UNB, Dhaka, 21 April : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said many countries around the world have many things to learn from Bangladesh for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the country has made remarkable progress in different fields.He made the remarks on Tuesday when a parliamentary delegation led by Speaker Abdul Hamid met him at the UN headquarters in New York, a message from Bangladesh Mission in New York said. Praising Bangladesh's achievement in MDGs and micro-credit schemes, Ban said Bangladesh has gained landmark progress in the disaster preparedness, poverty alleviation, education and women empowerment.
The UN secretary general said he projected the achievements made by Bangladesh in the MDGs to other countries. He also lauded the contribution of Bangladesh to the UN peacekeeping mission. In response to the speaker's request, Ban assured the parliamentary delegation of his cooperation to include Bangla as the UN official language.
Referring to his visits to Bangladesh in 1972 and 2008, he described Bangladesh as a dynamic democratic developing country.
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Purulia hottest place in West Bengal with 47.7 degrees cel
Mercury hovered between 44-46 degrees in Bankura, Birbhum and West Midnapore
Kolkata, Purulia, 21 April : Purulia was the hottest place in West Bengal with the mercury shooting up to 47.7 degrees Celsius today, as heatwave conditions continued to prevail in five districts with no prospects of rain in the next 24 hours. The temperature in Purulia was three degrees above normal and the highest ever, a report quoting the district administration said.The sizzling heat led to the hospitalisation of several persons with heat-related symptoms, district health department sources said. In neighbouring Bankura, Birbhum and West Midnapore districts the mercury hovered between 44 and 46 degrees Celsius. Kolkattans had another uncomfortable day with the mercury touching 39.9 degrees which was two degrees above normal. The temperature together with humidity of 95 per cent and powercuts made life miserable here.
Alipur's Regional Meteorological Centre said the heatwave condition would continue for the next 48 hours. "Hot dry air from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, is neutralising many moisture content in the atmosphere which can form a rain-bearing cloud. န Photos : Reuters, Misbaul Haque
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Income Tax sleuths raid in Eden Gardens KKR's office
Kolkata, 21 April : Income Tax sleuths raided Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday to conduct a search and seizure operation of files and documents related to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches held in Kolkata.Around eight IT officials came to the stadium here at 3 pm and are checking accounts related to the IPL and its franchise KKR.
Another raid was being conducted at the franchise owner Red Chillies Entertainment's office at Shakespeare Sarani. The company is owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. န Photo : Avijit Mondal
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Guwahati-bound AI plane lands under emergency condition
PTI, New Delhi, 21 April : A Guwahati-bound Air India plane with 68 passengers and five crew members had to land under emergency conditions at the IGI airport here after the pilot detected a technical problem shortly after take-off.
“Air India flight (IC-8611) took off for Guwahati at 3 pm from here but after 30 minutes of the flight, the pilot suddenly got false alarm and saw some indicators blinking due to a technical problem,” an airline official said.
PTI, New Delhi, 21 April : A Guwahati-bound Air India plane with 68 passengers and five crew members had to land under emergency conditions at the IGI airport here after the pilot detected a technical problem shortly after take-off.
“Air India flight (IC-8611) took off for Guwahati at 3 pm from here but after 30 minutes of the flight, the pilot suddenly got false alarm and saw some indicators blinking due to a technical problem,” an airline official said.
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National Cricket League Twenty20: Rajshahi clinch T20 title
Dhaka, 21 April : Favourites Rajshahi lived up to reputation as they cruised past Khulna by six wickets to clinch the Destiny Twenty20 Cricket title in the final held Wednesday at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, reports BSS.Rajshahi faced a daunting task of 162 to win in 20 overs. It was Shuvagoto Hom with a brilliant 62 and Rajshahi's Pakistani signing Kaiser Abbas with unbeaten 61 rescued them from the jaws of defeat and in the end it was a canter for the national champions Rajshahi who holds the crown in the longer version.
They reached the target with four balls to spare, and in the midway in the second part of the Rajshahi chase, due to some lusty hits Khulna bowlers literally left the ground without even a whimper as Shuvagoto and Kaiser Abbas reigned supreme with the willow. န Photo : Anisur Rahman
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Interlocutor hopeful for early solution to Gorkhaland issue
PTI, Siliguri, 21 April : Lt Gen (retd) Vijay Madan, the interlocutor for talks on separate Gorkhaland, said he was hopeful of an early solution to the issue as both the West Bengal government and the Centre were sincere to resolve the crisis and their initiatives were in the 'right direction'.
Madan told reporters here that he would hold talks with the GJM leadership in a day or two and discuss different points relevant to the next round of political level talks scheduled in the middle of next month.
PTI, Siliguri, 21 April : Lt Gen (retd) Vijay Madan, the interlocutor for talks on separate Gorkhaland, said he was hopeful of an early solution to the issue as both the West Bengal government and the Centre were sincere to resolve the crisis and their initiatives were in the 'right direction'.
