Regd No DA: 6392, Vol 03: No. 289 * Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019 * Ashar 24, 1426, BS * Zilqad 04, 1440 Hijri * 16 Pages * Price: Tk 10.00 www.bangladeshpost.net

Mohammad Zakaria

The fastest growing four mega proj-ects, metro rail, elevated expressway,bus rapid transit are expected to becompleted by 2021, while theproposed underground railway isexpected to be completed by 2026as works are going on at full speed.

With the completion of the proj-ects the devastating traffic situationof Dhaka city, which takes up 3.2million work hours everyday, wouldbe over.

The city dwellers would get arelief from long sufferings fromchaotic traffic system, vehicle pollu-tion, delays on the roads andunwanted accidents once the proj-ects are launched.

Some mega transport improve-ment projects are now in

progress namely the construc-tion of Metro Rail, DhakaElevated Expressway and BusRapid Transit (BRT).

The proposed undergroundrailway or better known as MRTLine-1, will link the capital's airportwith Kamalapur. It will also have

an elevated part to connectPurbachal with Notun Bazar in thecity. The project deadline is 2026.

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Dhaka city’s 4 megaprojects coming

(L) Proposed 40-kilometre Mass Rapid Transport Line-2 from Gabtoli to Sayedabad through Mirpur Road (R) Aportion of the under-construction Metro Rail in city’s Banglamotor area. Photo: BP

PM to brief mediaon China visit

todayPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina willbrief the media on her five-day bilat-eral official visit to China today,reports BSS.

The media briefing will start at 4pm at her official Ganobhaban resi-dence, the PM’s Speech Writer MNazrul Islam said.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinareturned home Saturday afternoonafter wrapping up her five-day bilat-eral official visit to China at the invi-tation of her Chinese counterpartLi Keqiang.

Awami League General Secretaryand Road Transport and BridgesMinister Obaidul Quader Sundaysaid hartal is no more a weapon ofmass movement as the countrymenunderstand the reality, reports BSS.

“Gas price has been increased forcost adjustment. Even after that thegovernment will have to givesubsidy,” he told a press conferenceat the AL president’s Dhanmondipolitical office following a meetingof the party secretariat.

He said there was no reflection ofthe hartal called by left-leaning

parties for today in protest of thegas price hike. “Everything was

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Marshall Islandpresident Hilda,

Ban Ki-moon dueon Tuesday

Marshall Island President Dr HildaHeine and former UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon are scheduledto arrive Dhaka on Tuesday on atwo-day visit to attend the “DhakaMeeting of the Global Commissionon Adaptation”, reports BSS.

The Marshal Island President willarrive in the early hours of Tuesdaywhile Ban Ki-moon in the afternoon.They will be received by foreignminister Dr AK Abdul Momen at

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The High Court (HC) Sundaydirected Dhaka Water Supply andSewerage Authority (WASA) tosubmit a report within the next twoweeks explaining the steps takenafter the tracing of chlorine,ammonia, arsenic and human fecesin its water, reports BSS.

A HC division bench comprisingJustice JBM Hassan and Justice MdKhairul Alam passed the order asdeputy attorney general MotaharHossain Sazu submitted a reportthat said contamination was foundin water samples taken from eight

different supply points of DhakaWASA.

“The presence of harmfulbacteria, high level of ammonia andeven the traces of human feces werefound in the water samples. Thecourt has asked Dhaka WASA togive its explanation in writing as towhat steps it has taken after thelatest fi ndings,” Advocate MdTanvir Ahmed told newsmen.

Following an order of the HighCourt, the Ministry of LocalGovernment and Rural

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Shakib retainsODI ranking

New Delhi Correspondent

Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan hasretained the top spot among all-rounders as the InternationalCricket Council on Sunday cameout with its latest ranking of playersin One Day Internationals.

England’s Ben Stokes has gainednine places to reach second positionas all-rounder. In the ICC ODI team

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Move to develop waterways SM Mizanur Rahman

The government has taken upvarious measures to make thecountry’s waterways more navi-gable, sources in the shippingministry said.

The shipping ministry hasalready embarked on massivedredging activities in a bid to restorethe navigability of the river routesthroughout the country.

According to the shippingministry, dredging activities are inprogress to restore the navigabilityof 10,000-kilomtetre river way.

Besides, it has also started devel-oping the infrastructures of seaports, land ports and importantchannels.

Considering the significance ofinfrastructure related sea-river-land

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First Hajj flightstarts from Ctg

The first Hajj flight of BimanBangladesh Airlines took off fromChattogram’s Hazrat ShahAmanat International AirportSunday carrying 410 hajj pilgrimsto Jeddha in Saudi Arabia, reportsBSS.

Acting manager of Hazrat ShahAmanat International Airport,Khairul Kabir inaugurated the Hajjflight at the airport, exchangedgreetings with the hajj pilgrims andoffered prayers with them.

He said the government has takenpreparations to ensure smoothmovement of Hajj flights this year.Necessary measures were also takento stop any sort of harassment tothe pilgrims.

He said Biman BangladeshAirlines will operate 19 scheduledHajj flights from Shah AmanatAirport.

DU teacher assault case

Report against Nur,Liton Aug 7

A Dhaka court Sunday set August7 for submitting probe report in acase filed against five including nowDhaka University Central Students’Union (Ducsu) Vice-President (VP)Nurul Haq Nur for allegedlyassaulting Rokeya Hall provostZeenat Huda.

Dhaka metropolitan magistrateSorafuzzaman Ansari set the dateas investigation officer failed tosubmit the report on Sunday,reports BSS.

According to the case documents,the accused on the morning ofMarch 11 during the voting ofDucsu polls tried to spread rumoramong the students. As the Hallprovost tried to calm things down,they assaulted her and abused otherstudents too. Dhaka Universitystudent Marjuka Raina on that day

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Cardiac unitinaugurated at DMCH

A separate cardiac unit has beenopened at the Dhaka MedicalCollege Hospital (DMCH), reportsBSS.

Health and Family WelfareMinister Zahid Maleque on Sundayformally inaugurated the unit forensuring emergency healthcareservices and modern treatmentfacility to the cardiac patients.

Addressing a function at DMCHauditorium, he said the AwamiLeague government has alwaysattached utmost importance to

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Agriculture Minister DrMohammad Abdur RazzaqueSunday laid stress on exploringnewer overseas markets to increaseexports of agricultural products tomake this sector economicallyvibrant, reports BSS.

“One of the problems of our agri-culture is that the lion’s share of ouragro-products is being sold at localmarkets. We have to expand exportmarkets overseas for agro-prod-ucts,” he told an internationalsymposium titled “Agricultural

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Enam Ahmed Chymade AL advisor

Staff Correspondent

Enam AhmedChowdhury, acareer diplomat, has been madeAwami Leagueadvisor.

A w a m iL e a g u eP r e s i d e n tSheikh Hasina,b e i n gempowerd by the council, appointed himadviser of the rulling party. Chowdhuryis also a columnist and former chairmanof the Privatization Commission.

Digital economygrowing substantiallyStaff Correspondent

Digital economy has been the focusof countries across the globe as itssize is growing substantially, $1.26trillion in Asia Pacific region by 2021,60 percent of the Gross DomesticProducts (GDP) and 4.4 trillionEuros in the EU by 2022.

Keeping this in view, the govern-ments are setting out their nationalplans, visions and digital strategiesfor the future.

Speakers made the view at the 7thAnnual Sustainable DevelopmentConference 2019 on ‘GreenTechnology, Renewable Energy andEnvironmental Protection’ inBangkok, Thailand.

Laying due emphasize on impactof digital economy on sustainabledevelopment, experts furthermentioned that digitization is 4.7times more powerful than theaverage impact of broadband rolloutin boosting economic growth.

The 3-day Conference is organ-ized by 'Tomorrow PeopleOrganization', an internationallyrecognized non-profit organizationwith headquarters in Belgrade,Serbia.

A total of 7 thematic papers werepresented in the opening day. Prof.Salim Hiziroglu from United Stateof America (USA) presented paperon “Sustainable Timber HarvestingPractices” and Dr. Hesham Dinana

from Egyptpresented the on“The Impact ofthe DigitalEconomy onS u s t a i n a b l eDevelopment”.

In his presen-tation, Prof.Salim narratedthat timberharvesting isextracting andt r a n s p o r t i n g

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Hartal no more a weaponof mass movement: Quader

HC calls explanation forWASA’s contaminated water

Razzaque for exploringnewer export markets

Nothing to be scaredof dengue: TajulLocal Government, RuralDevelopment and Co-operativesMinister Md Tajul Islam Sundayurged all concerned not to be scaredof dengue fever as the governmentis working on to cope with themenace, reports BSS.

“We have nothing to be scared ofdengue fever . . . Two city corpora-tions – Dhaka South CityCorporation (DSCC) and DhakaNorth City Corporation (DNCC) –are working to restore comfort in

civic life with taking pragmaticsteps, ” the minister said whilepresiding over a meeting on waterlogging, cleanliness of drains anddrives against mosquito.

He added: “Prior to the rainyseason, all drains have been cleaned.As we want to build a comfortablecity we are trying to modernize allthe roads of new wards earlierincluded in the jurisdictions of thetwo city corporations.”

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Two Congressleaders resign

New Delhi Correspondent

Two key Congress leadersJyotiraditya Scindia, a close aide ofRahul Gandhi, and Milind Deora,on Sunday resigned from their orga-nizational posts, adding to theturmoil in the party over the party'scrushing defeat in parliamentaryelections.

The first to announce the resig-nation was Deora as MumbaiCongress President following ameeting with Rahul Gandhi whohas also quit as the Congress chiefand this was followed by Scindia,the party General Secretary, soonafter.

Both Scindia and Deora belongto the young generation of Congressleaders and considered Rahul loyal-ists. "Accepting the people's verdictand taking accountability, I hadsubmitted my resignation asGeneral Secretary of AICC (All IndiaCongress Committee) to Shri RahulGandhi," Scindia tweeted.

Deora said he was going to takeup a national role to stabilize the

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High cost detersaviation growth

Anwar Hossain

Despite huge potentials, the growthof aviation industry of the countryis being decelerated due to varioustypes of high service charges suchas landing, parking, route naviga-tion, airports charge in domesticand international routes.

On the other hand domestic jetfuel cost comparing to internationalmarket is another barrier to theprivate aviation outgrowth.

However, private airlines of the See Page 2 Col 2

Govt appoints105 AAGs

The government through a gazettenotification on Sunday appointed105 assistant attorney generals(AAG’s), reports BSS

A gazette issued from SolicitorWing of Law and Justice Division,said the 105 lawyers are beingappointed as assistant attorneygenerals of Bangladesh until passingof further order.

The notification further saidexcept the 27 AAGs appointed onJune 12, 2017, and 25 others

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Dhaka Monday July 08 , 2019 News2

Shakib retains From Page 1 Col 1

rankings, England remain in first posi-tion with 123 points but only aheadof India on decimal points while NewZealand and Australia are similarlyboth on 112 with the former frac-tionally ahead and South Africa fifthon 110 points.

Bangladesh with 89 points is placedseventh.

India captain Virat Kohli hasretained the top position among ODIbatsmen after scoring five half-centuries in the ongoing World Cupbut his compatriot and opener RohitSharma has bridged the gap in thelatest rankings after a stupendous runin the league stage of the 10-teamtournament.

Kohli’s 442 runs at an average of63.14 have seen him gain one pointand reach 891 points while Rohit hasbridged the gap from 51 points to onlysix after becoming the first batsmanto score five centuries in the WorldCup. His 885 points going into thesemi-finals are a career-high.

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country has repeatedly alleged thatit has become difficult for them todo business in the regional routeand many of them are planning toreduce the number of flights to copeup with their expenditure mainlybecause of the high service charges.

It is to be noted that the Civil AviationAuthority of Bangladesh (CAAB) is theconcerned authority who collect thesecharges from the airlines.

About the service charges it waslearnt that CAAB charges Tk 2403charge for ATR- 72 or Dash-8 aircraftlanding and navigation in domesticflight. But the same aircraft ischarged Taka 52,450 when it fliesform Dhaka to Kolkata. Besides, atravel tax (return ticket) of Taka 4618is also charged.

Private airlines authorities allegedthat as the air distance from Dhakato Kolkata is not that muchcomparing to domestic routes theairliner cannot take high ticket price.When a 70 seater aircraft operatesat Dhaka-Saidpur routes, it earns(return ticket price is Tk 6000) Tk420000 and has to pay Tax forpassenger Tk 39410, for navigationand landing Tk 4806.

When the same aircraft operatesat Dhaka to Kolkata routes, it earns(return ticket Tk 12000) Tk 840000.But it has to pay Tax for passengersTk 3,23,260, for navigation andlanding Tk 87,063. Besides, theairliner also have to carry foreignstations operating cost.

In this regard, Chief OperatingOfficer of Regent Air Ashish RaiChoudhury told Bangladesh Postthat, “We are continuouslyapproaching to the government toreduce the service charges of avia-tion industry. To sustain the industrythe government should pay atten-tion to this sector”.

“If the government lift or reducethe aviation charges for a certainperiod of time, then we the privateairlines will be able to sustain asin this condition it has becomehard to gain profit. Reducingcharges will also help to competewith the foreign airliners whichwill save huge foreign currencies”-he added.

Aviation expert opined that, inthis very situation if the charges arereconsidered at a flexible level thenthe airliners could compete withglobal airliners. To nourish domestic

airlines governments in differentcountries provide subsidies. Jet fuelcost is also need to be reduced inthe context of the country.

A high official of the concernedministry said that for providingincentive to the country’s airlinesthe government has plan to reduceaeronautical charges. A proposal hasalready been sent to the concernministry.

It was learnt that, already UnitedAirways, GMG Airlines, Best Air, ArrowBengal Airlines and Air Parabat havelaid off their business in the countrydue to increased operating costs, fuelprice hike and other charges.

Sayed Mohammad MozammelHaque, director (operation andplanning) of Bangladesh PetroliamCorporation, told Bangladesh Postthat jet fuel price in Bangladesh,comparing to that of in Kolkata, isalways one cent lower. This fuelprice is even higher in Kathmanduand other countries.

About the fuel price difference ininternational and domestic routeshe said, “We calculate fuel price inour local currency but when dollarprice goes up, fuel price changes inour country.”

High cost deters aviation

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The 20.1 km Metro Rail project orMRT Line-6 is expected to launchtrain services from Uttara toAgargaon in the first phase of theproject by the end of this year. Thesecond phase, from Agargaon toMotijheel, will be completed by2020.

The Tk 8,940 crore DhakaElevated Expressway, with a lengthof 19.73km, starts at Hazrat ShahjalalInternational Airport and contin-uous over the railway track up toKhilkhet area and follow the railwaytrack on the Bangladesh railway’sown land.

At Khilkhet area the expresswayalignment turns eastward, crossingthe railway track from west to east,to avoid the Kuril flyoverInterchange making a semi-circularturn over Khilkhet, Kuril, the ProgatiSarani and finally into Joar Shahara.

The government is also planningto construct the third metro rail(MRT line-5) connectingHemayetpur and Vatara throughthe Dhaka Cantonment.

The metro rail will have twoelevated parts – the first one to beconstructed between Hemayetpurand Aminbazar (5.5km) while thesecond part will connect NatunBazar and Vatara (0.5km).

Besides, the 13.6km long under-ground part will be constructedbetween Gabtoli and Gulshan-2 viaDar-Us-Salam, Mirpur-1, Mirpur-10, Mirpur-14, Kochukhet, canton-ment and Banani.

Lastly, the construction of 22 kmBus Rapid Transit (BRT) fromAirport to Jhilmil, Keraniganj is alsoin progress aiming at resolvingtraffic congestion in the capital city.Once the BRT Line-3 from Airportto Jhilmil project is completed, it willbenefit some 30,000 passengers fromboth sides of the route in an hour.

BRT will have 16 stations fromHazrat Shahjalal InternationalAirport to Jhilmil, Keraniganj.According to the project details, theBRT Line-3 would have an inter-connection facility with the under-construction Gazipur-Airport BRTat Hazrat Shahjalal InternationalAirport station.

In the phase-1, the authority willimplement the project from Airport

to Mohakhali, phase-2 will becompleted from Mohakhali toGulistan and phase-3 will be imple-mented from Gulistan to Jhilmil,Keraniganj over the BurigangaRiver.

Such mega infrastructureconstruction projects, oncecompleted shortly would make animmense impact on the economy ofthe country when the traffic conges-tion crisis would come to an end.

Considering Dhaka's economicpotential the city is only one percentof the country's total area but itscontribution to GDP will be 36percent and will create 44 percentof the country's total employment,according to a recent World Bankstudy.

The present government hasgiven special attention on removingthe obstacles in the city’s trafficcongestions and the huge allocationin the transport developmentsystems reflects how serious thegovernment is.

On completion of the transport-related projects, it would addresssome major challenges, includingpollution, congestion, accidents,public transport shortage, environ-mental degradation, climate change,and energy depletion.

The city dwellers would greatlyenjoy living as the advanced trans-ports would offer fast, more effi-cient and pollution free traveling.

Bangladesh Post spoke to theformer lead economist of the WorldBank, Dr Zahid Hossain and askedwhat impacts the transport projectswould have on the economy of thecountry.

Dr Zahid agreed that if every-thing goes as per the plan of thegovernment the traffic congestionwould surely see a massivechange. He, however, warned thatby the time the projects competethe volume of the traffic wouldalso substantially increase. Hequestioned whether the volumeof the newly added vehicles on theroads would add to the currentcongestions problems or not.

He said, “The transport improve-ment projects are welcome butwhether they would practicallysolve the existing problems is thebiggest challenge.”

Dhaka city’s 4 mega

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ports and their efficient operationalsystem in expanding internationaland domestic trade, the governmentis implementing a massive actionplan to conduct capital dredging tomodernise the country’s seaports.

Alongside the river ways, devel-opment of necessary infrastructureand facilities at the seaports are alsoin progress.

A Tk 17,000 crore project is beingimplemented to construct a bayterminal at Chattogram port.

The handling capacity of theChattogram port will be enhancedsignificantly from present 2.8 milliontwenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs)to 3 million TEUs by the end of thisfinancial year.

Besides, projects are being imple-mented to build necessary infrastruc-tures and facilities at Payra sea port.

The construction work of Payradeep sea port at Kalapara inPatuakhali is making a steadyprogress. A tender to build the firstterminal will be floated bySeptember, officials said.

The port is the country’s 3rd andlargest sea port and will add themuch-needed port capacity toBangladesh to enable larger vesselsto call at the facility.

Among the main projects, workson the first terminal, a coal-firedpower plant and dredging will startby the middle of this year. By 2021,international ships will be able tocome to the terminal directly.

On the other hand, as the Monglaport is already a profitable and busyport with enhanced foreign shipanchoring, cargo handling, and highexports and imports in the last tenyears and six months, the govern-ment is also working to enhancecapacity of the port.

The projects include constructionof four jetties and two yards, a large

multi-storeyed garage for carparking, four lanes road, purchasingof 11 survey and tag boats andmodern machineries for handlingcargoes and containers.

On the other hand, a ‘compre-hensive effort’ will be made toprotect all rivers, canals, haors andother water bodies as the country’sagriculture and rural economy aredependent on them.

The country has some 405 riversof which 57 trans-boundary rivers.

Due to climate change anddifferent natural and man-madeproblems, the country’s rivers andwater bodies are being pollutedgradually.

Around 77 rivers have totallydisappeared from the map ofBangladesh, with their beds servingas croplands, according to experts.

“Rivers are disappearing due tothe unplanned construction ofembankments and culverts,unabated encroachment, theabsence of dredging, lack of waterflow, urbanisation, siltation, earth-quakes, climate change andconstruction of barrages and with-drawal of water with the construc-tion of dams in the upstream,” AbuNaser Khan, chairman of ParibeshBachao Andolon (POBA), toldBangladesh Post.

According to him, the govern-ment has formulated NRCC Act2013 to prevent grabbing of rivers,pollution and establishing of illegalstructures, retrieve natural flow ofriver, proper maintenance of riversand make rivers as favourable toshipping to ensure the rivers multi-dimensional use for the socioeco-nomic development of the country.

Meanwhile, State Minister forShipping Khalid MahmudChowdhury said dredging of 25rivers are now underway includingthe dead and dry rivers in order to

keep the navigability of the riverroute throughout the country.

“The dredging of 25 rivers arenow going on ….it will continue till2026,” the state minister said.

Of the total rivers under dredging,he said, 13 are dead and dry rivers.The dead and dry rivers are Kongsoriver, Mogra, Chalti, Dudkumar,Rokti, Baulai, Rakshaw-Nalar river,Arial kha, Monu, Atrai, Buri, Natunriver and Moynakata river.

Many rivers like the Chitra,Daudkhali, Chengrail, Ghanoraj,Betna, Mukuleswari, Labangabati,Herther, Atharobeki, Salta, DakuaKhal, Sui, Dhanu, Balardi, Phutki,Mora Kumar and Muchikhali havecompletely vanished fromBangladesh’s map.

Besides, most portions of riverslike the Padma, Ganges, Teesta,Brahmaputra, Jamuna,Dhaleshwari, Sandhya, Meghna,Buriganga, Shitalakhya andBangalee have already dried upbecause of the irresponsibility oflocal residents and the government’snegligence, complained greenactivists and river experts.

About 45 rivers like theKaliganga, Bangshi, Banar, Patnai,Jadukatha, Manu, Mogra, Dakatia,Dhorla, Old Brahmaputra,Mohananda, Arialkha, Gorai, HuraSagor, Karotoa, Bibiana, Pagla, Rakti,Dakua, Barak, Patnai, Kangsha,Turag, Nabaganga, Ichamati,Madhumati, Dumuria, Someswari,Balu, Jamuneswari and Dhaleswariare about to die, an expert said.

The length of internal river routesof the country is 6,000 kilometresduring the monsoon and 4,000 kilo-metres in the dry season, accordingshipping ministry sources.

About 1,620 km of river routeshave totally disappeared. Farmersare now cultivating crops on theselands.

Move to develop waterways

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Congress but did not specify whatthe role would be.

Ahead of the elections, Rahul hadappointed Scindia and PriyankaGandhi Vadra as in-charges forUttar Pradesh, electorally the mostcrucial Indian state with 80 parlia-mentary seats, in a bid to revive theparty the state.

The Congress, however, couldwin only one seat, with BJP winning62 out of 80 seats in the state. In anembarrassment to the Congress,Rahul himself lost from his familystronghold Amethi.

Overall, the Congress won only52 of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Scindia,a four-time parliamentarian fromGuna in Madhya Pradesh, also losthis time-tested constituency.

