Mirsarai tragedy Probe body starts working

The three-member committee formed to probe into Monday's road accident at Mayani of Mirsarai, 30 miles off the port city, which left 44 schoolboys killed and 15 others injured, initiated its activities on Wednesday.

The committee chief, Ibne Alam Hasan, said they visited the spot at noon and talked to a survivor and a number of residents of the locality.

'We have just begun our work. But, we are optimistic of completing our investigations and submitting the report within one week,' said Ibne Alam, additional chief engineer of Roads and Highways Department's Chittagong zone.

He, however, declined to say any thing more in this connection.

The communications ministry formed the probe committee on Monday and set up another committee, comprised of four members, on Wednesday to monitor the activities of the probe body.

The members of the monitoring committee, headed by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman Aiubur Rahman, also visited the spot along with the probe committee members.

Aiubur Rahman told journalists that they

would recommend legal amendment to ensure punishment of the drivers responsible for such road mishaps.

Under the existing law, the penalty for using mobile phone while driving a vehicle is one month in jail and a fine of Tk 500,

he said.

'We will recommend tougher punishment for using mobile phone while driving any vehicle,'

the BRTA chief said,

adding that they would also recommend measures to ensure stringent enforcement of the existing

traffic laws for reducing

the number of road

accidents.

Source : New Age

Govt tends to treat PSC as a directorate

SOME ministers and ruling party lawmakers often request the Public Service Commission for lenient assessment of tests so that as many candidates as possible can pass the civil service examinations, says the chairman of the commission, Saadat Hossain.

'We have refused to do it as I believe it will open the floodgate for substandard candidates, something we must not do,' he said in an exclusive interview with New Age on July 4. 'We have told them [these ministers and lawmakers] that the commission's task is to conduct examinations and it is the candidate's task to qualify.'

Saadat said the public administration ministry did not seem to agree with the idea of making the commission's secretariat independent.

'They seem to think that the secretariat is a directorate under the ministry,' he added. 'How can the secretariat of a constitutional body

be a directorate of a ministry?'

Saadat, a former cabinet secretary, claimed that the commission had sent the ministry some strongly-worded letters.

'Some junior officials are doing this,' he said. 'I believe it is very bad.'

The quota system for selection of public servants needs to be simplified, he said.

Saadat believes the annual report of the

Public Service Commission should be discussed in parliament.

Source : New Age

Viqarunnisa managing committee dissolved

The government on Wednesday dissolved the managing committee of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College after some committee members, in the absence of the chairman, Rashed Khan Menon, had removed Husne Ara Begum as the principal and appointed senior teacher Ambia Khatun to the position. The government also formed an ad hoc committee, headed by Dhaka's deputy commissioner Mohibul Haque, to run the functions of the managing committee.

The chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Dhaka, Fahima Khatun, told New Age that the decision on dissolving the managing committee had been made on Wednesday evening.

'We think that the managing committee had also been indifferent to the incident,' she said. 'We want that the situation in Viqarunnisa Noon School becomes normal.'

Asked about the decision on the removal of Husne Ara as the principal, she said that the ad hoc committee would make a decision in this direction.

The deputy commissioner told New Age about 8:00pm that he was yet to be informed officially of the ad hoc committee.

Many guardians of Viquarunnisa students said that the managing committee had been dissolved only to save the principal.

'The managing committee was dissolved at a time when the committee removed Husne Ara Begum as the principal. It has been done to save the principal,' said a guardian.

The education minister, Nurul Islam Nahid, earlier in the day told reporters that the managing committee had not informed the ministry of the decision on Husne Ara's removal and the appointment of a new principal.

'From this, you understand that a chaotic situation prevails in Viqarunnisa.' Nahid said that he had asked the authorities concerned to look into 'the unstable situation in Viqarunnisa Noon School and College.'

'The problem will be resolved by today. The situation will become normal from tomorrow,' he said on Wednesday.

The education ministry became concerned about Viqarunnisa Noon School and College after protests by students and their guardians that continued for about a week demanding punishment of Parimal Jayadhar, a teacher of the institution's Bashundhara campus arrested on charge of raping a student, and removal of Husne Ara as the principal for defending the accused.

