Archive for November 12th, 2009
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Attempt by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) to retrieve the city's parking spaces during the ongoing drive has fallen flat, as it had happened every time in the past.Each and every evicted illegal occupant of designated car parking spaces at business centres has come back to their earlier position just within a week of demolition, proving the futility of government effort.Occupants of basement and ground-floor parking spaces at various commercial centres are back with immaculate reconstruction of demolished structures to the utter frustration of city dwellers.“Rajuk's eviction drives seem ridiculous, as the deviant building owners rebuild and set up unauthorised ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009The constitution empowers the parliamentary standing committees to examine draft bills before placing them in parliament to enact laws but successive governments have not followed the provision.The common practice is that the cabinet approves the draft bills or any legislative proposals, which are placed in the House as bills later for turning them into laws.The bills are sent to the parliamentary standing committees for scrutiny only after they are placed in parliament. But on the functions of the committees, article 76 (2) (a) of the constitution says the parliamentary standing committees are to examine the draft bills and ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009Two of Adflame Pharmaceutical's directors and one of its managers, charged with adulteration of paracetamol syrup 17 years ago, did not appear before the Dhaka Drug Court yesterday despite having been summoned.The judge, disappointed by the failure of police to provide any report to the court regarding their whereabouts, issued a fresh summon notice against the accused, and threatened to take 'departmental action' against the officer-in-charge of New Market police station at the next hearing on November 20, if he then fails to produce any report.On being informed by a Daily Star reporter recently that the High Court had vacated ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009The government announced a 52 percent increase, on average, in the basic salary of the public servants in the seventh national pay scale and fixed the highest salary at Tk 40,000 and the minimum at Tk 4,100.After the cabinet approved the new pay scale yesterday Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith announced it in the evening at a crowded press briefing at the Prime Minister's Office.Separate pay scales for the judicial service has been announced for the first time this year as the judiciary was separated from the executive during the last caretaker government.Replying to a query he ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday reiterated her government's tough stand against tender manipulation and extortion.She advised the leaders and activists of the ruling Awami League's associate organisation Jubo League to be self-reliant using their own merit and strength."We don't want to hear any incident of tender manipulation and extortion," said Hasina, also the AL chief.The PM was addressing a discussion arranged on the occasion of the 37th founding anniversary of Jubo League at the city's Bangabandhu International Convention Centre yesterday evening.Hasina told the Jubo Leaguers that the government will help the youths in becoming self-reliant in ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009Chief state counsel of Bangabandhu assassination case advocate Anisul Huq yesterday appealed to the Supreme Court to uphold the death sentence of the convicts, saying there is no scope for mercy as their offence was proved beyond doubt.Meanwhile, barrister Abdullah-al Mamun, counsel for convicts Bazlul Huda and AKM Mohiuddin, prayed to the court to acquit his clients or at least commute their sentence, claiming they were not involved in the incidents of August 15, 1975.The lawyers made the appeals while concluding their submission before the five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Md Tafazzul Islam on the 28th ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009BNP sent a rejoinder regarding our report headlined "Aug 21 Attack on Hasina, AL Rally: It was Hawa Bhaban Plot" published on October 27. The Daily Star published the rejoinder along with a reply on November 1. In response to our reply, BNP Secretary General Khondkar Delwar Hossain sent another letter to the editor. We publish full text of the letter and our response below:FULL TEXT OF BNP'S LETTER (Paragraphs numbered by us) 1. We would like to thank you for printing our rejoinder in your issue of 1st November 2009 in full. However, your response has disappointed us.2. At the outset, ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009Former director of National Security Intelligence (NSI), brigadier general (Retd) Enamur Rahman Chowdhury, yesterday blamed another former NSI director (security) wing commander (Retd) Sahab Uddin for the transportation of 10 truckloads of firearms in 2004.He also blamed ex-home secretary Omar Faruk for manipulating the high-level probe committee report that implicated only five persons creating scope for most of those involved in the incident to elude the charge, sources in Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said.The ex-NSI director was also a member of the high-level five-member probe body the home ministry had formed following the seizure of ten truckloads of firearms in ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to move fast for quick disposal of all the pending income tax cases to realise the outstanding money from the defaulters.She gave the directive while presiding over the quarterly Financial and Economic Review meeting at the PM's Office yesterday.In this context, the PM asked the NBR authority to take firm steps against the tax-dodgers so that "in no way they can get tax exemptions."Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Deputy Press Secretary to the PM Nazrul Islam said the meeting discussed in detail the country's existing economic ...
(read more) Thursday, November 12th, 2009Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday night raided the residence of Kazi Azizul Huq, an adviser of Islamic Democratic Party (IDP) and a close associate of IDP Chief Sheikh Abdus Salam who is now being grilled on a remand in August 21 grenade attack case.During the raid that was conducted following an information from Salam, the CID men could not arrest Azizul as he had gone out of his residence, but seized some important documents and a computer's hard disk, said a source close to the IDP leaders.The CID also interrogated one of Azizul's two sons for around three ...
(read more) 
