সিস্টেম লসের নামে চট্টগ্রামে কোটি টাকার বিদ্যুত চুরি

সিস্টেম সলসের নামে চট্টগ্রামে পিডিবির কোটি-কোটি টাকার বিদ্যুত চুরি হচ্ছে। বস্তিবাসী এবং রাস্তার পাশের হাজার-হাজার ভাসমান দোকান অবৈধভাবে বিদ্যুত চুরি করছে। পিডিবির এক শ্রেনীর দুর্নীতিবাজ কর্মকর্তা-কর্মচারীর সহযোগিতায় বস্তিবাসী এবং ভাসমান দোকানিরা অবৈধভাবে বিদ্যুত ব্যবহার করছে। বর্তমানে চট্টগ্রামে পিডিবিতে ১১ শতাংশ সিস্টেম লস রয়েছে বলে জানা গেছে। সিস্টেম লসের নামে প্রতিদিন বিপুল পরিমান বিদ্যুত চুরি হচ্ছে। এত করে সরকার বিপুল পরিমাণ রাজস্ব হারাচ্ছে। চট্টগ্রাম পিডিবির প্রধান প্রকৌশলী জানান, দিন-দিন বিদ্যুতের সিস্টেম লস কমছে। বর্তমানে চট্টগ্রাম পিডিবিতে ১১ শতাংশ সিস্টেম লস রয়েছে। আগে ১৩ থেকে ১৪ শতাংশ সিস্টেম লস ছিল। এখন অনেকাংশে কমে এসেছে। অবৈধ সংযোগরে ভ্রাম্যমান অভিযান অব্যাহত রয়েছে। কিছুদিন আগে ফৌজদার হাটে অভিযান চালানো হয়েছে। খবর পেয়ে অনেকে অবৈধ সংযোগ খুলে নিয়েছে। জানা গেছে চট্টগ্রামে ছোট বড় সাড়ে ৪ হাজার বস্তি রয়েছে। এসব বস্তিতে এবং রাস্তার পাশে শত-শত দোকান প্রতিদিন অবৈধভাবে বিদ্যুত ব্যবহার করা হচ্ছে। বস্তিতে দিনে রাতে সমান তালে অবৈধ বিদ্যুত ব্যবহার হচ্ছে। অপরদিকে রাস্তার পাশের হাজার-হাজার ভাসমান দোকানে সন্ধ্যার পর-পর অবৈধ বিদ্যুত ব্যবহার শুরু হয়। তত্ত্বধায়ক সরকারের আমলে এভাবে বিদ্যুত চুরির ঘটনা কমে গেলে এখন আবার বেড়েছে। বিদ্যুত চুরি রোধের উপায় হিসেবে ডিজিটাল মিটার সিস্টেম চালু হয়েছে ঠিকই কিন্তূ দুটি কারণে এটি সফলতা হচ্ছে না। প্রথমত নগরীর বেশ কিছু এলাকা-আলকরণ, রিয়াজ উদ্দিন বাজার, লালখান বাজার, কদমতলী, মোমিন রোড, ফিরঙ্গী বাজার, চর চাকতাই, চর বাকলিয়া, দেওয়ান বাজার, ঈদগাও, অক্সিজেন, বাদুরতলা, কর্ণেল হাট, পতেঙ্গা, কালুরঘাট সহ বিভিন্ন এলাকায় এখনো ডিজিটাল মিটার চালু হয়নি। আবার যেসব এলাকায় ডিজিটাল মিটার চালু হয়েছে সেসব এলাকায় মিটার টেম্পারিংয়ের মাধ্যমে বিদ্যুত চুরি করা হচ্ছে বলে অভিযোগ রয়েছে। পিডিবির একটি শক্তিশালী চক্র এই অবৈধ সংযোগের সাথে জড়িত বলে জানা গেছে।

চট্টগ্রাম পিডিবির একটি বিশ্বস্ত সূত্র জানায়, প্রত্যেক সরকার দলীয় শ্রমিক নেতারা এসিব বৈধ সংযোগ নিয়ন্ত্রন করে। সরকার পরিবর্তনের সাথে-সাথে অবৈধ সংযোগের বিশাল অংকের টাকাও হাত বদল হয়। যে সব কর্মকর্তা-কর্মচারী পিডিবির অবৈধ সংযোগের সাথে জড়িত তারা সরকার পরিবর্তনের সাথে সাথে দল বদল করে নিজেদের অপকর্ম চালিয়ে যায়। সম্প্রতি চট্টগ্রাম পিডিবিতে জোট সরকারের অনেক শ্রমিক নেতা শ্রমিক লীগে যোগদান করছেন বলে জানা গেছে।