Parimal abused a girl and videoed it with his mobile. He admitted to doing so in his statement given in court on Monday.

There were allegations against Husne Ara Begum that she was defending Parimal even after the girl had lodged a complaint in writing.

In the morning, some members of the managing committee decided to remove Husne Ara as the principal for the delay in taking action against Parimal and her failure to keep discipline in the school.

The managing committee were, however, divided about the decision on Husne Ara's removal.

Some committee members said that such a decision could not be taken in the absence of the committee chair, Rashed Khan Menon.

Husne Ara told New Age that she was still the principal of the college.

'The managing committee cannot make the decision in the absence of the chairman or the acting chairman. The decision on the removal of the principal is illegal,' she said.

Most of the teachers of the school, however, supported the decision.  'She is destroying the image of the reputed school,' a teacher said.

The managing committee also decided to appoint Ambia Khatun the new principal.

In the morning, several organisations formed human chains in front of the National Press Club demanding removal of the principal. HSC students boycotted classes for the second day on Wednesday.

Source : New Age

No solution without dialogue: Ashraf

Local government minister and Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Wednesday said that the government was still open to dialogue with opposition to resolve the current debate on amendments to the constitution.

'There is no solution without dialogue . . . when the talks stop, war begins,' he told a luncheon meeting joined by editors and heads of news of mainstream print and electronic media Islam added: 'The constitution is a compromise document and its amendment is continuous process.'

Information minister Abul Kalam Azad hosted the luncheon at the state guest Padma when the ruling party general secretary also responded to questions by the senior journalists and media managers.

Islam, however, said no constitution could satisfy everybody but justified the scrapping of the caretaker government provision for election oversight saying the country did not have happy experiences with the system.

'The caretaker government system could not meet the expectation for which it was introduced,' he said.

The minister said apart from the opposition, the government also expected valuable suggestions of media with regard to overall social and political issues.

'We believe in freedom of press (and) we also welcome media criticism as such criticisms alert the government to move on the right way,' he said.

Earlier, information minister Abul Kalam Azad welcomed the editors and head of news of print and electronic media and invited them to a free and frank discussion.

Information secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun and prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad were also present on the occasion.

Editors and heads of news who joined the discussion included Anwar Hossain Manzu of the Daily Ittefaq, Golam Sarwar of Samokal, Motiur Rahman of Prothom Alo, Mahfuz Anam of Daily Star, Motiur Rahman Chowdhury of Manabzamin, Shyamal Datta of Bhorer Kagoz and Shahjahan Sarder of Bangladesh Pratidin.

Source : New Age

Mumbai blasts kill 13

Three bomb blasts rocked crowded districts of Mumbai during rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, a senior official said, in the biggest attack on India's financial capital since 2008 assaults blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

India has remained jittery about the threat of militant strikes, especially since the 2008 attacks which killed 166 people and raised tensions with arch-rival Pakistan.

At least 81 people were wounded on Wednesday, Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, told CNN-IBN.

'The vehicles used were scooters and motorcycles (in the attacks),' he said. Television channels also said that an improvised explosive device was placed in a car, suggesting the work of local groups rather than an international terror network.

Television images showed blaring ambulances carrying away the injured at one of the attack sites. At Dadar in central Mumbai, one of the explosions left car windows shattered and uprooted electric poles.

The police were seen using sniffer dogs to look for clues while local people helped paramedics carry away some of the injured.

'We heard a big blast. The building shook, the windows shattered. It was deafening,' said Aagam Doshi, a witness of the blast at the Opera House and a diamond merchant in south Mumbai.

'We came outside, and the area was filled with black smoke. There were bodies lying all over the street, there was lots of blood… We saw many bodies missing arms and missing legs.'

One blast occurred at the Opera House, an area full of diamond stores in south Mumbai near where Pakistani-based militants carried out the bloody rampage in 2008.

Another blast, also in south Mumbai, was at the Zaveri Bazaar, a big gold and silver market. The third blast was in the centre of the city.

The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, long focused on fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, was blamed for the 2008 attacks.

The Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari, and the prime minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, condemned Wednesday's blasts in a statement.

New Delhi says that Pakistan-based groups aid and train militants to carry out attacks against India, a claim Islamabad rejects.