Taking responsibility for theloss, Rahul had quit as party pres-ident on May 25. A spate of resig-nations by local level leadersfollowed when it became clear thathe was not going to have rethinkon his decision.

Earlier this week, Rahul madepublic an open letter on his Twitter,listing the reasons for resigning fromthe top party post.

Two Congress leaders

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normal everywhere,” he added. Quader said: “We do realistic poli-

tics in people’s interest. We don’t dopolitics over vote issue.”

Commenting on BNP’s call for amovement to free the party’sChairperson Begum Khaleda Ziafrom jail, he said BNP could notwage any movement even for 10minutes in the past 10 years and theparty won’t be able to do that infuture too.

Whenever any court verdict goesagainst BNP, its leaders do not wantto obey law, trial and verdict, headded.

Replying to a question, Quadersaid Awami League’s nationalconference will be held in due timeas “We have necessary preparationsfor it.” He said July 21 has been fixedfor form distribution for ‘membercollection campaign’ of the party.

The key target of the campaign isto include persons who believe inthe spirit of Liberation War, whowere not involved in wrongdoingsand those who worked for the partyin the previous elections.

AL Joint General SecretariesMahbubul Alam Hanif, Dr DipuMoni, Advocate Jahangir KabirNanak and Abdur Rahman,Organizing Secretaries AhmedHossain, Khalid MahmudChowdhury and AKM EnamulHaque Shamim, Information andResearch Secretary Afjal Hossain,Science and Technology AffairsSecretary Engineer Abdus Sabur,Relief and Social Welfare SecretarySujit Roy Nandi, Forest andEnvironment Secretary DelwarHossain and Central WorkingCommittee member Marufa AkhterPopy were present in the pressconference.

Hartal no more a weapon

HC calls explanationFrom Page 1 Col 2

Development took samples of waterfrom 34 areas in 10 zones and testedthose at the laboratories of BangladeshUniversity of Engineering andTechnology, Dhaka University andInternational Centre for DiarrhoealDisease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).

Of those 34 samples, contamina-tions were found in eight. The HC onNovember 6, 2018, formed a four-member committee with representa-tives from LGRD Ministry, DhakaUniversity, BUET and icddr,b. Thecourt on May 21, asked this committeeto test the water.

From Page 1 Col 2

trees or logs from the forestlandto a final production site. One ofthe most important aspectsthroughout the harvesting oper-ations is maximising the mate-rial recovered while keeping theoverall cost at minimum level.

He also opined, “Digitalizationand sustainability are two of themost powerful influences intoday’s economic landscape andeach has generated massiveamount of research on how itinfluences different aspects ofpeoples live.”

He described how ICT & TheDigital Economy contribute tothe achievement of the SDGs andwhich, out of the 17 SDGs are theones impacted the most by ICTand lastly, which sectors of thedigital economy has the highestimpact on SDGs achievement.

“ICT can pave the way for theage of sustainable developmenttransformation where tech-nology is a key enabler for plan-etary and human well-being”,Hesham opined.

Mahesh Bangad from Indiapresented a paper on ‘Light inVernacular Temples of Pune.” Inhis research study, he said,numerous temples were built inthe city of Pune in the seven-teenth to nineteenth centuries.These are not of the classicaltypology and quality, but are

rather stylised vernacular adap-tations of classical temples.

In his paper styled “Climatechange and trend of naturalmountain ecosystems inMorocco”, Prof. MohammedSghir Taleb focused on impact ofclimate change on mountainecosystem as well as adaptationand mitigation actions developedby Morocco to address the issue.

Jamilah Karim of Malaysiamade a presentation on“Occurrence, Determination andTreatment of Bisphenol A inLangat River in Malaysia.”

In research paper, she focusedon how to extract and concen-trate BPA, to determine theconcentration of BPA and toconduct treatment in removingBPA. In her paper she has triedto find out the occurrence andconcentration of Bisphenol A(BPA) in Langat River and alsotributary of Langat River as casestudy.

A fellow member of Instituteof Cost & ManagementAccountants of Bangladesh(ICMAB) and Deputy ManagingDirector of Prime Bank Limited;Md. Touhidul Alam Khan isparticipating in the conferenceas an expert as well as memberof Scientific Committee and juryboard as well.

Khan will present a paper on“Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs): Implementation Statusin Bangladesh” in the afternoonsession on Monday.

Delegates from 38 countriesare attending in the conference.

Digital economy growing Marshall Island From Page 1 Col 3

Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport,official sources said here today.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina willinaugurate the one-day meeting onWednesday morning at HotelInterContinental where Ban Ki-moon,the current chair of Global Commissionon Adaptation (GCA), will address asession titled “Way forward and nextstep towards climate change adapta-tion”.

Before the inaugural session, PremierSheikh Hasina will hold a meeting withthe Marshall Island President and theformer UN chief at the same hotel todiscuss various issues related to climatechange adaptation efforts.

In the opening session of the meeting,Dr Hilda, Ban Ki-moon and CGA CO-Chair Dr Kristaline Georgieva willspeak apart from the Bangladesh primeminister while foreign minister Momenwill deliver the welcome address.

The meeting will end at noon with theremarks of Environment, Forest and ClimateChange Minister M Shahab Uddin.

Different sessions titled ‘communitydialogue’, ‘action tacks – mobilizingaccelerated adaptation and support’,and ‘mobilizing a global audience –communication tools and events’ willtake place after the inaugural session.

The Marshal Island president andBan Ki-moon are also scheduled to visitKhrushkul Special Asrayan Project atUkhiya in Cox’s Bazar in the afternoon,sources said.

Foreign Minister Momen will host adinner for the dignitaries at HotelInterContinental in the evening.

On Tuesday, the Marshal Island pres-ident will attend a preparatory meetingat the same venue to discuss variousissues including accelerating adapta-tion action and support fromBangladesh and around the world.

Environment, Forest and ClimateChange minister M Shahab Uddin, CEOof Global Commission for Adaptationcentre Dr Patrick V Verkooijen,Executive Vice President and ManagingDirector of Manish Bapna and CGACommissioner and Executive Directorof BRAC Muhammad Musa will alsoattend the preparatory meeting.

Both Dr Hilda and Ban Ki-moonwill leave Dhaka in the early hoursof Thursday while the foreignminister will be present at the airportto see them off.

Razzaque for From Page 1 Col 4

Innovation: A Pathway toSustainable Development inBangladesh” at North SouthUniversity (NSU) here.

He said farmers scarcely get fairprices of agricultural products incase of enormous output.

Razzaque said agriculture mustbe made technology-prone toreduce the production cost.

The minister stressed on puttingmuch emphasis on food processing andits preservation and exports of agricul-ture products. He urged the foreigninvestors to invest in Bangladesh’seconomic zones as congenial invest-ment climate exists in the country.

NSU Vice-Chancellor Professor AtiqueIslam presided over the symposium.

From Page 1 Col 5

DSCC Mayor Mohammad SayeedKhokon, DNCC Mayor AtiqulIslam, Local Government DivisionSecretary Helauddin Ahmmed andsenior officials of both the city corpo-rations took part in the programme.

Speaking on the occasion, MayorSayeed Khokon said no such situa-tion has been created till now whichmight frighten the people aboutdengue and chikungunya as it ispossible to control the diseases withtaking institutional initiatives andcreating mass awareness.

“Considering the dengue situa-tion, the DSCC was divided intofour divisions (parts) with theappointment of 28 community

ambassadors, seven of them for eachdivision. They will spray pesticidesused to control the mosquitoes”, headded.

He informed the meeting that atotal of 150 medical teams have alsobeen constituted to oversee thedengue fever at ward level and theywould start working from July 15.

All hospitals have been directedto provide necessary treatment forthe dengue fever as the DSCC willbear all expenses at free of cost, themayor added.

DNCC mayor Atiqul Islam termedthe prevention of dengue fever as abig challenge and said, “We’ll makethe city free from mosquitoes with thehelp of all city dwellers.”

Nothing to be scared

Cardiac unit From Page 1 Col 6

quality health care services consid-ering it as one of the basic rightsof the people.

Highlighting the steps taken bythe government for developmentof the country’s health sector, thehealth minister said the presentgovernment has formulated atime-befitting national healthpolicy.

Secretary M Sohorab Hossainand Swadhinata ChikitsakParishad President Iqbal Arslanwere present, among others.

Report against NurFrom Page 1 Col 6

filed the case againstfive with Shahbagh Police

Station.The five accused are- Nurul Haq

Nur, Bangladesh Student Unionleader Liton

Nandi, Chattradal leader AnisurRahman, Chattra Federationleader Umme Habiba Benzir andSheikh Moushumi.

The plaintiff also accused 30-40unnamed persons in the case.

Page-2 (08-07-2019)_Layout 1 7/7/2019 9:31 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019City 3

MPs leave for UK to join Inter-Parliamentary Cricket World CupStaff Correspondent

Bangladesh Parliamentarian CricketTeam set out to participate in thefirst ever Inter-Parliamentary CricketWorld Cup (IPCWC) from 9-14 Julyin England.

In parallel to ICC World Cup 2019,parliament members from eightcricket-playing nations, Bangladesh,India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, NewZealand, Australia, South Africa andthe host country England willcompete with bat and ball for theglory of their respective country.

A team consisting of seventeenmembers of parliament led byNaimur Rahman Durjoy former

captain of Bangladesh NationalCricket Team is to reach London by7th July.

The State Minister for ForeignAffairs Shahriar Alam MP, himselfis coordinating with the host parlia-ment in collaboration withBangladesh Cricket Board.

Bangladesh team met the SpeakerShirin Sharmin Chowdhury on thelast day of budget session beforetheir departure for the tournament.A four-member technical team underCoach Dipu Roy Chowdhury hasbeen preparing Bangladesh team,and this technical team will alsoaccompany the Bangladesh team.

The tournament will take place in

different cricket venues in Londondividing the eight teams in twogroups. Bangladesh belongs to theGroup-B with Pakistan, South Africaand New Zealand.

Group-A consists of India,England, Australia and Sri Lanka.

However, in four practicematches, each team will face theteam of other group on 9 July beforethe beginning of group-stagematches on 10th July.

Two teams will go from eachgroup to the semi-finals and thenfinal. In group stage the match willbe of 15 overs and the semi-final andfinal would be of 20 overs.

During the tournament, parlia-mentarians of those countries willbe invited to attend receptions to begiven respectively by the Speaker ofHouse of Commons John Barcow athis Parliament Residence on 8th July,Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt atDurbar Court at the British Foreignoffice on 9th July and the PrimeMinister Thersea May at the RoseGarden at 10 Downing Street on 14thJuly. It is expected that the tourna-ment using the soft power of sportwill help building friendship amongMPs of the participating nationswhich could be termed as “friend-ship in pitch”.

Bangladesh team is lookingforward to the main spirit of thetournament while they are veryupbeat about their success by virtueof young parliamentarians.

Rohingyas’ repatriationmust be safe, voluntaryMalaysian FM says during his visit in Cox’s BazarSarwar Azam Manik

Malaysian Foreign MinisterSaifuddin Abdullah has said thatRohingyas who have taken shelterin Cox's Bazar must return toMyanmar. But their return must besafe and voluntary. Rakhine willhave to give them freedom to movefreely, he added.

He said that human rights mustbe confirmed. In this regard, theASEAN countries continue diplo-matic work on Myanmar. The coun-tries are very concerned about theRohingya crisis, he said.

He said these while briefingreporters at the Jamtoli MercyMalaysia Hospital on Sunday aftervisiting different Rohingya campsin Ukhia.

In response to one of the jour-nalists' questions, he said, “We havea clear picture that the Rohingyashave been massacred in Myanmar.Ethnic elimination has been done.Rohingya Muslims have beenvictims of terrible torture. For thatreason, more than one millionRohingyas crossed the border andwere forced to take refuge in thisCox's Bazar region. Not only that,

the same reason Myanmar'sRakhine displaced 150,000Rohingyas, living their camps intheir own country.”

The Malaysian governmentapplauded the government ofBangladesh for their immediateshelter.

Malaysian Foreign Ministervisited Malaysian Field Hospital inUkhia in morning. He visited theRohingya medical activities there.During this time, he interacted withthe doctors. After that he visitedRohangi camp No. 17 at Palanghali.

Later, he visited Jamtoli RohingyaCamp. He exchanged views withdoctors. Later, he distributed reliefmaterial among Rohingyas.

Noted that Malaysian ForeignMinister Saifuddin Abdullah cameto Bangladesh on Saturday for athree-day visit.

In the evening, the Malaysianminister joined a bilateral meetingwith his Bangladesh counterpartDr AK Abdul Momen at Stateguesthouse Padma. They discussedthe issues of mutual interest. Issuesrelated to trade, investment andmanpower export were alsodiscussed in the meeting.

Malaysian Ministry of ForeignAffairs, in a statement, said the visitwill provide an opportunity tostrengthen the existing warm andfriendly relations between the twocountries.

Bangladesh parliamentarian cricket team members, led by Naimur

Rahman Durjoy, former captain of Bangladesh national cricket team, pose

with Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury for a photo at the latter’s office

at Jatiya Sangsad on Sunday.

Visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah is seen distribut-

ing medicines among the Rohingyas at a Rohingya camp at Ukhia in Cox’s

Bazar on Sunday.

Pragati Industries tomake car in countryStaff Correspondent, Ctg

Industries Minister Nurul MajidMahmud Humayun has said thatthe government is providing allkinds of supports to establish newindustries in the country.

He said this while speaking at a

view exchange meeting with offi-cials of Pragati Industries atBangabandhu Conference Hall ofWorld Trade Center at Agrabad inChattogram city on Saturday after-noon.

Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayunsaid, “The government is providingall sorts of supports to all industriesin both public and private sectors.Anyone can set up their factories inthe country smoothly.”

He said, the pride ofBangabandhu was dreamed'Pragati'. Pragati will make the carin the country, so that everyone willride.

Talking about the plans to set upquality vehicles in the country, theminister said, according to thegovernment's goal, Pragati will bebuilt. We'll ride in that car. In the

future foreign car agencies will alsorun to buy Pragati's car.

He said, according to the PrimeMinister's hopes, a new technology-based modern car has been planned.Every worker should be consideredas the partner of the organization.Then the country's overall economy

will be dynamic.Pragati Industries Managing

Director MohammadTouhiduzzaman presided over thefunction, while Divisional Manager(Administration) MohammadAbdul Khaleque, Bangladesh Steeland Engineering Corporation(BSEC) Chairman MizanurRahman, Chittagong ChamberPresident Mahbubul Alam, PragatiAdditional Chief Accounting OfficerRezaul Karim, Managing Director(Purchasing) Mohammad AbuSayem, Manager (Sales)Mohammad Saidur Rahman Jamali,Deputy-Chief Engineer(Mechanical) Kaikobad Al Mamun,CBA Executive PresidentMohammad Rafiq and GeneralSecretary Md Alauddin werepresent, among others.

Health Minister Zahid Malik inaugurates Department of Cardiovascular

Surgery of Dhaka Medical College on Sunday. Photo: BP

LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Md Tajul along with others inaugurates the

40th founding anniversary programme of CIRDAP on Sunday. Photo: BP

Dhaka Shishu Hospital brings out an awareness rally on Dengue disease in the

capital on Sunday. Photo: BP

Bangladesh Coast Guard watching Indian trawlers, which enter Bangladesh

because of rough weather, near Paira port.

Quamrun Nahar, Secretary of Ministry of Women and Children Affairs,

speaks at a workshop in the capital on Sunday. Photo: BP

No irregularities inHajj management

this yearState Ministerfor ReligiousAffairs AdvocateSheikh Md.Abdullah hassaid this year’sHajj manage-ment is devoidof irregularitiesand sufferings, reports BSS.

“At the beginning of the Hajjjourney, I mentioned that none willbe spared if he or she indulges inirregularities. Everything went fineso far. No flight has yet beencancelled. Hope, there will be noproblem. And we are very muchaware of taking care of Hajjpilgrims,” he said.

The state minister made thecomments replying to a query froma journalist after visiting Hajj campat Ashkona in the city on Saturday.

The officials, who have entrustedwith the task of serving the Hajjpilgrims in Saudi Arabia, were givendirectives to perform their dutieswithout flaws, he said.

Hajj Camp Director Saiful Islam,Hajj Agency Association ofBangladesh (HAAB) President MShahadat Hossain and other offi-cials concerned accompanied thestate minister during the visit.

Three flights of BimanBangladesh Airlines carrying 1,253Hajj pilgrims and six flights of SaudiAirlines carrying 2,146 Hajj pilgrimsleft the Hazrat ShahjalalInternational Airport Sunday.

According to Hajj Camp andBiman Bangladesh Airlines sources,a total of 127,198 pilgrims willperform Hajj this year. Of them,7,198 Hajj pilgrims will perform Hajjunder government management.

Maritime ports advisedto keep hoisted

signal 3The maritime ports of Chattogram,Cox’s Bazar, Mongla and Payra havebeen advised to keep hoisted localcautionary signal number-3 as squallyweather is likely to affect maritimeports, North Bay and adjoining coastalareas due to influence of steep pres-sure gradient, reports BSS.

“Squally weather is likely to affectthe maritime ports, North Bay andadjoining area due to influence ofsteep pressure gradient that persistsover North Bay. So, the maritime portsare advised to keep hoisted localcautionary signal number three,” saida Met Office weather bulletinyesterday.

All fishing boats and trawlers overNorth Bay have been advised toremain close to the coast and proceedwith caution till further notice.

The axis of monsoon trough runsthrough Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh,Bihar, West Bengal, to Assam acrosscentral part of Bangladesh. One of itsassociated trough extends up to NorthBay. Monsoon is active overBangladesh and strong over NorthBay.

Light to moderate rain/thundershowers accompanied by temporarygusty wind is likely to occur at mostplaces over Rangpur, Mymensingh,Sylhet, Dhaka, Barishal & Chattogramdivisions and at many places overRajshahi and Khulna divisions withmoderately heavy to very heavy fallsat places over the country. Day andnight temperature may rise slightlyover the country.

CU graduate students’E-mail ID progrmame

launchedStaff Correspondent, Ctg

E-mail IDs for the graduate studentsof Chittagong University (CU) wereinaugurated. Vice Chancellor of theuniversity Prof Dr. Shirin Akhter inau-gurated it at a funciton on the campuson Sunday.

In her speech, Dr. Shirin Akhtarsaid, “In this era of free flow of infor-mation technology, we have to keeppace with the world. There is no alter-native to inserting modern technologyand ensuring its proper use. Theadministration is working to bring allthe activities of the university underthe digital system.”

She also said that due to the initia-tive of creating the e-mail ID (cu.ac.bd)for its graduate students, the univer-sity went a step further.

She said the use of this email IDwill facilitate the exchange of directcommunication and information ofthe graduates with the university onacademic subjects.

The programme was presided overby CU Prof. Dr. Mohammad HanifSiddiqui, President of ComputerScience and Engineering andProfessor Dr. Hanif Siddiqui,Registrar (Acting) KM Noor Ahmadand Proctor (Acting) Pranab MitraChowdhury.

Policeman, wifesent to jail overyaba smuggling

A Dhaka court on Sunday sentBablu Khandaker, an official ofRailway Police, and his wifeSheuli Begum to jail in a caselodged over yaba smuggling,reports BSS.

Dhaka Metropolitan MagistrateKanak Barua passed the order aspolice produced the couple beforecourt after end of their two-dayremand and pleaded to keep thembehind bars for th e sake of properinvestigation.

Earlier, on July 4 the courtplaced the duo on two-dayremand.

Members of Rapid ActionBattalion (RAB)-4 arrested thecouple on July 3 from capital’sSaidabad area and recovered 10thousand pieces of contrabandyaba tablets from inside the jack-fruit they were carrying withthem.

Later, they were handed overto Gendaria Police Station and acase was filed in this regard.

Chittagong University VC Prof Dr. Shirin Akhter inaugurates E-mail ID progr-

mame for the graduate students at a function on the campus on Sunday. Photo : BP

Page-3 (08-07-2019)_Layout 1 7/7/2019 8:58 PM Page 1

Housing for lower andmiddle income peopleActions pointing towards SDG fulfillment

Dhaka Monday July 08, 20194

opinion

EDITORIAL

Rick HaqUe SikdeR : Chairman

SHaRif SHaHab Uddin : Editor-in-Chief

SHaHnOOR WaHid : Advisory Editor

editorial@bangladeshpost.net

The housing

apartments

will be made

implementing

modern

technology

which is

a great

initiative for

bringing in

foreign

developers in

the country

It is high timethat this sector isassignedmoreresources so that it can improvefurther

Hal Brands

The Democratic Party’s progres-sive presidential candidates wantto end the “forever war” —

America’s two-decade struggle againstextremism. The trouble is that theydon’t know how.

It is easy enough for the progressivesto argue that the United States shouldpull back from the greater Middle Eastand demilitarize its counterterrorismstrategy. Unfor tunately, they have lessto say about how the US can do soresponsibly.

The idea that the forever war mustend has become a consensus positionon the progressive left. Last November,Sen. Elizabeth Warren kicked off the2020 foreign policy sweepstakes witha speech that condemned the war onterrorism as costly, counterproductiveand morally debasing. She called forthe US to conclude a peace deal withthe Taliban so that American forces canwithdraw from Afghanistan. Likewise,Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (a combat veteranwhose views blend progressivism withan array of other influences) has consis-tently criticized America’s policies inthe Middle East and advocated greaterrestraint.

Most recently, Sen. Bernie Sandersauthored an essay in Foreign Affairson the subject of “ending America’sendless war.” Sanders argued that thewar on terrorism has been a “disaster”and that America must “rethink themilitaristic approach that has under-mined the United States’ moralauthority, caused allies to question ourability to lead, drained our tax coffers,and corroded our own democracy.”

The US, Sanders believes, mustrefocus on the issues that truly matterin the 21st century — providing greatersocial justice and broadly sharedeconomic opportunity at home, dealingwith climate change and resisting therise of revisionist authoritarian powers.And doing so requires withdrawingfrom Afghanistan, ending US supportfor the Saudi-led war in Yemen andgetting away from the military-firstapproach to counterterrorism.

At first blush, some of this seemsreasonable enough. There has been afrustrating, whack-a-mole quality tothe war on terrorism: When the UScrushes one enemy, an even nastier onetakes its place. There are more impor-tant issues the nation must addresstoday, particularly the threat that Chinaand Russia might fracture the histori-cally peaceful, prosperous and demo-

cratic international order Washingtonand its allies have created.

Sanders and others are also right insaying that America should never againengage in torture, and that the US mustbe discriminating in how it defendsitself from terrorism. The trouble is that,so far, the progressives have notanswered the tough question abouthow America can safely pull back fromthe war on terror.

