| ACC, Ctg wing to be reinforced |
Roudro Moin
Chittagong divisional wing of the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) is set to start functioning with newly appointed workforces with an objective to quick disposal of graft cases apart from in-house administrative reforms, according to ACC officials .
The ACC, Chittagong divisional wing has recently undergone an expansion as part of its planned effort to handle bulk of cases within shortest possible time.
Now 62 officials following reorganizing its structure have been engaged to gear up its routine works .
Following the expansion plan, eight officials have already been appointed in the ACC, Chittagong office those have been entrusted responsibility to investigate the pending cases, according to officials attached to the public organization.
Sixteen more officials will assist them in finalizing reports under different cases. The appointment process of the sixteen officials was also finished.
The local unit of the now defunct Bureau of Anti Corruption had long been operating without adequate, skilled and unspotted workforce. It is hoped that the divisional unit of the ACC
will start its operation with fresh pace, strategy and mission as soon as the fresh journey will start following recent in-house reforms. |
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| Valuables worth Tk 30 lakh
looted in a dacoity |
Staff Correspondent
Bandits stormed a residence at city's Pahartali area hours before dawn yesterday and looted gold ornaments and valuables worth nearly Taka three million including Taka half a million in cash.
Police quoting house inmates said that a group of bandits not less than 15 entered the residence of Monumia Sowdagor at Chollishquarter at Pahartali area at about 3:00 a.m. The robbers confined the house inmates in a room at gunpoint and searched every nook and corner to bag the valuables that included 450 grams of gold ornaments, cell-phones, electronics and Taka half a million in cash.
Monu Mia in the FIR (first information report) said that the robbers broke down the collapsible gate of his three-
storied building and entered into the 2nd floor at about 3:00 a.m.
Soon after the entrance, they confined me first and later, confined my son and his wife including my wife inside a room, Monu Mia said.
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| CCC CE surrenders
Charge framing in Bijoy
TV graft case Jan 13 |
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Staff Correspondent
One of the prime suspects in the case of plundering public funds in the name of running a TV station and Chief Engineer (CE) of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Moktar Alam surrendered at the court of Divisional Special Judge this morning.
The suspect went underground shortly after recording graft case against him and two other co-accuseds last year.
Court sources said that the CCC Chief Engineer Mokter Alam suddenly appeared before the court of Divisional Special Judge at about 10:30
a.m. and prayed bail. But the Judge SM Solaiman rejected his prayer and ordered him to undergo confinement until the prosecution was over. |
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| OMS begins in City |
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Open Market Sale of rice begins in Chittagong as elsewhere in the country. Children and women stand in long queues to collect rice from fair price shops. The picture was taken from Ice Factory Road in the city yesterday. Photo: Focus Bangla |
Staff Correspondent
Selling of rice with affordable prices in the 'open market', which has been branded as open market sell (OMS) began in the city formally yesterday with poor response. Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Hossain Jamil inaugurated the OMS program formally at a OMS center at city's Love Lane yesterday morning.
Price of rice has already come down over the last two days, which ultimately discouraged to collect only three kilogram rice from the OMS centers after long-wait.
Each person will be able to collect maximum three kilograms rice at TK 25 for each kilogram as per the directives given by the government.
The selected dealers will sell rice from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday in 41 wards under Chittagong City Corporation.
Two groups having 41 dealers in each group will perform
duty to provide rice to the common people.
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National News |
| 5 new advisers
sworn in |
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Former Secretary AMM Shawkat Ali, former Attorney-General AF Hassan Ariff, former Director General of the National Security Intelligence (NSI) Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader, Rasheda K Chowdhury, Executive Director of Gano Swakkharata, an NGO, and economist Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman sworn in yesterday as advisers to the interim government. Photo PID |
bdnews24.com Dhaka
Five new advisers were sworn into office Wednesday evening at a low-key ceremony at the Bangabhaban.
