The authorities on Thursday had to put out lights to drive out computer crazy visitors who refused to leave the fair. Seeing the unexpected pouring of visitors into the glitzy computer extravaganza, the officials have decided to extend the fair time by an hour. The fair will now continue till 9:00 pm instead of the earlier 8:00 pm closing time for the rest of the days.

The organisers have also decided to make the fair a sevenday mega-event instead of the previously planned five-day schedule.

"It will be part of the Victory Day. There are pressures from both the organisers and the visitors to extend the time." President of the Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS) said yesterday.

Ticket selling on the first day began at 3:30 pm. As many as 7.000 tickets were sold till 8:00 pm yesterday. Earlier in the day, people were allowed entries without tickets.

Quite a huge crowd turned out from the morning till noon yesterday. The crowd became thin during jumma prayers, but It developed again in the after-' noon. By around 4:00 pm. thousands of computer enthusiasts were seen waiting for tickets in long queues.

It virtually became impossible to move in the fair at around 5:00 pm. At one stage, the organisers had to shut down the escalator, which was overloaded with people. Students, professionals, housewives and kids mostly formed the crowd.

They also had to double the number of ticket counters as the existing ones could not cope with the enormous crowd. A separate counter was also

opened for ladies.

Bus service

The BCS has arranged six free bus services for bringing visitors from different parts of the city to the fair. The buses could only manage to go for four to five trips due to heavy city traffic.

The buses starts playing from 9:00 am in the morning till the closing of the fair.

The first trip starts from Dainik Bangla and touches points like Press Club, Karzan Hall, TSC, Shahbagh. Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. Shonargaon, Panthapath. Sobahanbag, Asadgate, College Gate and Shisu Hospital before on its way to IDB.

The second bus starts from Bakshibazar and touches major spots like BUET. Eden College. Dhaka College. Zigatala. Mo-hammadpur and Indira Road.

The third one begins from Notre Dame College and picks passengers from Razarbagh, Mailbagh and Farm Gate before reaching the fair.

The fourth and fifth buses begin from Uttara and touches places like Gulsan 1 and 2. Ma-hakhali and Bijay Sarani.

The sixth bus shuttles from Mirpur 12 and goes through Section 2 and 1. Kalyanpur and Shyamoli.

BCS begins registering software makers

The BCS have started registering programmers who are visiting the stalls. "So far. we have registered 850 programmers. but our target is to have 2500 registered programmers," BCS General Secretary Ahmed Hasan Zoel said.

This registration would enable us to know Bangladesh's

position in the globed software market. It would also help us assess our abilities and prepare ourselves for the next millennium." he said.

"We are only in the first phase. In the second phase, we will enter the filtering stage and asses the abilities ofthese programmers. We are also keeping

their addresses and will arrange seminars and training facilities for them in future in order to get them sharpened."

"We will make these infor-

mation available on the Internet enabling foreigners to know about our market posiUon. The web sight would be ready within 10 to 15 days," he said.