BANGLADESH

Biman Bangladesh Airlines' first flight carrying Hajj returnees touched down at the Shahjalal International Airport on Wednesday.

A Boeing 747 carried the 582 pilgrims back to Dhaka at 7:15pm, Director of the flag carrier's Public Relations Department Khan Mosharraf Hossain told bdnews24.com.

Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Mohammad Faruk Khan welcomed the Bangladeshi hajjis at the airport.

Biman will conduct 136 flights through November to return 54,179 pilgrims. According to the Biman, it will conduct the last return flight on Nov 30.

The Hajj flights were conducted from Sep 17 to Oct 20.

According to the government, a total of 110,550 Bangladeshis went to Saudi Arabia to take part in the biggest congregation of the Muslims.

Apart from Dhaka, eight Biman flights left from Chittagong and two from Sylhet for the first time.

It is using a rented Boeing 747 and two of its Boeing 777 and two DC 10s to carry the pilgrims.

The two other airlines, Saudia, the Saudi Arabian Airlines, and Saudi-approved private NAS Air started the return flights on Oct 30. NAS Air will end the flights on Nov 28 and the Saudia on Nov 30.

RAB investigators spoke to Mahir Sarowar Megh, the only son of slain journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi, for around three and a half hours on Wednesday.

Megh went to the headquarters of the elite force at Uttara with his maternal uncle Nawsher Roman around 1pm.

"We've tried to gather information by speaking with him that may help the investigation," RAB spokesperson Commander M Suhail told reporters.

He said it was not an 'interrogation' in any way. "Megh had come to the RAB headquarters earlier as well. But it was the first time we formally requested his uncle to bring him for the sake of the case."

On the Feb 11 night when his parents were killed at their house at Rajabazar, Megh was at home.

The government arrested seven suspects, most of who have already been charged with killing a doctor.

Megh's uncle Roman, who had filed the case over the murders, said the child appeared to be annoyed and initially expressed anger several times once they were in the RAB headquarters.

"Later he became normal. But the investigation officer could not ask him any question as he was always busy playing around," he said.

Journalists have been demonstrating for arrest of the killers of Sagar and Runi since the murders. The then Home Minister, Shahara Khatun, had pledged to capture the killers within 48 hours but the police failed to deliver. The case was transferred to the RAB later.

The new Home Minister, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, said on Oct 9 that eight of the killers of Sagar and Runi have been identified and seven of them have been arrested.

The journalists termed his findings vague as he did not speak about the link among the accused, who are from separate places.

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Ghulam Rahman on Wednesday said their investigation into the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project was on the right track.

"Regarding overall investigation into the Padma bridge graft, we want to say that everything is under control and things are going in the right way," he told reporters at the ACC headquarters.

Leaving no 'loophole' the inquiry is going on with maximum alertness, he added.

Some officials of the Integrity Department of the World Bank raised graft allegations in the country's largest-ever infrastructure development project in September last year.

The development partner wanted the government to send on leave all the government officials relating to the project.

As the government failed to meet the conditions, the multinational global lender cancelled its credit for the $2.9 billion project on June 29, saying it had credible evidence of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of Canadian engineering giant SNC-Lavalin and some private individuals.

It set several conditions to revive its pledged $1.2 billion loan.

Later, former Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain stepped down while former Bridges Division Secretary Mosharraf Hossain was sent on leave. Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Advisor Mashiur Rahman who was the Integrity Advisor to the Padma bridge project went on leave in mid-September.

The multinational lender, which decided to revive its loan commitment on Sep 21 after the Bangladesh government agreed to its terms and conditions, appointed an external panel early this month to oversee the ACC investigation.

The three-member panel in mid-October visited Dhaka and held several meetings with the top ACC officials. The World Bank's second team will arrive early in November to work out the procurement modalities of the project.

ACC Commissioner M Sahabuddin told reporters on Oct 15 that the World Bank had assured the ACC of helping in quizzing former SNC-Lavalin executives Ramesh Shah and Mohammad Ismail who are now languishing in jail after being arrested by the Canadian police.

The first World Bank team asked the ACC to provide it with necessary documents on the investigation, but the ACC sought time to provide those. The antigraft watchdog on Oct 23 sent the documents, information and data to the panel.

ACC chief Rahman on Wednesday said that they are yet to receive any feedback from the external panel.

"But we're in constant communication with them. They may send information anytime,' he added.

Bangladesh may import gas from neighbouring India through Siliguri-Rangpur route to cope with the increasing gas crisis.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran to Bangladesh discussed the possibility of gas import on Tuesday as the latter called on her at her office.

PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters about the issues discussed at the meeting.

About 250MW power could be imported from northeastern Indian state Meghalaya through Sylhet, Azad said.

The High Commissioner conveyed to Hasina Eid greetings from the Indian President and the Prime Minister.

The meeting also discussed touched upon issues like border demarcation in line with the Indira-Mujib treaty and implementation of the US $1-billion given to Bangladesh as credit.

Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin was also present during the call-on.