Consider Afghanistan. Sanders isclear that he wants the US to pull outits troops. But al-Qaida and IslamicState are still active there, and the USintelligence community has reportedlywarned that a complete US withdrawalcould lead to a major terrorist attackon American soil within two years.

So how would Sanders ensure thata withdrawal doesn’t simply create adangerous vacuum that vicious killerswill exploit? His answer is vague atbest: “We will work closely with ourpartners and allies to design a seriousdiplomatic and political strategy tostabilize the region, promote more effec-tive and accountable governance andensure that threats do not re-emergeafter we leave.” If it was that easy,American troops would have leftAfghanistan many years ago.

Or think about the US role in Yemen.Progressives — as well as mostDemocrats and some Republicans —want to cut off American support tothe Saudi-led coalition. That’s entirelyunderstandable, given that the war hasproduced appalling humanitarianconsequences without achieving muchin the way of strategic success.

And there is a good argument to bemade that the US should more aggres-sively use the leverage its supportprovides — with both Saudi Arabiaand its Houthi adversaries — to pushfor a diplomatic settlement in Yemen.Yet there is no guarantee that simplyterminating that support will make ahorrific situation better rather thanworse. If a US pullback does not forceSaudi Arabia to end the war, forinstance, the upshot might be to makethe Saudis even less discriminating andeffective in waging the conflict.

Finally, there is the troop presencein Iraq and Syria. It is fair to say thatthe George W. Bush administrationnever should have invaded Iraq in thefirst place. It is correct to argue, asSanders and other progressives do, thatthe US shouldn’t start a war againstIran today. But this isn’t much help inthinking about whether Washington

should leave a few thousand personnelin Iraq and Syria to keep the Americanboot on Islamic State’s back and preventa replay of what happened in 2013-2014, when a nearly defeated al-Qaidain Iraq morphed into the IS juggernautthat rolled across a large swath of theMiddle East.

This speaks to a broader problemwith the progressive critique. Sanderstends to take aim at the version of thewar on terrorism America was fightingin 2009, not the version it is fightingtoday. Then, the US had nearly 200,000troops doing counterinsurgency in Iraqand Afghanistan. Now, it has far smallercontingents scattered across the greaterMiddle East and North Africa.Washington often relies on “by, withand through” strategies in whichmodest numbers of US forces supportlocal troops who do most of the fightingand dying. There are plenty of prob-lems with this strategy. But the fact isthat the US already has moved awayfrom the large-scale interventions theprogressives oppose, in favor of a morecalibrated approach.

The biggest shortcoming of theprogressive critique is that it elides thehard strategic choices about where togo from here. The real question is notwhether the US should simply walkaway from frustrating military engage-ments. For if we do this, we are likelyto discover — once again — that theproblems of the greater Middle Eastdo not stay there, that they can becomefar more dangerous when America isnot around to keep the lid on, and thata superpower that decides to get outof the region will ultimately find itselfpulled back in, under worse circum-stances than before.

The real questions, rather, are morenuanced. They involve considering towhat extent the US can responsiblyreduce its military presence and geopo-litical focus in the region, which terroristgroups can safely be ignored or left toindigenous forces, and how much addi-tional risk of a major homeland attackthe US should accept as the price offocusing on other issues.

America could profit tremendouslyfrom a serious, analytical debate onthese questions. It won’t get muchbenefit from polemical critiques thatdodge the truly tough questions about how to handle the forever warin the future.

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinioncolumnist at the American

Enterprise Institute

More attention on healthcare needed Dengue, chikunguniya must be contained

The recent decades have seen a rise in the popu-lation of the country. More and more people arelooking towards the cities for better opportunitiesin life and employment. Recent reports publishedin this daily suggest that the government is awareof the lack of housing for the people. And, inknowing so it has already taken steps to initiate aplan to develop the fallow government ownedlands for habitation of the lower and middle incomepeople. Undoubtedly, this expansion programmeis quite praiseworthy, as it will give a scope to theunderprivileged and middle class people a way tobetter life.

Reports say that there are plans for thePresidential Order-7 to be implemented here whichwill result into execution of the plan. The lowerand middle income people in the country will bevery much benefitted with this initiative. Thehousing apartments will be made with moderntechnology which is a great initiative for bringingin foreign developers in the country. This will alsopresent a scope of investment for them. This planis sure to bring about a number of changes in thecountry’s housing sector.

On another note, this plan is to be invoked underthe ‘rent to buy’ method. Here, the method utilizeslease options with clear contracts. Through thisprocess the lower and middle income group willbe able to rent out a flat for a said amount of timeat the end of which they will be given the optionto buy that property.

The authorities concerned should keep an eyeon this project as it is quite a vast developmentplan. The prospect of involving foreign investmentfrom developers is surely a laudable one. Thesooner this plan becomes a reality the better it willbe for the development of the country.

Cartoon of the day

The danger of dengue and chikunguniya in themonsoon period needs no highlighting with dozensof people falling ill and rushing to hospitals. If nottreated early, these two diseases can become fatalat one stage. There have been reports of deaths ofsome patients as they went to hospital at the laststage. The health department is doing its best tomake the people aware of the hazards of contractingdengue. We see relevant publicity materials innewspapers and in electronic media almost on adaily basis.

Healthcare is one of the basic rights of everycitizen. A nation can never move ahead unlessaffordable healthcare is accessible to one and all.The not-so-good state of our healthcare sector isapparent from the thousands of preventable deathsthat are reported in the country. The upper classcan afford to travel abroad to seek treatment butfor the common people a lot still remains to be done.

The government’s dedication in improving thequality of healthcare is commendable and we cansee the effects in many of the indicators such asreduced maternal mortality rate, infant mortalityrate, child (under-5 years) mortality rate, malnu-trition, stunting rate and low- birth weight rate.The average life expectancy has increased in ourcountry and we have achieved significant successin ensuring the health and wellbeing of infants andchildren.

The increased budget allocation for HealthServices Division and the Health Education andFamily Welfare Division in the 2019-20 fiscal yearis a ray of hope for the state of healthcare in thecountry. It is high time that this sector is assignedmore resources so that it can improve further.

However, there is still scope for improvementof the medical services available in our country.The government must ensure greater emphasis onresearch and development in the sector. Mentalhealth, women’s health and reproductive health isalso greatly lacking in our country due to stigmaand cultural perceptions. The government must ensure that these areas of healthcare are not neglected.

US progressives don’t knowhow to end the ‘forever war’

Gan-Ochir Doojav

The government of Mongolia hasbeen implementing the IMF’sthree-year arrangement under the

Extended Fund Facility since May 2017.The government’s program aims tostabilise the economy, reduce the fiscaldeficit and debt, rebuild foreignexchange reserves, introduce measuresto mitigate the boom-bust cycle, andpromote sustainable and inclusivegrowth.

Mongolia has made progress instrengthening its economy under thisprogram. Since 2016, the economy hasexperienced a sharp recovery in realGDP growth, mainly driven by strongervolumes and advantageous prices ofcoal and copper, a high foreign directinvestment (FDI) inflow for the secondphase of the Oyu Tolgoi copper andgold mine, and a recovery in domesticconfidence.

As a result of the strong growth inexports and FDI, gross foreign-exchangereserves increased 3.5 times, reachingUS$3.8 billion. Due to booming taxrevenues and relatively containedexpenditures, the fiscal balance hasimproved and public debt has fallen to75 per cent of GDP. In the first quarterof 2019, year-on-year GDP growth was8.6 per cent and the inflation rate hasbeen stable at around its target of 8 percent.

The banking sector continues to beof concern for financial stability. As thebanking system constitutes over 90 percent of the financial sector, it is impor-tant to raise banks’ loss absorptioncapacities, particularly through strongcapital bases and adequate supervision.To this end, the Bank of Mongolia(BOM) conducted an extensive assetquality review (AQR) of all of thecountry’s commercial banks, per the

European Central Bank’s guidelines, todetermine the overall health of thebanking system. The results of the AQRled the BOM to develop important regu-lations relating to risk-based supervi-sion, capital adequacy and asset impair-ment. Running a follow-up to the AQRis the top near-term priority in the finan-cial sector.

Recently, the BOM has taken meas-ures to tighten monetary and macro-prudential policies. Consumer creditgrowth has been too fast, rising 55 percent in 2018. Its impact on the balance

of payments puts upward pressure onthe exchange rate and limits progressin reserve accumulation. The sharpincrease in household debt has alsoraised concerns about its sustainabilityand possible risks for the banking sector.

In response, the BOM tightened thepolicy rate to 11 per cent in December2018, and in January 2019 introduceda debt service-to-income limit of 60 percent and a consumer credit maturitylimit of 36 months. The hike in the policyrate and tightening of macroprudentialratios have started to decelerate house-hold credit growth and will help toprotect households from unsustainable

debt burdens. The BOM is currentlyworking to introduce more compre-hensive prudential tools, which canbetter ameliorate the destabilisingimpacts of large-scale financial flows,credit concentration and financial dollar-isation.

Though the economy is in a strongerposition, the benefits of the economicrecovery have not been shared widely.Since 2016, the poverty rate has fallenby only 1.2 percentage points to a stillhigh 27.4 per cent last year. Real GNIper capita in domestic currency terms

has not grown since 2014 and in USdollar terms it has been sharplydecreasing since 2013. This is evidenceof important domestic distribution ofincome issues in the sense that very fewresidents are benefitting from themining sector and a significant amountof the revenues generated from thecountry’s high GDP growth are paidback to non-residents. Considering thisfact, it is important to ensure that thereturn of economic dynamism benefitsall of Mongolia’s citizens.

The outlook for the Mongolianeconomy is relatively strong but itremains vulnerable to external and

internal shocks. Mongolia’s narroweconomic base — 90 per cent of thecountry’s exports are minerals and morethan 50 per cent of FDI is in the OyuTolgoi mine project— makes it highlyexposed to changes in external condi-tions. Almost 50 per cent of businesscycle fluctuations in Mongolia aredriven by external shocks such as inFDI, global commodity prices,commodity demand and Chinesegrowth shocks. The short periods ofdomestic upswing that are driven bypositive changes in global commodi-ties demand are nevertheless limitingopportunities to achieve more sustain-able growth.

As adverse external shocks hit theeconomy, monetary policy is loosenedand purpose-built budget spending isdeployed, but government debtsinevitably increase. What’s more, pres-sure on the balance of payments hasresulted in substantial exchange ratedepreciation, loss of foreign-exchangereserves and a deterioration in theclimate for FDI.

Accumulating sufficient buffers isthe key to building resilience againstthese shocks and ensuring strong andinclusive growth. At present, however,the balance sheets in key sectors of theeconomy — government, the centralbank, households, banks and compa-nies — are not strong enough and arevulnerable to exchange rate shocks.Given the challenges, it is important totake advantage of the current favourableeconomic environment to continuebuilding fiscal and foreign-exchangereserve buffers, strengthening the finan-cial sector, improving the investmentenvironment, and pursuing soundmacroeconomic and structural policies.

Dr Gan-Ochir Doojav is ChiefEconomist of the Bank of Mongolia

Progressives — as well as most Democrats

and some Republicans — want to cut off

American support to the Saudi-led coalition.

That’s entirely understandable, given that the

war has produced appalling humanitarian

consequences without achieving much

in the way of strategic success

Mongolia’s growth challenges

Page-4 (08-07-2019)_Layout 1 7/7/2019 5:41 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019

Varun Singh

Ola has been granted aprivate hire vehicle oper-ator license by Transportfor London. The ride-hailing firm entered the

United Kingdom (UK) in August 2018 andcurrently, there are more than 10,000 driversregistered on its platform in the country.

Not only has ola been steadilyexpanding its presence across the UK, but

it is also the only platform in the countryto offer both private hire vehicles andblack cabs. The grant of license will allowola to introduce its services in London,which has a population of over 8 millionpeople.

"London is one of the world's mosticonic cities and hosts a progressivemobility environment. We couldn't bemore excited to bring ola to London inthe time ahead!" ola spokesperson saidin a statement.

While ola is already one of the largesttransportation platforms in the UK, itaspires to operate across the country fromthe biggest cities to towns with less than3 lakh population.

"We are looking forward to buildingworld-class mobility offerings for London,by collaborating with drivers, riders, thegovernment and local authorities.Londoners will hear more from us closerto our launch in the city, as we get readyto serve them," the spokesperson said.

Ola to launch cab service in London

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Clifford Atiyeh

Despite its state-ment that "thefuture of mobilityis electric" andreports last fall

that Jaguar could become an "EV-only brand within the nextdecade," Jaguar is not droppingfossil fuels entirely to become anall-electric car brand. Instead,according to a statement releasedtoday, the plan is to offer electricpowertrains as a choice for everynew Jaguar and Land Rovermodel starting in 2020. By "new,"this is likely to mean "all new," asthe first car to debut under thisplan will be the next-gen XJ sedan,which will be fully electric.

The British automaker's Castle

Bromwich plant, which currentlyassembles the XE, the XF, the XJ,and the F-type, is being retooledfor production of the newModular LongitudinalArchitecture (MLA) that willunderpin every Jaguar LandRover vehicle by 2025, includingthat new XJ. MLA is a rear-wheel-drive, aluminum-intensive plat-form that can accommodatehybrids, plug-in hybrids, andbattery-electric powertrains, aswell as both diesel and gasolineengines.

While diesel engines faceintense government scrutiny inthe European Union, they makeup 87 percent of JLR's sales acrossthe continent. Worldwide,according to an investor presen-tation from last summer, JLR

expects that plug-in hybrids andEVs will only make up 5 percentof all sales in the "near term"future, while gasoline engineswith or without electric assist willcomprise 60 percent.

JLR said that while its forth-coming UK battery plant willbuild up to 150,000 batteries peryear, "increased consumer takeupremains a challenge." Thecompany is calling forautomakers, suppliers, and theUK government to team up on a"gigascale" plant to rival Tesla'sNevada Gigafactory. JLR hasalready paired with BMW to sharethe development costs of electricpowertrains.

The company has already beensteadily electrifying its lineup inthe past year. In addition to the I-

Pace, JLR's first fully electric car,the Range Rover and the RangeRover Sport will soon be availablewith plug-in-hybrid powertrainsas well as JLR's new 3.0-literturbocharged and superchargedinline-six, which has a 48-volthybrid system that includes a belt-driven motor-generator and 200-watt lithium-ion battery. It'sunlikely that smaller vehiclesincluding the refreshed XE and theupcoming facelifted F-type willaccommodate the new six. Thenthere's also JLR's turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four, which is pairedwith a 48-volt hybrid system onhigher trims of the new RangeRover Evoque and the faceliftedLand Rover Discovery Sport andshould make its way into moremodels in the near future.

Daniel Golson

Audi is expanding the A6sedan's lineup for the restof the 2019 model yearwith a new entry-level A62.0T model. Its 248-hp

turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four slotsbelow the only other engine currentlyoffered on the A6, which is a turbocharged3.0-liter V-6. Visually, the 2.0T is distin-guished by slightly different exteriorstyling, doing away with the A6 3.0T'sstandard S-line package.

The four-cylinder makes 273 lb-ft oftorque and is mated to the same seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmissionas in the A6 3.0T. Quattro all-wheel driveis standard, as is Audi's variable-ratiosteering rack. Audi says the 2.0T will hit 60mph in 6.1 seconds, one second slower thanits claim for the 3.0T. In our testing, the 3.0Thit 60 in 4.8 seconds, so the 2.0T could be abit quicker than Audi's claim.

The A6 2.0T will be offered in two trimlevels, Premium and Premium Plus; the

A6's top Prestige trim isn't available.Standard on the Premium are featureslike LED headlights, lane-departurewarning, navigation, three-zone auto-matic climate control, heated power frontseats, and leather upholstery. Amongitems that come with the Premium Plustrim are fancier LED lights, more active-safety systems, a heated steering wheel,a 360-degree camera, and a Bang &olufsen sound system with 16 speakers.The A6 2.0T is also available with featuresincluding adaptive cruise control, venti-lated front seats, sport suspension, 20-inch wheels, and ambient interior lightingas part of a few different packages.

At $55,095 to start, the A6 2.0T Premiumis $4800 cheaper than the base A6 3.0TPremium. The 2.0T Premium Plus is $58,795,a similar $4900 cheaper than the 3.0TPremium Plus. Audi doesn't say when theA6 2.0T will start appearing at dealer lots,but it should be soon, as 2020-model-yearAudis are already showing up. If more poweris what you're after, though, hold out a littlewhile longer—a new S6 is on its way.

Audi A6 2019 gains abase four-cylinder engine

Latest

Wheelers Desk

The local units offrench automakerRenault Indiaplans to export itssub-4 metre

multi-purpose vehicle (MPV)Triber to the markets where itexports Kwid, a top companyofficially told reporters hererecently.

Currently, Kwid is exportedto Sri Lanka, Nepal,Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mauritiusand South Africa.

“After meeting the Indiandemand, we are planning toexport Triber to the marketswhere we are exporting Kwidcurrently” said a company offi-cial. The company on Thursdayunveiled seven seater MPV Tiber.

Triber comes equipped with1L petrol engine, 8 inch multi-media touch screen and hands

free smart access card. Thecompany has also announcedthat it will not produce dieselcars from April 2020. So, theTriber will be only available inpetrol variant.

According to the company,the MPV offers a total of morethan 100 seat configurationsand easyfix seats. It also has acabin under 4m, 625L bootspace, and interior storagecapacity of upto 31L.

The company claims thatTriber will create a newsegment. However, it will beTriber will compete with thelikes of Datsun Go+ and MarutiSuzuki Ertiga.

In the last fiscal year, theMPV segment has registered agrowth of 14% primarilybecause of rise in demand forinter-city travel and increasedacceptance by personal buyers,especially families.

Renault to export MPV Triberto neighbouring countries

AUTo NEWS

Wheelers Desk

Recently ShanghaiI n t e r n a t i o n a lA u t o m o b i l eI n d u s t r yExhibition 2019

was held in Shanghai, Chinawhere many auto manufacturersdisplayed their latest models tocrack the world’s most lucrativeautomotive market. China’slargest SUV and pickup manu-facturer Great Wall Motor(GWM) has made another bigmove recently by launching theirthree new pickup trucks of theirnew P series at Auto Shanghai2019.

As the first model of GreatWall Pickup’s 3-year ‘5+N’ prod-ucts strategy, Great Wall P-seriespickup opens the era of Chinesepassenger pickup, leadingChinese pickup culture, and willredraw the competition map ofthe global pickup market. It hasluxury interior, 8AT, latest intel-ligent network connectionsystem, and unique multi-linkrear suspension. At the exhibi-tion, three models of the P-seriespickup, namely, passengerpickup, off-road pickup andcommercial pickup weredisplayed. Among them,passenger pickup is China’s firstpickup equipped with 8AT trans-mission of ZF and multi-link rearsuspension. It is also equipped

with configurations for comfort-ableness such as ACC, automaticparking, heated steering wheel,remote start and many morefunctions. The commercialpickup on display is a pure-elec-tric version with a range of 500kilometers. It can be fullycharged by high-rate charging intwo hours. Among P-series, theoff-road pickup is the mostattractive model, which is stan-dard equipped with three differ-ential locks (front, middle, andrear), 900 mm fording depth,snorkel, winch and other config-urations. The three models withtheir own characteristics and

competitiveness subvert Chinesepublic's conventional perceptionof pickup.

In the 1.0 era of tool car,pickup is mainly for freight use.In the 2.0 era of multi-purposecommercial vehicle, pickup ismainly for commercial use andalso for passenger use. In the3.0 era of multi-purposepassenger vehicle, driven byupgrade of consumption anddemand, pickup presents the‘Five-Centered New Ecology’of passenger, intelligence,network, customization andclean. With the

launching of GWM P-seriespickup, Great Wall Pickupfirstly opens the 3.0 era of multi-purpose passenger vehicle.

The exclusive distributor orGWM-Haval, Ace Autos willlaunch this new model hopefullyby end of next year. Along withF7, Haval’s premium luxurybrand WEY models will be alsointroduced in Bangladeshimarkets by the distributor whohas been marketing Haval prod-ucts since 2016. Ace Autos isoperating with successes in auto-motive sectors for last 25 years

in various capacities.Wheelers Desk

Chinese motorcycle brandCFMoto’s plans of launchingfour new motorcycles in Indiahave been delayed due toheavy rains in Mumbai.

The motorcycles which were supposedto be launched on July 4 will now maketheir debut in a couple of weeks fromnow. CFMoto could also shift the launchvenue from Mumbai to eitherBengaluru or Hyderabad.

CFMoto, which offers 650ccmodels in international markets, isset to introduce the 300NK in India.The entry-level motorcycle sharesits underpinnings with its lowerpowered sibling, the 250NK. Thelatter is unlikely to make it to Indiaanytime soon. The 300NK features premiumcomponents like a USD front fork and a rearmonoshock. It is powered by a 292.4cc single-cylinder liquid-cooled motor that pumps out34PS of power and 20.5Nm of torque.

The company also intends to launch its650cc motorcycles, including the 650MT,650GT and the 650NK. While all three arepowered by the same 649.3cc liquid-cooledparallel-twin engine, they come in different

states of tune. Where the fully-faired650MT makes 70PS, the 650GT and

650NK belts out 63PS and 61PS, respec-tively. To know more about the 650cc

lineup, head here.The Chinese manu-facturer has teamed

up with AMWMotorcycles for its India

operations. Thecompany has already setup a manufacturing plant

in Bengaluru with aclaimed annual production capacity of 10,000units. CFMoto is currently working onexpanding its dealership network across thecountry. As of now, it has two dealershipsin Hyderabad and Bengaluru and plans toset up more in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennaisoon.

CFMoto India launch delayed

GWM unveils new P series pickups

Page-5_Layout 1 7/7/2019 6:04 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019 Country6

Many youths becoming policeconstables without bribeJhenidah police sets example recruiting 49 cops fairlyDelwar Kabir. Roving Correspondent

The police administration inJhenidah has set an examplerecruiting 49 constables fairly. Thecandidates did not need to pay evena single coin for the job.

The aspirants had deposited asum of Taka 100 to respective bankaccounts as application fees. Theinitiative has stopped the bribe busi-ness by a section of police men andsome of the politically influencedpersons in past decades.

‘The initiative has created confi-dence among the people about thehonesty and sincerity of the policedepartment’, said a number ofcommon people including jobseekers and concern persons.

Most of the candidates belong topoor families. The guardians hadbeen managing the family workingas carpenter, rickshaw van peddler,day labourer, farm labourer or someother similar profession. A numberof the candidates were also involvedin doing so when they were unem-ployed.

They could not be provided withjob at any government institutionfor want of money as the brokers ofthe said departments had manageda lot following the recruitment.