River-filling easier now

Unsuccessful circular water way clicks for grabbers; over 10,000 sand cargoes makes transportation cheap

Dredging of the rivers under the 'Circular Waterway' project facilitated encroachment on the rivers, riverbanks, floodplains, canals and other wetland as the grabbers could easily bring sand on cargo boats.The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) dredged some rivers for developing the circular waterway. Now around 10,000 cargo boats are operating in and around the capital and most of them are serving the purpose of land developers.The sand and soil carrying cargo boats, locally known as 'bolget', are the main transports operating on these river routes.The housing companies used to fill up the southern and eastern side of the capital a few years ago. But now they are filling up the wetland and rivers in the northern parts. The 'bolgets' could not reach the northern parts as it was impossible for them to ply in the Turag then."But the government excavated the rivers for the Circular Water Way and now these boats can easily ply in there. So the riverbanks and other wetland are being filled up very quickly," says a BIWTA official speaking anonymously.The private housing companies and earth fillers prefer 'bolgets' as each boat carries 5,000 to 10,000 cubic feet of sand at a time."If someone wants to carry 10,000 CFT of sand on trucks he will need at least 100 trucks," said an official working with a housing estate who does not want to be identified.Developers say around 10,000 'bolgets' are carrying sand and earth to fill up wetland, floodplains and the rivers around the city. Sources in the Ministry of Shipping say there are around 5,000 registered water vessels in the capital, most of which are mainly serving the purpose of 31 housing companies and private housing initiatives to fill up land.Sometimes the cargo boats create such obstacles in the river routes that other modes of transport cannot move properly. In recent years, accidents on river routes around the capital have increased thanks to these boats.When these boats are loaded, the upper deck almost goes down the water level. This makes it hard for other water transports to identify them at night and accidents occur as a result.A couple of years ago BIWTA imposed a ban on plying of 'bolgets' at night so that other vessels don't face any obstacle.No fishermen or fishing boats were visible during several visits to the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers in recent weeks. Only there were some dredgers and 'bolgets' either to fill up land or collect sand to fill up other parts of the rivers elsewhere.Recently, The Daily Star published a series of reports on riverbed and riverbank filling. During investigation, it was found that all the filling was taking place by boats.BIWTA Secretary Syed Monowar Hossain said they are taking preparations to evict all illegal grabbers."We won't allow anyone to illegally fill up the riverbanks, even if it is their own land. We'll go by the port act and rules and regulations applicable for the rivers," he said.As the BITWA and other authorities sit idle, both the sides of the Dhaka flood protection embankment from Kamrangirchar to Gabtali through Rayer Bazar have meanwhile been filled up.Some government agencies are also violating the laws and filling up the wetland. The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) has taken up its Uttara third phase project after dredging the Turag. They also dredged the river and used 'bolgets' to fill up wetland for the purpose. Different housing estates occupied and filled up Dangurdia, Durdi, Vatara, Telikhola and Brahmankhola canals in Satarkul and Vatara unions under Badda police station in the last five years.Rashidkhali canal, one of the most important canals in eastern Dhaka, was once 10 kilometres long and connected the Norai river. Different housing companies have filled up around eight kilometres of this canal.The grabbers have also filled up canals from Meradia to Nandipara in recent years using the river route.They have also made attempts to fill up areas from Gabtali to Ashulia towards Tongi.

