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TO THE EDITOR
Niketon-Banani
Lake
Last year, I wrote two letters on the subject. The situation has since deteriorated with the Niketon end of the lake choked with plants so as to resemble a meadow. A step on it for the unwary would be very unpleasant indeed finding yourself neck-deep in filth. Ocher matters requiring urgent attention are:
1. Encroachment on the Niketon side continues with rubble being dumped regularly so as to facilitate illegal occupation. DS has already published pictures and reports.
2. On both sides, dozens of pipes continuously discharge raw sewage of the residents including their daily garbage.
3. The walkway, a boon for the residents, is fast falling into disrepair. It is cracking. There is no support or compaction on the Lakeside.
4. Valuable plants planted two years ago still survive but are choked with weeds, garbage and the rubble from nearby’ construction sites.
5. After dark, the walkway is fast becoming a favourite spot for all sorts of illegal and antisocial activities.
What is required:
1. A walkway-cum-rickshaw road has to be built on the Niketon side up to Mohakhali Road to avoid encroachment and to relieve traffic congestion on Gulshan Road No 2 and side roads. A Tk.2 toll on users and compensation from the encroach-ers will more than recover the cost.
2. The slopes of the lake must be landscaped and shade trees planted.
3. Discharge pipes, weeds, and other obstructions should be removed forthwith.
4. The walkway areas have to be lighted after dark so that it can be used for recreation just like the Gulshan South Park nearby.
5. The lake itself has to be stocked with fish-cum-poultry for income generation.
Attention of Gulshan Society and Niketon dwellers is drawn to these problems urgently.
Sikander Ahmed
Niketon, Gulshan -1, Dhaka
Killingchildren!
A front-page banner headline news was published in a local English daily on July 21. It underscores the bestial lust for money even by killing innocent children through medicine which is the worst possible criminal act that can be committed!
Perpetrators of this heinous murderous scheme should be drastically punished. Even hanging till death seems
insufficient for such horrendous criminals who operate this private drug manufacturing entity! For public safety, their factories should be locked up immediately; and the criminals responsible thrown to jail; with no provision of bail; till they are sentenced to death. This is the least that they deserve!
These are grave crimes against innocent children; committed for the lust for ill-gotten wealth! They deserve no mercy. I believe every person reading this will agree with the sentiments expressed!
I will appeal to all our audio-visual and print media to warn the public of this dangerous and murderous poisoning activity being openly carried out in a so-called civilised society, where we unfortunately live! One wonders why the government is not taking firm and quick action against the perpetrators of this heinous criminal activity? This is far worse than illegal occupation of land and illegal building without permission, which is rightly being destroyed. The destruction of these murderous people and their facility to produce poison must be immediately destroyed forever.
S .A. Mansoor Dhaka
Experience at ZIA
I travelled from London by Gulf Air and arrived at Zia International Airport by GF 248on 18th July at 21151t. After deplaning I felt very thirsty and looked for drinking water. But to my surprise, I could find not a single water cooler anywhere in the terminal building unlike Heathrow and Bahrain where a water cooler is available near each entry door of the rest rooms. I could not convince myself about lack of such a basic facility like water.
Along with me a group of elderly Muslim clerics dressed in Islamic attire belonging to Arab countries also travelled We all were seated in business
visit to him. I also told him it was sad that the so-called Muslims in Bangladesh were critical of their own religion and would taunt the Maulanas. He felt embarrassed.
After getting my phone call a relative of mine hired a taxi and reached the airport to accompany me home. But the car park attendant blocked the passage leading to the canopy and would not allow the taxi to pass through. It was 2200 hrs It. 1 asked my relative to pass on the mobile phone to the attendant. He told me taxis were not authorized to use this lane and get inside the canopy. I explained that since I did not own a private car, so my relative had to hire a taxi to pick me up at that hour of the night. I told him how else I could get home? 1 requested him not to take the law into his hand. But he was adamant. Then I told him I would get the CAAB security involved if he would continue to act so whimsically. I also told him he had no business to interfere in passenger's movement. Finally, he calmed down and allowed the taxi to pass through. But while leaving the airport another car park attendant rushed towards my taxi and demanded parking charge. After a few altercations he retreated.
My homecoming appeared to be a nightmare. What a state of affairs!
