Electronic Voting System (EVS) soon: PM

April 13: The government has plans to introduce an electronic voting system with a view to making the election process more transparent and credible.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Tuesday divulged the matter when outgoing UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Bangladesh Renata Lok Dessallien paid a farewell call on her at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

Referring to use of transparent ballot boxes in the last general elections, Hasina said that her present government is actively considering adaptation of modern technologies for making election process more transparent and free from debate in near future.

She put utmost importance on uninterrupted democracy for development and said that her government has taken various measures to strengthen parliamentary democracy in the country.

In this context, she told the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative that her government has already strengthened Election Commission (EC) in this connection.

Hasina mentioned that a strong opposition is very much important to make the democracy fruitful and said her government wants to see a strong opposition in parliament for the sake of vibrant parliamentary democracy.

In this connection she said that her government appointed chairmen of seven parliamentary standing committees in the Jatiya Sangsad from the opposition, so that they could play their role in the process of further strengthening the parliamentary democracy.

She also mentioned that during her last visit to Sweden, she included one parliament member from opposition BNP.

The Prime Minister said her government has created immense scope for the opposition MPs to play their due role in Parliament.

But, she regretted that when her party was in the opposition they did not get enough time to speak for the people during BNP-Jamaat alliance government.

“The then speaker during the four party alliance government rejected at least 2,000 questions submitted by the opposition Awami League,” she said.

Referring to the present power crisis in the country, she said her government is making all out efforts to solve the crisis although the situation was created by the BNP led 4-party alliance government.

“We have already undertaken short, mid and long term programmes to increase power generation to meet growing demand,” she said.

The Prime Minister said this situation has worsened as not a single megawatt electricity was produced during the tenure of BNP-Jamaat government and two years tenure of the caretaker government.

Sheikh Hasina thanked the UNDP for extending its support in Bangladesh specially for strengthening local government institutions and parliamentary democracy.

In reply, Renata also thanked the government for extending its support to discharge her duties in Bangladesh smoothly. She hoped that the UNDP’s support to the country’s development endeavors would continue in future.

During the meeting, they discussed UNDP’s support to Bangladesh for strengthening democratic institutions and parliamentary democracy.

Press Secretary to the Prime Minister Abul Kalam Azad, who was present at the meeting, briefed the reporters.

Ambassador At-Large M Ziauddin, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister M A Karim, and Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Office Molla Waheeduzaman, among others, were present during the meeting.//UNBConnect.com.

THE DAILY INDEPENDENT

DCC election schedule by Apr 18

The Election Commission will declare the schedules for Dhaka City Corporation elections if the government fails to provide its feedback by April 18.
‘We have to announce the schedules by that time if we want the election in May,’ the chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, told reporters on Monday.
The EC has asked for opinion of the local government division on the elections.
He said, ‘We’re quite
sure that the government doesn’t want the elections now. It might be rescheduled to September or October if it is not possible in May.’
Huda said there were a number of problems with holding DCC elections after May.
He said the Chittagong City Corporation election would be held by June 25.
‘And we don’t want to miss that deadline.’
The election chief said the commission came
to know of the government’s position regarding DCC elections from newspapers.
‘But they have to submit a letter regarding this.’
Earlier in the month, Huda said the DCC election schedule would be announced between April 16 and April 18.