Bashundhara chief, family surrender

A Dhaka court yesterday issued an order saying Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan Shah Alam, his wife, and their two sons will remain free till June 25 in connection with a tax evasion case in which they had been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment in absentia.Attorney General (AG) Mahbubey Alam however noted that Shah Alam and his family members must go to jail in connection with the case as they had been convicted and sentenced.Judge Mozammel Hossain of the Special Judge's Court-3 yesterday issued the order after Shah Alam, his wife Afroza Begum, and their sons Sadat Sobhan and Sayem Sobhan surrendered before it and sought bail in the case in which they had earlier been convicted and sentenced to eight years of imprisonment each.In his order, the judge said he was letting convicted Shah Alam and his family to stay free until June 25 because the High Court (HC) had earlier stayed the proceedings of the case till that date, and had asked them to surrender to the trial court after expiry of the period. The HC had also directed law enforcement agencies not to arrest or harass the convicted during the period. The prosecution did not oppose the defendants' bail petitions as the HC had earlier stayed the proceedings of the case too.On September 30, 2007, Shah Alam and his family members were convicted and sentenced to eight years of imprisonment each in absentia, in the case filed by the National Board of Revenue (NBR). On July 8 last year the same people were convicted and sentenced to two years of imprisonment each in a money laundering case filed by Gulshan police.Expressing astonishment over the trial court's yesterday's ruling, the attorney general told The Daily Star that the trial court has no authority to release Shah Alam and his family members after their surrender in connection with the cases, as they had been convicted and sentenced in those.According to the law and a recent Supreme Court (SC) decision in a case against former state minister Shahjahan Omar, any person tried, convicted, and sentenced in absentia must go to jail on surrender to the trial court, the AG added.Shahjahan Omar had been convicted and sentenced in absentia in connection with a corruption case, and when he surrendered to a special court in Dhaka on May 6 this year, the court sent him to jail for serving his sentence. The AG said the HC directed the government not to harass or arrest Shah Alam and his convicted family members, but the HC did not direct the lower court to refrain from sending them to jail after surrendering in the cases they had been convicted and sentenced.Perhaps, the trial court was misled or could not understand the precedence of the SC order in the case of Shahjahan Omar, or it was not informed about it, he said.The AG also said his office did not file appeals with the SC against the HC orders in the cases against Shah Alam and his family, as the NBR authorities had not communicated with the AG office."If the NBR authorities communicate the High Court orders to me, my office must take initiatives at the Supreme Court to overturn the High Court orders," the AG said. On the basis of the SC order in the case against Shahjahan Omar, the HC on May 3 this year directed 12 persons including Jatiya Party (Manju) Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, and former state minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, who had been convicted and sentenced in absentia in separate cases, to surrender before trial courts concerned within two weeks, and almost all of them were sent to jail on their surrender to lower courts. Shah Alam's lawyer Barrister Ziaul Hasan on May 18 told The Daily Star that his client Shah Alam is accused in 32 cases, most of which were filed on charges of land grabbing, and some 22 of those have already been settled outside the court. He said some private citizens filed the land grabbing cases against Shah Alam with different police stations in Dhaka for getting possessions of plots they had purchased from him. He also said the cases, which had been filed against Shah Alam accusing him of murder, bribery, amassing illegal wealth, and concealing wealth information, were stayed by the HC, and Shah Alam and his family appealed to the home ministry for withdrawal of the cases. He claimed the cases against his client were not filed properly, so he cannot have any bar on free movement. On September 15 last year, the HC upon two separate writ petitions stayed for three months the proceedings of the cases against Shah Alam and his family members. The HC later extended its orders following expiry of the tenures of the previous stay orders upon separate extension prayers filed by the defendants. The HC on March 25 this year extended the stay orders again and directed Shah Alam and his family members to surrender before the trial court within three months in connection with the tried cases.

