Archive for March 29th, 2007
Thursday, March 29th, 2007Casting a grim look at the black and stinky liquid waste flow in the narrow Devdholai river, Afazuddin Mia, a resident of Nasirabad village by the river in Trimohini area on the outskirts of the capital, said the water is so toxic that even a snake would not dare to cross it. "You would not find anything alive in the river water except mosquitoes using it as an ideal breeding place. Sometimes we have to stay inside mosquito net even in daytime," Afazuddin said.The septuagenarian was narrating the miserable condition of the river and people of the villages along its ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007The government has taken a move to amend the Emergency Power Ordinance-2007 to have powers to formulate special provisions to strengthen the ongoing crackdown on the corrupt. Once the amendment is made with retrospective effect from January 12, any rules can be formulated on requirement of the authorities to combat corruption, sources said.Directed by the government, the Ministry of Home Affairs has prepared a draft of the amendment and the law ministry has vetted it. The chief adviser, who is in charge of the home ministry, has approved the draft that is likely to be placed before the council ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007The World Bank sees no respite from the country's power crisis in the next few years, though lenders are showing interest in financing various power projects in the country -- upto 700 MW in private sector and another 1,200 MW in public sector.The crisis will persist because power demand continues to shooting up by 10 percent every year at a time when financial condition of the sector is so messed up that private investors have become too sceptic about the government's ability to pay for power."At first Bangladesh has to catch up with its load-shedding of 2,500 MW by ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Moeen U Ahmed yesterday said the administration is working towards its objective of holding an acceptable national election."It is the representatives of the people elected through fair election free from the influence of money and muscle can provide the leadership to steer the nation toward progress," the army chief told the meetings of the officials at Habiganj and Moulvibazar.He compared present Bangladesh with a derailed train and said the nation needs an efficient administrator to bring it to the right track for ensuring progress and prosperity.The army chief reminded the officials of the situation ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007In two poultry farms at Morelganj in Bagherhat yesterday 592 chickens died, which had been bought from Biman Poultry Hatchery in Savar, where the first case of Bird Flu had been detected, sources said. The district livestock officials sent samples of the chickens to Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute (BLRI) but a report is yet to arrive.Livestock department officials are carrying out surveillance in all affected districts but did not take any measure to cull free range chickens in Jamalpur and Tangail within a kilometre radius of the infected farms there, which is supposed to be the official strategy for ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday finalised preparation for filing a Tk 127-crore corruption case against former housing and public works minister Mirza Abbas and 11 engineers and officials of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (Rajuk) and Public Works Department (PWD).Violating the authorities' direction in selling 18 abandoned houses of the government, they in connivance with one another sold the houses on fake auction that resulted in a loss worth Tk 127 crore 64 lakh and 29 thousand to the government as the houses were sold at much lower prices than the market prices, ACC sources said.Investigation Officer Shafiul Alam was supposed ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007Tarique Rahman, BNP's senior joint secretary general, and his close friend Giasuddin Al Mamun, already accused in two and four cases respectively, will face several other cases on different charges including extortion, issuing threats and money laundering, sources said.A businessman lodged an extortion case against Tarique and Mamun with Gulshan Police Station On Tuesday while another businessman filed two extortion cases against Mamun, former BNP lawmaker Khairul Kabir Khokan and five others with Gulshan and Kafrul police stations in the city.Sources said investigators already received enough evidence and information from Tarique regarding extortion and siphoning off a huge amount of ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007The World Bank (WB) and different United Nations (UN) bodies yesterday assured the government of providing financial and technical assistances to combat the spread of Avian Influenza virus in the country."We will provide assistance to the government to establish a laboratory in Dhaka for identifying bird flu virus," Dr Duangvadee Sungkhobol, representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said. "We are also ready to provide support for training health workers so that they can care for the patients, if the flu spreads among human," she added.The WHO official, the UN resident coordinator, the WB country director and the representatives of ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007Although Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury yesterday said Major (retd) Mohiuddin, the condemned killer of Bangabandhu, will be deported "soon", a US Congressman requested the Homeland Security to delay the deportation."Soon," the adviser told reporters at the foreign ministry after a meeting with US Ambassador Patricia Butenis.Chowdhury would not say how long it could take to complete the deportation procedure to send Mohiuddin back to Dhaka.A source in the US embassy told the news agency that he would ultimately be deported to Bangladesh, but hastened to add that nothing could be confirmed until he arrives.The Los Angeles Times said ...
(read more) Thursday, March 29th, 2007The Election Commission (EC) has made a move to impose a ban on the use of portraits or names of national leaders in election campaigns by contesting political parties and candidates. It has also planned to ban the use of religion in election campaigns, according to sources in the EC.The sources said the EC is taking steps to amend the code of conduct for contesting political parties and candidates in parliamentary elections.Once the reforms are implemented, two major political parties -- Awami League and BNP -- will not be allowed to use images of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and ...
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