Archive for February 25th, 2007
Sunday, February 25th, 2007Metropolitan Magistrate Rokon Ud-Doula never discloses early which place his mobile court is going to raid, not even to his team. When he started at 4:00am yesterday, with 23 journalists from both print and electronic media, nobody knew where they were going.The drive eventually proved to be a huge one in its history as the mobile court jailed 10 wholesale fish traders and destroyed 172 maunds or six and a half tonnes (a maund=37.5kg approx) formalin-treated fishes and seized five maunds jatka (small Hilsha) from the wholesale fish markets at Sawarighat, Kaptan Bazar and Waizghat in the city.The court comprising ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007Awami League (AL) is making a move to reform itself by strengthening internal democracy, bringing transparency to the party's accounts, and modernising the system of induction of members.It will also register with the Election Commission (EC), take collective decisions, hold councils on time, establish accountability at all levels, and take actions against corrupt and criminal members, among other things, according to party sources.AL President Sheikh Hasina held a closed door meeting with some of the party's top leaders and all joint and organising secretaries in her Dhanmondi office on Friday night as part of her initiative to reform the ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007The 72-hour deadline for submissions of wealth statements by 50 corruption suspects to the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) expires at 5:00pm today with only five of them so far complying with the order.If any listed suspect fails to submit his or her wealth statement to the anti-graft commission within the deadline, movable and immovable properties of that person will be confiscated, according to the summons signed by ACC Secretary Delwar Hossain.Delwar Hossain on Thursday told newsmen that some of the listed suspects received the summons late, so the commission might extend the deadline for them till 12 noon or 1:00pm Monday.Former ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007The joint forces and local administration yesterday recovered 1,486 acres of forestland from 15 land grabbers and demolished many illegal structures in Sonadia island in the district. They made the recovery during a five-hour drive that began at 10:00am.The illegal occupants were using those lands for more than five years for shrimp and salt farming, clearing mangrove forests, local forest department officials said.Illegal occupation of government land and indiscriminate destruction of forests have become an order of the day in Cox's Bazar coastal areas, mainly for shrimp cultivation, they mentioned.Many more forestlands in Sadar and Moheshkhali upazilas of the ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007A Dhaka court yesterday sent to jail former state minister Mir Nasiruddin's son while the joint forces in countrywide drives arrested the public prosecutor (PP) of Meherpur and several ward commissioners and union parishad (UP) chairmen.In the port city, the army-led teams held Chittagong City Corporation Ward Commissioner and port CBA leader Jahangir Alam and Sandwip Ward Commissioner Nazim Uddin. In Sylhet, they arrested Sylhet City Corporation Ward Commissioner and BNP leader Farhad Chowdhury Shamim.A press release of the police headquarters yesterday said the law enforcers arrested 1,489 people on various charges and seized 11 firearms and 50 bullets from ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said the government is cracking down on the corrupt and criminals to restore discipline and ensure accountability in the financial sector.A number of reform measures have been initiated to ensure a level playing field, the chief adviser said, adding, "And such activities will be intensified in the future for ensuring a stable socio-economic structure as well as for holding a free and fair election."The chief adviser was speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Tower at Nikunja in the capital yesterday.He said there is no alternative to ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007Government bank borrowing reduced by Tk 700 crore in the first month of the present caretaker government thanks to a number of tighter fiscal measures and increased revenue collection.According to finance ministry sources, the amount of the government borrowing from banks was Tk 6,300 on January 12, the day the current government took office, and the figure was Tk 5,602 crore on February 13.Finance division sources said they are following strict measures regarding fund realisation for different proposals of the ministries.The government has also taken stern monitoring initiatives regarding revenue spending, sources added.Meanwhile, revenue collection also grew by 9.06 ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007Successive Election Commissions (ECs) have been ignoring electoral laws regarding voter identity (ID) cards for the last seven years by stalling the process of issuing the cards to the voters. A high-powered inquiry committee, which unearthed the reasons behind the failure of the project for issuing voter ID cards before the parliamentary election in 1996, said the EC's step to stop the process of issuing the cards was not lawful as it is mandatory for the commission to issue them, according to sources.But the EC has been ignoring the legal provision since 2000 and now the reconstituted EC, which initiated ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007A mobile court in an anti-pollution drive here yesterday unearthed an illegal factory of Reckitt Benckiser Bangladesh and sealed it off.While raiding a building at Nasirabad Industrial Area, the court discovered that raw materials of mosquito coils were being processed in the factory located on the ground floor causing serious air pollution and posing health hazards.The factory, owned by the multi-national pharmaceutical company, neither had the required permission from the environment department nor had any signboard outside.The court sealed the factory off and imposed a fine of Tk 3 lakh on the company and the building owner.Meanwhile, the court ...
(read more) Sunday, February 25th, 2007Shopping malls all over the country will shut at 7:00pm daily from today under load management plan aimed at tackling a chronic power crisis.Kitchen markets and medicine stores are exempted from the measure taken last week in a meeting between Power and Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury and representatives of the Shop Owners Association at Bangladesh Secretariat.To enforce the decision, about 100 mobile teams of Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (DESA) will move and monitor the compliance in the capital.Member (Engineering & Commercial) Ataul Masud told the news agency that his organisation has taken all steps to ensure the implementation of the ...
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