Madan told reporters here that he would hold talks with the GJM leadership in a day or two and discuss different points relevant to the next round of political level talks scheduled in the middle of next month.
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Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury written to his union counterpart, Pranab MukherjeePTI, Agartala, 21 April : Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury has written to his union counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, criticising the 13th Finance Commission for not allocating sufficient funds for paying the salaries of the state government employees.
Sources in the state finance department said, the state government had demanded Rs 13,924 crore for paying salaries to state government employees at par with the central government employees, but the finance commission allocated Rs 7,727 crore only and none for paying arears. At the same time, when the state government demanded Rs 3,944 crore for pensioners, only Rs 2,779 crore was allocated.
The sources said that the commission had allocated the salaries and the pension with 2005-06 as the cut-off year, but the state government had introduced a new pay scale for employees and pensioners as recommended by the Central Pay Review Committee with 2009 as the cut-off year.
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Papua New Guinea keen to recruit Bangladeshi workers
UNB, Dhaka, 21 April : The visiting Labour and Industry Minister of Papua New Guinea, Mark Maipakai, has shown interest to recruit a large number of Bangladeshi workers.Maipakai, who led a seven-member delegation, met with acting secretary of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Dr Jaffar Ahmed yesterday and made an informal proposal to recruit Bangladeshi workers for Papua New Guinea's infrastructure and gas sectors. Emerging from the meeting, Dr Jaffar told that Maipakai said they would propose formally soon after forming a joint company comprising of the government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Bangladeshi community in Papua New Guinea to recruit Bangladesh labourers. Maipakai said huge manpower is needed for the infrastructure and gas sectors of Papua New Guinea.
Dr Jaffar said Bangladesh would set up six more labour wings in its missions in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Sudan, Italy and Japan. This will raise the number of Bangladesh's labour wings to 19 abroad.
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No Environmental Clearance : 4 ship-breaking yards sued
Chittagong, Dhaka, 21 April : The Department of Environment (DoE) sued four ship-breaking yards in Chittagong for causing pollution just days after the commerce ministry decided to allow dismantling vessels built with toxic substances.
Ignoring an order of the High Court, ministry has recently relaxed its import policy allowing scrappers to import such vessels. None of over 100 ship-breaking yards in the country has any facilities to clean ships built with substances like asbestos and PCB. Every ship-breaking yard has to have a clearance certificate from the government saying while dismantling the vessels it would not pollute the environment.
Chittagong, Dhaka, 21 April : The Department of Environment (DoE) sued four ship-breaking yards in Chittagong for causing pollution just days after the commerce ministry decided to allow dismantling vessels built with toxic substances.
Ignoring an order of the High Court, ministry has recently relaxed its import policy allowing scrappers to import such vessels. None of over 100 ship-breaking yards in the country has any facilities to clean ships built with substances like asbestos and PCB. Every ship-breaking yard has to have a clearance certificate from the government saying while dismantling the vessels it would not pollute the environment.
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Setback for GNLF, Ghising close aide Dawa stepped down
PTI, Siliguri, 21 April : A close aide of Subhas Ghising today stepped down as the president of Kalimpong district in Darjeeling hills, in a setback for Gorkha National Liberation Front chief, who has been speaking of returning to the area where his writ ran till 2008 before his ouster.
Dawa Pakhrin, who alone among the GNLF leaders continued to function at Kalimpong after Ghising was forced to flee Darjeeling in July 2008, told reporters he was stepping down in protest against Ghising's contention that a separate state of Gorkhaland could not be achieved.
PTI, Siliguri, 21 April : A close aide of Subhas Ghising today stepped down as the president of Kalimpong district in Darjeeling hills, in a setback for Gorkha National Liberation Front chief, who has been speaking of returning to the area where his writ ran till 2008 before his ouster.
Dawa Pakhrin, who alone among the GNLF leaders continued to function at Kalimpong after Ghising was forced to flee Darjeeling in July 2008, told reporters he was stepping down in protest against Ghising's contention that a separate state of Gorkhaland could not be achieved.
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Dikes collapse in 2 Dists: Boro on 800hec goes under water
Netrakona, 21 April : Boro crops on around 800 hectares went under water on Tuesday as dikes collapsed in Kishoreganj and Netrakona districts.In Kishoreganj, boro plants on at least 750 hectares submerged on Tuesday due to breach in the embankment of Prayag Haor (water body) in Karimganj upazila, according to UNB.
Locals said water level of Dhanu River increased following onrush of hill water from the upstream. The villagers through their voluntary works repaired the embankment 20-25 days ago. But due to heavy pressure of water, a huge breach developed in the embankment washing away boro paddy on a huge area Tuesday morning. Locals blamed the district administration for not taking timely and necessary measures to protect the embankment.
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