BANGLADESH

Emboldened by a clean chit in the cash scam, former railway minister Suranjit Sengupta said on Wednesday he is 'returning to politics'.

Days after the scandal involving his personal aide surfaced, he stepped aside saying it was taking 'a break of journey'.

Speaking at a press conference at his Jigatola residence, Suranjit, now a minister without portfolio, said: "I am innocent. It is now clear through an independent and proper investigation.

"I will return to politics, will take the responsibility of serving the people."

When asked whether he was going to take back the post of the minister he lost because of the cash scam, he said the prime minister will decide that.

"This is an issue of the government," he said.

It was his third news conference after his Assistant Personal Secretary (APS) Omar Faruq Talukder was detained by the border guards on Apr 10 with Tk 7 million in cash in the car carrying Faruq and two top railway officials.

He announced his resignation at a media call at the Rail Bhaban on Apr 16, taking 'full responsibility' for the cash scandal. He said he would return once he was cleared by investigation.

A day later, a government press note said Suranjit was made a minister without portfolio.

The Railway Ministry in a report to the Secretary on May 13 said no evidence that suggested Suranjit was involved in the cash scandal was found.

A Dhaka court on Wednesday ordered into jail BNP's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and 32 other opposition leaders in an arson attack case.

The leaders appealed for bail after surrendering at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in the morning after failing to get bail in the High Court.

Metropolitan speedy trial magistrate Mohammad Erfan Ullah heard the petitions at noon, but refused them bail.

The BNP-led 18-Party Alliance enforced countrywide general strike on Apr 29 and 30 protesting against the disappearance of M Ilias Ali, one of BNP's organising secretaries.

On Apr 29, a vehicle was torched near the PMO and crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat. Police filed two cases at Shahbagh and Tejgaon accusing the leaders of their alleged involvement in the two incidents.

Fakhrul, Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, M K Anwar, Mirza Abbas, ASM Hannan Shah, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Liberal Democratic Party president Oli Ahmed and other senior leaders of the coalition were charged in the two cases.

A third High Court bench last Sunday ordered them to surrender in the trial court by Wednesday after the bench of justices Mainul Islam Chowdhury and Nazrul Islam Talukder returned a split decision on their petition for anticipatory bail.

BNP leader Moudud Ahmed, also a defence counsel, told that they filed the bail plea in the trial court in line with the High Court order.

A devastating fire raced through a crammed slum and destroyed about 150 makeshift houses in the Dhaka City's Shyamoli area.

Fire Department's Deputy Director Masud Ahmed told bdnews24.com that the fire broke out around 9am.

Ten fire-fighting units took about one hour to douse the flames, he said.

Ahmed said about 150 makeshift homes of the slum have been burnt to ashes.

He, however, said the reason behind the fire could not be immediately determined.

Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station OC Jakir Hossain Molla said there were no injuries so far.

Bangladesh's exports in April fell 7.13 percent from a year earlier to $1.89 billion, the Export Promotion Bureau said, more evidence that the euro zone debt crisis is affecting the country's economy.

April was the second straight month of declining exports. In March, exports fell 7.23 percent to $1.98 billion.

Due to reduced orders from Europe, business leaders said Bangladesh is unlikely to achieve its target for exports of $26.5 billion in the fiscal that ends June 30. That target is 15 percent higher than the record $23 billion in exports in the last fiscal year.

Total exports for July-April, the first 10 months of the financial year, were up 8.4 percent from a year earlier, to nearly $19.8 billion.

In July-April, earnings from key readymade garments rose 9.6 percent from a year earlier to $15.5 billion.

In recent years, Bangladesh's economy and exports have been boosted by a dramatic shift in garment orders from China to lower-cost Bangladesh.

Garment export is one of country's key drivers, along with remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas.

Europe and the United States are Bangladesh's main export destinations, accounting for losses to 70 percent of its overseas sales of garments.

Police detectives claimed to have recovered on Tuesday raw materials used to make bomb from the Chittagong office of the Liberal Democratic Party, an ally of the main opposition BNP.

The unassembled bomb components, including two kilograms of powdered iron, 12 rolls of black tape, half kg gunpowder and 30 empty cans of chewing tobacco, were found at LDP's Nandankanan office on Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch A K M Tanvir Arafat told .

The detectives broke locks to enter the offices of Chittagong district's north and south units of LDP around 11:15pm, he said.

"There was a plan to create anarchy," he said.

