Himu's Window

Friday, October 16, 2009 The central bank has put in place a three-tier monitoring system to ensure a proper distribution of Tk 12,000 crore in farm loans across the county. "Apart from BB's monitoring, the respective banks will also monitor their own distribution," said Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman at a discussion meeting with reporters at the central bank's Rajshahi office yesterday. "We are also training 80 new officials. With the completion of their training, the officials will spread across the country and monitor the distribution for 15 days," Rahman said. BB has asked all banks to record the mobile numbers of farmers who will be given loans so that the monitoring staff can contact them easily about loan distribution. Rahman said the latest policy has set the target for agricultural loans 25 percent higher at Tk 12,000 crore. "It's a big jump and it includes Tk 500 crore for distribution among sharecroppers. So, we are

Thursday, October 15, 2009 As managing director of Ena Properties, Awami League lawmaker M Enamul Haque yesterday singed an agreement with the Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) for construction of a 16-storey building in the city, ignoring the electoral laws. The Representation of the People Order (RPO) does not allow the ruling party lawmaker and his developer firm to have the contract for construction of the City Centre. According to the RPO, a lawmaker may be disqualified from remaining an MP if he ignores the RPO provision that bars him from being engaged with any work for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any contract or the performance of any services undertaken by government. But neither the ruling party lawmaker nor the RCC bothered about the RPO to sign the agreement for the construction. Under the deal, the MP's real estate company will fund and construct the City Centre on 24 kathas of the RCC land spending around Tk 40 crore raising total sp

Thursday, October 15, 2009 Patients at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) are served less than half of the prescribed quantity of fish with meal. The staggering information was revealed as a mobile court conducted a drive at the hospital canteen on Tuesday night. Raiding the kitchen at dinner time, the mobile court found each piece of fish, ready for serving the patients, weighed around 30 gram whereas a patient is entitled to get 80-gram fish as per official order. Executive Magistrate Zahid Hossain Siddik, who led the drive, fined Abdul Mannan, a supervisor of the kitchen, Tk 10,000 for supplying lower amount of fish dishes to the patients. The drive was conducted under the joint initiative of the district administration, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI) and Consumers Association of Bangladesh. Supply of low quality meal has become a usual matter and the food often stinks, RMCH patients told the court. A deputy director of RMCH, who accompanie

Saturday, October 10, 2009 A team of Special Branch (SB) of police arrested seven members of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) from four districts of Rajshahi division over the last couple of days. All the arrestees were paraded before the media at Rajshahi Metropolitan Police headquarters yesterday morning. However, journalists were not allowed to talk to the arrested militants. Police identified the arrestees as JMB Rajshahi division chief Ashraf alias Haider, 32, JMB ehsar (full-time) members Md Momtaz, 20, Asadul Islam, 30, Rohidul, 35, and Isarul Islam, 22 and Naogaon district chief Abdur Rahim, 30, and Natore district chief Sahabuddin, 35. Ashraf was arrested from Malda Colony in Rajshahi city on Wednesday night and following his statement police arrested JMB ehsar members Asadul Islam and Isarul from Chapainawabganj the next day. The SB team arrested Abdur Rahim and Momtaz from Atrai upazila. The same day Shahabuddin and Rohidul were rounded up