BANGLADESH

Police have sued several hundred people over the demonstrations by readymade garment workers in Ashulia for riot and vandalism.

Ashulia Police Station Sub-Inspector (SI) Hafizur Rahman filed the case in the wee hours of Sunday on charges of blockading the road, assaulting police, obstruction to government work and vandalism.

Eleven people, all of whom are leaders and activists of main opposition BNP and its front organisations, were named in the case along with several hundred other unnamed people.

Anwar Hossain, a BNP leader who owns Anwar CNG filling station and former member of Piarpur Union's ward number 1, has been made the chief accused in the case.

Manager of the filling station Abul Kashem alleged up to 15 policemen, led by Ashulia Police Station OC (investigation) Mustafa Kamal, broke into the station's office room where Anwar was sitting and beat him up around 9am.

Kashem said the BNP leader was currently undergoing treatment at Savar's Enam Medical College Hospital.

The garment workers at Ashulia demonstrated again on Sunday morning as the weeklong unrest reached a new height after factory owners shut all garment factories in the industrial hub for an indefinite period.

They have been demonstrating since June 11 demanding better wages. Hundreds of people have been injured and over 150 vehicles vandalised during the weeklong protest.

On Thursday, the owners failed to agree on the proposal of FBCCI President AK Azad, owner of Ha-Meem Group, to raise salaries.

The meeting, however, ended deciding that all factories in Ashulia would be shut down if the ongoing unrest was not contained by Sunday.

Apex bodies -- Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) -- took the decision and also threatened to shut all factories nationwide.

Around 450,000-500,000 workers are engaged in nearly 350 garment factories in Ashulia and there are about 3,500 garments factories across the country.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange's key index lost 107.20 points around halfway into Monday's trading.

The DGEN reached 4398.84 points or 2.38 percent lower around 12:33pm on the week's second business day.

Shares and mutual funds worth around Tk 899.44 million changed hands so far with prices of 19 issues advancing, 216 declining and 12 remaining unchanged.

Around half an hour into the day's trading, the key index registered an 87.19 points loss when it reached 4418.84 points or 1.93 percent.

The DSE kicked off the week's trading 114.67 points lower, triggering off protest from retail investors. The DGEN closed at 4506.04 points or 2.48 percent down on Sunday.

The premiere bourse's benchmark index had ended the previous week 59.90 points down with a lower turnover of around Tk 1.86 billion. It had lost around 148 points last week.

The government has approved another export-focussed industrial zone, Rangunia Export Processing Zone, in Chittagong.

The approval for Bangladesh's ninth EPZ came from a meeting of the Board of Governors of Bangladesh Private Export Processing Zone Authority (BPEPZA) held at Prime Minister's Office. Its Chairperson Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting on Sunday, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.

Rangunia EPZ is proposed to be located within 50 kilometres of Chittagong on about 400 acres of government fallow land and family-owned land.

Chittagong has two more EPZs – Chittagong EPZ and Korean EPZ.

Azad said the Prime Minister asked the BPEPZA authorities to give final allocation of 500 acres of land for the Korean EPZ for more investment.

Hasina also asked the Korean EPZ authorities to submit a detailed investment plan to the government.

The other EPZs are located in Dhaka, Mongla, Narayanganj (Adamjee), Uttara (Nilphamari), Comilla and Ishwardi.

Commerce Minister G M Qader, Land Minister Rezaul Karim Hira, Environment and Forests Minister Hasan Mahmud, State Minister for Power Enamul Haque and Executive Chairman of Board of Investment S A Samad and Secretaries attended the meeting.

Fire Service and Civil Defence divers on Sunday found two more bodies buried under one of the six stone-laden trucks that fell in a canal at Companyganj in Sylhet when a bridge collapsed on Friday.

The divers spotted the bodies stuck under the truck around 3pm, Companyganj Upazila Nirbahee Officer Mohammad Saiful Islam told bdnews24.com.

"The bodies cannot be recovered as we do not have a crane to lift the truck. We are trying," Fire Service Assistant Director Parimal Kundu said.