Mohammed Zakaria EastSheivrapara Kafrul, Dhaka
Tipaimukh dam
It's unfortunate that despite being reputed as a rather friendly state in the region India is willing to construct the Tipaimukh Dam, which will severely impact the geographical and ecological landscape of Bangladesh. Understandably, this project promises multifarious benefits for the Indians. However, as their closest neighbour we'll inevitably pay a harsh price for the benefits that they are destined to enjoy. It appears that the Indian policy makers lack simple sense of diplomatic ethics that must characterize every state's international policies in this era of globalisation. Is it really moral to be obsessed about our own prosperity, when our friends around us will ines capably suffer to ensure that prosperity? Does anyone have the right to illuminate his own house by setting his neighbour's house on fire? Basic ethics says no
Indians must cautiously rethink if they want to be internationally recognized as a responsible state, which's too blinded by its unparallel power to have any respect for the regional community. If that's the case then in the near future they will inevitably confront the disastrous outcome of this short sighted outlook. We can metaphorically regard the nations of die world as individuals who are living in the same house. In order to ensure harmony in this global house all of its inhabitants must learn to care about others. If all members of this highly interconnected global community only care about their own benefits, then everyone will get confined to a domain of distrust, selfishness and disharmony. As a consequence, this chauvinistic pursuit of self-interest, at the expense of mutual respect and collaboration, will plunge all of us into the darkness of perpetual hostility. None of us must ever forget that being
responsive to others is the primary foundation of peaceful co-existence in the civilized world.
Kh.Asef Safa Kabir Lalmatia, Dhaka
All-pervasive corruption
Lately two phenomena have drawn my attention intensely. One is the government decision of recruiting more than 20,000 primary school teachers which is really commendable as this level of education has been facing shortage of teachers. Moreover, primary education has always been given less importance than any other area of government's attention.
Another is a gruesome tale of corruption regarding government's recruitment which would be clear to anybody particularly to the recent applicants for government jobs. In fact, corruption is rampant in our administration, politics and society in the form of nepotism, favouritism, bribery, embezzlement , lobbying etc. Only for the sake of receiving payola and for being a plutocrat within a short period of time , some dishonest administrators and politicians plunge the nation into the deep ditch. Now let me explain the tale briefly.
The other day a friend of mine asked me whether I had anyone seeking a government job. Then he disclosed the bribe demand of different jobs. For the primary school teacher the amount is Tk 2 lakh. He even assured me that the amount would be taken after the applicant gets the job. That is how corruption thrives. Is anybody doing anything to put an end to it? Muhammad Ashikur Rahman
Dept of Public Administration Un i uersi ty of Dhaka Test series win!
As a Bengali, I am extremely proud of Bangladesh's first Test as well as scries win (that too by a margin of 2-0) on foreign soil Though the cynics will try their level-best to undermine the brilliant achievement, the defeated West Indies team being practically a second eleven, but that is not the fault of Bangladesh whose sole aim is to defeat the opposition, irrespective of its composition. This win will provide the much-required boost for the Bangladesh team which was constantly criticised by the "pundits” and even questions were raised about their Test status. Perhaps the know-all brigade is oblivious of the fact that it took as much as 20 years for India to register its first Test victory. In contrast, Bangladesh has achieved three Test wins (and a series also) within nine years of entering the arena. Bangladesh's victory over West Indies is also a very good advertisement for Test cricket which shows that success is not the sole monopoly of a few selected countries only and that a new cricketing power is slowly but steadily emerging from the land of the Royal Bengal Tigers.
It is sincerely hoped that Bangladesh will carry on tire good work and emerge successful and provide immense joy as well as pride to the Bengalis of the whole world and genuine cricket-lovers. Kajal Chatterjee Kolkata, India
SohelTaj resigns
Sohel Taj, former state minis-
ter for home, said that he had resigned on 31 May, 2009. As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told him not to disclose the matter, so he obeyed her.
But lately he spoke in front of the media about his resignation and feelings of running the ministry which revealed the failure of the government. It seems something went wrong at some point!
Shamsunnahar
Fultala
Khulna
Great going, cricketers
I was very much excited when I witnessed our cricket team whitewashing the West Indians in the Test series. I was always hopeful that I would live to see a day like this in my lifetime and I am thankful to God for being able to witness such an event.
