24-03-2019

SuNDAy, DHAKA, MArCH 24, 2019, CHAiTrA 10, 1425 BS, rAJAB 15, 1440 HiJri
Teachers and employees of non-MPO educational institutions gathered in front of the Jatiya
Press Club for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday demanding enlistment of their institutions
under the Monthly Pay Order (MPO) scheme.
Photo: TBT
Free transport sector from political
influence: Dr Kamal
DHAKA : Gono Forum, led by Dr
Kamal Hossain, on Saturday demanded
that steps be taken to free the transport
sector from political influence and
laws be properly enforced to ensure
safe roads.
The party came up with the demand
at a press conference at the Jatiya Press
Club in Dhaka. The party also placed a
14-point demand to restore discipline
in the transport sector.
"Political influence not only helps
corruption spread but also make people
indifferent to obey law which ultimately
hampers the rule of law. This is applicable
for all sectors, including the transport
one," said Dr Kamal Hossain,
reports UNB.
He said the main reason behind the
prevailing anarchy in the transport sector
is lack of good governance. "It's necessary
to ensure impartial and effective
enforcement of laws to ensure good
governance."
Dr Kamal, also the convener of Jatiya
Oikyafront, said police must enforce
laws so that the goal for which these are
framed can be achieved. "But if the
police are influenced by anybody then
they become weaker, and deviate from
the rule of law."
He observed that road accidents and
traffic chaos are taking place for various
irregularities, indiscriminate plying of
vehicles and lack of enforcement of
laws. "I think road accidents are outcomes
of negligence and irresponsibility
while the tendency of defying laws
among people has become rampant."
The noted lawyer said the government
must identify those responsible
for chaos in the transport sector.
"In the face of outcry after any road
accident, the government is heard to
say they'll take proper steps, but they
don't translate their words into actions.
That's why the casualties and number
of road accidents are gradually growing.
It's a matter of serious concern," he
observed.
Dr Kamal urged people to be vocal
against the mismanagement and indiscipline
in the transport sector.
Later, in a written statement, party
presidium member Amsa Amin said
though the government promised students
of taking effective steps to ensure
safe roads following a movement last
year, it finally did nothing in this
regard.
He alleged that the government is not
sincere about creating a people-friendly
transport system. "The government has
now again pledged to ensure safe road
in the face of recent student movement.
But we can't keep trust in the government's
such promises."
The Gono Forum leader said the
chaos in the transport sector has been
created for various irregularities and
abuse of political power. Under the circumstances,
Amin, on behalf of the
party, presented the 14-point demand
to bring back discipline in the transport
sector and reduce road accidents.
The party's demands include,
upgrading the transport sector-related
laws based on fairness, enhancing the
skills of drivers through training, fixing
specific wages and working hours for
drivers, ensuring punishment to those
transport owners and workers responsible
for road accidents, introducing the
new franchising bus service system,
removing unfit vehicles from the
streets, conducting continuous drives
against fake and unskilled drivers and
creating a specific lane for public transport
and enhancing the quality of their
services.
Non-MPO teachers,
employees
continue
demonstrations
DHAKA : Teachers and
employees of non-MPO educational
institutions gathered
in front of the Jatiya
Press Club for the fourth
consecutive day on Saturday
demanding enlistment of
their institutions under the
Monthly Pay Order (MPO)
scheme, reports UNB.
Under the banner of 'Non-
MPO Educational
Institutions Teachers' and
Employees' Federation',
started their demonstrations
on Wednesday demanding
intervention of the Prime
Minister in resolving the
issue.
Earlier, on June 25 2018,
teachers and employees of
non-MPO educational institutions
started hunger strike
demanding enlistment of
their institutions under the
MPO facility.
On July 11, they called off
their hunger strike after getting
government's assurance
to fulfil the demand.
As their demand remained
unfulfilled in last eight
months, they again started
their programme on
Wednesday.
3rd phase polls to 117 upazila
parihads today
DHAKA : Elections to 117 upazila parishads
will be held today in the third phase of the local
body polls, reports UNB.
Some 1.19 crore (118,87,751) voters will be
able to exercise their voting rights under 9,298
polling stations in the balloting that is set to
begin at 8am and continue till 4pm without
any break.
In the 117 upazilas, some 340 chairman, 584
vice-chairman and 399 woman vice-chairman
candidates are contesting the elections.
