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Chittagong urban healthcare project in cash crunch

Chittagong Correspondent
The urban primary healthcare project of the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) falters along as the local government ministry delays fund disbursement.
   The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives is "disinclined" to release funds for the day-to-day running of 25 healthcare outlets under the project, claim sources in the city corporation.
   Fund is also held back for ten under-construction healthcare centres, they said.
   The project, initiated in 2001 and scheduled for completion in 2003, is now stuck with its expansion plans for lack of resources.
   The project sources further claimed that the allocation of funds for salaries of 244 workers plus 25 personnel working at the centres has been withheld, rendering the project dysfunctional.
   Earlier, the duration of the project for completion and expansion was extended up to June 2005.
   The government had allocated Tk. 7.79 crore for the project in Chittagong city. The resources came from the United Nations Population Fund, Asian Development Bank and the NDF.
   Despite fund constraint, as many as 292,264 poor people received medical care in the healthcare centres till June 2003, as per the project's statistical data.
   "The discrimination against the city corporation becomes evident when we see that the ministry sent three deputy project directors of the Dhaka, Rajshahi and Khulna city corporations to Australia and Malaysia for training under a fellowship programme to the exclusion of relevant personnel in the corporation," said Dr. Selim Akter Chowdhury, deputy project director and assistant health officer of the corporation.
   The ministry sent Dr. Margub Aref Chowdhury, A.K.M. Abdullah and Rizvee Sultan as representatives from the Dhaka City Corporation, the Khulna City Corporation and the Rajshahi City Corporation and a deputy secretary of the ministry, Ruhul Amin Sarker.
   The centres provide health services for diarrhoea, asthma and pre-natal, post-natal and reproductive care and family planning at a nominal fee of Tk. 10.
   The city corporation also decided to start night health services in four centres of the industrial areas, especially for the garments workers.
   "As the health care centres remain open only from 8:00am to 2:30pm, the working women cannot enjoy the facility and, keeping this in view, the Mayor initiated the opening of four night centres at Sholoshahar, the Export Processing Zone, Firingi Bazaar and Alankar Cinema Crossing," Dr Selim added.

Mongla Port mired in problems

Mohirul Islam from Khulna
Mongla Port is yet to be elevated to a modern seaport because of various problems that lingered over the last 52 years.
   Light house, modern telecommunications and road network, multipurpose jetty, inland container depot and deep anchorage port are essential for smooth functioning of a seaport. But these facilities are grossly inadequate at Mongla Port.
   In addition, the project to set up a small airport near the seaport is yet to be implemented.
   The project is now tied in the bureaucratic red tape and nobody knows when it will see the light of the day, local people said.
   Sources said all the schemes for the development of Mongla as a modern seaport have been shelved.
   Lack of political will and bureaucratic tangle are blamed for the present condition of the second seaport of the country.
   The sources said Mongla Port is not situated at an ideal place. The navigation channels around the seaport have been silted up despite regular dredging.
   Moreover, unusually low flow of water from the Ganges is hindering the plying of vessels. The port authority lacks fund to undertake dredging of the channels.
   Sinking of nearly 50 big and small vessels at the entrance of the Pasur channel in the last 50 years is constantly threatening smooth navigation. Efforts are yet to be made to salvage the sunken vessels for the sake of unhindered navigation.
   Piracy at the deep sea near the port at frequent intervals often discourages the shipping companies to use Mongla Port for loading and unloading of goods.
   Most of the shipping companies try to avoid the port due to mismanagement and negligence of the port authority and inordinate delay in handling goods.
   The number of jetty, transit shade, warehouse, container yard anchorage and mooring is far short of requirement at this sea port.
   Shippers also prefer Chittagong Port to Mongla Port as the latter realises landing charge for the export and import items. Mongla Port authority imposes landing charge at the rate of Tk. 69 per tonne.
   The number of ships calling at Mongla Port is falling over the years because of many difficulties confronting the shippers. So is the income of the port.
   Mongla Port earned Tk. 11 crore in revenue in 2002-2003 fiscal year as against Tk. 64 crore in the previous fiscal year.
   Mongla Port is, however, protected against the fury of cyclonic storm and tidal wave because of the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.
   The port authority hopes that the completion of the under-construction Rupsha Bridge will greatly facilitate the movement of goods from the port to northern and southwestern parts of the country.
   Port users and leaders of the Greater Khulna Development Action Coordination Committee have urged the government to take all necessary steps to modernise the Mongla Port without wasting any further time.