Some candidates said that they

were informed through anannouncement by district informa-tion office where they had declaredthat no money would be requiredto have a job for a fit candidate. Theannouncement also warned thatstern legal action would be takenagainst those involved in moneytransaction for any position.

A female candidate, who has beenrecruited as constable, said that sheor her family members could notbelieve that any government job

could be ensured without money. Requesting not to be named, the

candidate said her family membershad been moving here and thereand contacted a number of politi-cally influenced persons for pastcouple of years. But they wereunlucky enough as the job could notbe touched without money. At lastthe Jhenidah police had regainedher confidence recruiting her as aconstable of the department.

“I will render services for the

people of the country where I willnot consider service humanity, notmoney. As I was recruited as policepersonnel, it is my duty to stand bythe side of the innocent people as apart of ensuring judgment from thepolice”, she added.

Superintendent of Police (SP) inJhenidah MohammadHasanuzzaman said that there arehuge honest and sincere people inthe country who love their countryand countrymen very much. Thepersons who were recruited withoutany bribe and recommendation ofpolitically influenced persons willrender better services for the people.

His department has chosen 348candidates for written examinationsamong a total of 3.048 candidates.In a transparent and fair way ofrecruitment, they had selected 59finally. Mohammad Hasanuzzamansaid, as he was awarded with thePresident Police Medal, will holdthe honour above all.

When the transparency of thepolice personnel recruitment wasspread in the town, the people of allwalks of life had greeted the policesuper and his colleagues for a freeand fair recruitment in policeconstable in the district for the firsttime.

A newly recruited female constable in Jhenidah is seen expressing her

reaction about the transparency in recruitment process where she was pro-

vided a job without bribe.

Heavy rainfall likely in Ctg, Barishal:Light to moderate rain in other parts Country Desk

Bangladesh MeteorologicalDepartment (BMD) on Sundaypredicted heavy to very heavy rain-fall in Barishal and Chattogram divi-sions today (Monday).

“Due to active monsoon overBangladesh heavy (44-88 mm) tovery heavy (89 mm) rainfall is likelyto occur at places over Barishal andChattogram divisions during next24 hrs commencing10:00 am today( 07 July 2019)”, says a BMD bulletin.

“Due to very heavy rainfall land-slide may occur at places over thehilly regions of Chattogram divi-sion”, it added.

Meanwhile, most parts of thecountry is likely to experience lightto moderate rain, reports BSS.

“Light to moderate rain orthunder showers accompanied bytemporary gusty wind is likely tooccur at most places over Rangpur,Mymensingh, Sylhet, Dhaka,Barishal and Chattogram divisionsand at many places over Rajshahi

and Khulna divisions with moder-ately heavy to very heavy falls atsome places in the country”, says amet office bulletin.

“Monsoon is active overBangladesh and strong over NorthBay”, it added. The met office alsopredicted that the rainfall activitymay continue for next 72 hours.However, the day and night temper-

ature may rise slightly over thecountry. The highest temperatureon Saturday was recorded 34.2degrees Celsius in Sylhet andSunday’s minimum temperature is20.0 degrees Celsius at MaijdeeCourt in Chattogram division.

The sun sets at 6:50 pm on Sundayand rises at 5:17 am today (Monday)in the capital.

Pry school teachers extendhelping hands for students

Nilphamari Correspondent

Educational materials like pen, pencil,khata, tiffin box, scale and colourpencil were distributed among thestudents of Shahipara Govt. PrimarySchool in Nilphamari Sadar upazilaon Sunday. All the teachers of theschool took such kind of programmewith their own cost.

Shamima Akhter, head teacher ofthe school, presided over theprogramme while Md. AminurRahman, Chairman of Lakshmi ChapUnion Parishad, was present there asthe chief guest.

Among others, Md. Monjil, chieflibrarian of Nilphamari district library,Md. Anisur Rahman, Councilor ofNilphamari Municipality, attendedthe programme as the special guests.

The students were very happy toget such kind of necessary educationalmaterials. A five grader studentSamiul Islam said, “I am very happyto get educational tools from schoolas my father is very poor. Now it ispossible for me to take part in Artclass.”

Shamima Akhter said, “We havearranged the programme to cheer upthe students. I along with my

colleagues want to extend my helpinghands for developing the educationalquality here. We have made a newkhata titled ‘One Day One Word’prescribed by the education secretary.As a result, the students will be ableto preserve the new words in a sepa-rate khata.”

Aminur Rahman said, “I am highlyimpressed to see the uncommonprogramme. If all the teachers ofdifferent institutions take such kindof initiative, students will get muchinterest in studies. I appreciate thethinking power of the schoolteachers.”

126 shelter centresset up in BandarbanThe district administration have set up126 shelter centres in risky areas ofBandarban district as heavy rainfallmay trigger landslides, reports BSS.

“We are taking initiatives forshifting the people, who are livingin risky hilly areas, to safer places.We have set up 126 shelters in riskyareas for protecting the people fromlandslides and flood as Bandarbandistrict has witnessed heavy rain-fall,” Md Daudul Islam, deputycommissioner, told BSS on Sunday.

The deputy commissioner saiddue to heavy rainfall, there are possi-bilities of landslides and floods inthe hilly district of Bandarban.

According to officials and repre-sentatives of local governmentbodies, water levels of Sangu andMatamuhuri rivers are in risingtrend. Low-lying areas in Bandarbandistrict will be flooded, if the rainfallcontinues, they added.

Due to active monsoon overBangladesh, heavy rainfall is likely tooccur at places over Barishal andChattogram divisions during the next24 hrs commencing from 10 am today,a Met Office weather bulletin said.

Due to heavy rainfall, landslide mayoccur at places over the hilly regionsof Chattogram division, it added.

Juba Leagueleader murder

protested Kishoreganj Correspondent

A human chain was formed inKishoreganj on Sunday protestingthe killing of by Jubo League leaderYousuf Moni. The human chain wasformed at Akara Bazar inKishoreganj.

It was addressed, among others,by Kishoreganj Municipality MayorMd. Parvez Mia, KishoreganjCombined Social MovementConvener Anayet Karim Omi,Awami League Leader AbuSiddique, Kishoreganj MunicipalityCouncilor Sultan Mia, YequbSumon spoke on the human chain.They demand immidiate arrest theculprite and necessary actionagainst them.

Staff Correspondent, Sylhet

The road communication of Sari-Gowainghat halted following theBarki baily bridge collapsed withthe cement leaden truck atGowainghat upazila on Sundaymorning.

However, there was no casualtywas reported during the incident.

Sources said, a cement leadentruck came from Sylhet to reachGowainghat upazila. As the truckreached Barki baily bridge itcollapsed, leaving the bridge broken

into the canal.Following the incident the road

communication of Sari -Gowainghat was snapped sincemorning, where local people wassuffering a lot including the schoolgoing student.

Meanwhile, after the incidentlocal administration informed thematter to the Roads and Highways,said Bishawjith Kumar Pal, UNO ofGowainghat upazila.

An alternative road are preparingfor vehicle movement the UNOadded.

Road link snapped at Gowainghatas bailey bridge collapses

IU Correspondent

The progressive and left-leaningteacher’s alliance Shapla Forum ofIslamic University (IU) in Kushtia onSunday formed a 15 member execu-tive body for the next year.

Prof Dr M Rezuanul Islam and ofBiotechnology and GeneticEngineering department and Prof DrM Mahbubar Rahman of Electricaland Electronics Engineering depart-ment were made as president andsecretary respectively.

Prof Dr Paresh Chandra Barmanof Information and CommunicationEngineering department and Prof DrM Maher Ali of English departmentwere selected as vice president andjoint secretary while Prof Dr SMMustafa Kamal of Mathematicsdepartment picked up as treasurerof the wing.

The others executive members ofthe newly nominated body are- ProfDr M Kamal Uddin of Statics depart-ment, Dr M Jakariya Rahman of

Marketing department Prof Dr MMahbubur Rahman of Informationand Communication Engineeringdepartment ProfDr Kazi AkhtarHossain of Accounting ofInformation Systems department,Prof Dr Alamgir Hossian Vuiyan ofEconomics department, Prof DrJahangir Hossain of and Prof Dr MAnwar Hossain of Islamic Historyand Culture department, Prod DrReba Mandal of Law department, MIbrahim Abdullah of ComputerScience and Engineering departmentand Associate Prof Prodip KumarAdhikari of English department.

Shapla Forum took the newly exec-utive body in a meeting at MirMossaraf Hossain academic buildingwhile the poll for the members washeld on June 29 at Momotaz buildingon the campus

Mentioned, IU vice chancellor ProfDr M Harun-Ur-Rashid Askari’spanel were sweep over its pro-vicechancellor Prof Dr M ShahinoorRahman’s panel by 9/6 posts .

IU Shapla Forumgets new body

President Rezwan Secretary Mahbubar Rahman

People form a human chain at Akara Bazar in Kishoreganj on Sunday

protesting killing of Jubo League leader Yousuf Moni.

Bangladeshi shotdead along

Lalmonirhatborder

Country Desk

A Bangladeshi national was shotdead by Indian Border SecurityForce (BSF) at Burimari border inPatgram upazila in Lalmonirhat onSunday.

The deceased was identified asArshadul Haque, 30, son of EhsanulHaque of Islampur village of theupazila.

Commanding officer of BorderGuards Bangladesh (BGB)Rangpur-61 battalion LieutenantColonel Shariful Islam said whenArshadul went to 840/3 Sub pillarof the border to bring cattle a patrolteam of BSF fired gunshot on him,leaving him dead.

BGB has sent a letter to BSF forholding a flag meeting in thisregard, he added.

Two workers killedin Gazipur train

accidentCountry Desk

Two persons were killed and twoothers were injured after a train hita truck at Dakshin Khan area inGazipur on Sunday morning.

The deceased were identified asSoleman Hossain, son of Hakim Aliof Uttara, and Jakir Hossain, son ofAbdul Kuddus of Netrokona.

Tongi Fire Service Station OfficerAtiqul Islam said Dhaka-boundMaitree Express hit the sand-ladentruck around 4:45am, killing Jakiron the spot.

The truck had broken down whilecrossing the tracks.

Locals rescued injured Solemanand took him to a local hospital. Hedied while being shifted to theDhaka Medical College Hospital.

On information, two units ofTongi Fire Service rushed in andtook part in the rescue operation.

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­Dhaka­Monday­July­08,­2019­Country 7

Benapole Correspondent

Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan,chairman of National Board ofRevenue (NBR) said that the budgethad created for investment and busi-ness friendly. As duty-adjusted toincrease investment in the country,he added.

He said this after inauguration ofpassport passengers' trolley systemand link road at BenapoleInternational Check Post inPassenger Terminal on Sunday

morning. Khandarkar Aminur Rahman,

Member of the National Board ofRevenue, Belal Hossain Chowdhury,Benapole Customs Commissioner,Proddut Kanty Roy, Director of Port,Mofijur Rahman Sojon , Presidentof Benapole C & F AgentsAssociation, Alhaj ShamsurRahman, former president , C & Fagents association, AlhajNuruzzaman, KhauruzzamanMothu And Mohsin union presentat the time.

Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan saidthat in some cases, to increase ordecrease the duty and value of thegoods.

If there is investment in thecountry, there will be arrangementsfor people's employment, thecountry will move forward econom-ically.

He also said passenger harass-ment will be reduced to arrange thetrolley for the passengers, externalbrokers will not be able to pullpassengers baggage.

Country now headingforward economicallyNBR chairman inaugurates passengers' trolley in Benapole

NBR chairman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan inaugurates passport passengers' trolley system and link road at

Benapole International Check Post by cutting ribbon on Sunday.

MP of Kishoreganj-2 Nur Mohammad attends a training workshop on

Sustainable Development Goals in Kishoreganj Circuit House on Sunday

as chief guest. Photo: Kishoreganj Correspondent

Divisional Commissioner of Rajshahi Nurur Rahman speaks at a sewing

machine distribution ceremony as chief guest at the auditorium of Natore

Sadar Upazila Parishad on Sunday. Photo: Natore Correspondent

Mayor of Khulna City Corporation Talukder Abdul Khaleque presides

over a view exchange meeting with a delegation of ZTE Corporation of

China at Nagar Bhaban in Khulna on Sunday. Photo: Khulna Correspondent

The three-day Bangabandhu & Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib

Primary School Gold Cup Tournament is inaugurated at Salimpur Govt Primary

School at Ishwardi upazila in Pabna on Sunday. Photo: Iswardi (Pabna) Correspondent

Joypurhat District Transport Owners Group and Motor Sramik

Union jointly form a human chain on Sunday demanding repair work

on Joypurhat-Akkelpur-Dupchanchia, Joypurhat-Bypass-Hilli road.

Photo: Joypurhat Correspondent

Education equipment,sewing machines

distrusted in NatoreNatore Correspondent

Natore sadar upazila administra-tion on behalf of the PrimeMinister’s Office had providededucation equipment and sewingmachines to indigenous people. Thedistribution ceremony was held atthe upazila auditorium on Sunday.

These were provided to theindigenous people for their livesstyle development.

Nur-Ur-Rahman, divisionalcommissioner of Rajshahi, handedover the education equipment andsewing machines among 210 indige-nous students and people as he wasthe chief guest of the programme.Mohammad Shariaz, DeputyCommissioner (DC), Shoriful IsalmRamzan, Natore sadar upazilachairman, Kalidas Roy, joint convenerof Jatio Adivhasi Parisad of thedistrict unit were present there asJesmin Akter Banu presided meeting.

Mayor of Chattogram City Corporation AJM Nasir Uddin is

accorded reception in London on Thursday. Chittagong Association

arranges the event.

D istricts in Pho to

Sultan Mahmood

Farmers and agronomists areexpecting a bumper production ofsesame in six districts of Jashoreregion during this current season.The pollination is well due tofavourable weather condition.

The tasty oil seed is used formaking different kinds of sweet-meats, and also for manufacturingcosmetic items, including hair oil.

According to the Department ofAgricultural Extension (DAE), a totalof 16,035 tonnes of sesame will beproduced from 16,035 hectares ofland in the south-western region thisyear.

The six districts are-Jashore,Jhenidah, Magura, Kushtia,Chuadanga and Meherpur. Thesesame growers of six districts in theregion of the country are now happyover the production.

The DAE sources said, districtwise production target follows as2,855 hectares of land brought undercultivation with 2,855 tonnes ofquality sesame in Jashore, while 4,600hectares of land with 4,600 tonnes inJhenidah, 3,300 hectares of land with3,300 tonnes in Magura, 4,605

hectares of land with 4,605 tonnes inKushtia, 560 hectares of land with560 tonnes in Chuadanga and 115hectares of land brought undersesame cultivation with 115 tonnesof quality in Meherpur district.

Acting Additional Director ofJashore region DAE, SudhenduShekhar Malakar said thatfavourable climate conditions,adequate supply of necessaryfertilisers are the reasons behind thebumper production of sesame.

DAE officials and farmers said thisyear’s weather has been favourablefor bumper sesame production.

Many farmers are showing interestto cultivate the crop on more areasof land.

A farmer said that he is interestedin sesame farming as it requireslower production cost in terms ofirrigation, fertiliser and labourcompared to other Rabi crops, andless fertile land, where other cropsdo not usually grow well, can beused for sesame cultivation.

“Sesame farming between the gapof potato and aman paddy cultiva-tion periods helps earning additionalmoney. It also helps to make the soilfertile,” said a farmer.

Bumper sesame yieldexpected in Jashore region

Staff Correspondent, Ctg

Chittagong Veterinary and AnimalSciences University (CVASU)approved the budget of Tk 48.48crore for the year 2019-2020.

The approval was given in the 43rdsession of the Syndicate held onThursday in the Vice-Chancellor'soffice. Vice-Chancellor of the univer-sity Gautam Buddha Das presidedover the meeting.

In the year 2019-2020, theUniversity Grants Commission(UGC) has allocated Tk 39 crore 72lakh, against the demand of Tk 46crore 27 lakh for the year. In thebudget, the university has earned itsown income of Tk 2.76 crore. About94 percent of the funds received by

the university will come fromgovernment funding and 6 percentwill be available from the domesticsources.

VC of Chittagong University Prof.Shirin Akhtar was present at the 43thsession of Syndicate. It was attended,among others, by Nurul AnwarVice-Chancellor of Port CityInternational University, ProfessorMd. Mahbubur Rahman of PlantScience Department of ChittagongUniversity, Professor Dr. EmdadulHaque Chowdhury of VeterinaryPathology Department ofBangladesh Agricultural University,Zilla Parishad Chairman ofChittagong MA Salam, DirectorGeneral of Livestock Director DrHirase Ranjan Bhowmick, Dean of

Veterinary Medicine FacultyProfessor Abdul Ahad, Dean of FoodScience and Technology FacultyProfessor Jannatara Khatun,Pathology and Professor ofParasitology Department Dr. Md.Masuduzzaman, Department ofPost-Harvest Technology and Dr. M.Nurul Abchar Khan, Director(External activities) Professor Dr.AKM Saifuddin, Director (Researchand Extension) Prof. Md. AlamgirHossain, Member Secretary of theRegistrar and Syndicate Mirza FarukImam. In the syndicate session, theproposed budget was presented inmultimedia and the director of theuniversity (finance and accounting)and member of the FinanceCommittee Md. Abul Kalam

CVASU approves Tk 42.48-cr budget

Workshop onSDGs held

Kishoreganj Correspondent

A training workshop on SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) washeld in Kishoreganj Circuit Houseauditorium on Sunday. KishoreganjDistrict Administration and PrimeMinister’s Office jointly arrangedthis programme.

Deputy Commissioner ofKishoreganj Md. Sarowar MurshedChowdhury presided over themeeting, while MP of Kishoreganj-2 (Katiadi-Pakundia) NurMohammad attended the functionas the chief guest.

It was addressed, among others,by Police Super Md. MashrukurRahman Khaled, Civil Surgeon Dr.Md. Habibur Rahman, AdditionalDeputy Commissioner (General)Abdullah Al Mashud, AdditionalDeputy Commissioner (Education& ICT) Md. Habibur Rahman.Government Official, PublicRepresentative and Journalist ofPrint & Electronic Media were alsopresent in this workshop.

Pregnant womandies of wrong

treatment in NarailJashore Regional Correspondent

A nine and half month pregnantwoman died for allegedly wrongtreatment at Maa Sergical Clinic atLaxmipasha in Lohagora upazila ofNarail on Friday noon due to negli-gence of doctor.

The deceased was identified asBilkis Begum, 25, wife of timberbusinessman Kamal Sheikh ofKargati village under Lohagoraupazila. She was admitted to theclinic following influence by theagents on Friday.

Husband of the victim told thathis wife Bilkis was admitted in theClinic while her birth pangs startedbut the clinic authority did not bringany specialist regarding this matter.

Sources said, Tajrul Islam Tajinjected the pregnant woman.During the injection, the conditionof the patient started worsening andlater she shifted to Narail AdhunikSadar Hospital where attendingdoctors declared her dead.

After the incdent owner of clinicSheikh Zahangir Alom and doctorTajrul Islam Taj fled from thespot.Locals and relatives of thevictims staged demonstration infront of the clinic at that time.

Madrasa studentcommits suicide

Bera (Pabna) Correspondent

A madrasa student committedsuicide by hanging herself with anylon rope at Bera upazila in Pabna.

The deceased was identified asSumi Khatun, 14, daughter of ShahidAli (Paku Mollah) of Chorpechakolavillage under Haturia Nakalia unionof the upazila. She was the studentof Class Seven of Verakola Darul NurMadrasa. It was known that Sumicommitted suicide at her room.Family members and police sourcessaid, as usually she went to sleep inher room after completing her studyand dinner. At morning, her motherwent to her room for waking up fromsleep and make ready to go schoolbut when she didn't respond, shewent her room and found her dead.

However, Sumi's uncle UP (UnionParishad) member Mizanur Rahmansaid actually he didn't know, whySumi hanging herself. But few daysago, she felt unwell as her headachewas very severe. In fact, her treatmentof severe headache was going on.

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Dhaka Monday July 08 , 2019 World8

Greeks vote in 1st parliamentaryelection since bailout endGreeks were voting Sunday in thefirst parliamentary election sincetheir country emerged from threesuccessive international bailouts stillstruggling with a crippling nearlydecade-long financial crisis, reportsBSS/AFP.

Opinion polls have suggestedGreeks are set to defy the recentEuropean trend of increasingsupport for populist parties, withconservative opposition party leaderKyriakos Mitsotakis a clear favoriteto win.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsiprascalled the vote three months earlierthan originally planned after his left-wing Syriza party suffered a stingingdefeat in European and local elec-tions in May and early June.

Tsipras, 44, hopes to overturn asizeable gap in opinion polls runningup to Sunday's vote. He has increas-ingly been appealing to the middleclass, which has been strugglingunder a heavy tax burden, much ofit imposed by his government.

It's a crucial battle, we fight it withoptimism, we fight it with determi-nation until the last minute, Tsiprassaid after casting his ballot in centralAthens in the morning. So that thesacrifices and efforts of our nationdo not go to waste, so the course of

our country forward is not inter-rupted. Tsipras appealed to youngpeople to turn up at the ballot boxesand not leave the crucial decision fortheir lives and their future to others.The voting age has been extended to16 for the first time in national elec-tions, provided the voter turns 17within 2019.

But Mitsotakis, the 51-year-old sonof a former prime minister andbrother of a former foreign minister,has managed to build a sizeable lead

in opinion polls that he has held overthe past three years. He pledges tomake Greece more business-friendly,attract foreign investment,modernize the country's notoriousbureaucracy and cut taxes, and hasfought to shed the image of familyprivilege.

Today voters take the decision fortheir future in their hands, Mitsotakissaid after voting. I am sure thattomorrow, a better day dawns forour nation.

Greek opposition New Democracy conservative party leader Kyriakos

Mitsotakis casts his ballot at a polling station in Athens on Sunday.

Trump administration is ‘inept andinsecure’, says UK ambassadorThe Trump administration has beenlabelled ‘inept’, insecure and incom-petent in leaked emails from the UKambassador to Washington.

Sir Kim Darroch said that the WhiteHouse was ‘uniquely dysfunctional’and ‘divided’ under Donald Trump,report agencies.

But he also warned that the USpresident should not be written off.

The Foreign Office said the leak ofthe memos to the Mail on Sunday was‘mischievous’ but did not deny theiraccuracy.

The White House has not yetresponded to the revelation of thecontents of the memos, but it couldtest the so-called ‘special relationship’between the US and UK.

In the messages, Sir Kim said: ‘Wedon’t really believe this administra-tion is going to become substantiallymore normal; less dysfunctional; lessunpredictable; less faction-riven; lessdiplomatically clumsy and inept.’

He questioned whether this WhiteHouse ‘will ever look competent’.