Besides, 33 chairman, nine vice-chairman
and 13 woman vice-chairman contestants have
already been elected uncontested in the absence
of any valid candidate to oppose them.
Though the Election Commission earlier announced
the election schedule for 127 upazilas
of 25 districts, the balloting will not be held in
10 upazilas in the third phase on various
grounds.
"Six upazilas where all candidates have already
been elected unopposed don't require
the balloting, while polls to two other upazilas
were postponed following a court order and
the election to the remaining two upazilas
shifted to the fourth phase," said EC Secretary
Helaluddin Ahmed at a pre-election briefing at
the media centre of the Nirbachan Bhaban in
the city on Saturday afternoon.
The election to four upazilas will be held
based on electronic voting machines completely,
he said adding the upazilas are
Meherpur Sadar, Gopalganj Sadar, Manikganj
Sadar and Rangpur Sadar.
He said the election materials including
translucent ballot boxes and ballot papers
have already been handed over to the presiding
officers.
"All the necessary preparations have been
taken to hold the third phase election in a
peaceful manner like the first phase and second
phase elections," EC Secretary Helaluddin
Ahmed said.
The EC has withdrawn three Upazila
Nirbahi Officers and nine officers-in-charge
(OCs) of police stations from the duty of the
third phase polls, he said.
Besides, the Commission served warning
notices to several MPs over violation of the
election code, he added.
A large number of security members, including
police, Rab, BGB and Coast Guard, have
been deployed in the election areas since
Friday. They are slated to remain so till
Tuesday.
Additional BGB members were deployed in
some upazilas amid the risk of irregularities
and deterioration of the law and order in this
phase, Helaluddin said.
Besides, at least one judicial magistrate was
deployed in each upazila and an executive
magistrate for every three union parishads for
five days to punish any violations of the polls
code.
A security team comprising of 14-16 members
drawn from police, Ansar and VDP will
guard each polling station on the day.
The Public Administration announced a
public holiday in the 117 upazilas for Sunday.
The 5th upazila election will be completed in
five phases holding polls to some 480 upazilas
out of the country's 492 ones. The EC has so
far announced the election schedule for the
first four phases.
Why Did Ancient People
Bury Butter in Bogs?
INTERESTING NEWS
Peat bogs are favorite hunting grounds of
archeologists because of the many odd surprises
these marshy wetlands have
revealed from time to time. These wetlands
of decaying plant matter have remarkable
preservation properties. Low in oxygen
and high in tannic acid, bogs are perfect
place to fall into and have your bodies stay
intact for millenniums to come. Ritual sacrifices
by drowning in peat bogs were common
in northwestern Europe. We know
this from the thousands of “bog bodies”
that have been pulled out from bogs across
Europe. A variety of Bronze-age artifacts
and mediaeval manuscripts have also been
recovered by peat-cutters—people who
harvest the peat and use it as fuel for cooking,
throughout the centuries. Another
ubiquitous find are stashes of butter, carefully
wrapped in wooden buckets and barrels
and buried in peats for reasons that are
not entirely clear.
A study conducted in the 1990s to test
the preservation qualities of peat bogs
found that the combination of cold water
temperature and increased acidity produces
a kind of bacteria that can survive
without oxygen. This bacteria in the samples
of meat the researchers buried in peat
bogs made the meat unpalatable to other
bacteria that normally decompose dead
tissue. Laboratory analyses of the meat
retrieved after two years in the bogs were
found to have roughly the same levels of
bacteria and pathogens as meat stored in a
modern freezer.
The meat-preserving ability of bogs were
known to Ice Age hunters ten thousand
years ago. When small groups of hunters
killed a mastodon they preserved the meat
underwater in ponds and bogs for the lean
winter period.
HC revokes sacked
AL leader's bail
over Subarnachar
gang rape
DHAKA : The High Court
on Saturday revoked its
previous order that granted
a one-year interim bail to
sacked Awami League leader
Ruhul Amin in a case
over the gang-rape of a
woman in Subarnachar
upazila of Noakhali after
the December-30 national
election, reports UNB.
The HC bench of Justice
Mamnoon Rahman and
Justice SM Kuddus Zaman
sat on weekly holiday and
passed the order, said
Supreme Court Special officer
Mohammad Saifur
Rahman.
The court also fixed
March 25 for next hearing.
The HC granted bail to
Ruhul Amin on March 18
after hearing a petition filed
by him.
