Lawmakers from across the political divide yesterday expressed concern at the downslide in law and order as the number of murders across the country rose to about 10,000 since the general elections in October 2001.

Speaker Jamir Uddin Sircar however did not entertain a single adjourn motion moved by opposition lawmakers during question-answer session in the House to discuss law and order situation.

Sircar rejected 89 of the 118 opposition motions mostly seeking adjournment of the House proceedings to discuss law and order downslide. He will give his decision on the remaining 29 at a later date, he said.

At least 10 people were killed everyday in the country from October 1, 2001 to June 15 this year, according to figures provided to the House yesterday by State Minister for Home Affairs Lutfozzaman Babar.

As Babar is now abroad, Commerce Minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury who now holds charge of the home ministry, told the House 9,737 killings took place during the period.

Answering lawmakers' queries, Altaf however claimed law and order has improved since the BNP-led coalition government took over.

Lawmakers belonging to the BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami and opposition Awami League (AL) and

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Jatiya Party portrayed a dismal picture of inadequacy of police manpower, transports and fuel and police stations.

BNP lawmaker Ilyias Ali asked for splitting Sylhet Kotwali Police Station into several police stations to cope with the increasing number of crimes.

Azizur Rahman Chowdhury of Jamaat said bus robberies have become rampant on Dhaka-Dinajpur highway.

Shahiduzzaman Beltu of the BNP said his district Jhenidah has tuned a crime-prone area and asked for immediate replacement of out-ofoperation police vehicles.

AL lawmaker Shahjahan Khan alleged the government has lost control over law and order situation.

Jatiya Party legislator Hafizuddin told the House mugging and toll collection were rampant in Thakurgaon town at night.

In response to a query by Helaluzzaman Talukdar of the BNP, Altaf said during the period 1996 till date, 20,797 arms licences were issued. Of these, 4,048 were issued during 2001-2004 and the rest during 996-2000 when the AL was in power.

"In many cases, we found there was no similarity between the photographs and people given arms licences. Some people were not found in their address, even the under-aged and children were given licences," he said.

Altaf told parliament an inquiry into the irregularities was on and that lawful action would be taken.

Arms licences given during AL rule: 1996 - 793, 1997 - 4,417, 1998 -4,174, 1999 - 3,959, 2000 - 3,408 and 2001 - 3,513. Arms licences

given during the present coalition rule: 2002 - 153, 2003 - 186 and 2004 - 194.