1 especially thank Shakib Al Hasan for his wonderful performance. He is simply an asset for our team. All the best, boys.
Minhaj Ahmed
Uttara, Dhaka
Once again the Tigers have done it, they've won the first ever Test series abroad. First of al, 1 want to thank the young stand-in Captain Shakib Al Hasan who shouldered the captaincy in the absence of Mashrafe Mortaza. Then 1 would like to thank Enamul Haque and Mahmudullah Riyad with Shakib Al Hasan for their great spin bowling. I would not like to forget the impressive batting performance of Tamim Iqbal in the first Test match. When Bangladesh were struggling at 67 for 4 in the second Test when they needed 215 runs to win, Raqibul Hasan and Shakib Al Hasan's brave 106 run partnership gave the team what it needed.
I would like to congratulate
the team for their great performance and fulfilling the dream of millions of cricket lovers.
AhnaafAhmad
The Aga Khan School Uttara, Dhaka
“Confrontational
Politics”
Mr. Pranab Kumar Pandey has brought out some core issues in his article “Confrontational politics" published on 22nd July 2009 in The Daily Star. I would like to focus on the last sentence of the article i.e. “Political parties would do well to respect the verdict of the voters”.
Commitment creates accountability and accountability creates obligation to go by the commitment. As far as voters' right is concerned, a political leader should be obligated to comply with his/her commitments. Deviation from the commitment or non-fulfilment of commitment is a fraud/deceit to the voters. In our judicial system, every fraud/deceit is a punishable crime. If no one is above the law, why political leaders (?) would not be punished for fraudulent/deceitful activities?
In our political system, unfortunately, we have become habituated to the culture that political leaders would hold out sweet promises to the voters through realistic/unrealistic commitments; political leaders would motivate voters by any means; voters would cast their votes Ln favour of those leaders; voters would bring out processions to celebrate the victory. In most cases leaders would lay down the foundation of new sweet dreams for self development; leaders would remain awfully busy with their own agenda and voters would look for kindness, sympathy of the leaders and so on.
To bring positive changes in our political system, we must know about our rights, we must assess commitments of leaders (realistically achievable or not), we must review the past performance cautiously, we must have the courage to support the interest of the nation.
Regarding the caption of the picture “You point finger at others, others point fingers at you”, I would say “when you point one finger at others to blame, you are blaming your self by three fingers at the same time” (look at the shape of the hand in the picture), this is also true in reality.
Shams Chowdhury Executive Vice President Delta Life Insurance Co. Ltd. Motijheel CA, Dhaka
Those apartments
Thousands of apartments, flats-- large, medium, small, high rise, condominiums--are having brisk business in some cities, especially in Dhaka, and it has been increasing day by day. Over five hundred real estate developers, large, small with name and fame have been operating in the constructionbusiness. Hundreds of flats or apartments are ready for sale in the market and every day very decorative and lucrative advertisements are published in the newspapers to allure buyers with various incentives.
Most of apartments are located on government residential areas and lands like Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Baridhara, Uttara, Lalmatia and Mohammadpur and all these lands were allotted to owners under lease agree ment. fortunately the sellers are now benefited due to exorbitant price hike of lands in these locations.
Besides, constructions of some apartments are also going on in private lands surrounding Dhaka city and downtown. It appears to me,
apartments constructed on government land in the above locations are having considerable benefits and mostly renowned developers are negotiating and asking for high prices and it is some times so expensive.
True, this real estate business has been flourishing so fast in our country, apart from Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Comilla, Bogra are the other prime cities and towns where new developers are operating
Of course , with the expansion of the business, a large number of employment opportunities have been created, manufacture of various construction materials are in place including cement, rod and wood. Thai aluminium, electrical fittings and many more. The people are having modem living experience.
In Dhaka, I am afraid , there would be any single independent building available in the near future, and these developers are alluring all those land owners in different ways through competitive bargaining and negotiations and hence, building after building is coming up without leaving any open space to breath, especially in small land areas like Dhamnondi, Lalmatia and Mohammadpur.
I expect, the government would establish a monitoring and surveillance body under the building directorate of city corporation, to look after these private construction activities ensuring use of proper construction materials for avoiding a possible havoc and losses in case of major natural disasters like earthquakes.
All building owners have to know, how to deal with any crisis, in case of earthquakes, fire and other natural disasters.
Nasarullah
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