Although Sir Kim said Mr Trump

was ‘dazzled’ by his state visit to theUK in June, the ambassador warnsthat his administration will remainself-interested, adding: ‘This is stillthe land of America First’.

Differences between the US and theUK on climate change, media free-doms and the death penalty mightcome to the fore as the countries seekto improve trading relations afterBrexit, the memos said.

To get through to the president,‘you need to make your points simple,even blunt’, he said.

The leader of the Brexit party, NigelFarage, has criticised Sir Kim for hiscomments, branding the ambassador‘totally unsuitable for the job’ andsaying the ‘sooner he is gone thebetter’.

However, Justice Secretary DavidGuake said it is very important thatambassadors give ‘honest and unvar-nished advice to their country’.

He said: ‘It is disgraceful that it’sbeen leaked, but we should expectour ambassadors to tell the truth, asthey see it.’

In a message sent last month, SirKim branded US policy on Iran as‘incoherent, chaotic’.

Mr Trump’s publicly stated reasonfor calling off an airstrike againstTehran with 10 minutes to go - that itwould cause 150 casualties - ‘doesn’tstand up’, Sir Kim said.

Instead, he suggested the presidentwas ‘never fully on board’ and didnot want to reverse his campaignpromise not to involve the US inforeign conflicts.

Sir Kim said it was ‘unlikely thatUS policy on Iran is going to becomemore coherent any time soon’ because‘this is a divided administration’.

The leaked files date from 2017 tothe present day, covering the ambas-sador’s early impressions that mediareports of ‘vicious infighting andchaos’ in the White House were‘mostly true’.

They also give an assessment ofallegations about collusion betweenthe Trump election campaign andRussia, saying ‘the worst cannot beruled out’.

Car bomb kills 12in AfghanistanThe Taliban carried out a devastatingsuicide car bombing in centralAfghanistan Sunday that killed 12people and wounded over 150 others,said Afghan officials.

The attack came as an all-Afghanpeace conference, which includes theTaliban, were underway Sunday inDoha in an effort to end to thecountry's relentless wars.

A provincial council member,Hasan Raza Yousafi, said the carbomb ripped through central Ghazni,the capital of the province of the samename. The dead included eight secu-rity personnel, he said.

Many of the wounded werestudents of a nearby high school, saidthe provincial health departmentchief, Zahir Shah Nekmal. He saidmost of the injured suffered cuts andabrasions from broken glass.

Taliban spokesman ZabihullahMujahed claimed responsibility forthe suicide attack saying the targetwas the intelligence service'scompound in Ghazni. He said thebombing killed tens of intelligenceemployees. The Taliban often exag-gerate such claims.

Meanwhile, US Peace EnvoyZalmay Khalilzad hailed the intra-Afghan talks underway in Doha as agood first step toward substantive

negotiations between Afghans on aframework for the country's future.

He said Washington's "aspiration"is to have that framework in place bySept. 1 and ahead of the Afghan pres-idential election.

Khalilzad, who has been holdingdirect talks with the Taliban for thepast six days also in Doha, told a pressbriefing that included The Associated

Press that the discussions were themost productive ever.

He will resume talks with theTaliban on Tuesday, he said.

Talks have covered a timeframe forthe withdrawal of U.S. and NATOtroops from Afghanistan, verifiableanti-terror guarantees from theTaliban, intra-Afghan negotiationsand an eventual cease-fire.

Injured boys receive treatment in a hospital after a car bomb attack in

Ghazni province, central Afghanistan on Sunday.

Migrants allowed off charityship in Italy despite banA group of 41 rescued migrants havedisembarked from a charity ship inItaly, a day after the captain defied aban on docking in the country, reportagencies.

Despite warnings, the Alex sailedto the port on Saturday because of‘intolerable hygienic condi-tions’ aboard.

The migrants have nowall come ashore after hoursof waiting under guard.

Italy’s Interior MinisterMatteo Salvini had earliervowed he would not allowmigrants to disembark.

‘I saw that the Germangovernment wrote me aletter today asking toreopen the ports and to letall the migrants disem-bark,’ he said on a Facebooklive stream. ‘No, no, no,absolutely not.’

Last year, he closedItalian ports to rescue shipsand Italy has introducedfines for anyone sailing intoits waters without permis-sion.

Migration charityMediterranea, which runsthe Alex, posted an imageof the group comingashore.

Authorities came aboardthe Alex shortly aftermidnight to announce theywere seizing the ship andopening an investigationinto the captain for aidingillegal immigration,Mediterranea said.

The charity had earliertweeted that its exhaustedcrew were living througha ‘surreal situation’, andprolonging the wait was ‘anunnecessary cruelty’.

‘It’s an unbelievable situation,’spokeswoman Alessandra Sciurbasaid at the quayside. ‘There arepeople at risk of fainting, the toiletsare not working. It’s as though weare kidnapped.’

‘Nothing is happening about

disembarkation and nobody knowswhat will happen.’

Meanwhile, another NGO ship, theAlan Kurdi - operated by Germancharity Sea-Eye - announced it wasnow sailing to Malta after followingthe Alex towards Italy.

Page-8_Layout 1 7/7/2019 9:04 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019education & Culture 9

TesT YouR GRammaR

Education desk

1. The Royal Gorge, a famous canyon,was cut ___ the Arkansas River.a. throughb. inc. ond. by

2. Colorado is ___ as large as England.a. twob. secondc. twice

3. The highest peak in Colorado is Mt.Elbert ___14,431 feet.a. onb. toc. atd. under

4. Four states that ___ to form an areaknown as "the four corners" are:Arizona, New Mexico, Utah andColorado.a. meetb. crossc. make

5. Colorado's professional football team

___ Denver, Broncos.a. is ab. are ac. is the

6. In June of 1997, Prime MinisterHashimoto ___ a summit of interna-tional leaders in Denver.a. sponsoredb. attendedc. watched

7. The first Europeans to settle inColorado ___ the Spanish.a. areb. wasc. were

Previous Day’s Answer:1.B, 2.B, 3.A, 4.C, 5.A, 6.B, 7.D, 8.C

This Day iN hisToRy

Book Review

Fill in the Blanks

Campus News

BRAC Bank signs EmployeeBanking agreement with CWU

Education Desk

BRAC Bank Limited has signed anEmployee Banking (EB) agreementwith Central Women’s University(CWU), a concern of Kazi FarmsGroup.

CWU is the first and onlyBangladeshi women’s universitysigning employee banking agreementwith BRAC Bank. Under the agree-ment, the employees of the univer-sity will enjoy all Employee Bankingservices including salary disburse-ment and all retail loan facilities i.e.,credit card, home loan, auto loan andpersonal loan from BRAC Bank.

Nazmur Rahim, head of RetailBanking, BRAC Bank, and ProfessorPerween Hasan, PhD, Vice-

Chancellor, CWU, exchanged agree-ment documents at a programme atthe university premise on 2 July.

Professor M Mufakharul Islam,

PhD, Treasurer; and Elias Ahmed,registrar, CWU, and AKM Tareq,regional head, Dhaka East Region;Khondker Emdadul Haq, Head of

Employee Banking; DebashishBhowmik, branch manager and areahead, Moghbazar Branch; BRACBank Limited, were also present.

Nazmur Rahim and Perween Hasan exchanging agreement documents

BUET inaugurates amphibioushouse in Sirajganj

Education Desk

Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology (BUET)as well as the Urbanizing Deltas ofthe World project: COREBangladesh arranged an inaugura-tion ceremony of amphibious housein Sirajganj.

This event was organisedyesterday in close cooperation withthe CORE Bangladesh project part-ners BUET and IHE Delft.

This project will initiate andsupport community-based innova-tion, development, production, andimplementation of different small-scale Dutch technology that alleviateimmediate flood-related nuisance.And will finally enhance commu-nity flood resilience.

Amphibious house is one of theinnovations for the first time inBangladesh being launched inSirajganj which will float in the waterwhile flood water enters into the

land, again when flood flows out itwill set on the ground surface.

The inauguration was organisedin two slots in two different loca-tions i.e. launching: 10:00am to10:30am; Sunday; Amphibious UnitSite, Ranigram, Sirajganj and inau-guration: 11:00am to 12:30 pm;Sunday; DC Hall Room, Sirajganj.

Dr Faruk Ahammed, DeputyCommissioner, Sirajganj was presentas the chief guest whereas TutulChakraborty, Superintendent of Police,

Sirajganj was present as special guest,among others, project leaders of COREBangladesh, Dr M Shah Alam Khan,IWFM, BUET and ProfessorChristiaan Zevenbergen, IHE Delftwill be present at the ceremony.

Many national internationalstudents from WetSkill Event, COREBangladesh team, local NGOpartner, SHARP, local farmers, work-shop mechanics, flood effectedcommunity of Sirajganj were alsopresent at this programme.

WUB arranges seminar on careerplanning in electro-mechanical field

Education Desk

Department of Mechatronics,World University of Bangladesh(WUB) organised a seminar on‘Career Planning in Electro-Mechanical Field’ on Saturday at12pm in WUB auditorium.

Professor Dr Abdul MannanChoudhury, Vice Chancellor, WUBattended the seminar as the chiefguest. Professor Dr Musfiq MChowdhury, chairman, Board ofTrustees, WUB was present as aspecial guest.

Dr Mohammad Mashud,

professor, Department ofMechanical Engineering, KhulnaUniversity of Engineering andTechnology (KUET), MdHumayun Kabir, director, Electricaland Fire Engineering department,Reliable Engineering and SolutionsLtd (RESL), Tajmir Alam,

Managing Director and memberof the board of United Shakhty Ltdwere present as the resourcepersons.

The seminar was open for allstudents and teachers of WUB. Thestudents as well as faculty memberswere benefitted from the seminar.

Tulsiprasad Bandhopadhyay: The NextMLA! by Sudeep Satheesan

Sankalpita

After a long time, I had the opportunity topick up a humour book. And that meant thatI was really looking forward to the break frommy usual reading mix of thriller, contempo-rary and nonfiction.

‘Tulsiprasad Bandhopadhyay: The NextMLA! is a book that is unique in content andmanages to tickle a funny bone or two in thereader.

What to expectExpect a book that is a political satire but

one which plays on a much lighter note thana reader would usually expect.

It is not the kind of book that is loaded withhidden innuendos and subliminal messagesbut one that gets straight to the task at hand– which is entertainment.

In short, there is nothing to read betweenthe lines and there is no hidden message. Itis just plain indulgent entertainment. It’s abook that combines the cosy comfortable (andsometimes even cliché) college humour andturns it into something that makes you laugh.

Who can readThe book makes use of a language that is

rich in vocabulary and full of heavy weightwords. Hence, it might not be a good idea forbeginner level readers to pick it up.

That being said, beginner level readers whoare willing to challenge themselves to readbetter can definitely give it a go.

What is the story all aboutTulsiprasad Bandhopadhyay or Bandhu as

he is usually called by his near and dear onesis a guy who is good at nothing. His academicoutlook looks lacklustre and he doesn’t evenhave a solid professional qualification.

Having tried their hands at all meanspossible, his hopeless parents decide to visitan astrologer for some guidance and futureplans.

It is then that they realize that Bandhu isdestined for ‘Raj Yog’. In common parlance,it means Bandhu is bound to rule. Since rulingessentially means politics in today’s India,Bandhu’s parents realize that Bandhu’s futurelies in the political arena.

But as per Guruji’s insights, to get to hisdestiny, Bandhu will have to suffer and faceobstacles on an unprecedented scale.

What follows is a journey which takes himall over India from Lucknow to Mumbai toPune to Bengaluru. And this journey is notjust hilariously unique but also quite anadventure for Bandhu and his motley groupof friends.

Let’s talk about the writing styleSudeep makes good use of wit in his narra-

tions. The people, the places and the thingsthat he writes about are quite relatable andrealistic. He makes good use of tricky situa-tions and fills ordinary incidents withhumour.

I particularly enjoyed the author’s depic-tion of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of Indian poli-

tics. How luck, chance and right networkingis more of a kingmaker than a decent educa-tional qualification and right intent.

The different aspects of the book manageto shine brilliantly but somehow when all ofit is put together, there seems to be somethingmissing. That is probably the reason the bookfails to make it to a 4-star entertainer.

Nevertheless, it is a debut effort worthchecking out and I would definitely lookforward to the author’s next book.

What I love the mostWhile reading the book, what I absolutely

loved was the feeling that instead of readinga book, I was actually watching a moviewitnessing Murphy’s law in action – what-ever can go wrong, goes wrong in the mosthilarious of ways.

Is the climax good enoughThe climax of the book is kind of mediocre.

We do get a hint about it much before thebook actually ends.

As per my understanding, it is theinherent flaw of the story itself that openlylays bare the conclusion of the story beforeit even begins.

It all boils down to the entertainmentquotient

When it comes to entertainment,Tulsiprasad Bandhopadhyay: The NextMLA! has no dearth of it.

With an ideal combination of fun, wit,humour and adventure and with an incred-ibly amusing cast of characters – the bookdoes have a good dose of entertainment tooffer to anyone who decides to give it a pick.

My final verdictGo for it.Pick it up ifYou are looking for a light-hearted polit-

ical satire.You are looking for an entertaining and

humorous read.You are interested in getting acquainted

with grass root Indian political scene.Skip it ifHumour is not really your thing.Reading about politics doesn’t really excite

you.

Paris celebrates2,000th birthday

On this day in 1951, Paris, the capital cityof France, celebrates turning 2,000 yearsold. In fact, a few more candles would’vetechnically been required on the birthdaycake, as the City of Lights was most likelyfounded around 250 B.C.

The history of Paris can be traced backto a Gallic tribe known as the Parisii, whosometime around 250 B.C. settled an island(known today as Ile de la Cite) in the SeineRiver, which runs through present-dayParis. By 52 B.C.,Julius Caesar andthe Romans hadtaken over thearea, which even-tually becameChristianized andknown as Lutetia,Latin for“ m i d w a t e rdwelling.” Thesettlement laterspread to both theleft and rightbanks of the Seineand the nameLutetia was replaced with “Paris.” In 987A.D., Paris became the capital of France.As the city grew, the Left Bank earned areputation as the intellectual district whilethe Right Bank became known for busi-ness.

During the French Renaissance period,from the late 15th century to the early 17thcentury, Paris became a center of art, archi-tecture and science. In the mid-1800s,Napoleon III hired civic planner Georges-Eugene Hausmann to modernize Paris.Hausmann’s designs gave the city wide,

tree-lined boulevards, large public parks,a new sewer system and other public worksprojects. The city continued to develop asan important hub for the arts and culture.In the 1860s, an artistic movement knownas French Impression emerged, featuringthe work of a group of Paris-based artiststhat included Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

Today, Paris is home to some 2 millionresidents, with an additional 10 million

people living in the surrounding metro-politan area. The city retains its reputationas a center for food, fashion, commerce andculture. Paris also continues to be one ofthe world’s most popular tourist destina-tions, renowned for such sights as the EiffelTower (built in 1889 to commemorate the100th anniversary of the FrenchRevolution), the Arc de Triomphe, theChamps-Elysees, Notre Dame Cathedral(built in 1163), Luxembourg Gardens andthe Louvre Museum, home to Leonardoda Vinci’s painting “Mona Lisa.”—History

Page-9_Layout 1 7/7/2019 3:56 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019 Business10

Local Commodity Price (In Taka)Item Name 06-July-19 07-July-19

Rice-(coarse) (per kg) 34.00-38.00 34.00-38.00

Rice-(Fine) (per kg) 48.00-55.00 48.00-55.00

Atta(per kg) 27.00-36.00 27.00-36.00

Refined Soyabean

oil(per ltr)

77.00-82.00 77.00-82.00

Palm Oil(per ltr) 60.00-65.00 60.00-65.00

M.Dal (Red Lentil)(per kg) 55.00-130.00 55.00-130.00

Pulse(per kg) 70.00-85.00 70.00-85.00

Sugar(per kg) 52.00-56.00 52.00-56.00

Potato(per kg) 20.00-25.00 20.00-25.00

Onion(per kg) 38.00-50.00 25.00-35.00

Garlic(per kg) 100.00-150.00 100.00-150.00

Turmeric(per kg) 180.00-220.00 180.00-220.00

Dry Chili(per kg) 180.00-220.00 180.00-220.00

Ginger(per kg) 140.00-200.00 130.00-180.00

Salt(per kg) 25.00-35.00 25.00-35.00

Bangladesh Key Economic

Indicators July 02, 2019

Daily Indicators July 07 July 04

Taka/US $ (inter-bank) 84.35-84.35 83.95-83.95

Dhaka Stock Exchange index 5333.08746 5380.79351

MONTHLYGrowth in: Consumer

price index (BBS)

CURRENT PREVIOUS

Consumer price index (BBS)

yr/yr (pc) in Oct. 2018

6.57 15.01

Money supply (Tk) (BB)

in Oct, 2018

11315.03 10403.65

Forex reserves ($bln)(BB)

in Jun, 2019

31.80 32.62

Trade Balance ($bln) in July- Oct, 2018 *-5.32 -5.79

Exports(FOB) ($bln)(BB) in May, 2019 3.81 6.22

Imports(FOB) ($bln)(BB) in Apr, 2019 4.74 5.05

ANNUAL

2018/2019 2017/2018

Population (millions) *167.4 *161.8

External debt (pct of GDP) **1.3 1.4

Real GDP growth (pct) *7.28 7.11

Budget Deficit (inclu -

ding grants)*5 5

(pct of GDP) *-9.47 -6.46

Trade Balance ($bln) *34.02 33.44

Exports ($bln) *43.49 39.90

Imports ($bln) *-1.48 4.26

Current a/c balance ($mln) 1.28 1.71

Net foreign direct investment ($bln) 32 33.22

* Provisional

* Excluding IMF loan

* BB = Bangladesh Bank (central bank)

Exchange Rates Name of

Name of

Currency

Sonali Banks’ Exchange

Rates on 7/7/2019

Bangladesh Bank

WAR on 4/7/2019

BuyingRate

SellingRate

BuyingRate

SellingRate

USD 83.6300 84.5000 84.5000 84.5000

EUR 94.5952 96.5739 96.0596 96.0934

GBP 105.8862 107.5663 107.2559 107.2897

AUD 58.4147 59.6241 59.3190 59.3275

JPY 0.7672 0.7911 0.7831 0.7833

CAD 63.5642 64.8957 64.5334 64.5531

SEK 8.9624 9.1497 9.1012 9.1041

SGD 61.4881 62.8032 62.4400 62.4908

INR 1.2000 1.2600 1.2253 1.2257

Global Commodity Prices

Metal

Date: 07/7/2019 Energy In USD

Symbol Price Change %ChangeOIL($/barrel) 57.73 -0.39 -0.68%

Symbol Price Change %ChangeGOLD ($/troy ounce) 1401.20 -19.7001 -1.39%

SILVER ($/troy ounce) 15.015 -0.321 -2.09%

PLATINUM ($/troy ounce) 813.70 -29.90 -3.54%

Copper 2.6655 -0.0175 -0.65%

AgricultureSymbol Price Change %Change

WHEAT($/bushel) 516.50 2.50 0.49%

SOYBEAN ($/bushel) 875.25 -14.50 -1.63%

CORN ($/bushel) 442.25 1.00 0.23%

SUGAR ($/pound) 12.34 -0.20 -1.59%

COTTON ($/pound) 66.85 -0.40 -0.59%

NoTRADING

CODETRADE

VALUE(mn)

VOLUME

1 RUNNERAUTO 3,288 130.9380 268,589

2 NPOLYMAR 1,446 127.7400 10,672,292

3 UPGDCL 3,528 122.9060 1,184,737

4 BPML 1,345 113.4150 433,767

5 ESQUIRENIT 1,823 100.5860 4,142,373

6 GENEXIL 2,582 99.4240 299,837

7 SQURPHARMA 1,858 75.9790 1,198,482

8 JMISMDL 1,416 62.9870 2,329,476

9 SINOBANGLA 649 62.8070 968,047

10 NEWLINE 1,122 61.7020 558,755

11 SILCOPHL 2,617 57.8050 304,838

12 AIL 1,727 54.3030 165,544

13 KTL 1,245 50.8200 1,770,093

14 BSCCL 1,119 50.0600 871,074

15 BSC 1,516 47.9220 768,698

16 GLOBALINS 749 47.4600 8,403,754

17 SINGERBD 1,174 46.4750 1,876,229

18 HRTEX 960 42.6570 7,204,242

19 AMANFEED 1,184 42.2670 336,633

20 SINOBANGLA 581 39.0850 104,787

Top Twenty Shares by Value on July 07, 2019Price fall in large-caps drives stocks downStocks on Sunday opened the weekwith downward trend due mainly toprice fall in large-cap securities withlower transactions.

The falling major sectors wereinsurance, food and allied and textile.A total of 183 securities of the large-cap group moved down due to loweractivities, reports BSS.

The broader DSEX index of DhakaStock Exchange (DSE) closed the daywith 47.71 points down at 5,333.09.The Shariah DSES and the blue-chipDS30 also followed the same trendwith 11.93 points down at 1,221.46and with 19.69 points down at1,890.38. “Huge amount of classifiedloans and liquidity crisis in thebanking sector is one of the causesfor falling trend of the stock markets.The authorities concerned shouldtake more initiatives to bring backthe confidence of investors,” Directorof the Western Securities InvestmentManagement Limited Imtiaz Ahmedtold BSS today.

The daily trade fell to 17.29 crore

shares from Thursday’s 18.43 croreshares and the day’s trade value atDSE decreased to Taka 415.34 crorefrom Taka 487.53 crore of theprevious session.

At DSE, out of the day’s 353 secu-rities, prices of 87 securities closedhigher against 239 losing issues.

The major gaining issues wereCAPMBDBLMF, SEMLFBSLGF,ATCLGF, SEMIBBLSF and1STPRIMFMF. The major losingcompanies were Global Insurance,Zeal Bangla, Emerald Oil, HRTEXand Sonar Bangla Insurance.

JMISMDL topped the turnover listfollowed by ATCSLGF, Runner Auto,National Life Insurance and RupaliInsurance. The Chittagong StockExchange (CSE) closed the day of theweek with downward trend with itsmajor CASPI 136.36 points down at16,333.01. At CSE, 265 issues weretraded. Of those, 78 closed higherand 162 closed lower when 83.26 lakhshares worth Taka 18.20 crorechanged hands.

Andy Halford visits DhakaBP Business Desk

Andy Halford, group chief financialofficer of Standard Chartered Bank,recently visited Bangladesh.

This follows a host of visitsto Bangladesh by seniorglobal leadership of the bankin recent times, includingJosé Viñals, group chairman,Standard Chartered PLC,emphasizing the Bank’sstrong strategic focus on the country.During his three-day visit to Dhaka,Andy met policymakers, regulators,key stakeholders and clients of theBank, said a press release.