Home-grown militant groups are also active in the country and have in the past few years carried out attacks in large cities.

The home ministry ordered security heightened across the country.

Mumabi has over the years been the target of several attacks, including serial bomb blasts in 1993 that killed at least 260 people at the stock exchange and other areas.

In 2006, more than 180 people died when Islamist militants bombed commuter trains.

Three bomb blasts rocked crowded districts of Mumbai during rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, a senior official said, in the biggest attack on India's financial capital since 2008 assaults blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

India has remained jittery about the threat of militant strikes, especially since the 2008 attacks which killed 166 people and raised tensions with arch-rival Pakistan.

At least 81 people were wounded on Wednesday, Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of the state of Maharashtra, told CNN-IBN.

'The vehicles used were scooters and motorcycles (in the attacks),' he said. Television channels also said that an improvised explosive device was placed in a car, suggesting the work of local groups rather than an international terror network.

Television images showed blaring ambulances carrying away the injured at one of the attack sites. At Dadar in central Mumbai, one of the explosions left car windows shattered and uprooted electric poles.

The police were seen using sniffer dogs to look for clues while local people helped paramedics carry away some of the injured.

'We heard a big blast. The building shook, the windows shattered. It was deafening,' said Aagam Doshi, a witness of the blast at the Opera House and a diamond merchant in south Mumbai.

'We came outside, and the area was filled with black smoke. There were bodies lying all over the street, there was lots of blood… We saw many bodies missing arms and missing legs.'

One blast occurred at the Opera House, an area full of diamond stores in south Mumbai near where Pakistani-based militants carried out the bloody rampage in 2008.

Another blast, also in south Mumbai, was at the Zaveri Bazaar, a big gold and silver market. The third blast was in the centre of the city.

The Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, long focused on fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, was blamed for the 2008 attacks.

The Pakistan president, Asif Ali Zardari, and the prime minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, condemned Wednesday's blasts in a statement.

New Delhi says that Pakistan-based groups aid and train militants to carry out attacks against India, a claim Islamabad rejects.

Home-grown militant groups are also active in the country and have in the past few years carried out attacks in large cities.

The home ministry ordered security heightened across the country.

Mumabi has over the years been the target of several attacks, including serial bomb blasts in 1993 that killed at least 260 people at the stock exchange and other areas.

Source : New Age

Dreams of a poor family shattered

Dhruba Nath, the first boy of Class VIII at the Abu Torab High School, wanted to be a physician to serve the people and put an end to the hardship of his poverty-stricken family. He got talent scholarship in Class V and was full of promise. But the tragic accident of Mirsharai has shattered the dream his poor family.

Dhruba's father Dhirendra Kumar Nath, a jute mill worker residing in Darogahat, said that he had kept his son at his maternal uncle's residence to enable him to study in a better environment. 'My son used to say that I will not have to work in the

jute mill when he becomes a physician,' said

the grieving father,

adding that the tragic accident has shattered his last hope.

'I told Dhruba that I would buy a bicycle for him if he got an excellent result in the upcoming Junior School Certificate examinations. Now I will never have to buy anything for him,' said Pankaj Nath, Dhruba's maternal uncle, an employee of the Textile Engineering College. He said he had kept his nephew with him so that he could take extra care of such a promising boy, but by doing so he had ensured his early death. 'He would not have gone to watch the match if he was not living with us,' said the uncle, wiping his tears.

Zafar Sadek, headmaster of the school, said that Dhruba could have easily become a physician as he was very talented, attentive and studious, and had always stood first in his class. 'His modesty and good manners made him a model for other students,' he added.

He also mentioned Abu Sufian Sujan, a student of Class IX, who got scholarship both in Class V and VIII, and Tarek Hossain, a student of Class VIII, who got scholarship in Class V, adding that the accident had taken a great toll on his school. 'There were also a few more students who were very promising,' he said sadly.

The accident, which took place on Abu Torab-Bartakia Road at about 1:00pm on Monday,

killed 44 students, including 35 of Abu Torab High School, two of Abu Torab Fazil Madrassah, three of Abu Torab Primary School and two of Professor Kamal Uddin College.

Source : New Age