Tk 12,600cr of railway stuck in audit objection

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday formed four sub-committees in an effort to expedite actions regarding 1,742 unresolved audit objections involving Tk 14, 848 crore since FY 2000-2001.Of the huge amount, audit objections against Bangladesh Railway (BR) alone involve Tk 12,600 crore, said the office of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in a report placed before the PAC yesterday. Officials at the office of CAG told The Daily Star yesterday that the objections were raised against the BR due to its failure in collecting Tk 12, 535 as transport fares from various public and private organisations for the last few decades. During the tenure of the last parliament, the PAC at a meeting on April 25, 2006, discussed one of 18 sections of the audit objections against BR, reported by the office of CAG in FY 2000-01. It asked the state-run organisation to sort out those that did not pay the fares. The then PAC also asked the BR to submit a report to the committee but the BR did not come up with the report, said officials of the office of CAG. However, BR Director General Belayet Hossain told The Daily Star that an effort was made in 2005 to realise the arrears. A committee was formed and letters were sent to secretaries of the ministries concerned asking them to take steps in this regard. But nothing has been done till date, he said. Had the arrears been realised, the money could be used for development of the loss-incurring BR, which now runs on government subsidy, said the BR director general.CAG office sources however said they will be able to assist the BR in realising the longstanding arrears if the PAC-formed sub-committees look into the matter.The four sub-committees will examine the audit objections and make recommendations for the PAC to dispose the objections either by realising the money from the people responsible for the financial damage or settling the objections, if necessary. "We shall finalise the terms of reference for the sub-committees soon," PAC Chairman KH Rashiduzzaman told reporters after the meeting at the Jatiya Sangsad (JS) Bhaban. He said the PAC would take necessary steps on recommendations of the sub-committees. He, however, declined to give details about the sub-committees. Officials attending the meeting said Awami League (AL) lawmakers Prof Ali Ashraf, Khandaker Asaduzzaman and Khan Tipu Sultan and BNP lawmaker MK Anwar were made chiefs of the sub-committees. Other members will be included soon, they added.The CAG in its report said a total of 98 audit reports with 1,742 objections were placed before the parliament since FY 2000-2001. The office of CAG has already submitted 78 more audit reports on FY 2003-2004, FY 2004-05 and FY 2005-06 to the president and those will be placed before the parliament soon. AUDIT OBJECTIONS AGAINST BR CAG office sources said they prepared the audit report on BR under the communications ministry in FY 2000-2001, examining BR's previous accounts. "We found that a huge amount of money remained unrealised," a senior high-up of the office of CAG said referring to the longstanding objections on collection of transport fares. Officials in the finance division of BR said the jute ministry alone owes Tk 9,239 crore to the BR as transport fares while some arrears date back to 1955. "The actual amount of arrears was quite small in the beginning. But, it got bigger every year with the addition of interests," the BR director general told The Daily Star. Most jute mills including Adamjee were shut down without paying their outstanding dues to the BR while the amount continued to grow with the addition of interests. The Department of Relief and Rehabilitation under the food and disaster management ministry owes the second largest amount of arrears totalling Tk 2,752 crore to the BR. The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) owes about Tk 7.39 crore to the BR. The DCC constructed Nagar Bhaban at Fulbaria and the city corporation market on BR's lands without paying any price.When contacted, DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka told The Daily Star, "The land was allotted to the Dhaka City Corporation before I took office. Nobody informed me about the outstanding dues during my tenure."

JS body moves to save grabbed rivers

The parliamentary standing committee on forest ministry yesterday formed a sub-committee to take necessary steps to save the country's rivers especially the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakhya from pollution and grabbers. The committee at its four-hour long meeting at the parliament building said they will take all possible steps to save rivers of the country specially the four major rivers surrounding the capital city."Newspapers are writing on the worse condition of the rivers and we are also worried to see the sorry state of our rivers. A four-member sub-committee has been formed to work out the way to save rivers from pollution and grabbers," Abdul Momin Talukder, chairman of the committee, told reporters at his office in parliament after the meeting. The sub-committee will also work on how to recover 1.32 lakh acres of forestland, which has already been grabbed, he said."Headed by Saber Hossain Chowdhury, the sub-committee has been asked to prepare recommendations on how to save rivers and to place its report before the committee within the next two months," said Abdul Momin.The sub-committee members will visit the rivers to get a first hand experience and sit with media and environment personalities before preparing their report, he added.The standing committee chief said, "At least 567 industries are yet to set up Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and it is one of the major reasons for river pollution." "After taking initiative to save rivers from pollution, we may face adverse reaction from them (industrialists). Therefore the standing committee will sit with them to jointly work on this issue," Abdul Momin said."Water of Dhaka city rivers is so polluted that even mosquitoes cannot breed on it," observed Abdul Monin. "The committee members Monday expressed their deep concern over the sorry state of rivers across the country and vowed to save them." "If needed the committee will recommend the government to amend the prevailing law to ensure punishment of those behind the river pollution and grabbing," he said. He also said that the High Court's directive upon the government for saving the rivers helps to do their work. Meanwhile, the High Court (HC) on Sunday directed the government to take appropriate steps to stop encroachment, earth-filling, and construction of illegal structures on the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakhya rivers. Earlier on May 17, the parliamentary body expressed concern over river pollution and asked the industries and environment ministries to take immediate measures to save the rivers, especially the Buriganga, Turag, Balu and Shitalakhya, from pollution.

