BANGLADESH

Finance Minister AMA Muhith is refusing to throw in the towel even though rumours have it that the World Bank is not coming back into the Padma bridge project.

He is still sanguine about the global lender getting on board again to finance the ambitious project.

"Still, I have time until Aug 31. Don't get frustrated. So far nothing has happened to get frustrated," said Muhith at his Secretariat office on Tuesday.

Muhith made the observation as newspapers in the last two days reported that the lending agency would not release the promised fund since all the conditions it had given were not fulfilled.

It was rumoured that the Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Advisor Mashiur Rahman is going to resign as per the bank's demand but no information was available.

The World Bank cancelled a $ 1.2 billion loan for $ 2.9 billion bridge in June last year. The two other lenders, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency extended the deadline of finalising the loan deal for the bridge until Aug 31.

The project will expire if the World Bank does not return by Aug 31.

Ever since the bank pulled itself out of the project, the government has been stating that the bridge will be built with own fund, if need be, but the Finance Minister has been trying to persuade the World Bank to return.

A few days back, Muhith had said, "If the World Bank finances (the project), image and dignity lost over the issue would be regained." He said he had prepared a letter which will be sent once a positive response was received in the ongoing negotiations.

After the Washington-based agency raised allegations of corruption last year, it gave the government some conditions for checking corruption in the project. As those remain unmet, it pulled out of Bangladesh's largest infrastructure project to date.

In the wake of controversy over the allegation of corruption, former Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain resigned in July last year and former Bridges Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain was sent on leave.

Rail links of Dhaka and Sylhet with Chittagong have been restored after nearly six hours of halt due to derailment of a passenger train in Comilla.

Comilla Railway Station Master Mohammad Hossain Majumder said train communication resumed around 10:30am on Wednesday when the troubled train was removed.

Assistant Engineer of Comilla Railway, Hamidul Haque, had earlier told bdnews24.com that a Chittagong-bound passenger train derailed around 5am at Comilla sadar snapping Chittagong's rail link with the capital and Sylhet.

Haque said six wheels of the train's engine got derailed. The compartments of the train had been brought to Shashidal Station following the accident.

The government has made some changes in the administration as it shuffled Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADC) and Upazila Nirbahi Officers (UNO).

The Ministry of Public Administration issued three circulars to this effect on Tuesday.

The Ministry's Senior Assistant Secretary (OSD) Dr Rezaul Bashar Shiddique has been made Deputy Secretary with effect from Feb 8 last.

Among the ADCs, Nazim Uddin has been transferred from Manikganj to Kurigram and Dr Golam Mostafa from Brahmanbaria to the Ministry of Public Administration.

Dinajpur Chirirbandar UNO Rashidul Kabir has been made an OSD at the Ministry.

A group of medical and dental college admission seekers continued to demonstrate on Tuesday to demand that the government scrap its decision to follow grading system in place of admission test.

A platform of the protesting students held a human chain programme and solidarity assembly in front of the National Press Club from 10am on Tuesday.

Around 12:45pm, the student protestors announced agitation programme for Wednesday.

They called for a sit-in programme wearing black masks in front of the Dhaka University Teachers-Student s Centre.

The students also protested police action against demonstration programme in Chittagong and detention of seven students there.

Four local organisations representing Bengali settlers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts are enforcing a 36-hour general strike from Wednesday morning in Rangamati, Khagrachharhi and Bandarban hill districts.

The shutdown has been organised to protest against amendment to the land act while the organisers demand that the government scrap its move to put local police administration under the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regional Council.

In line with the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord, sub-section 1 of section 62 of the Parbatya Zilla Parishad law says that a Zilla Parishad can appoint, transfer and punish police officials ranking from Sub-Inspector and below. Members of the tribes from the hill tracts will get priorities in case of appointment to the local police administration.

The Bengali-speaking settlers, who had been rehabilitated from outside the region, have long been protesting against the provision.

Parbatya Chatragram Somo-Adhikar Andolon (Chittagong Hill Tracts Equal Rights Movement), Parbatya Ganaparishad (the Hill Tracts People's Council), Parbatya Bangali Chatra Parishad (Hill Bengali Students' Council) and Parbatya Bangali Chhatra Oikya Parishad (Hill Tracts Bengali Students' Unity Council) jointly announced the lockdown at a press conference in Rangamati district headquarters on Monday.

On Wednesday, most businesses in Khagrachhari, Rangamati and Bandarban towns remained closed. Long-route and inter-district bus operations remained suspended.

Most educational institutions also remained closed. No passenger ferries were seen operating in Rangamati during the beginning hours of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, police detained Convenor of Parbatya Bangalee Chhatra Parishad's Khagrachhari unit, Abdul Majid, on Tuesday night.

Officer-in-Charge of Khagrachhari Sadar Police Station Mostafijur Rahman has confirmed Majid's detention.

Police on Wednesday halted traffic at Dhaka's key Shahbagh intersection following protests and vandalism by Dhaka University students after a fellow student who was injured in a raod accident died on Tuesday night.

The security officials were diverting traffic to avert any further vandalism.

Touhid Uz Zaman, a second-year undergraduate student of international relations and a resident of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall, fell under the wheels of a Rajdhani Express bus around 4:30pm on Tuesday as he was getting across the street near BIRDEM Hospital.

He succumbed to his injuries around 7pm.

Infuriated by his death, fellow DU students took to the streets and smashed around 40 vehicles and also set fire to several of them in Shahbagh and New Market areas.

Police had shut down traffic at the key intersection after students descended on the street around 8pm to midnight.

Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Ramna Zone, Nurul Islam told bdnews24.com on Wednesday that vehicular movements at Shahbagh had been shut down to avert further agitation and vandalism.

"The decision has been taken to secure people's lives and properties," he said.

The police official said traffic would resume through the intersection after the students' anger had been calmed.

Meanwhile, police have been positioned at various entrances to the university. No vehicles, except those bearing university's sticker, are being allowed into the campus.