50 convicted in Thakurgaon BDR trial

A special court in Thakurgaon convicted 50 and acquitted one for border guards' mutiny in 2009.
In the second verdict relating to the BDR mutiny where BDR men in Thakurgaon rebelled in support of their comrades in headquarters, Dhaka February 25-26 last year, two border guards were given the maximum penalty of seven years of rigorous imprisonment.
All the convicted BDR personnel belong to 20 Rifles Battalion.
The BDR director general, Major General Mainul Islam, head of the three-member court, delivered the verdict.
A total of 33 people testified in the case. Charges were pressed against 51 accused last week. Of them 44 admitted their involvement in the mutiny.
The special court-2 in Thakurgaon began trial on February 3. It was adjourned on February 5.
The court resumed on April 8.
The Panchagarh special BDR court on April 7 became the first to issue verdict among the six special courts across the country trying the BDR mutineers.
Twenty-nine members of the 25th Rifles Battalion have been accused of rebellion in support of the massacre at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka on February 25 and 26 last year.
The BDR headquarters mutiny saw over 70 people killed, nearly 60 of them army officers deputed to the border force. Rebellion spread to other BDR outposts around the country.
On November 15, the government formed six special courts, including two in Dhaka, to try about 3,500 border guards accused in 40 cases around the country.
The six special courts are trying charges of mutiny, looting and arson. The BDR headquarters murders will be tried separately in civilian courts.
The BDR members at Thakurgaon are accused of rebellion in support of the Pilkhana mutiny.
In the event of a guilty verdict, the maximum penalty for rebellion under the BDR Act is seven years in jail.
Special BDR courts in Rangamati, Satkhira and Feni have also set verdict dates for ongoing trials. Verdicts in the trial of 19th Rifles Battalion in Feni will be given on April 18; of 7th Rifles Battalion of Satkhira on April 19; and of Rajnagar Battalion of Rangamati on May 2.

THE NEW AGE

Upazila chairs want authority over officials

The Upazila Parishad’s chairmen on Monday submitted a seven-point charter of demands to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the chief one of which is to place all the grassroots-level government officers under the jurisdiction of the Upazila Parishads for strengthening local government administration and ensuring accountability of government officers.
They also urged the prime minister to amend several Articles of the Upazila Parishad Act.
‘We have asked the prime minister to turn an Upazila Parishad into a single umbrella administration for strengthening the local government system,’ convenor of the Bangladesh Upazila Parishad Chairmen’s Association, Harunar Rashid, told New Age after attending a workshop at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday.
Almost all the chairmen of the country’s 481 Upazila Parishads attended the workshop titled ‘Upazila Council Management and Digital Bangladesh’. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the workshop in which three chairmen expressed the grievances of upazila chairmen who have had no work for the last 14 months.
Harunar Rashid, chairman of Patuakhali’s Dumki upazila, said they have demanded amendment the Upazila Parishad Act for fulfilment of the seven-point charter of demands, which includes placing all grassroots-level government offices, including the local administration now working under an upazila nirbahi officer and the police administration now working under an officer-in-charge, at the disposal of the Upazila Parishads.
The Upazila Parishads should be given the power to control the salaries and holidays of all government officers working there, and also to write and send Annual Confidential Reports on them. ‘They [officers] should be made accountable to the Parishads,’ he said.
They also demanded cancellation of the provisions of handing over the authority and responsibilities of Upazila Parishads to government officers. ‘The executive authority of the Upazila Parishad should always be given to an elected representative,’ he said.
The chairmen also sought amendments to Articles 25 and 42 of the Act to ensure that the MPs have to implement their development programmes through the Upazila Parishads. ‘It will help to resolve the conflict [of authority] between the MPs and the Upazila Parishads,’ he said.
The chairmen also requested the PM to amend the Warrant of Precedence by upgrading their position above ‘non-elected persons’ for ensuring their dignity as elected representatives in front of the government officers. ‘The elected and non-elected persons should be placed in separate categories in the Warrant of Precedence,’ said Harunar Rashid.
The elected Upazila Parishad chairmen are in the lowest tier of the Warrant of Precedence and are equal to the chairmen of Class I municipalities, civil surgeons, deputy secretaries of the government, superintendents of police and officers of the rank of Major in the army and equivalent ranks in the navy and the air force.
Besides, the upazila chairmen also demanded that they should be made the chiefs of the upazila committees on law and order, land, open market sale and creating jobs for the extreme poor people, which are now led by the UNOs.
Badiuzzaman Badshah of Nalitabari Upazila of Sherpur district and Abdul Majid of Saturia Upazila of Manikganj also spoke on behalf of the upazila chairmen.
Bodiuzzaman alleged that MPs have a patronising, sometimes contemptuous, attitude towards the upazila chairmen.
The Parliament on 6 April, 2009 unanimously passed the Act, making it mandatory for Upazila Parishad representatives to consult lawmakers and to accept their recommendations in implementing the development projects in their constituencies.
In March the government framed a set of rules on the responsibilities of, and financial facilities for, upazila chairman and vice-chairman, keeping field officials, including the UNOs, beyond the authority of the elected representatives.
The upazila chairman do not have any authority of appointment and disciplinary action, if needed, against the officials either deputed to, or placed at the disposal of, Upazila Parishads, according to the Upazila Parishad Chairman and Vice-Chairman (Responsibilities and Financial Facilities) Rules 2010, which has angered the elected representatives.
Sheikh Hasina has assured upazila chairmen that the government would immediately distribute responsibilities to the MPs, upazila chairmen, vice chairmen and UNOs, said the UNB.
According to the Act, the Upazila Parishad is responsible for maintaining law and order and playing the leading role in infrastructure development, agriculture and irrigation, health and family welfare, women and youth development, land, rural development, social welfare, information and culture, forest and environment and market monitoring in the area under its jurisdiction.

