Mizanur Rahman Wahid, younger brother of BNP lawmaker and former mayor Majibor Rahman Sarwar, was sent to jail yesterday after he surrendered before the additional judicial magistrate's court. Earlier, Wahid submitted a bail prayer which was rejected by the court. Wahid was sentenced to eight years RI with six other accused for misappropriation of telephone revenue and defalcation of telephone bills worth about one core taka by taking 12 telephone connections and operating illegal VOIP in false names and addresses. He went into hiding following announcement of the verdict on July 23, 2007 by the speedy trial court of Barisal.
24MW rental power plant goes into operation next week
The 24 Megawatt (MW) rental power plant of Regent Power Limited at Barabkunda under Sitakunda upazila will start generation of power from the next week.Regent Power Limited, one of the nine private firms, got permission to generate power in November 2007.Habib Group set up the plant at a cost of Tk 130 crore on 2.5 acres of land. Construction work of the plant started in May last year alongside the Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) Sub-Station in the Barabkunda area. After completion of construction of infrastructure in February, the plant completed installation of equipment including generator, transformer and distribution lines under the supervision of the local and foreign engineers in April.The authorities as of Monday tested five of the eight generators, each 3MW capacity, successfully and sent the generated power to the national grid informally, said the company Director (Finance) AKM Ilias.He said they would go for formal generation next week after examining the generators successfully and getting optimum performances. He said they are giving final touch on everything targeting the formal generation within shortest possible time.Habib Group Managing Director Yasin Ali said as per agreement with the government they would sell the generated power to the PDB and the power will directly go to the national grid through the Barabkunda Sub-Station.He said if the government allows they would be able to generate up to 100MW within three months. Chittagong PDB Chief Engineer Joytish Chandra Biswas told The Daily Star that the plant already was distributing power to the grid informally and they got 15MW on Monday night.Though its capacity is little it would help reduce power crisis to some extent, he said.He also emphasised the need for setting up more rental power plant to address the on going power crisis immediately.Consumers of Chittagong PDB have been facing 200MW load-shedding on an average as six power units, out of 10, in Chittagong region remained closed due to lack of sufficient gas supply and fall in water level at the Kaptai Lake for long.Of the active units, two units of 420 capacity at Raozan Thermal Power Plant are generating on an average 280MW to 300MW while two other units of the Kaptai Hydraulic Power Plant are contributing 70MW to 80MW at night.With this, the PDB gets on an average 120MW power from national grid to meet the total demand of around 600MW in peak hours while national grid also takes power from Chittagong units sometimes, sources at the PDB said.Besides, construction of two other power plants, rental and state-run, is going on in full swing to go into operation by June this year and April next year respectively.Of them, private-firm Energies Power Corporation Limited is setting up a 73.8MW capacity furnace oil-fired plant at Shikalbaha on other bank of the river Karnaphuli under Patiya upazila.According to the agreement with the government, PDB will get 55MW power from the plant while the rest will be rented to private firms.On the other hand, the government is setting up a 150MW Peaking Power Plant in the same area at a cost of Tk 534 crore. The double source, both fuel and gas, plant is expected to go into production by April next year.
Dhaka College students clash with cops
The students of Dhaka College yesterday clashed with police in front of the college leaving at least 10 people, including two policemen, injured.Witnesses said the agitating students blocked the road in front of the college around 11:00am to press home their demand for declaring the college a full-fledged university. Several hundred students gathered on the campus in the morning and tried to march the road. As police prevented them from taking to the street, the students took position on the road in front of the college.At one stage, the students set fire to a tyre and tried to damage vehicles, said Mohammad Kamal Uddin, officer-in-charge (OC) of Newmarket police station.He said police then fired around 40 tear gas canisters to disperse the students.The students also hurled brickbats and stones at police during the clash that left at least eight students and two policemen injured.OC Kamal said they brought the situation under control at about 12:00pm. Traffic movement on the road was disrupted for an hour due to the clash.Principal of the college Prof. Siraj Uddin Ahmed told reporters that the HSC examination was held peacefully at the college.Newmarket police said no case was filed and no one was arrested in this connection.
Wasa won't dig roads anymore
Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) has introduced a new technology "trench-less system" to install or replace water pipes without digging roads in a bid to reduce public sufferings.Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) Minister Syed Ashraful Islam inaugurated it on a pilot basis on Old Elephant Road yesterday.Now only two small sections on the road at both ends of a 150-metre pipe have to be dug. The pipe will be inserted through one section after boring by a drill machine, while another machine will drag it for installation.In case of replacing old pipes, a sharp cutter will be used to cut the old pipe underground.They system is the part of a Tk 1,465 crore project styled "Dhaka Water Supply Development Project" financed jointly by the Asian Development Bank and the government.Around 3,481 kilometres of water lines will be replaced and extended under the project, which is scheduled to be completed by 2013.Project Director Syed Kamrul Ahsan said the "trench-less system" or "no dig system" is being used on a pilot basis on Old Elephant Road and Gulshan Road 103. They will apply the system to other important roads if they get effective result.Terming "trench-less" or "no dig" the modern most system in the world, the project director said Wasa has taken the initiative to introduce it as the old "open-cut system" in installing water pipelines creates problems for the city dwellers.Speaking as the chief guest, LGRD) Minister Ashraful after inaugurating the system said the waters of the Turag, Buriganga and Shitalakhya have become untreatable due to excessive pollution. Industrial zones around the city, tannery industry and dyeing factories are responsible of polluting the rivers, he said. The government has taken initiatives to save the rivers around the city, he added."We will reduce dependency on groundwater for supplying drinking water and we will increase use of surface water from 14 percent to 50 percent in five years," he said."Gradually, we'll reach to 100 percent use of surface water as there is no alternative to it," he added.Underscoring the need of coordination among different utilities agencies he said there is no coordination between Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak said the new system would play as a milestone to make Dhaka a beautiful and clean city.Lawmaker of Dhaka-8 Rashed Khan Menon said success of the government is fading due to failure of safe drinking water.He said he got huge complaints from residents of his constituency about lack of drinking water and stinky water supplied by Wasa.
Banks asked to lend more to farm, SMEs
Banks should change their conservative attitude towards financing the agriculture sector and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help generate employment and boost internal demand to offset the impacts of the global recession, the central bank governor said yesterday.“Banks should open their purses to support farm and small non-farm sectors to turn the masses into potential consumers,” Dr Atiur Rahman told reporters after his maiden meeting with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of 48 banks operating in the country.Rahman said majority of the people who live in the rural areas still remain out of the reach of bank services.The Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor said banks' deposits in rural areas are declining constantly. Banks also channel rural deposits into urban areas, he added.“Banks, especially the private ones, should open more branches in rural areas to fund the potential businesses, including of agriculture,” said the governor.Currently, a bank has to open one branch in rural areas against every four in urban, according to central bank regulation. But many banks open branches in upazila, pourashava (municipality) and district areas and brand those as rural branches.Rahman has given the highest priority on ensuring the country's macroeconomic stability.The governor told the bankers that BB would also try to undertake some new pro-poor projects and strengthen implementation of the existing ones, such as women entrepreneurs' and SME refinance schemes.He said the Credit Information Bureau of BB is being automated faster to render quicker services.He also assured the bankers of taking all decisions in consultation with the stakeholders.Mahmood Sattar, chairman of Association of Bankers Bangladesh, a forum of the banks' CEOs, told the reporters after the meeting that the governor has given them a 'philosophical roadmap' on how he wants the banking sector should run.He said they would try to add the huge unbanked population to the banking network.
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