News

Untreated waste from DEPZ pollutes waters, farmlands since 1983; no CETP installed yet; around 2 lakh people exposed to serious health risk Untreated liquid wastes from Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ) have been polluting the Bangshi river and other water bodies around, putting around two lakh people of 12 villages in the area into tremendous ... Read more

Medicine Purchase, Foreign Trips Sircar spent Tk 1 crore for non-existing MPs In spite of the absence of parliament, former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar spent over Tk 1 crore in the last two years for purchasing medicines for non-existing lawmakers and sending parliamentary delegations abroad. Of the amount Tk 54 lakh was spent for purchasing medicines ... Read more

A Dhaka court yesterday sent Jatiya Party (JP-Manju) chairman and former communications minister Anwar Hossain Manju and former state minister for law and BNP leader Barrister Shahjahan Omar to jail when they surrendered before the trial court in connection with separate graft cases. Both Manju and Omar, who were convicted in absentia in separate cases ... Read more

BNP secretary general Khandker Delwar Hussain has said the parliamentary probe committee has been formed without any legal procedure and it has no right to summon the former members of the parliament (MPs). “The parliamentary committee has no legal right to summon the former MPs. It is a violation of parliamentary discipline. In fact, the ... Read more

JAN 22 UPAZILA POLLS Irregularities found in 5 of 8 upazilas so far Eight judicial inquiry committees out of the 16 formed to investigate alleged irregularities in the January 22 polls to upazila parishads have submitted reports to the Election Commission till Wednesday recommending re-elections in some polling centres of five upazilas. The five upazilas ... Read more

2001 post-poll violence The High Court (HC) yesterday directed the government to form an inquiry commission within two months to probe the 2001 post-elections violence that included killing, rape, attack, looting and assault on minorities and opposition workers. The HC also asked the authorities to submit the inquiry report within six months of the formation ... Read more

The recent cabinet decision to cancel of allotment of 60 acres of land of the food department at Halisahar earlier allotted to Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) has reportedly prompted several foreign investors to sue the government. Messrs Cosmos Shoes, one of the foreign investors, is learnt to have claimed a compensation of US ... Read more

One killed despite minister’s warning An alleged criminal was killed and two Rab men were wounded in a shootout between the elite force and his cohorts in the city’s Kamrangirchar area early yesterday. The incident took place despite Tuesday’s warning of LGRD and Cooperative Minister Syed Ashraful Islam against ‘extra-judicial killing.’ On Tuesday, Ashraful who ... Read more

There has been a mushroom growth of petrol pumps and CNG refueling stations in the city with a motive to earn money without ensuring safety measures in most stations. Safety measures needed to avoid any untoward incident are not available in the city’s CNG refueling and pump stations and many people engaged in the stations ... Read more

Hectic liaison going on to free them Forty fishermen and crews from Barguna and Chittagong districts have been passing painful days in Indian jail since October 2008 on the charge of alleged trespassing and crossing international boundary line. Rattan Molla, Owner of FB Shajahan-2, Anwar Haji, Owner of FB Shukkur, Golam Mustafa Chowdhury, President of ... Read more

Ctg Arms Haul Ex-NSI boss Sahab Uddin’s remand ends The three-day remand of former director (security) of National Security Intelligence (NSI) Mohammad Sahab Uddin ended yesterday evening without any further development in the Chittagong arms haul case. The CID officials remained silent regarding the development of the investigation since names of former high officials of ... Read more

The state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL) is going to introduce a single flat call rate for its customers in all the districts across the country and plans to cut down charges. Disclosing the government decision at a press briefing at his ministry, Post and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju said the new rate will ... Read more

Corruption In Sangsad Strip Sircar of MP status JS probe body also recommends criminal cases against Akhtar Hamid, Delwar A parliamentary sub-committee, probing alleged corruption of former speaker Jamiruddin Sircar, yesterday recommended revocation of his membership in the parliament for ‘massive financial graft involving moral turpitude’. The sub-committee also recommended filing of criminal cases against ... Read more

Taj says; new name, uniform being picked for overhauled force State Minister for Home Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj yesterday said that the government would take necessary assistance from the friendly countries to modernise the border security force Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), if necessary. Earlier, India and the USA had offered to help Bangladesh reorganise its border ... Read more

No role of upazila, union parishads in TR programme The government on Tuesday issued a guideline on the functioning of the newly-formed upazila parishads without defining the jurisdiction of vice-chairmen. The LGRD and cooperatives ministry issued the guideline, which will remain effective until the Upazila Parishad Rules of Business 2009 is framed. The food and ... Read more

The opposition BNP launched on Tuesday a series of protests spread over a month to protest power, water, and gas crises and ‘worsening security’. Party supporters were holding processions and rallies in Upazila, districts and metropolises to put pressure on the government to resolve the issues. The protests will run from

Advance work in daylight to save 250MW electricity The government may bring forward the Bangladesh Standard Time by one hour from June 16 if an inter-ministerial meeting decision to introduce daylight saving time (DST) is approved by the cabinet. If the system is introduced, clocks will be adjusted forward by one hour. It means offices ... Read more

Local government minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday said the government will no more allow the law-enforcing agencies to use “crossfire”- killings without trial-as a tool. “Establishment of rule of law is a must for a democratic country and for that no extra-judicial killings will be allowed to be used as a tool of law-enforcing agencies,” ... Read more