Archive for March 24th, 2008
Monday, March 24th, 2008The government yesterday decided to form a new high powered core committee, headed by the chief adviser (CA), to cushion the effects of soaring food prices, as public discontent over the issue has been rising.The committee, initiated at yesterday's weekly cabinet meeting, will meet tomorrow to discuss several safety-net measures for fixed and low-income group people, to be implemented in the upcoming months, said Press Secretary to the CA Syed Fahim Munaim, at a news briefing."There is no shortage, but it is a matter of purchasing power for the fixed-income and lower-income groups," said Fahim adding, "That's why we ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008Middlemen are cashing in on artificial shortage of cold storages by renting huge space, forcing the farmers in Munshiganj to sell potatoes at a loss even after bumper production.The price of potatoes in the field level has decreased by more than 25 percent in one month, as the farmers have no way to preserve their production.Against this backdrop, the middlemen are out to buy potato at a cheaper rate than the production cost, apparently forcing the farmers to stay off the potato field next season.At the beginning of harvesting period in February, per kilogram of potato was sold at Tk ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The jail authorities could not produce detained Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina before court yesterday because of her “unwillingness” despite being in “fine physical condition”.They made the observation in a written submission to the Special Court-1 hearing a graft case against the former prime minister.In reply, the court said failure to produce an accused for his/her unwillingness is rare in the history and ordered the jail authorities to ensure her presence on March 30.Meanwhile, doctors at Square Hospital yesterday said it will take 10 more days to complete her check-up.Speaking at a press briefing, head of the ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The government yesterday banned holding of the election of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), a day before the poll, claiming that the association did not take prior permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in accordance with the Emergency Power Rules (EPR).But SCBA's outgoing secretary AM Aminuddin told The Daily Star at 9:30pm yesterday that the bar election commission had not yet said anything about not holding the election, so it is hoped that the poll would be held and the government will not create any obstacle in holding it.A letter asking the SCBA to refrain from holding its election reached ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The government is going to slash its annual development expenditure by 15 percent, while allocating an additional Tk 15 crore for programmes to develop the livelihoods of the people of 10 districts, identified as lagging behind in reducing the rate of poverty.With a reduction of Tk 4,000 crore in the annual development programme (ADP) fund, the revised allocation for it will stand at Tk 22,500 crore.The revised ADP and the new allocation for the 10 lagging behind districts' development are scheduled to be placed at a general meeting of the National Economic Council for approval today.Sources in the planning ministry ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008After dilly-dallying for three weeks, the Power Cell yesterday verbally explained to representatives of Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation why its bids in Bibiyana and Sirajganj 450 megawatt (MW) power projects were rejected.The Power Cell, under the power ministry, in a letter informed Summit of its disqualification to participate in the Sirajganj power project on January 10 without giving any explicit reasons. On February 14, the cell in another letter disqualified Summit in the Bibiyana project citing reasons that Summit thought were wrong and unjust.This rejection reduced competition in these two major power bids. As Summit previously qualified for the ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008A number of lawmakers of Awami League (AL), BNP and Jatiya Party from the eighth parliament yesterday vowed to resist together the government move to vacate the Nam Bhaban flats allocated to them.In this rare instance of coming under a common platform, they took the firm stance to protect the "dignity and property" of parliament and vowed to declare different programmes including legal measures against the caretaker government's move.Terming the move "contempt" of the national parliament, they said the housing and public works ministry committee's decision to re-allocate the Nam flats to government officials and fix monthly rent and charges ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The pro-Saifur faction of BNP seems to be losing ground as most of the standing committee members of the party except three are siding with the pro-Khaleda faction.The three standing committee members who are still endorsing the pro-Saifur faction are Saifur Rahman himself, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman.The other standing committee members who took part in the controversial meeting of the standing committee on October 29 last year without party Chairperson Khaleda Zia's consent, recently took a u-turn and deserted the pro-Saifur faction for the pro-Khaleda faction.Three such members of the standing committee -- RA Gani, ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The new prime minister of Pakistan has the distinction of saying a big no to both President Pervez Musharraf and late Benazir Bhutto many times. Yousuf Raza Gilani has always been loyal to his party but he is not a "yes man" and that is the quality which impressed PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari a lot.Zardari nominated Gilani for the post of prime minister because he is sure that his nominee will not take any dictation either from the president or from any powerful diplomat. Only Zardari can take the risk of bringing a defiant person to the office ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The caretaker government decided to increase the sale of rice under the open-market sale (OMS) operation to alleviate public sufferings caused by high prices of essentials and appointed 540 more dealers across the country.Food and Disaster Management Adviser AMM Shawkat Ali yesterday told reporters about the expansion of the rice-selling operation at his ministry, a day after a government expert consultative meeting talked about various urgent interventions, UNB reports.“The decision to increase the sale of rice under OMS would not create any problem for food stock as the country now has six lakh tonnes of food in storage,” he ...
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