An LDP activist Idris Ali was detained from the area after the drive that followed a tip-off, Arafat said. "He used to man the office."

Earlier in the day, LDP President Oli Ahmed said at a discussion in Dhaka that the BNP-led 18-party alliance would 'finish a game started by the government'.

"The prime minister thinks that the game is over as cases have been filed. But the game is not over yet; it has just begun. We'll end the game," he said.

He said the cases against top opposition leaders over violence during a shutdown were baseless.

The LDP chief instead blamed the government for blasts during hartal hours.

"They (ruling Awami League) themselves exploded cocktail bombs and lodged cases against opposition leaders," he said.

A vehicle had been torched in front of the PMO and crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat during the countrywide shutdown on Apr 29 protesting the 'disappearance' of one of the party's organising secretaries, M Ilias Ali.

Police had filed two cases at Tejgaon and Shahbagh accusing a number of top opposition leaders. The accused leaders are on bail now.

Police detectives claimed to have recovered on Tuesday raw materials used to make bomb from the Chittagong office of the Liberal Democratic Party, an ally of the main opposition BNP.

The unassembled bomb components, including two kilograms of powdered iron, 12 rolls of black tape, half kg gunpowder and 30 empty cans of chewing tobacco, were found at LDP's Nandankanan office on Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner of Chittagong Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch A K M Tanvir Arafat told .

The detectives broke locks to enter the offices of Chittagong district's north and south units of LDP around 11:15pm, he said.

"There was a plan to create anarchy," he said.

An LDP activist Idris Ali was detained from the area after the drive that followed a tip-off, Arafat said. "He used to man the office."

Earlier in the day, LDP President Oli Ahmed said at a discussion in Dhaka that the BNP-led 18-party alliance would 'finish a game started by the government'.

"The prime minister thinks that the game is over as cases have been filed. But the game is not over yet; it has just begun. We'll end the game," he said.

He said the cases against top opposition leaders over violence during a shutdown were baseless.

The LDP chief instead blamed the government for blasts during hartal hours.

"They (ruling Awami League) themselves exploded cocktail bombs and lodged cases against opposition leaders," he said.

A vehicle had been torched in front of the PMO and crude bombs were hurled at the Secretariat during the countrywide shutdown on Apr 29 protesting the 'disappearance' of one of the party's organising secretaries, M Ilias Ali.

Police had filed two cases at Tejgaon and Shahbagh accusing a number of top opposition leaders. The accused leaders are on bail now.

The High Court on Monday asked four government officials to explain why no measures have been taken against 'private' CNG-run auto-rickshaws that operate commercially illegally.

The Communications Secretary, BRTA Chairman, DMP Commissioner and Dhaka's Deputy Commissioner were asked to answer to the court within two weeks.

The bench of Justices Mohammad Bazlur Rahman and Mohammad Habibul Gani on their own volition issued the rule after reading media reports.

The court also asked them to find reasons behind not cancelling registration of such vehicles and why it would not order the police commissioner to run mobile courts to bring those responsible to justice.

The court also asked the BRTA Chairman to submit within June 5 a report on the number of auto-rickshaws that were registered in Dhaka and surrounding areas after 2004 and the main record listing vehicles registered under the 'Da' series.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has served legal notices on the former railway minister's sacked Assistant Personal Secretary (APS) Omar Faruq Talukder and four others asking them to submit the details of their properties within seven working days.

Those facing action for their alleged involvement in the cash recovery scandal are Railway General Manager (East) Yusuf Ali Mridha and his wife, and suspended Dhaka zone railway police's Commandant Enamul Huq and his wife.

"According to our primary investigation, they've properties beyond their known sources of income. So, they were served notices on Monday asking them to submit details of their properties," ACC Commissioner Mohammad Sahabuddin Chuppu told .

Border Guard Bangladesh personnel detained Faruk, Mridha and Enamul when a car carrying them entered the BGB headquarters in Peelkhana in the wee hours of Apr 10. BGB men recovered Tk 7 million from the car. However, they were later released, along with the money and the vehicle.

Several newspaper reports said the money was taken as bribe for making appointments in the railways.

Faruq, Mridha and Enamul were suspended following the incident.

Taking responsibility for the incident, Suranjit stepped down as the railway minister on April 16, but the government retained him as a minister without portfolio.

