Archive for January, 2010
Sunday, January 31st, 2010The Titas Gas company has started working on introducing prepaid meters for all consumers on an urgent basis to stop wastage, increase efficient use of natural gas and end the default billing culture.Besides, the company has started asking industries using gas-fired old boilers and furnace to either replace them with more energy-efficient boilers and furnaces or switch to alternative fuel within six months.The energy ministry had earlier asked Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd (TGTDCL) to take up these measures to ensure better use of gas. The ministry was prompted to do so in the wake of acute gas ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010n this exclusive interview with The Daily Star, Maj Gen (retd) KM Shafiullah, Bir Uttam, who was the army chief when Bangabandhu was killed on August 15, 1975, tells Inam Ahmed and Julfikar Ali Manik what was happening in the army before and after the killings.The artillery and armoured divisions of Bangladesh Army were into regular night training twice a month. Thursdays and Fridays were chosen for the training and incidentally the August 15 night fell between these two days."One big problem [at that time] was that the army did not have any organised intelligence wing," Shafiullah says. The ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday said the six fugitive killers of father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be brought back home and executed."Wherever the killers are, they will be brought back and executed. The world is small, where will they escape to?" said the premier at Gano Bhaban where the ruling Awami League's extended meeting was held after 20 months.Hasina, also the AL president, directed her party's grassroots leaders to pay sincere attention to protect the country's environment, plant trees and stop cutting trees from the green places. She warned that no deviation would be tolerated in ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010Climate change will have an adverse effect on public health -- particularly that of children -- agriculture and environment, health experts said yesterday.They were speaking at a roundtable discussion titled "Climate change: The biggest health threat coming our way" jointly organised by The Daily Star and Health 21 at the conference room of the English daily.Prof Pran Gopal Dutta, vice chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, said, "If temperature goes up from 5 to 8 degrees Celsius, children will be affected the most and 10 percent of them will not be able to celebrate their fifth birth ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010Departmental trial of the accused mutineers of Bangladesh Rifles is expected to start at 10 separate points of the Pilkhana headquarters in less than a month.The authorities have already started readying the 10 points at five battalions and five units inside the HQ by February 25, say insiders.The ten points where the trial will be held are Rifles headquarters battalion and BDR 24, 36, 13, and 44 battalions, Dhaka sector headquarters, BDR hospital, Rifle Security Unit (RSU), Signal Sector and Rifles Sports Board.Arrangements are being made to hold the trial at 10 points as the number of accused is huge. ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010Rab recovered an 'Arges grenade' and arrested five people from Sreebordi upazila of Sherpur district early yesterday for their alleged attempt to implicate a BNP leader in a false case.The arrestees are Reazul Karim Pakku, former village police Kamruzzaman alias Kamar Dafadar, Abdul Alim, Mohammad Manik and Mohammad Nanda.Rab sources said a few days ago the gang led by Pakku kept the grenade over the ceiling of Sreebordi upazila unit BNP president Abdul Hakim's house at Satani to implicate him (Hakim) in a false case.Pakku, a former police informer, collected the grenade from Kamar Dafadar who was sacked from ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010BNP, the main opposition in parliament, will hold view-exchange meetings with its grassroots level leaders as part of its plan to reorganise the party across the country.According to the plan, at least ten meetings will be held with field level leaders in six divisional cities starting from Sylhet on February 6.The programme is aimed at boosting the field level activists and restoring the image of Tarique Rahman arrested on charges of corruption during the military-backed caretaker government, party insiders said.Pro-BNP intellectuals and BNP leaders will discuss the party strategies in relation to the latest political situation and 'Tarique's contribution ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010Around 10 percent of mentally ill patients at the National Institute of Mental Health are discharged before completing their course of treatment because they cannot afford the inflated costs of hospital beds.In the last two years, the charge for a hospital bed has almost tripled. In 2008, the cost of a hospital bed per night was Tk 80. Later it increased to Tk 125 and now it costs Tk 225. For a month long stay in hospital, patients now pay Tk 6750 whereas two years ago it cost Tk 2400.In September last year the government decided that fees at ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010While environmentalists cry loud for saving natural canals, a company continues to fill up century old Atir Khal in Waaspur, opposite to Basila, sealing the fate of this fantastic waterway.Sensing that the project might come to a halt in the face of protests and media attention, the developer has set extra machinery on the site for filling the canal round the clock.According to villagers, the developer is also planning to build a road below a bridge in Ghatarchar with a view to claiming that part of the canal as private property. If the road is built, the bridge will become ...
(read more) Sunday, January 31st, 2010A 30-member medical support team left here on Friday for Haiti to provide medical assistance to the earthquake-affected people of Haiti under the mission named 'Operation Caribbean Hope,' said an ISPR release yesterday.The team, led by Colonel MHM Delwar Hossain, comprises of 17 members from Army Medical Corps, three members from Army Signal Corps and 10 civilian medical personnel.The team carried necessary medical equipment and medicines provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Directorate General of Medical Services.The team will stay Port-au-Prince for one month. Duration of stay may be extended if necessary.
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