Month: March 2009

Staff Reporter The government will go for a wide extension of the tax-net in the upcoming budget for 2009-10 fiscal year, as it will have to concentrate on internal resources, in view of a slowdown in foreign aid flow in the wake of the global recession. National Board of Revenue Chairman Mohammad Abdul Mazid said ... Read more

Footage to help investigation greatly; another FBI team shortly; govt waits for post-mortem on BDR men’s death Staff Correspondent Investigators of the BDR carnage found audiotapes and footage of the BDR officers’ meeting held on February 25 morning at Darbar Hall in Pilkhana and the CCTV footage of arms being looted from the BDR arsenal. ... Read more

Govt also plans to set up shelters for the destitute Mustafizur Rahman The government has initiated a move to distribute ‘khas’ or government-owned land among the ‘landless people’ in each upazila across the country. The entire process, that includes listing of landless people, identifying khas lands not in use by any authorities and allocation, will ... Read more

Good stock, low global market bring down prices Staff Correspondent The prices of both coarse and fine rice varieties are decreasing in this non-harvest season when rice prices normally remain high. Sufficient stock and supply of rice and paddy and a fall in food grain prices on the international market are the main reasons behind ... Read more

Raheed Ejaz New Delhi has asked Dhaka to allow transportation of heavy machinery and other equipments from Kolkata to Agartala through Bangladesh’s Ashuganj river port. The cargo will be used to construct a power plant in Tripura state. The Indian delegation made the request on Monday, the first day of the two-day talks on water ... Read more

Violates govt rules to get one at cost of public money Staff Correspondent In breach of government rules, Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has lately invited tenders for a cross-country vehicle to be used by Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain. According to procurement rules, a department cannot usually purchase of its own accord any vehicles, ... Read more

Probe report blames Bashundhara for negligence in safety Hasan Jahid Tusher The probe committee that investigated the fire incident at Bashundhara Shopping Complex in its report yesterday could not identify the source and cause of the fire but mentioned gross negligence of the Bashundhara authorities regarding fire safety. The Bashundhara authorities did not cooperate with ... Read more

Staff Correspondent The government on Monday formed a committee on the reconstitution of the border force in the wake of February 25–26 rebellion of soldiers in the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters in which at least 81, mostly army officers, were killed, a high official said. ‘I will do it at the earliest in the interest of ... Read more

Adopts new hajj package UNB, Dhaka The Cabinet at its regular meeting Monday brought some amendments to the National Hajj Policy and adopted a new hajj package to comply with new rules introduced by the Saudi government. “The total cost of hajj will be Tk 2,20,550 per person under the new package,” PM’s Press Secretary ... Read more

Staff Reporter Speakers yesterday expressed the view that high-rise buildings in Dhaka city have multiplied the problems fire hazard, electricity, water shortage and equitable distribution of land and other resources. Fire is an issue not only for high-rise buildings but for many structures in the capital for failing to follow the building code or taking ... Read more

Staff Reporter Two leading public universities of the country-University of Dhaka (DU) and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) have been ranked as 4922 and 3801 in global position respectively according to Webometrics January survey. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) of the USA has been ranked as number one in the world. Stanford University ... Read more

Agence France-Presse . Manila Journalists in South Asia face ‘severe risks’ amid escalating violence in the region, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report released in the Philippines Monday. Attacks on media workers in Sri Lanka and Pakistan have increased and four other countries in the region — Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka The Pakistani state could collapse within six months if immediate steps are not taken to remedy the situation, warned a top adviser to the US Central Command in an interview with Washington Post. David Kilcullen, who advises CENTCOM commander Gen. David H. Petraeus on the war on terror, urged US policy makers to ... Read more

UNB, Dhaka The 27-member high-powered taskforce to fight recession sits today (Tuesday), the first since it was formed on March 18, to take stock of the emerging situation of the country’s economy as the fallout of the global recession and suggest measures to face the challenges. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, the taskforce convenor, will preside ... Read more

The Daily Star visit to 5 leading shopping centres reveals sorry state of fire safety Helemul Alam Most of the shopping malls and markets in the capital are running without proper firefighting equipment and expertise, posing a serious threat to the life and property of owners, tenants and customers. Although a number of big shopping ... Read more

Experts suggest price support and compulsory domestic use Khawaza Main Uddin The country’s jute sector, affected further by the global recession, now deserves ‘minimum support price’ and compulsory use of the fibre in certain public sector programmes to give incentives to both farmers and entrepreneurs, suggest experts. With exports of jute goods declining drastically, they ... Read more

Mamunur Rashid Change in the design of the fire safety lobby at the Bashundhara City complex and technical glitches were mainly blamed for the outbreak of fire at the country’s biggest shopping mall on March 13. Director of Development, Training and Planning of the Fire Service and Civil Defense Motiur Rahman, who is one of ... Read more

POOR SHOW IN SSC, HSC EXAMS 1,614 non-govt schools, colleges face music Siddiqur Rahman Khan The education ministry is going to cancel the monthly pay orders of teachers of 554 non-government schools, colleges and madrassahs and cancel the academic recognition of 1,060 more such institutions, where teachers do not get monthly pay orders, because of ... Read more