Friday, August 10, 2012

Railway carriages now being rebuilt, not just Repaired:Nilphamari Saidpur Railway Workshop,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

A vibrant team at Saidpur railway workshop is rebuilding railway carriages with the help of recycled scrap materials.
The team has gone out of their traditional way of just repairing and overhauling the carriages. The project would not only discourage Bangladesh Railway's (BR) long practice of import but also save huge amounts of foreign currency.
Since 2009, BR's initiative of “Carriage Rehabilitation Project” is aiming to build 60 broad gauge railway carriages from scraps within 2013, Monzur Alam Chowdhury, divisional superintendent (DS) of Saidpur railway workshop said. A private firm has been involved to share the Tk 27.42 crore project. So far the team has already 'rehabilitated' 20 carriages from scraps retrieved from the junk carriages, dumped at the workshop.
Established in 1870, Saidpur railway workshop was one of the largest and best equipped workshops in the then undivided India. But alleged negligence towards the rail sector by successive governments has rendered it inefficient and useless. However, this rehabilitation programme comes at a time when the entire country realises the importance of improving the railway sector along side the road sector, officials observed.
“Under this project, 30 more rail carriages are being rehabilitated. Twenty carriages built earlier have already been pressed into service in the West Zone,” Chowdhury said.
During a recent visit to the workshop, this correspondent found workers and engineers working on four dilapidated carriages. The bodies of the carriages were broken and badly rusted. Workers were found busy cutting the old metal plates manually. They used simple locally made tools to dismantle the structures. The shed of the workshop did not have any electric fans and the heat generated inside the workshop could be clearly seen on the faces of the working men.
Mosharaf Hossain, sub assistant engineer at the carriage shop said that the rehabilitated carriages get almost the same economic life like those of the imported carriages.
This job of rebuilding the carriages is quite arduous for a team of 228 men in different sections of the workshop, he said.
“Here the workers are really sincere in doing the job but they are slowed down for lack of necessary equipment,” said works manager Omar Faruk.
Zahirul Islam Zahir, a worker at the carriage shop, observed that for them the job is a big challenge. “We have to prove our potentiality by using manual labour and simple tools only. We want more facilities and would like to urge the government to continue this project for the benefit of the country,” Zahir said.
Moksedul Momin, president of Jatiyo Sramik League railway workshop unit in Saidpur, said that only Tk 34 lakh was spent for building each new carriage.
“If you go to import the same carriage, it would cost around Tk 3-4 crore each. Thus the project helped save crores,” Momin added.
The general manager (GM) of Western Zone of Bangladesh Railway, Ferdous Alam, told this correspondent that the government has undertaken such a project for the first time.
“It has been proven now that modern and new carriages can also be built at a very cheap rate at Saidpur workshop,” he said.
“But we urgently need to upgrade the existing machines and recruit more skilled manpower for this workshop,” added Alam.

135 Fishermen and Abducted Hijacked Patuakhali and Bagerhat,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

Robbers abducted 135 fishermen and hijacked three trawlers in sea along the coastal areas in Patuakhali and Bagerhat early Friday.

In Patuakhali, Shah Alam, an angler who survived the attack, said a gang of 20 masked robbers on two trawlers attacked their trawlers and abducted 100 fishermen, including the drivers of the trawlers.

The gang also looted hilsa fishes, fuel and cash from the trawlers while they were fishing in the Bay some 20 to 25 kilometres off the coast at Kuakata, he said.

The kidnapped fishermen include Jalal Mia, 55, Anwar Hossain, 32, Kalam Mia, 55 and Badol Mia, 55, reports our Patuakhali correspondent.

The gang identified themselves as the members of ‘Sagor Bahini’ and gave a mobile phone number - 01763566040 - to communicate with their leader, he said.

Ansar Uddin Mollah, president of Fish Traders Association, said the gang committed the robbery on over 100 trawlers and kidnapped over 100 fishermen when they were fishing in the Bay.

The gang kidnapped Faruq Majhi, 40, of Cox’s Bazar, Khorshed Majhi, 45, of Mohipur, Kuddus Majhi, 35, of Khepupara, Abdul Bareq, 35, and Moti Majhi, 30, and Harun Majhi, 45, of Noli Bazar, and Alamgir Hossain, 40, of Barguna, Ansar said.

The gang dividing into several groups attacked on fishing trawlers in the Bay, he added.

Lt Dipankar, staff officer of Coast Guard (South Zone) operation department, said they heard about the incident, adding they have already begun an operation to rescue the abducted fishermen.

Our Bagerhat correspondent reports: Robbers kidnapped 35 fishermen near Fairway Buoy on the Bay in Sharankhola upazila early Friday.

They also hijacked three trawlers and looted valuables, including hilsha fishes and fishing nets, from the trawlers and demanded Tk 12 lakh as ransom from the owners, said Sheikh Idris Ali, general secretary of Bagerhat Coastal Matsyajibi Samity.

