Archive for September, 2009
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009A limited company of powerful businessmen will soon take over Dhanmondi playground, earmarked in the city's master plan as a common field, to build there a mini stadium with exclusive sports facilities much to the chagrin of local residents.Dhanmondi Club, now a limited company, has been named after Sheikh Jamal, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's slain brother, said sources.Noted environmentalists denounced the move and said the playground is a public property, which will now serve the business interest of a group of affluent people.During the military rule of Ershad, Public Works Department (PWD), the official custodian of the playground, designated Dhaka ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Permits given to big dealers to buy sugar changed hands several times at higher rates during Ramadan, leading to the abnormal rise in the commodity's price at that time, traders and intelligence agency sources said.Dealers obtain delivery orders (DOs) for sugar from mills by paying in advance. There are around 300 dealers at the Moulavibazar wholesale market in Dhaka and Khatunganj in Chittagong, but only a few big dealers buy sugar from millers in bulk amounts.The rest make business by selling the DOs. Each time a DO changes hands, new costs are most likely taxed on sugar, sources observed.A DO ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Ten professors and an associate professor of different departments of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), the lone medical university in the country, were dismissed yesterday for their alleged political affiliation.University Registrar Abdul Gafur who served the termination letter to those teachers told The Daily Star the eleven were relieved of their jobs because their appointments flouted the Public Servants (retirements) Act, 1974 that prohibited the recruitment of retired government officials as permanent employees.He also said the act states that the retired persons could join any autonomous institute on a contract basis but they cannot be made permanent. The dismissal ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009The Detective Branch of police yesterday arrested former BNP state minister Amanullah Aman at Zia International Airport in an attempt-to-murder case filed by one of his party colleagues.The former student leader was held as soon as he got off a Thai Airways flight from Singapore at around 1:30pm. Police took him straight to a Dhaka court which sent him to jail.The arrest sparked fierce demonstrations by a group of BNP activists disrupting traffic on Airport Road for about an hour.Police charged baton to disperse the stone-throwing protesters, said witnesses.Vehicular movement on the busy thoroughfare returned to normalcy at around 2:30pm.Police ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Regular promotions and service confirmation of a number of engineers at Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) remain stalled due to lawsuits filed by themselves or department proceedings.Besides, most of the key positions of DCC are being held by the officials on deputation from army and civil service hampering services of the important local government body.Meanwhile, DCC's Superintendent Engineer Md Farukh Aziz was arrested from Sheikhertek Mohammadpur area last night on charge of brandishing firearms before his boss for promotion.Captain Taifur Mahbub of Rab-3 said they held Farukh at 8:00 pm following a general diary filed with Shahbagh Police Station on Sunday ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda yesterday said Awami League lawmaker Abdul Jalil's recent remarks on the ninth parliamentary election are “nothing but outpouring of frustrations”.Maintaining that the December 29 election was free, fair and neutral, he said people, not any frustrated person, will judge the fairness of the polls.The CEC made the observations while talking to reporters at the Election Commission."The way we conducted the polls was lauded both at home and abroad," he added.Asked if he knows of any understanding between AL and the past caretaker government as claimed by Jalil, the polls chief said, "I'm not aware ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Ten activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) allegedly gang-raped a teenage girl Friday night and were later handed down mere punishment at village arbitration arranged to ensure their escape by local Awami League leaders.Family sources say the AL leaders compelled the victim's father not to go for legal action and also took their signatures on three blank sheets to stop any future move to that end.Police also released two of the accused held on the spot while handing the victim over to her father early Saturday morning.A band of 16 youths kidnapped the girl, a class VII student of Pakhimara ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia deplored that the present government is not paying attention to public welfare nor fulfilling its pre-election pledges, as Awami League "didn't come to power with people's vote but through rigging."To underpin her observations, she said a former general secretary of the ruling party divulged that AL came to power 'through entente and rigging,' which her party has complained repeatedly after the December 29 polls.The BNP chairperson cautioned the government that her party doesn't want to launch movement now.But, if the government wants to implement agreements against the country's interest, her party would launch movement and build ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Two committees--one led by the FBCCI and the other by the commerce ministry--were formed yesterday to investigate the recent sugar scam that led to an abnormal rise in the commodity's price during Ramadan.The committees were formed at a time when eight sugar traders have been hiding following a government declaration that they would be arrested.Commerce Minister Faruk Khan briefed the media about the committees after his meeting with a delegation of traders led by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) President Annisul Huq at the ministry.Moulavibazar Traders Association President Enayet Ullah, and leaders of Bangladesh Dokan Malik ...
(read more) Wednesday, September 30th, 2009A Swechchhasebok League leader was killed and 10 others were injured in a clash between two groups of Hindu devotees at Shyambazar in Sutrapur area in the capital yesterday.Both the groups alleged the clash erupted over taking control of 32 kathas of land on RM Das Lane at Bhushipatti in Sutrapur.Goutam Sarker, 34, Swechchhasebok League president of Ward No 79, succumbed to bullet injuries at a private clinic two hours after a stray bullet him. The source of the bullet remains unknown.Among the injured, Pankaj, 24, was also hit by bullet.Officer-in-Charge Tofazzal Hossain of Sutrapur police station said the clash ...
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