According to Sylhet Superintendent of Police (SP) Sakhawat Hossain, the bodies could not be identified.

At least three people died in the accident, including those whose bodies were found on Sunday, 10 others were injured and two more were reported missing. The first body, recovered on Friday night, was identified as Abdul Haque, 40.

The two missing, both from Jaintapur, are truck driver Monir Hossain and his assistant Anwar Mia.

The SP said it was not yet confirm whether the bodies found on Sunday were those of Monir and Anwar.

At least three people were killed and 30 others injured when a passenger bus tumbled and hit a rickshaw in Bagerhat's Morelganj area on Monday.

Officer-in-Charge of Morelganj Police Station Aslam Uddin told  that the incident occurred around 10am at Shadhur Bridge area in Hoglapasha.

The bus driver lost control over his steering while trying to pass by a rickshaw. Subsequently, the bus tumbled and fell on the rickshaw leaving its puller, a passenger and bus driver dead at the scene, the OC said.

Police identified the deceased rickshaw puller as 'Joynal', 50, and the passenger as Dinesh Mandal but could not immediately confirm identity of the bus driver.

The police official said the injured 30 bus passengers were rushed to Pirojpur Sadar Hospital.

The Cabinet on Monday endorsed the draft of a law on formation of a sustainable and renewable energy development authority with the power to sign agreements and take loans.

The draft of 'Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority Act 2012' was approved at a regular Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Cabinet Secretary Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists after the meeting that a body would be formed based on the act to encourage the use of sustainable and renewable energy. The panel will comprise chairman and five members.

He said the Act will be placed as a 'Finance Bill'.

The body will be authorised to sign agreements with anyone and borrow money, he said.

The government has moved to renovate 26 units of 15 old power plants in a frantic effort to feed more power against an increasing demand nearly three and a half years after taking office.

Chairman of Power Development Board, A S M Alamgir Kabir, says they hope to produce around 1,609 megawatts from these plants if things go according to plan.

Experts say had the government earlier initiated repairs of these up to 25-year-old plants, the ongoing power crisis could have been less.

The PDB chief said they are going for the repairs as the power supply has improved.

According to him, the mending of one unit is underway and of the rest will begin in September this year and will end by December 2014.

Units being repaired

Among the gas-fueled power plants, four units of gas-based Ghorashal steam turbine, three units of Haripur gas turbine, one unit of Chittagong (Raujan) steam turbine, one unit of Shikalbaha steam turbine, three units of Fenchuganj combined cycle gas turbines, one unit of Sylhet gas turbine and one of Baghabari gas turbine will be repaired.

Among furnace oil-based power stations, two units of Khulna steam turbine and two of diesel-run Barisal gas turbine, three of Bheramara gas turbine, one of Rangpur gas turbine and another one of Syedpur gas turbine will be refurbished.

Apart from them, three units of the Karnafuli power plant will be mended.

Energy expert Prof M Shamsul Alam, a teacher at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, told bdnews24.com: "The government was advised to repair these plants soon after it came to power. But, they were busy [setting up] rental, quick rental and new power plants."

"This is the proof that this sector is being handled with wrong plans," he said.

He believes power crisis would have been eased by now had the repair work of one or two of these units started then.

However, according to the account given by Enamul Huq Khan, the State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, in Parliament on Sunday at present the daily power shortage was 1,000MW which is 1,000MW less than the previous year.

Energy expert Prof Ezaz Hossain, who teaches at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said in order to improve the power situation the old stations had to be repaired along with regular maintenance of the ones running.

He told bdnews24.com that many of the existing power stations are losing their capacity for the lack of regular maintenance and inspection.

According to the information presented to Parliament, the daily demand of power stand at 6,600 MW against a daily production of up to 5,600 MW.

The International Crimes Tribunal will decide on Tuesday about the bail plea by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali, who was arrested on Sunday on charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 War of Independence.

The first war crimes tribunal's head judge, Mohammad Nizamul Huq, set the date after hearing the arguments for granting bail by defence lawyer Abdur Razzaque and the counter by prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum on Monday.

The Jamaat executive council member, who was being held at the tribunal's jail, was produced before the judges during the hearing.