President Iajuddin Ahmed inducted former BIDS senior research fellow Hossain Zillur Rahman, retired major general Golam Quader, former secretary AMM Shawkat Ali, former attorney general AF Hassan Ariff and former ADAB president Rasheda K Chowdhury into office at 6:30pm.
The ceremony started with recitations from the Quran by Moulana Abdul Halim at 6:23pm and was over in 10 minutes. Cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumder listed the names of the new advisers and Iajuddin swore them
into office.
The programme ended in a matter of 10 minutes, followed by a tea party.
Majumder had earlier told bdnews24.com that the programme would take place in a low-key fashion. |
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| Polls as soon as voter
list completes: CEC |
P View desk
Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed Wednesday said his caretaker government and the Election Commission were proceeding towards holding the general election before end of this year (2008) and there is no reason for doubt about it.
The head of caretaker government stated this to the visiting Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, when she paid a courtesy call on him at the CA's office UNB reports from Dhaka.
Dr Fakhruddin said the main objective of the government is to hold a free, fair and credible election within the targeted timeframe and the Election Commission is working to this end following its announced roadmap.
Lifting restrictions imposed under state of emergency, election, human rights, Right to Information Act, reform of the Police Act and trial of war criminals came up for discussion.
On trial of war criminals, the CA said the present government mainly focused on reforms and election. He however said political parties could include the issue in their next election manifesto.
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| Holy Ashura
on Jan 20 |
P View desk
Holy Ashura will be observed in the country on January 20 as the moon of Moharram was not sighted in the sky of Bangladesh yesterday (Wednesday).
The decision was taken at a meeting of National Moon Sighting Committee at the Islamic Foundation conference room yesterday (Wednesday) with committee Vice-president and Religious Affairs Secretary Muhammad Ataur Rahman in the chair, UNB reports from Dhaka.
The meeting said the Hijri year 1429 would start on Friday (Jan 11) while Ashura will be observed on January 20, said an Islamic Foundation press release.
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| CA to get
consultants:
spokesman |
bdnews24.com Dhaka
An initiative is underway to appoint up to seven consultants for chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
"Six to seven consultants will be appointed in the next few days," the chief adviser's press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim told reporters at the Bangabhaban.
Asked to explain the status of the consultants, the press
secretary said the government was examining the laws.
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| Iftekhar talks
to Pak FM over
rice on Phone |
P Vies desk
Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and his Pakistani Counterpart Inam ul Haque spoke over telephone on Tuesday evening and discussed possible procurement of rice from Pakistan for Bangladesh, UNB reports from Dhaka.
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Global News |
| Hillary narrowly beats Obama |
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Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., reacts with her husband, former President Clinton and daughter, Chelsea at her Democratic primary election night victory rally in Manchester, N.H., Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. AP Photo |
AP/UNB, Manchester
Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday squeaked out a victory in New Hampshire's primary, slowing -and possibly even stopping - rival Barack Obama's momentum.
Clinton, whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, used a second-place finish in New Hampshire to propel himself to the White House, had trailed Obama in recent polling. In the last days, though, she overhauled her campaign operation in the state and took a new tone to the trail. Aides, meanwhile, executed the long-laid
ground game that even rivals acknowledged was masterful. Her campaign had braced for a second loss in a key early state in America's state-by-state nominating process. Early Tuesday, it was still uncertain if their ground-game plan would work.
The campaign had made than 1.4 million phone calls to voters and 6,000 volunteers canvassing the small northeastern state in the last few days.
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| Musharraf gives free hand to British
team probing Bhutto assassination |
AP/UNB, Islamabad
President Pervez Musharraf told British forensic experts they would have a free hand in investigating the circumstances surrounding the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a government official said. The promise Tuesday appeared to be a softening of the government's position on the probe. Last week, Musharraf told reporters the investigators would not be allowed to go on a "wild goose chase" and investigate claims the government was behind Bhutto's killing in a Dec. 27 shooting and bombing attack. "The president assured (the investigators) of his full support and said that they were totally free to conduct their probe, and no one will interfere in their affairs," Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said.
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