Navy team picks up 14 pirates, 5 policemen

Anisur Rahman from Barisal
The naval forces in a combing operation on Meghna and coastal areas arrested five police personnel and 14 pirates engaged in piracies and recovered four fire arms, 85 rounds of ammunition, one walkie-talkie, four sharp weapons and about Tk. 10,000 from them.
   The arrested were handed over to the Ramgati police in Noakhali and cases were lodged against them.
   According to police and other sources, the naval ship BNS Barkat anchored at the Meghna river junction near Hatia in the Ramgati police area to conduct special operations against pirates and criminals around the coastal and deep-sea areas.
   The naval personnel in the guise of fishermen and salt businessmen, divided into two groups, took position on boats.
   One of the groups reached near a buoy of Char Gajaria at the Meghna junction under the Ramgati police area at about 8:00 a.m. on September 18.
   As a pirate group approached them and demanded toll from the naval men in disguise, they were arrested.
   The arrested six pirates were identified as Majhir Uddin, Manjur, Sultan, Jafar, Nasu Mia and Siraj.
   Tk. 1,100, collected by them as tolls, were also recovered from their possession.
   The other naval group in disguise reached near a buoy of Khashiar Char at about 10:00 a.m. in the morning and were chased by a pirate group who demanded tolls and threatened to open fire on them.
   The naval men arrested eight pirates of the group named Jhantu Mia, Makbul Hossain, Jasimuddin, Manir, Mohibuddin, Abdul Hannan, Monir Hossain and Nurul Islam.
   The naval men also arrested five policemen from the boat who where there to help the pirates. They are assistant sub-inspector Syed Sekandar Ali, constable Syed Kawser Ali, Md. Shahidullah, Md. Isahaq Ali and M.A. Rahim.
   Two 303 riffles, two shotguns, 45 rounds of riffle bullet, 40 rounds of shot gun bullets and one walkie-talkie and Tk. 8,248 in cash collected as tolls were recovered from the arrested and their police associates.
   The arrested were taken on board the naval ship BNS Barkat and after interrogation all the 19, along with the recovered arms, ammunition, cash and other item, were handed over to the Ramgti police.
   Being tipped off, additional superintendent of police of Bhola Lutfar Rahman and officer-in-charge of the Daulatkhan police Harunor Rashid went to the naval ship and talked to the Ramgati police and returned to Bhola the next morning.

Sugar for salaries

Humayun Kabir from Rajshahi
Ten sugar mills in the northern districts have incurred a loss of Tk. 101 crore during the current season and suspended their operation much ahead of the end of crushing period because of short supply of sugarcane.
   The cash-strapped mills authorities are now paying the salaries of their employees and workers in sugar instead of cash.
   Hundreds of sugarcane farmers have been thronging the mill gates every day to get their arrear bills and returning home frustrated without getting any payment.
   The Joypurhat Sugar Mills suspended its operation midway this season after sustaining a loss of Tk. 10 crore.
   The Rajshahi Sugar Mills met the same fate and had to be closed down much ahead of schedule. It incurred a loss of Tk. 18 crore.
   Of the remaining mills, the Natore Sugar Mills incurred a loss of Tk. 15 crore, the Pabna Sugar Mills Tk. 20 crore, the Shyampur Sugar Mills Tk. 12 crore, the Panchagarh Sugar Mills Tk . 15 crore and the Setabganj Sugar Mills Tk. 8 crore.