The plea was initially filed by Mir Quasem Ali's lawyers when he was produced at court on Sunday evening following his arrest. However, the tribunal rejected to hear the plea saying no further hearing would be held on the day. It also ordered Mir Quasem Ali to be jailed, pending further proceedings, and scheduled the hearing for Monday.

Police arrested Mir Quasem Ali, also head of Diganta Media Corporation, from Naya Diganta newspaper office on Sunday afternoon, within an hour and a half of an arrest warrant issued by the tribunal.

He is also an Islami Bank director, a member of Ibn Sina Trust, and director of non-governmental organisation Rabita al-Alam al-Islami.

The charges against the Jamaat leader include that he was the Chittagong unit commander of Al-Badr, a vigilante outfit mobilised by Jamaat's erstwhile student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha and was third in outfit's command structure.

Such auxiliary forces like the Al-Badr, Al-Shams and Razakar actively engaged with the Pakistan Army to thwart the freedom struggle in 1971.

Crimes against humanity including murder, massacre, rape and loot had allegedly taken place in Chittagong under his watch during the war. There are also allegations that he ordered the massacre and murders at the Razakar camps there.

Mir Quasem Ali, who is from Manikganj's Harirampur, was better known as 'Mintu' to the people of Chittagong during the war. He was part of the Islami Chhatra Sangha during his college days.

He is also one of those who had made the list of the intellectuals to murder them at the fag end of war. The intellectuals were killed on Dec 14, 1971, only two days before the victory.

After independence, Mir Quasem Ali had fled to Saudi Arabia and returned after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family was brutally massacred on Aug 15, 1975.

Two war crimes tribunals are currently dealing with cases involving six Jamaat-e-Islami leaders including former and current party chiefs and main opposition BNP's two leaders on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the war.

The International Crimes Tribunal will decide on Tuesday about the bail plea by Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mir Quasem Ali, who was arrested on Sunday on charges of crimes against humanity during the 1971 War of Independence.

The first war crimes tribunal's head judge, Mohammad Nizamul Huq, set the date after hearing the arguments for granting bail by defence lawyer Abdur Razzaque and the counter by prosecutor Zead-Al-Malum on Monday.

The Jamaat executive council member, who was being held at the tribunal's jail, was produced before the judges during the hearing.

The plea was initially filed by Mir Quasem Ali's lawyers when he was produced at court on Sunday evening following his arrest. However, the tribunal rejected to hear the plea saying no further hearing would be held on the day. It also ordered Mir Quasem Ali to be jailed, pending further proceedings, and scheduled the hearing for Monday.

Police arrested Mir Quasem Ali, also head of Diganta Media Corporation, from Naya Diganta newspaper office on Sunday afternoon, within an hour and a half of an arrest warrant issued by the tribunal.

He is also an Islami Bank director, a member of Ibn Sina Trust, and director of non-governmental organisation Rabita al-Alam al-Islami.

The charges against the Jamaat leader include that he was the Chittagong unit commander of Al-Badr, a vigilante outfit mobilised by Jamaat's erstwhile student wing Islami Chhatra Sangha and was third in outfit's command structure.

Such auxiliary forces like the Al-Badr, Al-Shams and Razakar actively engaged with the Pakistan Army to thwart the freedom struggle in 1971.

Crimes against humanity including murder, massacre, rape and loot had allegedly taken place in Chittagong under his watch during the war. There are also allegations that he ordered the massacre and murders at the Razakar camps there.

Mir Quasem Ali, who is from Manikganj's Harirampur, was better known as 'Mintu' to the people of Chittagong during the war. He was part of the Islami Chhatra Sangha during his college days.

He is also one of those who had made the list of the intellectuals to murder them at the fag end of war. The intellectuals were killed on Dec 14, 1971, only two days before the victory.

After independence, Mir Quasem Ali had fled to Saudi Arabia and returned after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family was brutally massacred on Aug 15, 1975.

Two war crimes tribunals are currently dealing with cases involving six Jamaat-e-Islami leaders including former and current party chiefs and main opposition BNP's two leaders on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the war.