THE NEW AGE

Govt allows toxic ship import

The government has legalised import of toxic ships for scrapping without pre-cleaning or decontamination.
Environmental activists called the government action suicidal and warned it would expose tens of thousands of people to toxic wastes that would pose a grave threat to environment, ecology and the lives and health of workers at ship-breaking yards and residents living in the surroundings.
The government on April 8 amended the Import Policy Order to allow import of toxic ships and the gazette notification of the amendment was published on Monday.
The environmentalists have resolved to challenge the government action in the court as the amendment has been made in violation of a High Court ruling.
Article 25(40) of the Import Policy Order 2009-2012, issued on January 26, stipulated that importers, to obtain permission for import of scrap vessels, must submit a certificate issued by the government of the exporter’s country or by any agency authorised by that government stating that the ship has been cleaned and contains no toxic materials.
The amended article says that the importers, to bring scrap vessels, will need to submit a certificate issued by the exporter and a declaration made by the importer stating that the vessel carries no other toxic or hazardous wastes except the in-built ones.
The executive director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, and environment lawyer Iqbal Kabir told New Age on Monday that the amended provision legalised the import of scrap ships carrying in-built wastes such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), TBT, oil, asbestos some of which can even cause cancer.
‘Now there is no way the government can stop entry of vessels containing deadly asbestos or PCPs in its body,’ Rizwana said.
The amendment is a clear violation of the Basel Convention 1989 and the High Court verdict on the issue, said Rizwana and Iqbal.
The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association will challenge the order in court, they said.
The Import Policy Order 2009-2012 was issued on January 26 with the precondition for import of scrap ships in accordance with the High Court verdict and the Basel Convention, they added.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Imman Ali and Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal, in a verdict on March 17, 2009, ordered that vessels having hazardous wastes or containing hazardous materials ‘has to be decontaminated at source or outside the territories of Bangladesh’ following the Basel Convention on Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes, 1989.
The convention requires all wastes to be removed by the producer prior to the vessel’s cross-boundary movement.
Bangladesh has no ability to deal with the in-built contaminants or wastes of ships, yet it is importing the same simply to help the European countries to get rid of their hazardous junk ships, said Rizwana and Iqbal.
Although ship-breakers claim they meet 80 per cent of the country’s demand for iron, according to documents available with the customs, only 25 per cent of the demand for iron is met by ship-breaking yards and the rest is imported, they said.
The environmental activists also mentioned that at least 38 workers were killed and 49 maimed in accidents at ship-breaking yards in Bangladesh in last two years and most of the accidents were caused by hazardous materials contained in scrap vessels.
The government earlier banned two vessels, including the SS Norway which contained 1,250 tonnes of asbestos, from being dismantled in its scrap yards after the ships were branded toxic by the Greenpeace.

THE NEW AGE