UK Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition Edward Miliband met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina London,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Leader of the UK Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition Edward Miliband met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday noon at Hotel St. Pancras Renaissance where she is staying during her five-day official visit to London.

Labour Party leaders Douglas Alexander and Bangladeshi-born British MP Rushanara Ali also accompanied Miliband during the meeting.

Her Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters after the meeting.

He said that the two leaders discussed bilateral issues and parliamentary system of the two countries during the meeting.

Hasina, who reached London on Thursday to attend the opening ceremony of London 2012 Olympic Games, said that her party and the Labour Party had been at good terms.

She mentioned that since her government taking the office in January 2009, over 5,200 elections of different kinds including 12 by-elections of parliament were held in a free, fair and neutral manner with spontaneous participation of all. Not a single allegation was raised as the government did not interfere in the polls process, she added.

The Prime Minister also said that her government was working to establish the voting right of the people and uphold the democratic spirit in the country.

She also referred to different development initiatives taken by her government for the country's different sectors, including education, health, information and communication technology, and women's empowerment.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin, Bangladesh High Commissioner in London Dr M Sayeedur Rahman Khan and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad were present at the meeting.

Earlier in the day, eminent journalist and writer Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury called on the Prime Minister at her hotel suite.  

'Green energy can cut carbon, save power at CEPZ' :International Finance Corporation World Bank Group,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

The Chittagong Export Processing Zone spewed some 328,000 tonnes of carbon in 2010, and the emission can be reduced drastically if industrial units undertake mitigation projects, finds an International Finance Corporation study.

The study revealed that out of 167 CEPZ industrial units, seven consume 25 percent of the total power and as many consume 32 percent of total gas in the Zone.

The introduction of LED lighting can save up to 27 gigawatt hours (GWh) annually and huge gas can be saved if industries generate heat from boiler steam that flows in the air.

CEPZ had a total demand of 174 GWh power and 70.6 million cubic metre gas in 2011.

A senior IFC official Han-koo Yeo told that investment was not necessarily always needed to cut down gas or power use.

"Power can be saved even by only changing sitting arrangement of workers," he explained.

"It varies from unit to unit how much investment is needed to adopt green energy but it is certain that it pays off," he said.

A FTL bulb consumes 36 watt while a LED consumes 22, and if FTL lights are replaced with LED, the payback period is estimated to be 3.18 years, according to him.

Energy security

Bangladesh has huge energy supply and demand gap and it is expected to increase in the future.

The IFC report finds that power shortfall would be 20 per cent by 2015 while the current supply-demand mismatch for gas is about 500 mmcf.

The government has to provide a huge amount of subsidy to keep the energy price at a reasonable level but due to macroeconomic pressure, it is gradually tightening its belts.

Yeo said the industrial sector was facing energy security problem, and at the same time, withdrawal of subsidy was pushing up their energy bills.

"In addition to that, international buyers prefer those companies which are more environment-friendly."

The units would have to resort to green energy to remain competitive and ensure a sustainable development in the business.

He said awareness and sharing of knowledge were the two most crucial factors to be considered in adopting the Green itiative. 

Counterfeiting Racket along with fake bills worth Tk 10 million from Dhaka's Mugda area,Bangladesh

BANGLADESH NEWS

Police detectives have arrested six members of a money counterfeiting racket along with fake bills worth Tk 10 million from Dhaka's Mugda area.

Police said they were arrested during raids between Thursday noon and early Friday in different parts of that area.

The detectives presented the arrestees along with the seized notes before the press on Friday at the Detective Branch headquarters in Dhaka.

The six have been identified as – Mohammad Selim, 30, Jalal Uddin, 45, Abid Mia, 42, Shahidul Islam, 30, his wife Mariam Begum, 20, and Rojina Begum, 30.

The detective branch Additional Deputy Commissioner (west) Moshiur Rahman told reporters that Selim forged the notes while the other five were assigned to release the fake notes in different areas.

He said Selim was arrested from a flat at South Mugda during an initial raid along with a laptop, a printer, money counterfeiting materials and fake money worth Tk 10 million.

Selim told reporters that an engineer named 'Babul' taught him this 'technology'. He said he somewhat learnt the work even though he does not understand the 'computer stuff' that much.

He said 'the engineer' currently lives in Rangpur.

"I usually forge the notes in two ways. I wash and clean Tk 100 bills with soap after collecting them from the market. Then I print Tk 500 bills on the washed papers and release them in the market."

Possibility of these notes being identified as counterfeit is low, he added.

Selim said his second way of forging was simply printing Tk 1000 bills. "But they are not 'reliable' like the Tk 500 fake bills."

He also told reporters that he has been running the joint for at least one year. He said they were forging more than enough ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Three other arrestees, Shahidul, Mariam and Rojina, also said they got the counterfeit bills from Selim and released them in the market in exchange for a certain commission.

Jalal Uddin said he usually 'delivers' fake notes worth Tk 100,000-150,000 in different parts of the country.