Satkhira struck badly

Apprehending that rough weather might turn worse, 35-year-old Ataur Rahman was having early lunch at 12noon with his 60-year-old mother Fatima Khatun at her house in Patakhali village in Satkhira. Halfway through the lunch, they noticed water was rushing in the house and ran for safety immediately.Patakhali along with around a dozen more villages in number 11 Padmapukur union under Shyamnagar upazila, situated between the Kapotakkha and Kholpetua rivers, was swept by a four to five feet high tide since noon, said witnesses over phone.The old Wapda dam that was protecting these villages since the 60's has been heavily damaged during Cyclone Aila.All of these villages remained under water till filing of this report at 9:00 last night, although water level receded by one to two feet. The water was salty, the witnesses said.Ataur and thousand others became homeless as 80 percent of the houses in these villages were built with mud. There are at least 1,500 houses in Patakhali alone."During the day we saw tin roofs of many thatched houses. By the evening those roofs crumbled down," said Ataur over phone from his safe refuge in the two-storey Patakhali Aminia Fazil Madrasa.This madrasa provided shelter to around 2,000 people of the village.Many people initially took refuge above their tin roofs. But as the tide water did not recede as was initially expected, they moved to safer locations on boats."There is no food or drinking water for any of us here," said Ataur, who works in Dhaka as a videographer and was visiting his village to see his mother."This is the beginning of the season for shrimp farming. Farmers have harvested paddy and brought them home. The shrimp farms have been totally flooded and the paddy stacked at home has gone under the high tide waters," he informed.Though cattle or goat farming in these villages is not emphasised, there had been a lot of poultry, which has been swept away by the tide."In my 35 years of life, I have never seen such a disaster in this village. There was a major cyclone around this area back in 1988. Even then nothing of this sort occured," he pointed out.Haziruddin Gazi, a 95-year-old homoeopath of the village, reinforced this observation while talking to The Daily Star over the phone. "I have never seen such a disaster in this village in my entire life."Gazi added, "I harvested 90 maunds of paddy and all of it is now under water. But it's not just me alone who incurred such a loss. All of us faced the same."

SSC, Dakhil results today

The results of this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC), SSC (vocational) and Dakhil examinations under eight education boards, Technical Education Board and Madrasa Education Board will be published simultaneously today across the country.The candidates can collect the results, which will be published at 5:00pm, from their respective schools or examination centres. They can also receive the results through short message service (SMS) to 4636 and 2323 on mobile phones. The mobile phone operators will circulate the SMS procedure.The heads of the educational institutions have been asked to collect the result sheets from the secretary of the respective examination centre while the candidates are asked to collect their results at their respective schools or exam centres, said a press release of the inter-board coordination sub-committee.Besides, the results of SSC and Dakhil examinations will be available on the education board website: www.result.educationboard.gov.bd and of Technical Education Board on www.result.bteb.gov.bd.But, the results will not be available at the education boards, education ministry or newspaper offices, the press release added.This year, a total of 10,63,484 students appeared in the examinations in 1,888 centres. Of them, 8.01 lakh students of 15,216 high schools sat for the SSC examinations under eight general education boards, 1.86 lakh students of under Madrasa Education Board and 75,057 students for the SSC (vocational) exams under the Technical Education Board.

