...
(read more) 