Rajshahi water treatment plant work continues

Rajshahi Correspondent
The Rajshahi City Corporation opened the first of the three water treatment plants to provide city dwellers with safe drinking water.
   Works on the other two are going on in full swing and are scheduled to be completed by December, sources in the Department of Public Health Engineering said.
   The Rajshahi City Corporation water supply department said it provides city residents with only 45 million litres of water a day against the demand for some 103 million litres.
   The city corporation department officials said they have 44 pumps for water extraction. There are also 4,500 hand tube wells and 250 Tara pumps in the city.
   Rajshahi city has for long been faced with crisis of drinking water, especially in the dry season. Sources in the city corporation said extraction capacity of its pumps have declined by about 25 per cent this season.
   There are allegations that the supply water in the city had never been safe, containing metals like iron, manganese, chromium, magnesium and calcium beyond safe limit.
   Sources in the public health engineering department said it poses health hazards like gastro-intestinal diseases, loss of hair, allergy and skin problems.
   The officials of the public health engineering department said washing utensils with the water requires more soap and soda because of its excessive hardness.
   Rajshahi Mayor Mijanur Rahman MP said the corporation took up a project to install water treatment plants to address excessive hardness of water.
   The ministry concerned approved of the project in early 1995 and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved of a Tk 56-crore project on December 19, 1995. The public health engineering department was entrusted with the project implementation.
   Work on the first phase of the project started on April 1, 1996, scheduled for a June 1998 completion.
   "But it could not be implemented as per schedule for non-cooperation of the then Awami League government," Minu said.
   The project was left half way through for fund constraints. The money was released after the four-party alliance government had come to power and the work resumed.
   Under the first phase, 10 pumps and 150-kilometre pipelines have been installed. The phase envisaged three water treatment plants.
   Of the three plants, the one at Ramchandrapur has been completed and is in operation. Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan formally opened the plant on September 6.
   Sources said construction of the other two plants-one at Shalbagan and the other at Shrirampur-are going on in full swing.
   The Srirampur plant will use water of the Padma while the other two will extract underground water.
   The project will run into the second phase only after evaluation of the results of the first phase, the mayor said.
   A source in the health engineering department, meanwhile, said the fate of the second phase is uncertain.

Pest attack damages betel plantation

Kushtia Correspondent
Pest infection of piper betel has concerned growers in Kushtia as pesticide prescribed by the Department of Agriculture Extension has proved ineffective in containing the attack.
   Sources said piper betel planted on about 652 bighas of land has already been damaged by pests in the district.
   Over 1,50,000 bundles of betel leaves are grown in the district a year, worth over Tk. 544 crore.
   Some farmers said the pest-infested leaves turn white and yellow with spot and later dry out. The disease is spreading fast in various parts of the district.
   The Department of Agriculture Extension sources said a total of 18,351 bighas of land have been brought under betel cultivation this year in all the six upazilas of the district.
   Of the total, 2,352 bighas of land under Sadar upazila, 3,070 bighas under Mirpur upazila, 1,490 bighas under Daulatpur upazila, 1,413 bighas under Bheramara uapzila, 844 bighas under Kumarkhali upazila and 78 bighas under Khoksha upazila have been brought under betel farming.
   Sources said betel leaf cultivation is profitable. More than 15,000 families of the district are solely depended on the betel cultivation.
   The farmers said about 10 bundles of betel are produced annually for cultivation on one bigha of land.
   Local growers said they need about Tk. 22,000 for cultivating betel leaf on one bigha of land. Normally a farmer gets the production cost of the total betel field within a year.
   But this year the growers are frustrated since many of them failed to earn even the production cost let alone profit.
   Sources said betel leaves on 1200 bighas of land under Sadar and Mirpur upazilas of the district have been attacked by pests.
   Some farmers said that they had used pesticides available in the local markets as prescribed by the agriculture officials so as to combat the menace. But it could not bring any good to them.
   The betel growers have urged the authorities concerned to look into the matter so as not to incur losses.

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