“It is very exciting to see theprogress made by Bangladesh in thefew years since my last visit. Thegrowth potential of Bangladesh, as

our own research has shownrecently, is immense. I am pleasedthat the Bank is playing a key rolein driving this growth, providing

financial solutions thatmatch the growth aspira-tions of Bangladesh”, saidAndy Halford, Group ChiefFinancial Officer, StandardChartered Bank

Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO,Standard Chartered Bank

Bangladesh, added, “This visit is ademonstration of Standard CharteredBank’s strong commitment toBangladesh. By constantly innovating,and offering world class financialproducts and services, we would liketo accelerate the pace of our journeyof driving commerce and prosperityfor Bangladesh.”

$33m pro-climate project forwomen to ensure livelihoodBP Business Desk

The government is implementing a $33million project to empower women as‘change-agents’ to plan, implement,and manage climate-resilient solutionsto safeguard livelihoods and liveseying at turning Bangladesh into amiddle-income country.

Kamrun Nahar, Secretary, Ministryof Women and Children Affairs, saidthis while speaking as the chief guestat the inception of a workshop titled‘Enhancing Adaptive Capacities ofCoastal Communities, EspeciallyWomen, to Cope with Climate ChangeInduced Salinity’, held in Dhaka onSunday.

Ministry of Women and ChildrenAffairs jointly with the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP) isimplement the six-year long project inSatkhira and Khulna benefitting almost7 lakh people, mostly women andadolescent girls for climate resilient

solutions, financed by the GreenClimate Fund (GCF), world's largestmultilateral fund for climate changeaction. This is the first time when theMinistry of Women and Children’sAffairs provided $8 million, while GCFis providing the rest as a co-financerto plan, implement, and manageclimate-resilient solutions.

Highlighting the SustainableDevelopment Goals, UNDP’s ResidentRepresentative, Sudipto Mukerjee,said, “We are committed to leave noone behind in implementation of theSustainable Development Goals by2030 with the government and part-ners like GCF, and it cannot beachieved if the women remain ignoredas they are more vulnerable to adverseimpacts of climate change given thehigher risks they face and bear greaterburdens every single day.”

“That’s why, through this project,we are specifically focusing on womenand girls to help them adapt better to

climate change in Bangladesh,”Sudipto further added.

The project will provide assistanceto women and girls in Satkhira andKhulna to adopt resilient livelihoods,while ensuring reliable, safe drinkingwater through community-managedrainwater harvesting solutions. It willalso seek to strengthen the participa-tion of women in last-mile dissemi-nation of gender-responsive earlywarnings and continued monitoringand adaptation of livelihoods toevolving climate risks.

A key aspect of the project is to focuson enhancing women’s access tomarkets and finance. In addition totraining in business development, theproject will link women producers’groups to business via networkingactivities (including through Public-Private Initiative platforms to be estab-lished at local level) and will providesupport to access credit from the finan-cial sector.

Kamrun Nahar, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, is speaking as the chief guest at the inception

of a workshop titled ‘Enhancing Adaptive Capacities of Coastal Communities, Especially Women, to Cope with

Climate Change Induced Salinity’ in Dhaka on Sunday.

Mutual Trust Bank signs agreement with Anwar Landmark BP Business Desk

Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB)recently signed an agreement withAnwar Landmark Limited at a cere-mony at MTB Centre, Gulshan inDhaka recently.

Under the agreement, the clientsof Anwar Landmark Limited willbe able to avail Home Loan with alow processing fee and discountedinterest rate from MTB. The clientsof the bank, likewise, will be enti-tled to buy apartments with specialdiscounted offer from AnwarLandmark Limited, said a pressrelease.

Telenor Health signs agreement with

BRAC Bank BP Business Desk

Telenor Health, the digital health-care platform of Telenor, has signedan agreement with BRAC BankLimited at the bank’s corporateoffice in Dhaka recently.

The two organizations joinedhands to provide digital healthcareservices to the communities withlesser access to proper healthcarethrough the fastest growing AgentBanking network of the Bank, saida press release.

The agreement was signed bySyed Abdul Momen, head of SMEof BRAC Bank Limited andMobydur Rahaman, head of B2B,Partnerships & Loyalty of TelenorHealth.

Hossain Khaled, managing director, Anwar Landmark Limited, and Anis

A. Khan, managing director & CEO, Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB),

are exchanging documents after signing an agreement at a ceremony at

MTB Centre, Gulshan in Dhaka recently.

Syed Abdul Momen, head of SME of BRAC Bank Limited, and

Mobydur Rahaman, head of B2B, Partnerships & Loyalty of

Telenor Health, are exchanging documents at the bank’s corporate

office in Dhaka recently.

Karmasangsthan Bank signed an agreement with Bangladesh Election

Commission on NID verification services. General Manager (Admin) of

Karmasangsthan Bank and Deputy Secretary and Director

(Operation) of the Election Commission in the presence of the

Secretary of Election Commission Md. Alamgir signed the agreement

at Election Commission Secretariat on Wednesday.

Abul Kalam Azad, Principal Coordinator (SDG) of Prime Minister's

Office and Sarder Akhter Hamed, Head of Channel Banking Division of

Bank Asia Ltd, are inaugurating the 158th ATM Booth of the Bank on the

premises of Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Ltd (BIF-

PCL) at Rampal, Mongla recently. Md. Moniruzzaman Khan, head of

ADC, managers of Khulna and Jashore branches of the Bank and high

officials of BIFPCL were present at the inauguration programme.

Pro-environ energy-efficient products produced in BDBP Business Desk

‘This is so impressive to see thatBangladeshi brand Walton is manu-

facturing energy-efficient productsusing environment-friendly refrig-erants. Besides modern refrigera-tors and air conditioner production

units, the brandhas testing laband qualitycontrol facilitieswhich is veryimpressive,’ saidHelen Picot,head ofStrengtheningfor Efficiencyand Access toCooling of KigaliC o o l i n gE f f i c i e n c yProgram.

She made the statement whilevisiting Walton Hi-Tech IndustriesLtd at Chandra in Gazipur onSaturday to see the progress of theHFC Phase Out project at Waltonfactory being jointly implementedby United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP) and Waltonunder the Ministry of Environment,Forests and Climate Change.

Under the one-year project, theenvironment-friendly HC-600a(Isobutane) refrigerant is being usedin Walton factory and service centersinstead of high global warmingHFC-134a refrigerant.

The Kigali Cooling EfficiencyProgram associates the project, saida press release.

Dr. F H Ansarey, managing director, Subrata Ranjan Das, executive direc-

tor of ACI Motors Ltd along with other high officials of ACI Motors and

Yamaha Corporation are present at a ceremony on inauguration of a

music store at Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka recently.

Page-10_Layout 1 7/7/2019 9:11 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019 Capital Market Highlights 11

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) Chattogram StockExchange (CSE)

CHANGE = (LTP - YCP) LTP* = Last Traded Price

CLOSEP*= Closing Price YCP* = Yesterday's Closing Price Source: DSE & CSE

Top Ten Gainer Considering Close Price & YCP on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Top Ten Loser Considering Close Price & YCP on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Top Twenty Shares by Value on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Bank on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Jute on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Cement on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Ceramics Sector on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Debenture on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Financial Institutions on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Phamaceuticals & Chemicals on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Mutual Funds on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: IT Sector on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Textile on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Fuel & Power on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Insurance on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Latest Share Price for Business Area: Engineering on Jun 07, 2019 at 4:00 PM

Page-11 (08-01-2019)_Layout 1 7/7/2019 6:17 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019

IndiaBest performances:vs AustraliaNot just the skewedWorld Cup head-to-head history, Indiaalso had the scars of

humiliating home-series precedingthe World Cup to wipe out. Andnow with Steve Smith and DavidWarner strengthening the Aussiejuggernaut on a ten-matchwinning streak, India successfullymanaged to steal the momentumearly on. A nasty Pat Cummins'delivery may have cut short hisWorld Cup, but on that dayShikhar Dhawan was unstoppable,smashing his way to a century,with a steady Rohit Sharma, thetypical Virat Kohli and a promotedHardik Pandya lifting the total to352. Then the seamers were excep-tional with their lengths, and itdoes tell you a story when Warnerscratches around for an 84-ball 56.

Worst performance: vsAfghanistan

It was meant to be a walkover.The contrast in confidence couldn'thave been more pronounced. Indiawere fresh from handing over athrashing to Pakistan, whileAfghanistan were fresh from beinghanded over one by England. ButIndia were stretched to theirabsolute limit. The batting - apartfrom Kohli - never really got going,with the Dhoni-Jadhav stand stag-nating towards the death overs,leaving India with 224/8.Afghanistan seemed to be cruisingin their chase at one stage withShahidi and Rahmat Shah seem-ingly at ease, but Bumrah changedeverything, getting both of themin the same over, like only he can.Again when things were gettingiffy in the death, Shami cleaned itup with a hat-trick.

Best player: SharmaIt's often self-explanatory when

someone seriously challenges theall-time record for the most runsin a World Cup within the leaguestage itself. But with five centuries- a tournament record already -and two of them (against SouthAfrica and England) on prettydodgy surfaces, he's carried India'sbatting mantle single-handedly.Yes, Bumrah has been exceptionalwith the ball, but with numbers asblatant as these, Rohit's made itimpossible to look beyond him.

The one for the knockouts: KohliIt's not often that Kohli is forced

to play second fiddle. Alas, suchhas been Rohit's dominance thatKohli has hardly had anything to

do, and in the few instances wherehe actually did, he's only scoreduntypical, pretty fifties. But trustthe big occasion of the knockoutto bring out a renewed vigour inthe champion batsman.

Australia Best performance: vs EnglandAustralia dug their heels into a

groggy England side that came upto face them right after sufferinga shocking defeat to Sri Lanka atLeeds. An Aaron Finch centuryand a Warner fifty set the inningsup, before Alex Carey's blitz tookthem to 285 for 7. For England'srecent standards that should'vebeen considered below-par, butJason Behrendorff stepped out ofStarc's shadow to dismantle oneof the finest batting line-ups. Hepicked up five, one more than hisnew-ball partner as Englandfolded for 221 despite Ben Stokes'sfighting 89.

Worst performance: vs IndiaThe only fixture where Finch &

Co. looked out of depth wasagainst India. It was one of thosegames where everything fell inplace for their opposition, evidentfrom Dhawan's excellent century.India's seamers then did a fine jobto tie down the Aussies, catching

them short in chase. It was astrange game for David Warner,who was utterly scratchy for his84-ball 56, while another ofAustralia's match-winners -Mitchell Starc - endured a quietday at the office.

Best player: StarcIt's almost like the last four years

never existed. Mitchell Starc isrunning in like his 2015-self,dishing out yorkers by the dozenand lighting up the stumps. Hebegan the World Cup with a fiferto demonstrate the complete gulfin class between his side and theWest Indies, and then bagged hissecond in a game against NewZealand, denying them in theprocess in a small chase. Inbetween were two four-fers - bestof them coming against the hostsat Lord's. He's taken his tally to 24wickets, and will be licking his lipsto exploit the left-armer conduciveconditions at Lord's shouldAustralia make another final.

One for the knockouts: SmithA lot of Australia's narrative has

revolved around Aaron Finch,David Warner and Mitchell Starcin this World Cup, with the excep-tion of Jason Behrendorff in onegame. Steve Smith started well,

and even has three fifties to hisname, but he should the man forthe knockouts come July 9.Afterall, if Starc could rekindle his2015 self, why should Smith be leftbehind?

England Best Performance: vs IndiaAfter seven games in the home

World Cup, England were in a spotof bother and desperately neededa win against India. As the coinflipped in their favour, Englandrode on Jason Roy and Bairstow'sinitial assault to carry the side toa challenging score. The match,however, wasn't won yet. Rohitand Kohli threatened to take thegame away but Liam Plunkett andChris Woakes used all their expe-rience to squeeze out a nervy 31-run win.

Worst Performance: vs Sri LankaThings would have been a lot

easier for England had they notlost to Sri Lanka in a thriller inLeeds. After the initial loss toPakistan, England had bouncedback well with big wins againstBangladesh, West Indies andAfghanistan. When Sri Lankamanaged just 232, England hadanother game in their grasp butLasith Malinga stole the show to

hand the hosts a 20-run loss. Thatloss particularly dented England'sconfidence and it showed in theloss against Australia at Lord's inthe next game.

Best player: StokesSeven wickets at an economy of

under five and 381 runs at anaverage of almost 55 - theallrounder has chipped in with keyperformances in crunch gameswhile a lot of the spotlight has beenon the likes of Jofra Archer,Woakes, Bairstow and Joe Root.Take the India game for instance,just when India made a superbcomeback, he put the targetbeyond them with a 54-ball 79.

The one for the knockouts:Bairstow

No doubt about it. A centuryagainst India and then anotheragainst New Zealand. Afterdrawing a lot of flak for hiscomments, Bairstow walked thetalk and produced match-winningperformances when the side reallyneeded it.

He's given the side brisk startsand has helped them get aheadright at the beginning with Roy.Even with an average over 50 and461 runs in the tournament, he'sstressed he's hungry for more.

New Zealand Best performance: vs Sri LankaThe Blackcaps began their

campaign with a bang. They madegreat use of a pitch that almostresembled the outfield andknocked over Sri Lanka for just136 - Matt Henry troubled themwith swing and seam, while LockieFerguson threatened with pace.Martin Guptill and Colin Munrooverhauled the total withabsolutely no damage.

Worst Performance: vsBangladesh

If Kane Williamson were off toa dream start, they were seriouslypushed to the corner in their verynext game. Shakib Al Hasan set agood base as Bangladesh got adecent 244. Williamson escaped arun-out scare as Mushfiqur Rahimbroke the bails before collectingthe ball. The Kiwis were placedwell at 160 for 2 in 31.1 overs. ButWilliamson gifted his wicket andtriggered a collapse. Three wicketsfell for 21 runs, including the setRoss Taylor (82). After a while,New Zealand lost two morewithout any addition to the total.30 runs were needed with threewickets left.

Mitchell Santner remained calmand took them close and theyeventually crossed the line withtwo wickets in hand.

New Zealand should havecruised home, but they gave toomany chances and almost chokedthemselves under pressure. Theirweak middle-order was easilyexposed by Bangladesh.

Best player: WilliamsonAs expected, the captain has led

from the front with the bat in hand.A fifty against Afghanistan andtwo extremely vital back-to-backhundreds against South Africa andWest Indies was key to NewZealand beating competition to thefourth spot. Williamson leads thebatting charts for the side with 481runs

The one for the knockouts:Williamson

Yes, Williamson is their best bet,but him not making it big in theirlast three games resulted in losses.Come the knockouts, it's a no-brainer that the Blackcaps needtheir captain to fire to cover up fora middle-order that hasn't had agood run in the league stage.

A fit Lockie Ferguson is also keyto New Zealand's success as he hasthe ability to trouble batsman evenon flat pitches with his raw pace.After all, he is their leading wicket-taker with 17 scalps.

World Cup 2019 semifinals: How they got there

Felt exhausted after last two matches: Shakib

Bangladesh ace all-rounder ShakibAl Hasan admitted he was mentallyexhausted during the last twomatches in the World Cup, but wassuccessful thanks to his increasedlevels of fitness, reports Reuters.

Shakib worked closely with thefitness trainer of SunrisersHyderabad during his stint in the2019 edition of the Indian PremierLeague, which saw him shed downsix kilograms of weight before hejoined the national team for theirWorld Cup campaign.

Shakib was in superlative formwith the bat throughout the tourna-ment making 606 runs to have hisname alongside Sachin Tendulkar,

Mathew Hayden and Rohit Sharma,as the only players to have scoredover 600 runs in a single edition ofthe tournament.

He also picked up 11 wickets alongwith his two centuries and five half-centuries in the eight matches thathe played in.

"I was feeling mentally exhaustedin the last two matches," Shakib toldreporters at the team hotel onSaturday (July 6). "Probably I gotover it because my fitness level wasquite good. I could work on myfitness for one or two days inbetween, but at the same time I couldhave gotten more tired in the process.

"It's tough to balance everything

and so in that sense, the last twomatches were really challenging. Idon't why but I had a feeling that it[increased fitness level] was neces-sary. It helped as I had a good prepa-ration before the World Cup," hesaid.

Shakib said that he was notsurprised with his superlative formin the tournament that helped himachieve several records in the tour-nament, including a landmark ofbecoming the first cricketer to scoreover 500 runs and pick 10 wickets.

"From the first match, I had afeeling that something good willhappen (this time). I scored well inall opening matches in the previousWorld Cups but I could not continuedoing that. So I had to push myselfto not lose the momentum aftergaining it. [But] I was not surprisedbecause I knew what I had in mymind. It's just that what happenedis the best that I thought could havehappened for me."

While terming his hundred againstEngland as the most satisfying one,Shakib said the one scored againstAfghanistan was the toughestconsidering the strength of theirbowling.

"It was really challenging toperform against Afghanistan. Theyhad good quality spinners and thewicket on which we played were themain reasons behind it," he said.

Mashrafe worried of futureafter World Cup exit

Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortazaadmitted he needs time to decide hisfuture amid speculation he will retireor resign following his team's WorldCup exit.

Attention turned to Mashrafe’s futureat the post-match press conference, butthe 35-year-old wasn’t ready to revealhis plans. “My future plan is obviouslygoing home from here, and then I’llrethink,” he told reporters.

Mashrafe relished the opportunityfor Bangladesh to play all the top sides.

“That format I loved, because everyteam has been exposed to everyone else.And to be honest I think some peoplewill not be very happy with that,” hesaid. Asked how he rated Bangladesh'scampaign, Mashrafe conceded they hadbeen exposed at times in their sloppyfielding, while his bowlers found it hardto thrive in English conditions.

He blamed their out-of-sort and jadedbowling and fielding for their downfallin the World Cup in which they camewith high expectation of sealing thesemifinal spot..

Mashrafe said that he is disappointedwith the way Bangladesh fieldedthroughout the tournament and addedbowling was pretty ordinary duringtheir just concluded World Cupcampaign.

“We missed some catches when weneeded to take that, we bowled badlywhen we needed to bowl well, we didn’t

step up in these areas. Obviously, littlethings make a huge difference, that’s forsure. I would say some matches wasreally costing us that fielding, groundfielding, obviously, because being as abowler, when you stop runs, that sortof wicket, bowlers boost up a lot, whichhas not been happening when theymake, any teams make partnership, weget down and down,” Mashrafe said,clarifying what went wrong in theirWorld Cup.

“In bowling we couldn’t pick up earlywickets in the first 10-15 or 20 overs inmost of the matches including me and

others. I personally think, I should thinkabout this matter personally as I operatein this role. It’s my responsibility,” headded.

Mashrafe himself also delivered tofail as bowler as he picked up just onewicket in eight games to end a horrortournament for him.

‘’First thing that, obviously, goingforward, Bangladesh need to concernabout — if you’re asking this sort of tour-nament, like World Cup, ChampionsTrophy, or maybe T20 World Cup iscoming, that sort of tournament, obvi-ously bowling is a big issue.

Virat Kohli Mitchell Starc

Ben Stokes Kane Williamson

Page-12_Layout 1 7/7/2019 8:49 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019Sports 13

Nigeria oust holder Cameroon,hosts Egypt beaten by South Africa

Nigeria ousted hol -ders and bitter rivalsCameroon from theAfrica Cup of Nations,scoring twice in threeminutes to come frombehind and win a

thrilling last-16 match 3-2 onSaturday, Reuters reports.

In a game that fully lived up to itsbilling, Odion Ighalo gave Nigeriaa 19th-minute lead but Cameroonhit back with two goals in quicksuccession before halftime fromStephane Bahoken and Clinton Njie.

Ighalo levelled again for Nigeria— who have lost three AFCON finalsto Cameroon — in the 63rd minuteamid suspicions of offside beforeAlex Iwobi snatched the winner forthe jubilant Super Eagles threeminutes later.

The win earned Nigeria a quarter-final against hosts Egypt or SouthAfrica who were meeting later onSaturday.

Both teams finished second intheir groups and had not been in thebest of form and it showed with anabundance of defensive mistakes,but there was also much to admirein an end-to-end match.

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr saidthe shock defeat by Madagascar intheir final group match might havebenefited his side. “It did us good,it helped motivate us today to winthis very difficult match,” he said.

Cameroon coach Clarence Seedorfsaid his team paid for sitting on their

lead. “We slowed down a little toomuch instead of trying to score thethird goal,” he said. “Obviously,Nigeria has all the quality to scoregoals and I think that was what wentwrong, in general terms.”

It was a scrappy opening with

misplaced passes by both sides untilNigeria went ahead in the 19thminute with an untidy goal.

Cameroon’s defence failed to dealwith a free kick into the area andKenneth Omeruo found Ighalo who reacted quickly and scored with a shot that was deflected intothe net.

The Nigeria defence still lookedvulnerable as a wild miskick byOmeruo gave Cameroon a cornerand they also handed Cameroon achance which Pierre Kunde Malong

wasted by firing over.But the game turned dramatically

before halftime as Cameroon, whohad not scored in their previous twogames, struck twice in three minutes.

Christian Bassogog wriggled pasthis marker on the right and sent a

perfect cross into the area, leavingBahoken with the formality ofturning the ball into the net in the41st minute.

Nigeria had barely time to recoverwhen Cameroon struck again withBahoken turning provider as heflicked the ball on to Clinton Njiewho raced past Olaoluwa Aina anddrilled the ball into the net.

Goalkeeper Victor Akyepi madea desperate last-ditch save to preventa Nigeria own goal early in thesecond half before the game took

another twist.Nigeria levelled in the 61st minute

when Ahmed Musa chested the ballinto the path of Ighalo to volleyhome. He was level with the last manalthough it was the sort of goal thatmight be ruled out for offside by the

VAR system which will be intro-duced in the quarter-finals.

Three minutes later, Ighalo turnedprovider as he set up Iwobi who beatAndre Onana with a calm finish toseal a famous victory and set off wildcelebrations among the Nigerianplayers, officials and media.

Thembinkosi Lorch scored fiveminutes from time to hand SouthAfrica an upset 1-0 win and knockholders Egypt out of the Africa Cupof Nations as the shock results at thecompetition continued on Saturday.

South Africa, who had lost two oftheir three group games yet creptinto the knockout stages, showedgreat improvement and were themore enterprising team, leaving70,000 partisan fans at the CairoInternational Stadium stunned.

Lorch finished off a sweepingcounter-attack as South Africa, whocreated much the better chances,finally reaped a reward for theirefforts.