11 die as Cyclone Aila lashes coast

Cyclone Aila yesterday hit the country's south-western coast killing 11 people and washing away several thousand homes as tidal surges powered by strong wind devastated the coastline. Four people in Bhola, three in Patuakhali, one in Barguna, two people and a child in Noakhali and Barisal died.Over 500 people were reported missing, mostly fishermen.Packing winds of up to 90km an hour, the storm roared into Khulna, Satkhira, Patuakhali, Bagerhat, Barisal, Barguna, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi Jessore and Bhola around 2:00pm yesterday.Thousands of people were made homeless as the storm caused tidal surge between six and 13 feet high, which battered river and flood-control embankments and dykes submerging many villages in Khulna, Satkhira, Patuakhali and Barisal.A large number of domestic animals and standing crops on farmland were lost in the tidal surges.Heavy rain raised water levels of rivers, thousands of thatched houses and shanties got destroyed, trees were uprooted and many unions went under knee-to-waist-deep water.River communication between the capital and all southern districts remained cut off since yesterday morning. Power supply to those districts also snapped in the evening.Ferry service between Paturia and Daulatdia was suspended around 3:00pm while ferry service in Mawa has been put on hold since Sunday evening.Local administration of districts and upazilas in the coastal belt started evacuating people to safer places and many took shelter at cyclone shelters, schools and colleges.The Met office asked Mongla Port to hoist Danger Signal-7.Bhola, Barisal, Patuakhali, Barguna, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira, Jessore and their offshore islands and chars will be under this signal, read a special Met office bulletin issued in the evening.It, however, advised Chittagong and Cox's Bazar ports to hoist Danger Signal-6.In Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, there were strong winds and heavy rainfall since yesterday morning.Our correspondent in Satkhira reports: Around one lakh people of 95 villages of Shyamnagar and Ashashuni upazilas became marooned as flood-protection embankments gave away in at least 25 places.Over 100 people were reported missing. Flood-protection dykes on the Kabodak, Khalpetua, Madar, Chulkuri and Kalia breached and swamped a number of villages. Many villages near the Sundarbans went under water as well.Many have taken shelter at different cyclone centres, schools and madrasas.Many rivers of the district were flowing eight to 13 feet higher than usual. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abdus Samad said a 33-member team of Bangladesh Navy has left for the cyclone-hit areas to conduct rescue operations. The team was facing difficulties due to the adverse weather.Red Crescent has also gone in with water purifying tablets and other relief materials. The DC has allocated 10 tonnes of rice and Tk 1 lakh for immediate relief.Our correspondent in Barisal reports: Aila snapped road and river communications in the district since Sunday night as rivers and their estuaries became very rough.High tides in rivers inundated many areas of the district causing considerable damage to livestock and properties. Rabbi, 7, of Char Laxmi Bardhan, drowned, said UNO of Bakerganj upazila.Crops on 25,000 acres of land were damaged, he claimed.Sources said four people died in Bhola.Our staff correspondent in Khulna reports: Aila struck Khulna city and Bagerhat around 2:30pm with wind speed of up to 100kmph.Over one lakh people of Dacope and Koira upazilas in Khulna and Mongla, Sharankhola and Morrelganj upazilas of Bagerhat were moved to cyclone shelters and safe places.Five ships were moved to safer places at the outer anchorage of Mongla Port. Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Kazi Atiur Rahman of Dacope said six out of nine unions went under waist-deep water that came in with the tidal surges. Over 50,000 people were rendered homeless in the upazila.Disaster control rooms have been opened up in upazilas of Khulna and Bagerhat where volunteers, officials of some non-government organisations and officials of Relief and Rehabilitation Department have been kept on standby to deal with the aftermath, said the deputy commissioners of the two districts.Our correspondent in Patuakhali reports: Huge areas of Patuakhali and Barguna went under eight to 10 feet of seawater.Three people died in the storm in Patuakhali alone and another one in Barguna. Several kilometres of flood-control dykes in Golachipa, Kalapara and Patuakhali Sadar was washed away by the tidal surges.Our Cox's Bazar correspondent reports: Twenty-one fishing trawlers went missing with 400 fishermen onboard. Acting Mayor of Cox's Bazar Municipality Sarwar Kamal said around 2,000 houses were flooded by tidal waves.

16 more Shibir men held in fresh raids

Police arrested 16 more activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir during fresh raids on student messes near Rajshahi University (RU) campus and Shibir strongholds in the city early yesterday.Police said they arrested the Shibir activists in connection with two cases filed by them with Motiher Police Station on Saturday.In the cases, they (police) accused 84 Shibir men of attacking a police camp, exploding bombs and hurling stones and bricks at the law enforcers during violence at Binodpur near the university on the day. Of them, 16 were arrested during raids on shibir-controlled student messes and their strongholds in the city early Sunday.Sources said the law enforcers, divided into several teams, raided the student messes near RU campus and Shibir dominated areas around Rajshahi Medical College, Rajshahi College, Laxmipur, Nawdapara, Hetem Kha and city bypass yesterday and arrested the Shimir men. The arrestees are Ismail Gazi, Abu Raihan, Nurul Islam, Zaber Muhammad Fazle Elahi, Kazi Ahsan Habib Reza, Nazmus Sakib, Mahbubur Rahman, Habibur Rahman, Alamgir Hossain, Sayed-al- Mahfuz, Mizanur Rahman and Ismail Harun of Islami Bank Medical College, Rajshahi, Ziaur Rahman, a BBA student of Darul Ehsan University, Abdus Sakib and Sadidul Islam of Rajshahi College, and Masud Rana of New Government Degree College. Police produced the arrestees in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court that sent them to jail.Police yesterday held a meeting with ward commissioners and civil society members at Motiher Police Station and sought their cooperation in arresting the Shibir activists responsible for Saturday's violence.Rajshahi police commissioner will meet Binodpur Bazer Committee leaders, local ward commissioner today to seek their support for the ongoing drive.

