ishwardi - Dhaka Mirror

Quader sorry for slapping railway staff

Admin — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 16:24:21 +0000

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said “sorry” for slapping a train attendant while visiting Ishwardi Railway Station on Saturday.
Also in charge of the railways ministry, Quader slapped Boloram Das across the face for charging extra money for a ticket from a passenger.
“Although public support is in my favour for the slap, as a responsible person I feel that I should not have done this. I felt very sad [later],” said the minister at a meeting with Roads and Highways Department engineers at Sarak Bhaban in the capital.
Later, talking to The Daily Star, Quader apologised for what he had done.
He, however, referred to the public reaction in prothomalo.com on the news and said 92 percent readers supported his action.
“I also thank those newspapers which published the news on the event. Through the public reaction, I have come to know that some people have different opinions about my action,” he added.
Elaborating on the incident, the minister said, “I saw a poor elderly woman standing on the train with her paralysed husband even after having tickets. They were weeping at not having seats.
“When I asked them about the reason behind their predicament, the woman complained that the attendant had asked for extra money from her before she could be given a seat. Then I could not control myself and slapped the attendant, who is very young, as he failed to explain his undue demand for money,” Quader said.
Moreover, the minister explained that the attendant replied in English to show his competence which also irked him.
Sources said the attendant was later handed over to police for demanding the extra money.
At the meeting, the minister asked the engineers to work sincerely to deliver services to the people properly. He also directed them to ensure quality in road construction and maintenance works so that the government did not have to go for repairing again and again.
Talking to The Daily Star, some engineers quoted the minister as saying that he was working relentlessly and would not tolerate any negligence of duty by any officials concerned.
Quader also thanked the engineers for cooperating with him in repairing roads and highways ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Claiming that he did not take any percentage from engineers and contractors for any road construction work, the minister warned that he would go tough against any kind of corruption or irregularities in the RHD.

Courtesy of The Daily Star

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Quader slaps railway staff

Admin — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 10:48:37 +0000

Communications Minster Obaidul Quader yesterday slapped a train attendant in the face at Ishwardi Railway Station for his poor service and irregularities.
The minister also cancelled the lease of Mahananda Express, which operates between Khulna and Chapainawabganj via Rajshahi, finding its compartments in an unhygienic state.
Quader slapped Boloram Das after a passenger had complained that the attendant demanded extra fare from him although he got on the train with a ticket.
The minister visited the railway station around 10:15am on receiving complaints of poor service, Sujit Kumar, divisional traffic officer of the railway west zone, told The Daily Star.
Quader also transferred two railway staffs and suspended one on complaints from passengers of anomalies and poor service, said Md Ferdous Alam, general manager of Bangladesh Railway western zone.
The staffs transferred are Gazi Ferdous Hassan, station master of Chatmohar train station, and Nasima Khanam, ticket master of Ishwardi station, for selling tickets to scalpers. Md Amirul Islam, an estate official of Pakshey Divisional office, received the suspension order for not checking illegal occupation of the railway lands.
The minister said, “A few corrupt officials are destroying the railway sector. Ticket scalping, misappropriation of fuel, stealing of rail sleepers and such other misdeeds are ruining the sector.”
“I will take actions against the corrupt and the Anti-Corruption Commission will investigate them,” he added.
Later, the minister visited Pakshey divisional rail zone and asked its officials to recover illegally occupied lands within a month, said Kiron Chandra Roy, divisional estate officer (DEO) of the zone.
“Around 140 acre of 1,800 acres of land in Pakshey and Ishwardi zones have been illegally occupied,” said the DEO.
Obaidul Quader then visited the Lalon Shah Bridge in Pakshey and asked its officials to submit an enquiry report to his ministry within 15 days on irregularities of the toll plaza.
Yeafesh Osman, state minister for science, information and communication technology, Shamsur Rahman Sharif Dilu, lawmaker from Pabna-4 constituency, and high officials of railway and the communications ministry accompanied the minister during the visit.
Quader’s trip ended with a public meeting on the Pabna circuit house premises around noon. In the meeting, the minister said, “Three and a half years of this government has gone. It is time we acted rather than talking.”

Courtesy of The Daily Star

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Headmaster jailed for sexual harassment of student

Admin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:24:47 +0000

A mobile court sentenced the headmaster of a high school in Ishwardi to four months in jail on Sunday on charge of sexual harassment of a student.
But a section of students of Basherbanda Bohumukhi High School and locals staged demonstrations in protest at the punishment of the headmaster, Shamsul Islam insisting that the charge brought against him was ‘false’.
The protesters said that the headmaster was jailed on a ‘false’ charge because of conspiracies by some of his colleagues.
They said a group of teachers had spun the story of sexual harassment in a bid to oust the headmaster from the school.
A mobile court, led by Ishwardi upazila nirbahi officer Jakir Hossain, jailed the headmaster after the police arrested him on charge of sexual harassment of a student of class VII of the school on Sunday afternoon.
Kazi Haniful Islam, officer-in-charge of Ishwardi police station, quoted school sources as saying that the headmaster had sexually harassed the student in the classroom at about 10.30am on Sunday when all teachers and students were out in an assembly.
‘As the girl cried out for help, teachers and students rushed to the classroom, rescued the girl and caught the headmaster,’ the police officer said.
The police produced the headmaster and the girl
in the mobile court on Sunday afternoon along with witnesses. The headmaster was sent to jail on Sunday night after the mobile court handed down the sentence.
“The victim told the court she was sexually harassed by the headmaster. Three other teachers of the school also gave statements as witnesses,’ the UNO said.
But local people and a group of former students of the school brought out a procession on Monday morning in protest at the punishment of the headmaster. The marchers entered the school and forced the students out saying that no classes would take places until the headmaster was released. The protesters also accused the assistant headmaster of the school of hatching the ‘plot’ to oust Shamsul Islam from the school.
Scuffles broke out between the protesters and teachers of the school that left two teachers injured. The protesters claimed that two former students of the school were injured in the clash.
Classes were suspended and most of the teachers and students left the school during the clashes. Police were deployed in the school compound to avoid further trouble.
‘The headmaster is the victim of a conspiracy. The school will remain closed until he is released,’ the protesters said.

-With New Age input

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