It was alleged that Ruhul
Amin's followers gangraped
the woman at his
behest on the night of the
general election on
December 30. Police later
arrested him.
Ruhul Amin was the
upazila unit publicity affairs
secretary of Awami League
and a former union council
member. Later, he was
expelled from the party.
According to the victim's
husband, a group of hoodlums
stormed their house
in the early hours of
December 31 and tied up all
the family members except
his wife.
Due to high temperature, water crisis seen in the capital. The photo was taken from Bangla Bazar
area of the capital city.
Photo: Star Mail
Quader's condition
improves further:
Physician
DHAKA : Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul
Qauder's health condition improved further after the bypass
surgery, Prof Dr Abu Nasar Rizvi of Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
His Ando tranquil tube has been removed. Besides, the
sleeping pills also are being reduced, said the BSMMU physician,
reports UNB.
After opening his tube, the Minister talked to him, said Dr.
Rizvi. Obaidul Quader, also General Secretary of Bangladesh
Awami League (AL), underwent a successful bypass surgery
at the hospital on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister A H M Mustafa Kamal visited
the Minister at the Mount Elizabeth hospital in Singapore
on Friday afternoon.
Quader was admitted to BSMMU on March 3 following
breathing complications and tests revealed three blockages in
his coronary arteries. He was flown to Singapore the next day
for treatment at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
Students block Dhaka-
Barishal Highway
BARISHAL : Students of Government BM College protested
on Saturday, demanding maximum penalty for the bus
driver involved in Friday's road accident in Barishal which
left seven people dead. One of the victims was an MA student
of the college, reports UNB.
Agitated students blocked the Dhaka-Barishal Highway for
about two hours, halting traffic on the busy road. They
brought out a procession from the campus before putting up
barricades on the highway at Notullabad around 10am.
Police visited the spot and requested the protesters to end
their demonstration, said Nurul Islam, officer-in-charge of
Kotwali Police Station.
The students called off their protests after Barishal City
Mayor Sher Niabat Sadik Abdulla assured them that justice
will be done, the OC added.
New Ducsu leaders
take charge
DHAKA : The elected leaders of Dhaka University Central
Students' Union (Ducsu) took over their respective charges
for one year in its first executive meeting held on Saturday,
reports UNB.
The meeting began around 11:30 am at the hall room on the
1st floor of Ducsu Bhaban presided over by Dhaka University
Vice Chancellor Prof Akhtaruzzaman and ended around 1:30
pm. After 28 years, the Ducsu and hall union elections were
held on March 11. Quota reformist leader Nurul Haq Nur, who
won the Dhaka University Central Students' Union vice-president
post and later called it an 'unfair' election, also assumed
the office. Akhter Hossen, who won the social service affairs
secretary post from Nur's panel, also attended the meeting.
The Ducsu polls were marred by allegations of irregularities.
All panels, except that of Bangladesh Chhatra League,
boycotted the election. The ruling party student front dominated
the polls but lost the posts of VP and social service
affairs secretary.
Bangladesh turned into
a failed state: BNP
DHAKA : BNP on Saturday alleged that Bangladesh has
turned into a failed state as the government sold out itself to
the super powers of the globe, reports UNB.
"This government has been staying in power illegally since
it is not elected with people's vote.
They have already turned Bangladesh into a failed state,
"said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Speaking at a token hunger strike programme he further
said this government is working with a motive to build
Bangladesh as a subservient country dependent on others.
"They(govt)have already been sold out to super powers.
They(govt) and their leaders are working as service providers
of the super powers," he said.
BNP Nababganj and Dohar upazila units observed onehour
token hunger strike from 1 pm to 2 pm on the ground
floor of BNP's Nayapaltan central office.
Acting Editor & Publisher : Jobaer Alam, Advisory Editor: Advocate Molla Mohammad Abu Kawser, Managing, Editor: Tapash Ray Sarker, News Editor : Saiful Islam, printed at Sonali Printing Press, 2/1/A, Arambagh 167, Inner Circular Road, Eden Complex, Motijheel, Dhaka.
Editorial and News Office: K.K Bhaban (Level-04) 69/K, Green Road, Panthapath, Dhaka-1205. Tel : +8802-9611884, Cell : 01832166882; Email: Editor : editor@thebangladeshtoday.com, Advertisement: ads@thebangladeshtoday.com, News: newsbangla@thebangladeshtoday.com, contact@thebangladeshtoday.com, website: www.thebangladeshtoday.com