Archive for February 22nd, 2007
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007A large mangrove is in its death throes because of the greed of shrimp farmers. A land grabber syndicate has been annihilating the mangrove forest in Goldia Island of Cox's Bazar. Embankments are being constructed all over the island in order to make shrimp farms.When The Daily Star correspondent visited the area on February 15, approximately 200 workers were seen engaged in chopping down the mangrove forest, moving the timber somewhere else and building embankments for shrimp farms.Kashem Majhi, a labour leader, told The Daily Star that he had been leading 100 labourers to chop down the mangrove forest for ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007Barefeet, wearing black ribbons and clutching bouquets of flowers, thousands of people from all walks of life yesterday approached the Central Shaheed Minar in the capital to pay tributes to the fallen heroes of the Language Movement, observing International Mother Language Day.Like in every year Amar Ekushey once again reminded the Bangalee nation of the supreme sacrifice made by the language martyrs in the historic struggle for upholding the dignity of the nation's mother tongue Bangla, reasserting the spirit of not bowing down before any repression.Many went to the Shaheed Minar with only a single rose or a tuberose in ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007Joint forces during their nationwide drives yesterday recovered various goods including 2,50,000 sacks of spoilt dates, 600 litres of adulterated coconut oil and 250 pieces of corrugated iron (CI) sheets for relief from houses of BNP and Jatiya Party (JP) leaders. They arrested eight people including a sub assistant agriculture officer.TANGAIL The army-led joint forces seized around 2,50,000 sacks (per bag 15 kg to 30 kg) of spoilt dates from a cold storage at Mirzapur upazila in Tangail and arrested three employees of the cold storage, reports our correspondent.The arrestees are identified as cold storage employees Shyamal Chandra Banik, ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007A special taskforce seized former BNP lawmaker Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan's BMW car worth about Tk 3 crore from a garage of his close aide and local BNP leader Mohammad Mahfuz in Khagrachhari yesterday.Comprising members of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the taskforce raided the house of Mahfuz at Kalabagan at about 1:00pm and seized the expensive vehicle, police sources said.The taskforce arrived from Dhaka earlier to investigate the allegations of corruption against Wadud, who was detained earlier this month.The former lawmaker imported the branded car defying rules and regulations in October 2006, sources said.Mia ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007The persisting tussle between foreign and local ship owners is greatly hampering exports making thousands of tonnes of cargo stockpiled at the ports.Around, 21,000 tonnes of raw jute to be exported to Pakistan piled up at Mongla port recently due to conflicts between the two groups of ship owners, according to sources.Foreign flag carrier ships have to take a waiver (no objection certificate) from Bangladesh government before loading any export cargo as the flag vessel protection ordinance 1982 gives priority to local ships to carry goods from the country.Local ships take advantage of this and create obstacles to ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007The BNP high command is trying to revitalise leaders and workers, who have virtually lost morals having seen the magnitude of corruption by a number of powerful leaders of the party and its front organisation.Sources said party leaders' worry is also growing with corruption allegations against party chief Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman getting stronger day by day.This will cause among the leaders and workers a serious loss of confidence in the party leadership, they said.A few BNP leaders said they now think it would be better to be in the opposition through an election at the quickest ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007Hundreds of Bangla speaking people from Bangladesh, and West Bengal of India had a get together on the no man's land at Benapole border yesterday on the occasion of International Mother Language Day. Individuals and cultural and social organisations from the two countries jointly observed the day there.Singers from both the countries sang patriotic folk songs and the national anthems of the two countries.They hugged each other and exchanged sweets and flowers among themselves.Elated with fraternal emotion, many of the participants started to cry with joy during the event.They observed a minute of silence in honour of ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007A Mughal era architecture, the Parobarpur mosque in Kaliganj, is in a shambles due to lack of proper maintenance and supervision. The beautiful terracotta structure of archaeological value has lost its glory as many wall ornamentations were stolen or damaged, said a senior official of the Department of Archaeology.The roof of the mosque caved in, the walls got damaged while plants, shrubs and trees have been growing all over the structure that has become a refuge for stray animals.On the outside, the mosque is 52 feet 5 inches long and 39 feet 8 inches wide and the walls are ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007At least Tk 43 lakh of Shariakandi Pourasabha was misappropriated through bills in the name of fake projects, a district administration probe report reveals.The report found that pourasabha Chairman Md Abdul Hamid Sarder embezzled Tk 2,42,093 showing fake bills of construction work for a fake project in the municipality areas.It is alleged that although the investigation report was submitted four years ago, the authority has not yet taken any action.The probe committee headed by former additional deputy commissioner General Abdul Mannan was formed following written complaints of a few ward commissioners to investigate irregularities and financial corruptions of the establishment.The ...
(read more) Thursday, February 22nd, 2007Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus formally launches his political party today before leaving for UAE on a four-day visit.According to a close aide of Yunus, the Nobel laureate will formally announce the name of his party, its objectives and philosophy through another open letter to the people.He will make the formal declaration of his party at Zia International Airport at 7:00pm.In UAE, the Nobel peace prize winner will address an International Students Conference as keynote speaker. He will return home on February 26.
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