BANGLADESH

Urging the border guards to leave the 'regretful' past behind in an effort to strengthen the BGB, home minister Shahara Khatun has said the paramilitary force is going to be divided into four zones.

"The killing of 74 people, including 57 army officials, on February 25-26, 2009 was sorrowful… pathetic. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina's intelligence saved the day," she said at a reception to honour freedom fighters from the then East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) on Tuesday.

EPR was renamed Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) after liberation in 1971. The paramilitary force was further christened Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Dec 20 last year.

On Dec 8, parliament passed the Border Guard Bangladesh Bill-2010 with the provision of death penalty for offences such as rebellion, killing and arson within the paramilitary force.

The law repealed the existing one in a bid to restructure BDR in the wake of the killings of army officers at the Peelkhana headquarters in February 2009.

"The trial of the mutiny is in final stages," Shahara said on Tuesday. "Those responsible for killings and loot will be punished through proper trial."

She also said the government is thinking of sending BGB members to the UN's peace keeping mission.

DIVIDING BGB IN ZONES

The home minister said the Border Guard Bangladesh Bill-2010 proposes to divide the BGB into several zones.

Seeking anonymity, a BGB official told  that the decision to divide BGB into four zones aims to increase manpower in the frontier security force.

The headquarters of the northwest zone will be at Noagaon, northeast headquarters at Sarail in Brahmanbaria, while the southeast headquarters will be stationed at Chittagong, the BGB official said.

"The issue is awaiting the finance ministry's approval. We hope it will be finalised soon," he said.

According to the official, an officer of brigadier rank, or of same status, would be made the region commander for each zone.

"A decision has also been taken to add four more sectors to the existing 12 sectors,'" he said. The sectors in the pipeline are Sreemangal, Thakurgaon, Bandarban and Bagaichharhi.

BORDER HEROES HONOURED

A total of 119 freedom fighters from the erstwhile EPR were honoured on Tuesday. Of them, lance naiks Nur Mohammad Sheik and Munshi Abdur Rouf were awarded Bir Shrestha, the highest military award of Bangladesh, for their contribution during the 1971 Liberation War.

Eight others were awarded Bir Uttam, 32 given Bir Bikram, while Bir Pratik was conferred on 77 former EPR fighters.

Of them, 57 were given reception at the Peelkhana headquarters of BGB, and the others at different sectors on Tuesday.

State minister for home Shamsul Hoque Tuku was special guest at the function.

At the reception function, Sepoy Sheikh Moktar Ali, an award-winning freedom fighter, said Sepoy Ashraf had clasped Captain Sadeque of Pakistani Army in the arms in Chuadanga district on March 26, 1971. Both had died from bullet injuries. But Sepoy Ashraf was not given any reception.

The government has given its nod for three agreements with Orion Group to add 1,088 Megawatt (MW) electricity to the national grid from three privately run coal-based power plants.

The move is part of the government's plan to boost power production amid increasing demand.

Representing either side, managing director of Orion Group Salman Obaidul Karim and power secretary of Power Development Board (PDB) Mohammad Azizul Islam signed agreement papers to set up three coal-fired power plants, at the Bidyut Bhaban here on Tuesday.

This is the first initiative to generate substantial power using energy. At present the 250-MW coal-fired power plant near Barapukuria coalmine is the country's lone coal-fired power plant.

The new coal-based power plants will be set up at Mawa in Munshiganj (capacity 522 MW), Anwara in Chittagong (283 MW), and at Labanchora in Khulna (283 MW).

The government also signed another deal with Solarium Power Ltd to produce a further 18 MW solar power.

Solarium Power Ltd managing director Nazmul Abedin and PDB secretary Azizul Islam also gave their written consent.

Energy adviser to the prime minister Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, power division secretary Abul Kalam Azad, state minister for power Mohammad Enamul Haque, and PDB chairman A S M Alamgir Kabir were present on the occasion.

The four deals will formally be signed soon, the gathering was informed.

The government has already said the thermal solar system will be set up at Phulpur in Mymensingh district (capacity 18 MW), the country's first renewable energy-based power plant with a capacity over 1 MW, to become the largest renewable energy-based power plant in the subcontinent.

MORE POWER SOON

Of the three deals inked with Orion, the power plant to be set up at Mawa will start generating electricity within 45 months, while those at Labanchora and Anwara would start operation within 36 months.

The government would purchase power per unit from Mawa plant at Tk 4, and for Tk 3.80 per unit from the two others, it was informed.

Solarium, meanwhile, plans to start commercial operation in two years and will sell power to the government at Tk 5.50 per unit. The plant will cost Tk 2.35 billion, Nazmul Abedin, managing director of Solarium, said at the signing ceremony.

Orion Group chairman Obaidul Karim said, "We will invest US$ 1.4 billion to set up the three coal-based plants."

The prime minister's energy adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said the deals were part of the government's efforts to augment power generation to meet the rapidly increasing demand.

Calling the deals a step towards fulfilling the government's commitment to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity to people, he said power supply across the country has significantly improved in the three years since this government came to office.


SUPPLY NOT ENOUGH NOW
The nation's power demand of 7,000 MW every day exceeds daily production by nearly 2,000 MW at present.

At present, natural gas fuels 82 percent of power generated in the country, furnace oil fuels 5 percent, diesel another 7 percent, while water and coal make up for a total of 6 percent power generated.

Generating power by using gas, many experts say, is a luxury for a nation like Bangladesh.

The Sheikh Hasina government has set a target to raise power generation up to 15,000 MW by 2016.

Deals have already been struck to set up 48 power plants to meet the target, of which 17 are quick rental plants, three are rental, 10 are independent power producers, and 18 are state-run power plants.

As a result, officials said, around 2,500 MW have been added to the national grid over the last three years. Of this, 1,581 MW is generated by 20 plants set up during this government's tenure and 825 MW comes from power plants agreed on during the caretaker government's regime.

The results of Masters final examinations of 22 disciplines held in 2008 under the National University (NU) have been published.

An official release said the results were published on Monday.

The disciplines include Sanskrit, Bangla, English, History, Islamic Studies, Arabic, Islamic History and Culture, Philosophy, Political Science, Social Science, Social Work, Physics, Biochemistry, Zoology, Statistics, Psychology, Soil Science, Home Economics, Management, Finance and Banking, Marketing and Pali.

The results will be sent to the colleges concerned. It will also be available on the website - www.nu.edu.bd and www.nu-results.net

A total of 73,196 students sat for the Masters final examinations in 30 subjects.

The results of other departments will be published soon.

Results of Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations will be published on Dec 28.

"The results are being published within 37 days after the exam ended," education secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury told  on Wednesday.

The education ministry earlier announced that it would publish the results within Dec 31.

JSC and JDC examinations started from Nov 1 and ended on Nov 21.

A total of 18,61,113 students took part in the exams --15,37,422 students for JSC and the rest 3,23,691 students sat for JDC.

The examination is being held since 2010 for the Grade-VIII students. This year, the exams were held at 2009 centres simultaneously.

All the papers saw creative questions except for Bengali second paper, English first and second paper and Mathematics.

Like the previous year, students failing in three subjects would be allowed to get themselves admitted to Grade-IX but they would have to take part and pass in the next examination, according to the education ministry.

This year, the physically challenged students were given extra 20 minutes. Moreover, those who cannot see or write were allowed to have a writer.