The robbers also beat up five fishermen as they resisted, he added.

Idris Ali said the robbers swooped on three trawlers laden with hilsa fishes and took the fishermen into the deep forest of Sundarbans.

Over 200 fishermen were kidnapped by robbers demanding ransom from Sundarbans and coastal areas in the last three months.

Former BNP leader Barister Nazmul Huda floats political party,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

Former BNP leader Nazmul Huda on Friday floated a new political party and declared that his 'Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Front' will contest for all 300 seats in the next general election.

One of the founding members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Huda made the announcement at an Iftar party at a city hotel.

On June 6, he announced his resignation as what he had said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia did not accept his proposal to invite the prime minister to a dialogue on the caretaker government issue

On that day, the former communications minister also ruled out the possibility of floating a new political party. "The BNP is my first and will be my last destination," he told reporters.

It may be recalled that on May 23, the maverick leader declared that he would quit the party if Khaleda did not invite Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to a dialogue over the caretaker issue by June 5.

In 2010, he was once expelled from BNP when he was a vice-chairman of the party for violating party discipline and on 6 April 2011 the party gave him back his primary membership, but he was not given any posts.

15 hurt as shopkeepers, hawkers clash Bangabandhu Avenue in city,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

At least 15 people, including two policemen, were injured in a clash between shopkeepers and hawkers on Bangabandhu Avenue in the city on Friday.
Of the injured, five were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).
Ramiz, an injured hawker who is now undergoing treatment at DMCH, said the clash erupted between the shopkeepers of Ramna Bhaban and the hawkers around 3:00pm following an altercation over parking a car in the area.
"There had been a feud between shopkeepers at Ramna Bhaban and hawkers in the adjacent areas as the hawkers partially blocked the entrance to the building, hindering the movement of customers. As a sequel to the feud, they got into a clash following an altercation," injured policemen told journalists at DMCH.

Jatiya Party polls uncertain: Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad on Friday said he is “sure” that hartal, arson, killing and conflict will certainly take place in the country after Eid-ul-Fitr and the next parliamentary election is now uncertain.

“I see clearly that hartal, arson, killing and conflict will take place after Eid. I am doubtful about the next polls and therefore people are looking for a third alternative force,” he said while launching a local newspaper in Rangpur.

Ershad said: “I have 200 prospective candidates [to contest in the election] to go to power as the third force and I have already started working to give nomination in all the 300 seats from my party alone.”

A key leader of the Awami League-led ruling grand alliance, Ershad sharply criticised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for the present sorry state of the country.

“The ‘two women’ have pushed the country back and now it is uncertain whether the next parliamentary election would be held,” Ershad said without naming the premier and the BNP chief.

Titled ‘Amader Protidin,’ the newspaper will be published from Rangpur while Anisul Islam Mandal, a JP lawmaker from Rangpur-2, will act as its editor and publisher.

Speaking at the programme, Ershad, a former military ruler turned politician, wished to go to power for once before he takes his last breath.

“My birthplace is Rangpur and my re-birth is also in Rangpur, that’s why I want to go to power for another time,” he wished.

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman gets death threat,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman received death threats over his cell phone for several times in the last two days, his personal secretary said on Friday.

Prof Mizanur sought interference of authorities concerned for his security after an unknown criminal threatened to kill him in seven days, Kazi Arefin Ashik told.

The anonymous caller told NHRC chief that a bullet is ready and a death squad will kill him at any time and at any place, he added.

The caller also said that none could save him, he added

Ashik quoting Mizanur said that the caller might have threatening to kill him as he raised voice against war criminals.

Mizanur who is now in Gaibandha will file a general diary with Dhanmondi Police Station in this regard after returning to the capital, he added.

Ashik said they informed detectives and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) about the incident.

Halt politics of killing, disappearance:BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir tells Government,Bangladesh


BANGLADESH NEWS

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday urged the government to halt the politics of killing and forced disappearance.

Addressing a views-exchange meeting at Gareya Bazar in Thakurgaon Sadar upazila, he said the movement for restoring the caretaker government system cannot be halted through such killings, attacks and filing of cases.

The local BNP arranged the meeting in the morning with BNP leader Rezaul Islam in the chair. District BNP general secretary Taimur Rahman, organising secretary Paigam Ali and Sadar thana BNP president Anwar Hossain Lal also spoke at the meeting.

Mirza Fakhrul said the government has failed to maintain law and order in the country. “The law and order situation has deteriorated and a reign of terror has been created in the country.”

Accusing the government of trying to curtail the freedom to speech, he said the government has deceived people by amending the constitution.

The government has pushed the country towards uncertainty instead of resolving its various problems, the BNP leader alleged.

Referring to BNP’s position, he said: “We want the change of the government through peaceful and democratic means by shunning conflict.”

Fakhrul later exchanged views with the party’s other union level leaders and workers of Sadar upazila.