They will now meet Nigeria, whoearlier on Saturday eliminatedholders Cameroon in a come-from-behind victory, in Wednesday’squarter-final.

South Africa’s victory followedFriday’s shock success for tiny Beninover heavily fancied Morocco at thestart of the knockout phase.

Messi gets red card, Argentinasecures 3rd place

Lionel Messi wassent off before half-time and thenangrily hit out at“corrupt” tourna-ment organisersafter Argentina

beat Chile 2-1 to win a bad-tempered third-place playoff at theCopa America on Saturday, Reutersreports.

The match was 34 minutes oldwhen Chilean captain Gary Medelshepherded out a ball near his owngoal. Messi challenged him frombehind and Medel reacted angrily,pushing the Argentine and raisinghis hands.

The Paraguayan referee showedMedel a red card and even thoughMessi did not react, he too was sentoff, prompting boos in Sao Paulo’sCorinthians arena.

Reports said the Barcelonaforward did not attend the cere-mony to receive his third-placemedal and he later hit out at theSouth American FootballConfederation (CONMEBOL).

“We don’t have to be part of thiscorruption,” Messi told reporters.

“The lack of respect that they haveshowed us throughout this tour-

nament. “Sadly, the corruption,the referees, they don’t allow

people to enjoy football, theyruined it a bit.

“I think the cup is fixed forBrazil,” Messi added. “I hope that

the VAR and the referees havenothing to do in this final and thatPeru can compete because theyhave the team to do so although I

think it’s difficult.”His comments came four days

after Argentina were beaten 2-0 byarch rivals Brazil in a semi-final thatwas marked by a number ofcontentious refereeing decisions.

Argentina were furious that VARwas not consulted for two possiblepenalty decision, with theArgentine Football Associationpresident writing an angry letterto CONMEBOL to express hisdisgust.

Messi’s frustration was evidentin the mixed zone after what wasonly the second red card of hiscareer.

“You saw what happened,” hetold reporters. “A yellow wouldhave ended it for both of us.

The important thing is that with10 the team finished well and won.”

The referee also showed sixyellow cards in a match that wasdisrupted by 37 fouls.

Sergio Aguero put Argentina 1-0 ahead in 12 minutes and PauloDybala made it two 10 minuteslater with a nice finish after Giovani Lo Celso put him throughon goal.

Roger Federer kepttennis statisticians ontheir toes on Satur -day as he moppedup a few morerecords by trampling

all over Lucas Pouille’s dreams in arip-roaring 7-5 6-2 7-6(4) win to reachthe fourth round of Wimbledon,Reuters describes.

The Swiss became the first player- man or woman - to win 350 singlesmatches at the majors.

To get closer to that, however, hewill first have to negotiate his waypast Italian 17th seed MatteoBerrettini.

While the hollering fans gaveFederer a standing ovation as hecompleted his 350th match win at themajors just a month shy of his 38thbirthday, the world’s favourite tennisson was more circumspect about therecord.

Pouille had a break point at 3-3 inthe first set and again at 5-5. A Federerin full flight had to hit three slam dunksmashes in a row to stay alive in the11th game - an effort that lifted theroaring crowd to their feet.

Once he survived that mini wobble,

he rolled through six successive gamesbefore Pouille unexpectedly endedthe run by breaking the Federer serve.While it was not enough to rescue thesecond set, it gave the Frenchman thebelief to fight on. But sometimes beliefis just not enough - especially whenthe man opposite you is closing in ona century of match wins at the AllEngland Club - with Saturday beinghis 98th triumph.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams, theseven-times Wimbledon champion’scompetitive fires began to burnbrightly and she screamed to a 6-3 6-4 win over Goerges to reach thesecond week of Wimbledon for the16th time.

Being in the fourth-round mixmeans that it is still game on for therecord 24th Grand Slam title that hasproved elusive over the past year —

when final appearances atWimbledon and Flushing Meadowsboth proved to be lost causes.

Against Goerges, she should havebeen confident of victory since theGerman had failed to take a set offWilliams in four previous meetings,including last year’s semi-final here.

When Goerges soaked up every-thing Williams could throw at her tofight back from 0-40 down and hold

her serve in the second game of theopening set, it seemed this might beanother long day.

But Williams could not really affordto dilly-dally around court too longon Saturday considering this matchwas just a dress rehearsal for a morepressing engagement later in the day— to partner Britain’s most famoustennis son Andy Murray in the mixeddoubles. As if on cue, the Red Arrows

shot through the sky just as Goergeswas about to begin serving in the sixth game.

While the crowd looked skywards,Williams had only Goerges in hersights and cut down the German byimmediately breaking for a 4-2 lead.

Next up in singles for the 11th seedis Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

The tennis balls becoming heavierduring play on the grass at the AllEngland Club is to be blamed for theslower game at the Wimbledon andnot the playing surface, third seedRafa Nadal said on Saturday.

Many players have complainedabout the game’s slower speed at theGrand Slam this year, with RogerFederer saying Wimbledon “has notbeen the fastest” while CarolineWozniacki complained about thegrass on Court Two after her third-round exit.

Nadal, who beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga6-2 6-3 6-2 to march into the fourthround, did not have any issues withthe surface but pointed out that thehumidity on court was a factor.

Nadal will play either Portugal’sJoao Sousa or Britain’s Dan Evans inthe fourth round next week.

Federer bags more records, real Serena finally showsup, Nadal blames heavier balls for slower games

United head east amidstPogba uncertainty

As Manchester United prepared tofly to Australia for their pre-seasontour this weekend, their unsettledmidfielder Paul Pogba enjoyedhimself thousands of miles away inNew York, Reuters says.

The 26-year-old Frenchman tookto social media to post videos ofhimself jogging in Central Park,working out in the gym and evenkicking the tops off bottles as partof the latest viral internet craze.

None of that will concern Unitedtoo much as they have given theirmidfielder permission for anextended holiday after a non-stopschedule stretching back to lastyear’s World Cup.

Much more troublesome anddifficult for the club to deflect arelast week’s remarks by Pogba’s agentwho said his client intended to leaveUnited.

“Everyone knows the willingnessof Paul to move on. We are in theprocess of that,” said Mino Raiolain an interview with the Timesnewspaper.

The outburst ignited a predictablefrenzy of speculation with RealMadrid, widely touted as hisfavoured destination, reported tobe putting together a player pluscash bid involving Gareth Bale and Isco.

Whether Pogba joins United ontheir tour or not, the transfer talk is certain to accompany them around Australia, Singapore andChina.

Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi (C) is in oblivion as the referee about to

show him red card in the Copa America third place match against Chile at

Arena Corinthians, São Paulo on Saturday.

Sweden benefitedfrom poor defendingand the video assis-tant referee to beatEngland 2-1 in thewomen’s World Cupthird place playoff

match on Saturday, Reuters reports.Early goals from Kosovare Asllani

and Sofia Jakobsson were enoughto see off Phil Neville’s side, whopulled oneback throughFran Kirbyand had anEllen Whiteequaliser ruledout for hand-ball.

S w e d e n ,captained byCaroline Segermaking her200th interna-tional appearance, won the lastmeeting between the two nations 2-0 and began where they left off fromthat friendly in November.

After 11 minutes, Englanddefender Alex Greenwood failed toclear a cross into the box and Asllanipounced to unleash a fierce shot atgoal. Goalkeeper Carly Telford gota hand to it but the ball flew in.

They doubled their lead 10

minutes later when England stoodoff Jakobsson, allowing theMontpellier forward to drive intothe box and curl the ball expertlyaround defender Steph Houghtonand past the diving Telford.

England regrouped and after halfan hour they halved the deficit whenKirby dribbled from the right intothe penalty area, cut on to her leftand curled the ball in off the far post.

Barely twominutes later,they thoughtthey had equa -lised whenWhite, chasingthe golden bootaward on sixgoals, chesteddown a cross,held the ball upand poked itunder Sweden

keeper Hedvig Lindahl. Ho wever, it was ruled out after a

VAR review with White judged tohave controlled the ball with her arm.

Winger Karen Carney came onfor Nikita Parris in the 74th minuteto make her final appearance in an England shirt having announcedon Friday she would retire after the match.

Sweden move over unstableEngland to grab third place

Roger FedererSerena Williams

Nigerian Odion Ighalo scores twice against Cameroon at Alexandria

Stadium, Alexandria on Saturday.

Thembinkosi Lorch (C) is on his way to score the sole winning goal for South

Africa against Egypt at Cairo International Stadium, Cairo on Saturday.

Page-13_Layout 1 7/7/2019 7:16 PM Page 1

Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019 Entertainment14

Password : Despite copying,accused go unpunished

Staff Correspondent

Shakib Khan-starrer ‘Password’was released on last Eid-ul-Fitrwhich has gained a lot of praise

from the audience and as per thehopes of the concerned personnel ithas also pulled a big profit. But alongwith such renown there have alsobeen accusations of the film being

copied from a Korean film. Therehave been questions going back andforth as to ‘Password’ being a copy ofthe film ‘The Target’. Alongside allthe accusations there have also been awritten complaint against the film bya film critic named Ananda Kutumsubmitted to the censor board.

Under such conditions themembers of film censor boardexamined the mentioned Koreanfilm on July 4. After which they tooconcurred to the fact that somescenes of the film does have simi-larity with the Bangladeshi one.But, considering the current state ofthe film industry in Bangladesh atpresent they decided to not takeany severe step against ‘Password’.

Vice chairman of censor boardsays, “After receiving the complaintletter we have examined the Koreanfilm ‘The Target’ and it is evident thatthere are a few scenes in ‘password’which are similar to this one. Insimple words, we have foundevidence of copying from the film.But, the present situation of theBangladeshi film industry is not thatgood. We don’t want to discourageproducers from making any films.That is why we are not taking anysevere step at this moment.”

He added, “We have sent letters tothe film’s producer and director. Wehave warned them from doing anysimilar thing in future. If they repeatthis action again then actions will betaken against them.”

Regarding the accusations MalekAfsari previously said that theKorean film is only 1 hour 37minutes in duration where as‘Password’ is 2 hours 17 minuteslong.

Set to play a "slightly older character" in KartikAaryan-starrer Pati Patni Aur Woh, Ananya Panday iscurrently on a weight-gaining spree. Required to pack

on five kilos before the film rolls in Lucknow later thismonth, the actor has altered her fitness routine and dietunder the watchful gaze of Pilates trainer YasminKarachiwala.

"Mine is a different kind of struggle because it'stough to gain weight. I'm eating every two hours.The idea is to up the protein content. You want togain the right kind of weight, so it's not abouteating anything as you wish," says the actor. Herprep for the remake aside, Panday currently hasher hands full with So Positive, a recently launchedcampaign that aims to start a discussion aroundcyberbullying. While she credits father Chunkey Pandeyfor helping her develop a thick skin, she points out thatnot everyone is emotionally equipped to take trolls andtheir baseless criticism head-on.

"When your family gets affected by the bullyingyou encounter, that affects you. I often wonder, ifthis happens to my sister, what would I do? She is15. At a young age, our minds aren't fully [devel-oped], and we judge ourselves based on what weread about us." While her team will not be takinglegal action on behalf of those who approach hervia the campaign, So Positive will provide refer-ences of lawyers and psychiatrists who couldhelp them.

"I hope to provide that safe environment, andmeans for people to tackle such situations." Theyoungster reveals that apart from friendsShanaya Kapoor and Suhana Khan, she alsosought mentor Karan Johar's advice beforelaunching the endeavour. "He has hate directedtowards him as well," she reasons, adding thatBollywood's support towards the campaignimplies that the industry can relate to theconstant criticism. —Indian Express

Entertainment Desk

Atwo-week solo art exhibition of artistFarzana Rahman Boby titled ‘The Soul ofthe Soil’ has begun at Gallery Shilpangan

in the capital’s Dhanmondi area. Organised bycontemporary art gallery Shilpangan, this is thefirst solo exhibition of the young artist.

Renowned artist Monirul Islam inaugurated theexhibition on the gallery premises on Friday,while artist and critic Javed Jalil was present asspecial guest. Artist Nisar Hossain presided overthe opening ceremony. Farzana approaches tonature to harness its spirit rather than expressingher fidelity to the visible markers - her ecosystemis devoid of easily recognizable forms.

The artist has so far participated in a number ofgroup exhibitions, including 21st National ArtExhibition, ‘Life 2’ at Gallery Cosmos-2, 16thAisan Art Biennale, 19th Young Artist ArtExhibition, group printmaking exhibition‘Amader Kotha’ organised by Shako, and others.

The artist also participated in in workshopsunder renowned artists like Biren Shome, AlamgirHaque, internationally acclaimed Japanese artistToshihisa Fudezuka, Indian artists NirmalenduDas and Pinaki Barua. The exhibition is open toall every day from 3pm to 8pm, until July 18.

Entertainment Desk

Loko Natyadal (Banani) stagedits much-acclaimed play‘Sonai Madhab’ yesterday at

6:00pm at Nilima IbrahimAuditorium of Mahila Samiti in the

capital’s Baily Road. The play wasbrought to the stage as a part of thefour day celebration programme,organised by the troupe on the occa-sion of the 38th founding anniver-sary.

Directed by Youngin Gomez, the

production is based on a story fromMymensingh Geetika, a collectionof traditional ballads. Music of theproduction was done by MostafaAnwar Swapan.

‘Sonai Madhab’ weaves a tale of

romantic tragedy between Sonaiand Madhab, the leading charactersin the play. The play is a dramaticdepiction that weaves woes, agoniesand dilemmas of women in a tradi-tional narrative way.

Play

loko natyadalstages Sonai

MadhabA scene from the play

Photo:

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Bengali Film Festival of Dallas2019 to start soon

Staff Correspondent

For the fourth time Bengali FilmFestival of Dallas 2019 is goingto start from 2 August at Dallas

in USA which will continue until 4August.

This year the slogan for the filmfestival is ‘Bengali film in the worldpremises’. The venue selected for thefestival is Angelica Film Center inDallas, Texas. A total of eight filmsand short films will be screenedhere.

Nasir Uddin Yusuf Bachchu’s‘Altaf’, Abdullah MohammadSader’s ‘Live from Dhaka’, SohelRana Boyati’s ‘Tiyar Goppo’ and S MKamrul Ahsan Lenin’s ‘Ghran’ willbe screened. Alongside these westBengali films like ‘Ahare’,‘Furniture’, ‘Pupa’, and ‘Prosharini’will also be screened at the event.

Festival coordinator Tarek YasinUjjal said, “In order to take forward

Bengali films, everyone will have towork from their position. For thispurpose, this three day film festivalis being organising for every year.There is a plan to organize more bigevents in the future.”

idris Elba refutes claimsof plagiarism

Actor Idris Elba has deniedallegations that he plagia-rised the work of two women

writers on his new play Tree.In a post on Medium, Sarah

Henley and Tori Allen-Martinclaimed that they were removedfrom the theatre production andwere threatened with legal action ifthey spoke out.

They also said that they conceivedthe idea for the show, which is billedas a creative collaboration betweenElba and the director Kwame Kwei-Armah. The show opened at theManchester international festival onThursday.

Responding to their allegations,Elba posted a statement on Twitter,where he said the pair did work ondeveloping the play, but added thattheir “ambitions” took the show in adifferent direction that resulted inthem quitting the production.

“As new ambitions started to beproposed for the jump off point fordevelopment, Tori and Sarahdecided they didn’t want to pursuethe early thoughts and declined towork any further on the project,” theactor wrote.

“This is not uncommon in thedevelopment process. Theyexpressed their reasoning and werespected their decision. We wereleft without any writers and had tostart work very quickly, which isour contractual right as beholder ofthe original idea, the album,” headded.

Elba said the claims of plagiarism

are “offensive and troubling” but hewill continue to support “new,emerging and diverse talent”.

“We wanted to offer an opportu-nity to support these new writerswhile creating a piece of work ofscale and to a director’s vision.

“The outcome is an accusation ofplagiarism and discrimination.However frustrating this has beenfor all, we will continue to offeropportunities and to support thenext generation of writers andtalent,” the actor added.

The Tree is a blend of drama,music and dance. According toits official synopsis, the storyfollows “a man’s journey into theheart and soul of contemporarySouth Africa. —Variety

Srabanti in Bhootchakro

Private LimitedEntertainment Desk

Srabanti had a gala time shooting forHaranath Chakraborty’s filmBhootchakro Private Limited. “I love

horror films. So I loved being a part of it,” saidthe actor, who is busy doing up her new house.

The film revolves around three friends,Amit, Nimo and Bony, who discover a strangelooking machine from a dilapidated ancestralhouse of Amit. It is called ‘Bhootchakro’. Thismachine was used as a device to communicatewith and hunt for ghosts for different purposesin the 19th century by a man namedRadhamohan.

Radhamohan was a great grandfather ofAmit. So, Amit, Nimo and Bony decide to usethis machine to fake hunting ghosts as a busi-ness, knowing fully well that they do not know

how to operate this machine and at the sametime they are very much afraid of ghosts.

Amit, Bony and Nimo place an advertise-ment in a channel, stating that they arecapable of hunting Ghosts with the help ofBhootchakro. They even fabricate a storyabout a stammering wagon-breaker who hasbecome a minister by taking their help.Coincidentally, a minister, who was really awagon-breaker earlier in his life, watches theadvertisement and start chasing the trio. Thesituation is such that these three friendsmust leave Kolkata in order to save theirlives. At this point, a lady named Ranja Senfrom Shantiniketan call them for profes-sional help as her family is suffering fromstrange paranormal activities in her house‘Sesher Kabita’. What happens next is some-thing to look out for.

Solo Art Exhibition

The Soul of the Soil

underway at Shilpangan

Photo: CollECtEd

Idris Elba

Srabanti Chatterjee

Gaining weightis a struggle:Ananya Panday

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Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019News 15

A good move for workers’ safety From Page 16 Col 2

The RMG factories willing to workas subcontractors must be affili-ated with the Bangladesh GarmentManufacturers and ExportersAssociation (BGMEA) andBangladesh KnitwearManufacturers and ExportersAssociation (BKMEA). Workers ofthe subcontracting factories mustget group insurance coverage andthe factory authorities will pay thepremiums on a regular basis, theguidelines added.

According to the guidelines theapex trade bodies namely BGMEAand BKMEA will have to submitreport on the activities of subcon-

tracting factories to the commerceministry and the National Boardof Revenue in every six months.

If any party violates the guide-lines, the Commerce Ministry,BGMEA and BKMEA can suspendservices relating to production andexport temporarily or permanentlyto any party involved in thesubcontracting process, it reads.

According to the BGMEA offi-cial website, presently it hasaround 4,500 member factories.Forty per cent of them areknitwear and sweater manufac-turers and the remaining 60 percent are woven garment makers.On the other hand, more than

1,300 factories are registered withthe BKMEA. According to theDepartment of Inspection forFactories and Establishments,about 1,000 garment factories oper-ating in the country are not affili-ated with any of the trade bodies.

While talking to journalistsBKMEA vice president FazleeShamim Ehsan welcomed themove of the government.

“Once the subcontracting facto-ries register with the associations,the apex trade bodies will be ableto monitor their activities. We hopethe guidelines will play a positiverole for the wellbeing of the RMGsector,” he said.

DCCs launch combined effortsFrom Page 16 Col 4

The Minister also said thatalthough the number of peopleinfected with the dengue virus hasincreased to some extent this yearcompared to the previous, the situ-ation is still under control andpeople should not worry.

“They breed in freshwatercontained in leftover cans, buckets,discarded tires and other sorts ofcontainers holding stagnant water.We should check that such unusedcontainers are not left abandonedin the open,” he added.

In his address, the Dhaka SouthCity Corporation (DSCC) MayorSayeed Khokon asked residentsnot to panic.

Khokon said, “This year, thenumber of dengue patients ishigher compared to the sameperiod in the last three years, thesituation is, nevertheless, notworrisome.”

Dhaka South City Corporationrepresentatives will knock at thedoor to door to destroy Aedes

mosquito’s larvae and theirbreeding places.

“I want to assure that the resi-dents of Dhaka that dengue situ-ation in Dhaka is not out of controland there is nothing to be worriedabout,” Khokon added.

He also outlined the plan ofcombating the dengue menacesaying that from July 15 onwardsome 450 mobile medical teamswill stay at every ward of SouthCity Corporation and will provideprimary medication to the affectedpeople.

“Mohanagar General Hospital,Shishu Hospital, and other nearbypublic hospitals will offer freemedical treatment to the infectedpatients,” said Khokan.

He further said residents wouldalso be made aware of the dangersof Aedes mosquito breedinggrounds.

On the other hand, DhakaNorth City Corporation MayorAtiqul Islam said, “We metdifferent stakeholders of the North

City Corporation and soughtupdated information so that wecan determine our activitiesaccordingly”.

Dengue is a seasonal infection.Generally, people in the capital getinfected with the dengue viruswhen the monsoon begins sincemosquitoes find a suitable atmos-phere of laying eggs in fresh rain-water.

Health experts urged the citydwellers to keep the homesteadsand adjacent areas clean and dry.

Mosquitoes breed in stagnant,standing water around the homesin leftover containers.

According to official data ofDirectorate General of HealthServices (DGHS), some 193 peoplewere infected with dengue in Mayand 1,671 more in June which was52 in May and 295 in June last year.

Earlier On July 2, the High Courtordered the authorities concernedto take effective measures toprevent the spread of denguemosquitoes in the capital.

Drives against food adulteration From Page 16 Col 1

government agencies. Amongother organisations, NCRPD alsoadministered drives during thetime. Moreover, the drive resultedin actions against renownedbrands like Persona, Aarong, andpharmacy stores which hadexpired drugs. The HC itself hascommended the actions of theDhaka divisional office of theorganisation.

It is to be mentioned that as thenumber of days has increased sincethe passing of the NationalConsumer Rights Protection Actin 2009, so have the number offines. In the last fiscal year (2018-19) alone there have been a totalof 7,343 anti-adulterationcampaigns which resulted in thepenalisation of 19,308 companies.The total amount of fines collectedby this time is 14 crore 81 lakh 42thosuand 150 taka.

Other than this, 7,515 consumershave filed complaints to the organ-isation out of which 7,185 havebeen resolved. This resulted in thepenalisation of 1,468 companies.And, a total of 93 lakh 97 thosuand700 taka has been collected as fines.

From this complainers whoreceived 25 percent of the collected

fines is 1, 461 which is equivalentto 24 lakh 39 thousand 325 taka.In total, the organisation hasdeposited 15 crore 51 lakh 525 takato the state treasury in the last fiscalyear only.

Starting from May 5 to June 4 ofthis year the organisation hasconducted 1 thousand 191campaigns which resulted in thepenalisation of 3, 273 companies.In the span of just one month theorganisation issued and collectedfines amounting to taka 2 crore 49lakh 94 thosuand and at the sametime deposited 2 crore 48 lakh 50thousand 375 taka to the statetreasury.