Dhaka wants continuation of GSP two-stage transformation criteria

The government will sit with European Union (EU) leaders soon to continue the existing two-stage transformation criteria for the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) for Bangladeshi apparel products to the EU, said Commerce Minister Faruk Khan yesterday.The existing two-stage transformation system will expire in 2010 and the EU sought changes in rules and introduction of single transformation criteria to gain duty-free and quota free facilities to the EU nations.The two-stage transformation criteria means the fabric must be made by the apparel manufacturing country, but under single transformation the source of the fabric would not be questioned to receive the duty-free and quota-free market access to the EU.The minister said he would arrange a seminar in Dhaka in July or August to convince the EU ambassadors here on continuation of the GSP facility up to 2015."If necessary, we would go to Brussels, headquarters of the EU, to convince the EU leaders," Khan told reporters after a meeting with the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) leaders at his secretariat office.He said he would soon write to the EU ambassadors and other concerned officials to convince them in this regard, as the country's apparel industry would suffer without such a facility.At the meeting, Abdul Hai Sarker, BTMA president, said his organisation is lobbying with the EU for continuation of the two stage transformation GSP criteria up to 2015 for the growth of Primary Textile Sector (PTS).The EU has extended the GSP facility to Bangladesh over the last three decades, as it is a least developed country (LDC), Sarker said. "If the single transformation criteria is introduced, in place of the existing facility, the total investment of Tk 40,000 crore in the PTS would be under threat. This is why we are demanding continuation of the two stage transformation system in GSP attainment," Sarker said. Local manufacturers would import fabric through back-to-back LCs from competing countries to manufacture the final products. "As a result, local investment in the PTS would face a threat and workers would lose their jobs," he said.The BTMA chief said until now, investment in the PTS was made following the existing two-stage transformation system in the Rules of Origin (RoO) of the EU. If the single transformation is introduced after 2010, the sector would not see any new investment, he said.

Computer import duty may go

The government is likely to waive duties on the import of computers and computer accessories, in the budget for fiscal 2009-2010.In a meeting with the members of Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS), National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Nasiruddin Ahmed yesterday assured ICT leaders of removing the existing 3 percent duty on computer imports."The NBR chairman assured us that the duty structure would be brought down to zero from whatever exists now," Mustafa Jabbar, president of BCS, told The Daily Star.If the new duty structure gets through, computer technology may be extended to more people, as prices are likely to fall by 7 percent. Every year, businessmen import more than 1.5 lakh computers from the global market. The selling price in the market now ranges from Tk 18,000 to Tk 1.5 lakh, depending on the brand and configuration.In the 2007-08 budget, duty on computer imports was 5 percent, which was then reduced to 3 percent in the current budget. However, the market did not witness a substantial change in prices due to duty cuts. This time, the market price may not experience a deep fall even if there is zero duty on computer imports in the upcoming budget, said the BCS president. "The price fall will be minimal.""The government's willingness to make the technology available at affordable prices will help the informational and communication technology-based industries to go forward," said Jabbar.