The Railway Department formed an investigation committee over the cash scandal that submitted its findings on Sunday. The probe report claimed that former Railway Minister Suranjit Sengupta was not involved in the scandal.

It said that there was Tk 7 million in Faruk's car which he deposited in his bank account. Mridha and Enamul were also not involved in the incident, the report said.

The ACC had also formed a two-member committee led by its Deputy Director Abu Syed to investigate into the scandal and the related aspects.

On Apr 18, Mridha, Faruk and Enamul appeared before the ACC investigators and gave their statements.

Light engineering industry of the country expects subsidised metal testing services for the sector's development.

"Subsidised metal testing services will add to the sector's growth," said Bangladesh Engineering Industry Owners' Association (BEIOA) President Abdur Razzaque.

The thrust sector, as determined in the Export Policy-2010, is facing several hurdles, including obsolete technology and lack of production management skills and dice-making technology, according to the associations.

It also lacks a research and development (R&D) institution, quality assurance and accredited inspection, and marketing ability for export promotion.

Razzaque said: "Light engineering acts as a support industry to all other industries."

This industry comprising around 40,000 firms produces motor launches and marine transport spares, and machinery and spares for agro-processing, textile, jute, construction, bread, biscuit and food processing sectors.

Razzaque, also owner of Sunrise Engineering, says: "If the government provides subsidies to the sector, the country will get greater return."

Justifying the subsidy demand, he said: "If the machineries are not produced locally, they have to be imported at five times higher prices."

In 2009-10 financial year, export from the light engineering sector was $311 million, which constituted nearly 1.89 percent of the country's total exports worth $16.5 billion.

Mentioning that developed countries offer metal testing services to the engineering industry at minimal costs, Razzaque said: "Without low-cost metal testing services it will very difficult for the industry to grow."

According to him, the five metal testing facilities in the country -- Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR); MAWTS Institute of Technology, Engineering and Technological Services; Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC); Bangladesh Industrial Technical Assistance Centre (BITAC); and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) -- charge exorbitant fees.

BUET's Material and Metallurgical Engineering (MME) Department professor A S W Kurny stressed the need for setting up a metal testing institute.

He said: "This (light engineering) is a support industry for all other industries. They (the sector) are now making complicated equipment. But without a metal testing institute, their long-term costs will escalate, as the equipment made without proper metal may not perform well."

Kurny, however, said the industry owners needed to realise that the tests could not be conducted for free.

Director of BUET's Institute of Appropriate Technology (IAT) Prof M Kamaluddin echoed the view of Kurny.

He said: "Metal testing needs very sophisticated equipment like spectrometer which is very costly. Many light engineering firms are even going to India for some tests."

Kamal also suggested setting up a metal testing institute under the public-private partnership initiative to solve the problem.

He said a lower mid-level institute would cost Tk 300 million and solve at least short-term problems of the industry.

Finance Minister A M A Muhith has admitted that the government made a mistake in assessing the demand for power.

"We made the mistake in calculating the actual electricity demand," he told a pre-budget discussion at a city hotel on Tuesday. "When we estimated the demand to be 5,000MW, it stood 3,000MW ahead of that," he said.

"We had set a target to generate 7,000MW power within 2015. But now we will need to produce 9,000MW," the finance minister said.

Private TV channel Maasranga and the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industries had jointly organised the discussion.

The government has been facing widespread criticism over the power crisis. Although 3,000MW has been added to the national power grid over the past three years of the Awami League-led government, load-shedding remains a recurring phenomenon on account of the demand exceeding the supply.

According to the Power Development Board, the country produced 5,100MW on Monday, while the demand on the day was 6,100MW.

'Agri subsidy to continue'

The finance minister said the amount of subsidy for the agriculture sector in the budget for 2012-2013 fiscal would remain the same as in the current budget.

"We'll have to give the agriculture sector Tk 60 billion by way of subsidy. It will remain unchanged in the next budget," he said.

Former Agriculture Advisor to the Caretaker Government C S Karim said, "Production will get affected if farmers do not get fair price for their produce. Its effect will be much more dangerous than that of power or fuel crisis."

He suggested the government not to export rice for now.

Inflation

Muhith also admitted that 'excessive' bank loans taken by the government had impacted inflation.

"It is right that we have taken lots of loan from banks. It impacts inflation," he said.

"But," he added, "inflation is basically caused due to hike in prices of fuel oil and other commodities in the international market."

He also talked of devaluation of taka against US dollar as one of the reasons pushing inflation.