The common populace is alsohappy with the actions of theDepartment of Consumer RightsProtection. Assistant Director ofDhaka Divisional Office MasumArefin regarding the strict actionsof the organisation says, “Thisdrive will be more intensified.Whenever we will get informationon irregularities we will takeaction, whether it is on any specialday or occasion, it doesn’t matter.”

He adds, “Why do we onlybecome active in the month ofRamadan? – We had to face similarquestions a number of times in the

Ramada. But, the reality is far fromit. Our drives against adulterationand market over-watch last allthroughout the year. We areconducting such drives even afterRamadan has ended and we willcontinue to do so in future.”

He concludes, “New types ofproducts and services have beencreated, and accordingly new busi-nessmen and customer types arealso coming up. We are conductingdrives in different companiesselling these products and serv-ices, so that the law is not violated.These campaigns would not havebeen undertaken in previous times.It is to be noted that, the villagesare now becoming towns. We alsowant to extend these campaigns tovillage and union level, so that thepeople of marginalized areas getthe benefits too. Therefore, we canassure that, as long as there is theissue of customer harassment andlaw violation in the market, ourcampaign will continue and it willbecome more intense day by day.It is a positive aspect for us thatdue to these campaigns, awarenessamong the consumers, busi-nessmen and even the generalpublic is increasing and they arebecoming respectful of the law.”

Iran exceeds uranium enrichment From Page 16 Col 5

US in the second half of last year.Deputy Foreign Minister AbbasAraghchi on Sunday singled outIran’s declining oil sales as one ofthe main issues that needed to besolved, or Tehran would further stepback from its commitments.

“We hope we can reach a solutionotherwise after 60 days we will takethe third step as well,” he said,without specifying what the furthermeasures would involve.

French President EmmanuelMacron told Rouhani of his “strongconcern” over the risk of weakeningthe nuclear agreement and theconsequences that would followduring a telephone call Saturday,according to a statement from theElysee Palace.

However, the two leaders agreedto “explore by July 15 the conditionsfor a resumption of dialoguebetween all parties”, the statementsaid, adding that Macron wouldconsult with Iranian authorities andinternational partners to bring aboutthe “necessary de-escalation” of thesituation over the coming days.

It is not yet clear how far theIslamic republic will boost enrich-ment.

But a top advisor to Iran’sSupreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei hinted on Friday it couldreach five percent.

‘Extremely concerned’ The 2015 deal was reached

between Iran and six world powers

— Britain, China, France, Germany,the United States and Russia — andsaw Tehran agree to drastically scaledown its nuclear programme inexchange for sanctions relief.

Washington began reimposingsanctions in August 2018 and hastargeted crucial sectors includingoil exports and the banking system,fuelling a deep recession.

The 3.67 percent enrichment limitset in the agreement is sufficient forpower generation but far below themore than 90 percent level requiredfor a nuclear warhead.

Rouhani has stressed that Iran’saction would be reversed if the otherparties provided relief from the USsanctions, insisting his country’spolicies are not meant to “hurt (thedeal), but to preserve” it.

France has warned Tehran that itwould “gain nothing” by leavingthe deal and has said “challengingthe agreement would only increasetensions” in the Middle East.

Iran says that it is not violatingthe deal, citing terms of the agree-ment allowing one side totemporarily abandon some ofcommitments if it deems the otherside is not respecting its part of theaccord.

The diplomatic chiefs of Britain,France, Germany and the EU havesaid they were “extremelyconcerned”.

Trump, meanwhile, has warnedIran that it is “playing with fire”.

‘Strategic patience’

Iran says it exercised “strategicpatience” for a year after the USwithdrawal, waiting for the othersignatories to make good on prom-ised economic benefits.

But on May 8, Tehran announcedit would no longer respect two keylimits — a 1.3-ton maximum forheavy water reserves and a cap of300 kilogrammes on its low-enriched uranium stockpile.

The IAEA has in recent daysconfirmed that Iran has breachedthe limit of 300 kilogrammes andhas scheduled a special meeting onIran’s nuclear programme for July10.

Also on May 8, Tehran gave a 60-day ultimatum — a deadline thatexpires Sunday — to deal partnersto help it circumvent US sanctions,on pain of abandoning two morenuclear commitments.

One was the enrichment cap. Theother was a freeze on constructionof a heavy water reactor.

Rouhani referenced the reactorWednesday, telling critical powers“according to you, (this) isdangerous and can produce pluto-nium”.

Europe has sought to salvage thenuclear deal by setting up apayment mechanism known asINSTEX which is meant to help Iranskirt the US sanctions.

But Rouhani has dismissed themechanism as “hollow” because ithas not facilitated purchases ofIranian oil.

Multilateral partnership From Page 16 Col 6

Philippine Ambassador toBangladesh Vicente Vivencio TBandillo and Rural Developmentand Cooperative Division SecretaryMd Kamal Uddin Talukderaddressed the function as specialguests while CIRDAP DirectorGeneral Tevita G BoseiwaqaTaginavulau delivered welcomeaddress.

Tazul said CIRDAP has beenplaying a remarkable role in povertyalleviation and improving fate ofthe rural people of Asia and the

Pacific Region for the last 40 years.A total of 15 member countries of

the CIRDAP, established by Asiaand the Pacific Region countries andFood and Agriculture Organization(FAO), are being benefited bydifferent activities of the organiza-tion, the minister said.

He hoped that it will play moreeffective role in the future in ruraldevelopment in the developing coun-tries. Later, Tazul Islam inauguratedthe e-Library of the CIRDAP andRural Development Fair. He visiteddifferent stalls in the fair.

JS body for ensuring From Page 16 Col 6

division project’s work soonensuring sustainability in differentareas of the country.

Committee members RoadTransport and Bridges MinisterObaidul Quader, Enamul Hoque,Md Hasibur Rahman Shwapon,Md Abu Jahir, Rejwan AhammadTaufiq, Md Salimuddin Tarafder,Sheikh Salahuddin, Syed AbuHossain and Rabeya Alim attendedthe meeting.

Safer vegetables From Page 16 Col 5

in the villages in the districtincluding Sadar upazila’s Satmail,Barinagar, Manikdihi, Hoibotpur,Tirerhat, Churamonkati andAmbottola villages. Besides Sadarupazila, vegetables are also beingcultivated in a large scale inBagharpara, Manirampur andJhikargachha upazilas. Thousandsof farmers of these upazilas arecultivating five to six lakh tonnesof vegetables annually. Aftermeeting the local demand, vegeta-bles produced in the district aresent to different districts across theIn the current summer season,vegetables is being cultivated on14,685 hectares of land in Jashorewhile during the last winter, it wascultivated on 15,785 hectares ofland.

However, questions were raisedover the large scale use of insecti-cides in the vegetables fields ofJashore, as the local farmers werenot used to follow the manualsdescribed in the packets of insecti-cide. As a result, health of thefamers were being seriouslyaffected as well as the consumerswho ate those vegetables.

But, concerned sources said,since the introduction ofpheromone trap method, an envi-ronmentally friendly and cost-effec-tive method of pest control, use ofinsecticides in vegetables fieldsdecreased a lot.

In this regard,Sadarupazilaagriculture officer SMKhalid Saifullahtold theBangladesh Post: “Pheromone trapmethod is now being used in 200hectares of land in theSadarupazila’s vegetable fieldswhile the method is being used invegetables fields of 1,000 hectaresof land across the district.”

“The pheromone trap is nowbeing used in cultivation bittergourd, brinjal, multitude, gourd,pumpkin, summer watermelonand several other vegetables,” headded.

The agriculture officer said thegovernment has an aim to ensurefood security for the people beforethe end of the present term. Theagriculture department is alsoworking to reach the target. Fromthe interest farmers are showingtowards using alternative systemto use of insecticides, it can be saidthat within next four years, thecountry’s 70 pc to 80 pc producedvegetables would be safe andsecure to eat.

1.9cr people getFrom Page 16 Col 6

plants with capacity of 13,536megawatts.

Besides, 1,160 megawatts ofpower is being imported from Indiaper day and added to the nationalgrid, he added.

The state minister said about 93percent people of the country havealready been brought under theelectricity coverage as the govern-ment is implementing short-, mid-and long-term plans to increasepower generation.

Responding to another questionof Momotaz Begom, MP,(Manikganj-2), Nasrul saidconstruction of 53 power plants isunderway aiming to generate atotal of 15,743 megawatts fromduel-fuel gas/LNG, imported coaland renewable energy sources.

A process continues to signagreements with the authoritiesconcerned to set up 14 new powerplants with capacity of 3,709megawatts, he said, adding theseplants are expected to be intro-duced by 2021.

The state minister said thegovernment has also a plan to setup 17 power plants to generate19,500 megawatts of electricity.

Fire at DU central From Page 16 Col 2

exits are there in the library, awfuldamage could occur if authoritydid not take any measure imme-diately.”

Meanwhile, the library has nowover six lakh eighty thousand(680,000) books and journals, andit has around thirty thousand raremanuscripts.

GP calls bandwidthcut inappropriateMobile phone operatorGrameenphone has termed thebandwidth cut down to 30 percentas illegal, saying the telecom regu-lator’s blocking bandwidth fordisputed demand is inappropriate,reports BSS.

“Grameenphone believes thismove is illegal, and the companywill seek intervention of the Courtagainst this unconscionable deci-sion of the regulator,”Grameenphone Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO) Michael Foley said ata press conference in a city hotel onSunday.

He requested BTRC to “withdrawthe referenced directives and coop-erate in resolving the disputed auditdemand through a constructive arbi-tration process under the ArbitrationAct 2001.”

The operator said it was veryunfortunate that directives to theIIG operators were given in anattempt by the BangladeshTelecommunication RegulatoryCommission (BTRC) to pressure GPto pay a disputed audit claim.

The directive would also have anegative consequence for local busi-ness communities and for theaffected IIGs as they would losepotential revenue and businessopportunities for a situation totallyoutside their control, saidGrameenphone.

On July 4, BTRC directed all the

International Internet Gatewayoperators to cut down 30 percentbandwidth of the total usage ofGrameenphone while it was 15percent for Robi for outstandingdues.

The regulator took such punitivemeasures for the first time againstthe mobile network operators(MNOs) for “bringing discipline intelecom sector”.

Grameenphone has outstandingdues of Taka 12,579 crore while theamount was Taka 867.24 crore forRobi, according to the BTRC’s auditclaim.

The telecom regulator issueddemand notes to the respectiveoperators several times. BTRC hadrun technical and financial auditson their network from its inceptionto since 2015.

Before this decision, market leaderGrameenphone consumed 209.93Gbps bandwidth and after the deci-sion it was brought down to 146.95Gbps. Besides, Robi consumedabout 150.67 gigabits per secondbandwidth which was broughtdown to 128 Gbps. Earlier the regu-lator suspended issuing no objec-tion certificate (NOC) for importingequipment to run the network.According to BTRC, as of May,Grameenphone has 7.48 crore activeconnections while Robi owns 4.77crore connections and about half ofthem are using internet.

JS, UNDP sign MoU onorganizing workshopsA Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) was signed on Sundaybetween Jatiya Sangsad (JS)Secretariat and United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP)on organizing workshops onSustainable Development Goals(SDGs) for the members of parlia-ment and JS officials, reports BSS.

The MoU was signed when adelegation, led by UNDP Bureau ofPolicy and Programme SupportTeam leader Charles Chauvel, metJS Speaker Dr Shirin SharminChaudhury at her office at the JatiyoSangsad Bhaban here, said a pressrelease.

Senior Secretary of the JSSecretariat Dr Zafar Ahmed Khanand UNDP Bangladesh ResidentRepresentative Sudipto Mukerjeesigned the MoU on behalf of their

respective sides.Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin said

Bangladesh is now working toachieve the SDGs. A workshop willbe held on SDGs tomorrow at theJatiyo Sangsad Bhaban where 75nominated members of parliamentwill take part, she added.

Govt appointsFrom Page 1 Col 3

appointed on October 19, 2017,appointment of all the other AAG’s,is being canceled.

With the latest appointment, thetotal number of AAG’s is now 157.

Recently Law, Justice andParliamentary Affairs MinisterAnisul Huq had asked the assistantattorney generals and deputyattorney generals, who wereappointed before 2017, to resign.

Killer of Wari childSayma arrestedBP Desk

Police have arrested the killer ofseven-year-old child Sayma fromSonargaon Upazila of Narayanganjon Sunday.

The arrested youth is identifiedas Harun-or-Rashid, cousin of thehouse owner.

Wari Division Acting DeputyCommissioner Iftekher Ahmedconfirmed the matter.

Earlier, police have identified himthrough a video footage. He wentinto hiding after the incident.

It has been learnt that the identi-fied youth lived with another familyin the same under-constructionbuilding.

Samia Afrin Sayma, whose bodywas found in an under-constructionbuilding in Dhaka’s Wari area onFriday night, was raped before beingmurdered.

Confirming the matter, Dr SohelMahmud, head of Dhaka MedicalCollege Hospital (DMCH) ForensicMedicine Department, said she wasraped and strangled.

Sayma, 7, daughter of AbdusSalam and a student of SilverdaleSchool, was found dead on theeighth floor of the building.

“Several injury marks were foundon her face and neck. The child wasstrangled and raped before themurder. We have found theevidence,” said Dr Sohel.

Nurul Amin, additional deputycommissioner of DMP's WariDivision said, “After taking permis-sion from her mother, Sayma lefther apartment on Friday evening toplay with other children of thebuilding as she did every day.”

“Sayma had remained missingsince then. Family members calledpolice after they found her blood-stained body lying on the floor witha rope around her neck” he said.

The victim’s father said he and hiswife found the hanging body ofSayma on the eighth floor of thebuilding which was empty, hoursafter she went missing. AbdusSalam is living in the same buildingwith his family.

Being informed, police recoveredthe body.

Abdus Salam filed a case onSaturday accusing some unknownpeople. Md Samsuzzaman, assis-tant commissioner (Wari zone), saidthey, however, detained five peoplefor interrogation including thehouse owner.

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16 Dhaka Monday July 08, 2019 Ashar 24, 1426, BS

Mashrafe worried

of future after

World Cup exitPage 12 Page 14

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Loko Natyadal

stages Sonai

Madhab

Sub-contracting guidelines 2019 for RMG sector

A good move for workers’ safety Staff Correspondent

In a bid to ensure safety, trans-parency and accountability in ready-made garments (RMG) sector, thegovernment has finalised a guide-line for the subcontracting factories.

The guideline was formulated asper the National Tripartite Plan ofAction (NTP) on Fire Safety andStructural Integrity in the RMGsector in Bangladesh. The Ministryof Commerce issued a circular inthis regard on May 27 last.

Against the backdrop of a devas-tating fire incident at a subcon-

tracting factory named TazreenFashion Limited on 24 November2012 that killed more than 112garment workers, the governmentadopted the NTP and promised toformulate subcontracting guide-lines. The Subcontracting Guidelines2019 says the government-setminimum wages be ensured for theworkers in the subcontracting facto-ries and the structural designs of thefactories be approved by the author-ities concerned, and only thecompliant factories will be eligiblefor the subcontracting jobs.

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Iran exceeds uraniumenrichment capacityIran said Sunday it was set to breachthe uranium enrichment cap set byan endangered nuclear deal withinhours as it seeks to press signato-ries into keeping their side of thebargain.

The Islamic republic also threat-ened to abandon more commit-ments unless a solution is foundwith parties to the 2015 agreement,reports BSS/AFP.

The move to start enrichinguranium above the agreedmaximum purification level of 3.67percent comes despite oppositionfrom the European Union and theUnited States, which has quit thedeal. President Hassan Rouhani’s

order to exceed the threshold wouldbe implemented ‘in a few hours’after the last technical details weresorted, Iran’s Atomic EnergyOrganisation spokesman BehrouzKamalvandi said live on state tele-vision.

Rouhani initially flagged Tehran’sintentions on May 8, exactly a yearon from US President DonaldTrump unilaterally abandoning themultilateral deal.

He has said the move is inresponse to a failure by remainingstate signatories to keep theirpromise to help Iran work aroundbiting sanctions reimposed by the

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Fire at DU centrallibrary dousedDU Correspondent

Fire broke out at Dhaka UniversityCentral Library in the capital onSunday morning.

The fire was brought undercontrol within a short time after fire-fighters, on information, rushedimmediately to the scene.

The fire broke out from an elec-tric short circuit at around 10:00am.

“The Library will be closed for anindefinite period,” added LiberianJabed Ahmed.

Eye witnesses informed thereporter, the fire broke out from anelectric short circuit at the back gateof the library, and students beingpanicked evacuated instantly.

However, no immediate casual-ties were reported.

Meanwhile, electricity supplyconnection with the library wasdisrupted due to fire.

DU Pro-VC (administration) DrMuhammad Samad, universityproctor Dr AKM Golam Rabbanivisited the spot.

DU Proctor Golam Rabbani toldthe Bangladesh Post, “Firefighterswere called instantly after fire brokeout and they doused the fire soon,heavy losses could be caused if theyfailed to bring it under controlinstantly.”

Expressing anxiety a third yearstudents of Islamic studies,Tamanna Jannat said, “No proper

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Safer vegetables within four yearsStaff Correspondent

The country is gradually movingtowards producing safer vegetableswithin next four years as farmersday by day are being converted toan environmentally friendly andcost-effective method of pest controlin lieu of insecticides.

Known as ‘pheromone trap’, themethod protects human health andthe environment and has beendubbed by agriculturists as a ‘silentrevolution in pest control manage-ment’.

Concerned agriculture officialssaid from the interest farmers areshowing towards using alternativesystem to use of insecticides, it canbe said that within next four years,the country’s 70 pc to 80 pcproduced vegetables would be safeto eat.

Winter vegetables are now avail-able not only in winter, butthroughout the whole year also. Allthrough the year, about 20 to 25 kind

of vegetables are being cultivatedin the fields of Jashore. At present,many vegetable fields can be seen

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1.9cr people getpower lines in 5 yrs: Nasrul

State Minister for Power, Energyand Mineral Resources NasrulHamid Sunday said the govern-ment gave new power connectionsto about 1.9 crore subscribers in thelast five years, reports BSS.

“After taking various initiativesto boost power generation, thegovernment increased power gener-ation four times to 21,629 megawattsnow from only 4,942 megawatts in2009,” he said while replying to astarred question placed by rulingparty lawmaker Md Afzal Hossain(Kishoreganj) in the Jatiya Sangsad.

Since 2009, Nasrul said, thepresent Awami League governmenthas so far introduced 114 power

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No degrees beforenames of lower

court judges: HCBP Desk

The High Court (HC) Sunday cameup with an order saying no lowercourt judges are allowed to usedegrees like barrister or doctorbefore their names.

A High Court division benchcomprising Justice M EnayeturRahim and Justice Md MostafizurRahman passed the judgement onsuo moto.

The court came up with the direc-tion while hearing a plea filedagainst an order passed by JudgeMd Akteruzzaman of Dhaka SpecialJudge Court-5, where the concernedjudge were seen using the degreeof Dr before his name.

Multilateralpartnership must

attain SDGs : TazulLocal Government, RuralDevelopment and CooperativesMinister Md Tazul Islam Sundayfocused on ensuring multilateralpartnership through exchangingmutual knowledge and experiencesand technological and financialassistances to accelerate attainingSustainable Development Goals(SDGs), reports BSS.

“Ensuring multilateral partner-ship through exchanging mutualknowledge and experiences andtechnological and financial assis-tances will accelerate attainment ofSDGs,” he said.

The minister was addressing theinaugural function of a twoprogramme on the occasion of 40thfounding anniversary of the Centreon Integrated Rural Developmentfor Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP)at the CIRDAP InternationalConference Center (CICC) in thecity, said a press release here.

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JS body for ensuringaccountability of

BRTC depot managers

BP Desk

The Parliamentary StandingCommittee on Ministry of RoadTransport and Bridges Sundayrecommended the ministry to takenecessary measures for ensuringtransparency and accountability inwork of BRTC Depot Managers.

The recommendations weremade at the 2nd meeting of thecommittee held at the JatiyaSangshad (JS) Bhaban with itsChairman Md Akabbar Hossain inthe chair, said a press release.

The meeting discussed overallactivities and future work plan ofBRTC and implementation progressof ongoing mega projects underroad transport and highways divi-sion and bridges division.

The committee also recom-mended the ministry to take neces-sary measures for finishing theongoing roads and highway

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Drives againstfood adulteration

to continueStaff Correspondent

As part of ensuring safe food for thecountry’s citizens through moni-toring the market, NationalConsumer Rights ProtectionDirectorate (NCRPD) is going tocontinue its all-out drives againstfood adulteration.

NCRPD sources said even thoughRamadan has passed, the authori-ties have decided to carry outcontinuous drives against foodadulterators.

Sources said the recent ban on 52products by the High Court (HC)has caused much commotion in thefood industry as well as among thegeneral public. In this context,NCRPD has decided to strengthenits market monitoring activitiesmore. Mentionable, a number ofrenowned brands and food compa-nies have been fined in the monthof Ramadan during anti-adulter-ation drives conducted by different

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Fifteen young officers of Indian Army along with their wives pose for a photo after reaching Dhaka on a seven day visit, at Tejgaon Airport in the capital

on Saturday. Photo: ISPR

DCCs launch combined efforts to fight dengue

Staff Correspondent

The city corporation authorities(north and south) have launched acombined and more coordinatedeffort to address the rising dengueinfection crisis in the city.

“Two city corporations - Southand North are working relentlesslyto fight dengue infection caused byAedes mosquitoes. The authoritieshave taken all kinds of measures toraise awareness among the citydwellers and hence destroy thepotential breeding sites,” saidMinister for Local GovernmentDivision Md Tajul Islam at a pressbriefing held at his office on Sunday.

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The tiny rain drops have been transformed into sparkling Crystal Pearl

after falling on the Krishnachura flower. The Krishnachura trees in full

bloom with their fiery orange blossoms conspire to set the streets ablaze.

The picture was taken from capital’s Chandrima Uddyan on Sunday.

Krishnachura (Delonix regia) is a species of flowering plant in the bean

family Fabaceae. It is noted for its fern-like leaves and flamboyant display

of flowers. In many tropical parts of the world it is grown as an ornamen-

tal tree. It blossoms between June and August. Photo: Subir Kumar

Local Government Minister Md Tajul Islam presides over a meeting at his office on Sunday. The meeting organ-

ised to discuss the mosquito control activities in Dhaka city was also participated by Dhaka North City

Corporation Mayor Atiqul Islam and Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sayeed Khokon. Photo: PID

Pheromone trap method of pest control at a vegetables field in Jashore.

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