Vehicles pile up at Ctg port

The authorities of the country's premier seaport here have been struggling for the last few weeks to accommodate a large number of imported reconditioned vehicles as the importers of such vehicles are on an import spree ahead of budget assuming an increase in duty.Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has a total of four designated sheds with a capacity to accommodate 2,800 vehicles. But as of yesterday, there were 5,400 imported vehicles in the port area and the CPA had to arrange alternative spaces for additional 2,600 vehicles. Officials said around 3,500 vehicles arrived this month alone until May 17, and a ship containing 1,400 more vehicles is scheduled to reach the port on Thursday. The space crisis is likely to deepen further in the first week of June when more vessels are expected to arrive before the announcement of budget for the next fiscal year, they said.CPA however alleged that non-cooperation of importers is a major reason that aggravates the situation prior to the budget announcement every year.“We noticed in the last few years that months before budget announcement in June, a large number of reconditioned vehicles were imported and being dumped for quite a long period at our sheds,” said Motahar Hossain, deputy traffic manager of CPA. He said the CPA would not face space crisis of such a serious extent if the importers took a regular and quick delivery of the vehicles.Citing the slower pace in delivery, the CPA officials said on an average the importers take delivery of around 200 to 250 vehicles per day. On Sunday 244 vehicles were cleared from the port sheds, they said. Importers however denied the allegation of their non-cooperation and non-delivery in time and blamed the CPA for not expanding the existing parking sheds or building new sheds to resolve the crisis. “Although the port has so far been developed much in different sides, the authorities always ignored the necessity of building newer parking sheds or expanding the older ones,” said Mahbubul Haque Chowdhury Babar, secretary general of Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicle Importers and Dealers Association (Barvida).Babar said: "We import vehicles as per the growing market demand but the CPA never realised that the four-decade-old sheds were not sufficient to accommodate the vehicles. So it's in fact their (CPA) lack of timely initiative that is creating the present problem." However officials said CPA is considering construction of a multi-storied parking shed and the matter is under serious consideration. In this regard Barvida secretary general claimed it was in fact their association that few months ago gave such a proposal to the CPA, which welcomed the idea.The importers urged the government not to impose further duty on import of reconditioned vehicles in the next budget, saying it would force them to increase the price of vehicles. They also called for withdrawal of supplementary duty from 2000CC cars, 3000CC jeeps and microbuses.The Barvida secretary general demanded a stable policy for the import of reconditioned vehicles to ensure a good, transparent and useful market that would benefit both the customers and traders.Import of used vehicles rose sharply in the last four to five years especially in 2008 that saw import of 31,652 vehicles against 20,895 in 2007. Besides, 17,342 vehicles were imported in 2006 and 13,298 in 2005.The number of imported reconditioned vehicles may reach a record high this year as over 15,600 vehicles were already imported in a span from January 2009 to May 17, said industry insiders.According to available data, 2,322 vehicles were imported in January, 2,043 in February, 3,240 in March and 4,550 in April this year whereas the figures stood at 2,171, 1,604, 2,638 and 1,952 respectively in the same months last year.However the government decided that the imported reconditioned cars will now be unloaded at Mongla Port also, as a foreign vessel carrying 300 reconditioned cars imported from Japan will anchor at Mongla Sea Port on June 3.Import of used vehicles started first in Bangladesh in 1976 under baggage rule, while the commercial import began in 1980.

Tigers in high spirits

The Tigers play their first practice match against New Zealand at the Wormsley Cricket Ground today. Bangladesh was the first team among the top ten to reach England to start their preparation for the ICC World Twenty20 which will kick off from June 5 with hosts England taking on Netherlands at Lord's. Jamie Siddons' charges have been out of international cricket for last four months but has got five practice matches in England to get accustomed with the condition before the tournament proper.After the first game the Tigers travel to neighboring Kent to play the second additional practice game against Netherlands while their third match is scheduled for May 29 against Scotland.After showing no side effects or jet-lag from the long flight from Dhaka both the captain and his deputy will play the first game and the rest of the team will be decided in the afternoon's team meeting, cording to TigerCricket.com.With the captain and vice captain joining the rest of the group after nearly two months the spirit in the Tigers camp has gone up a notch. Mohammad Ashraful and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza flew into England last night and after a decent nap headed for training in the morning.Both stars looked fresh and ready as the Bangladesh team had an extended centre wicket training session of nearly four hours at the Ashton Rowant Cricket Club ground, a five-minute drive down the road from the team hotel and through the lush valleys and sunflower fields of a typical English village. This was probably not as picturesque as the breathtaking sceneries that soothe the eyes at the Wormsley Cricket Ground but the wicket and the outfield were perfect for preparation.At the start of the day the sky had cloud cover but slowly the sun came out and the intent shown by Mashrafe and Ashraful came as a welcome sign after their separation with the national team due to IPL commitments. Practice focused on creating certain match situations and the bowlers and batsmen were challenged to execute certain plans. “Twenty20 is very positive cricket and you have to take initiatives with a positive mind frame. Although we did not play many matches still for me and Ash (Ashraful) the time at the IPL allowed us to study the game more and hopefully we have learned a few things that we can share with the coaching staff and the other players,” Mortaza told the BCB's official website. Bangladesh's official practice games are against Australia on June 1 and Sri Lanka a day later at Nottingham.The Tigers, who has been pitted in Group A, will play their first group match against India on June 6 and second match against Ireland on June 8 at Trent Bridge.