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People, wary about the rapidly-changing political climate, are glued to the television screen, as private channels are competing with each other to give maximum spot coverage on political events.
   Political developments since the handover of power by the past BNP government to caretaker administration, violence, street agitations, rumours and speculations have made people dependent on the media, especially the visual media.
   Most of the city people avoided going out during the first day of Awami League-led alliance’s blockade programme on Sunday and stayed indoors watching television bulletins to get a clear picture of what is going on political fronts.
   The television news got maximum momentum when it screened live the street violence in Dhaka on October 28.
   The private television channels drew maximum attention of the people through their hourly and special news bulletins.
   ‘It is true that the number of TV news viewers has largely increased in the wake of the political crisis,’ said professor Shakhawat Ali Khan of the department of mass communication and journalism of Dhaka University.
   People are keeping their eye on the television screen to know latest developments in politics, with many guessing state of emergency may be declared and army deployed to quell the political tense.
   Worried people are also found crowding newspaper stands, leaping through the dailies. Sales of newspapers have also gone up, said a hawker at Jatrabari.
   Ahadullah, a cable-operator at Sarulia in Demra, said, ‘Now I just watch television news all day long to know hour-to-hour development.’
   ‘Today (on Sunday) I am paying my maximum attention on television news but it is nice to see, the first day of the indefinite blockade was passed off almost peacefully,’ said Sabequn Nahar, a student of Dhaka University.
   Television sets are installed at the small restaurants and stationery shops to keep their shoppers updated on political events. Expatriate Bangladeshis are also not less concerned about their homeland.
   Mazharul Islam, an expatriate Bangladeshi in Saudi Arabia said, ‘We are also getting updated news from Bangladeshi channel. We are concerned about our family members, relatives and also for all of the country.’
   According to the president of the Cable Operators of Bangladesh (COAB) S M Anwar Parvez, at least 65 per cent of Dhaka city’s roughly 1.2 crore population are viewers of cable television including the mobile viewers in hotels, restaurants or tea stalls.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines has rearranged seats of one of its wide-bodied aircraft and chartered foreign carrier to transport more pilgrims to and from Saudi Arabia, and ensure smooth hajj flight services that begin from November 26.
   Business class seats of a DC-10 carrier, exclusively dedicated to carrying hajj pilgrims, have been converted to economy class to facilitate the national flag carrier to carry more pilgrims this year.
   Biman has five old DC-10s in its fleet of 13 aircraft which also include four Airbus carriers and four F-28s.
   ‘The DC-10 with 274 seats has been converted to a 301-seat carrier by eliminating the business class,’ Biman’s managing director MA Momen told New Age Saturday.
   The conversion will help the Biman’s dedicated hajj carrier transport about 1,000 more passengers operating same number of flights, he said.
   Momen said Biman would also reroute some of its flights to ensure uninterrupted services for hajj pilgrims.
   To ensure smooth operation of hajj flights, Biman has already struck a deal with Ausbarn, an Australian aircraft charter company, to lease a Boeing 747 plane. The cost of flying the chartered aircraft will be $9,000 per hour.
   It is also in talks with another company to lease another aircraft for hajj flights operation.
   Biman sources, however, said that cash-strapped carrier is unwilling to take lease of another aircraft which would cost it nearly $7 million.
   The national carrier has planned to carry around 38,000 pilgrims, out of about 48,000 expected to perform hajj this year. Biman had carried about 25,000 pilgrims last year.
   The government this year fixed $1250 fare per passenger, up from $1,050 of last year.

A six-member delegation of the International Republican Institute called on the chief election commissioner, MA Aziz, and discussed the country’s present political situation and preparations for the ninth parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
   ‘We discussed the prevailing political environment of the country, preparations for the next general elections and sending international polls observers,’ the head of the delegation, John Anelli, told
   the reporters after the meeting.
   When asked whether they feel any concern about the security of the international observers due to the present political
   turmoil, Anelli replied in the negative. ‘We hope both sides of the political divide will be able to reach a reasonable agreement.’
   Anneli, also resident country programme director of the IRI, a US-based NGO, hoped that there would be a free and fair election where the people would be able to vote for candidates of their choice.
   The CEC and other commissioners reached the office in the morning, defying the blockade. Reporters of different media houses waited all day on Sunday in front of the CEC’s office to get his comments about the AL-led combine’s blockade to enforce the implementation of their 11-point charter of demands including his resignation.
   But the CEC did not meet the reporters.
   The newsmen encircled Aziz at the EC secretariat when he was leaving the office in the afternoon.
   The security guards of the CEC pushed the reporters back and the CEC wound his way through the crowd and left at about 4:00pm.

About 600 residents of an arsenic-prone village Putia under Daudkandi upazila in Comilla are now getting pure drinking water through piped water supply system by preserving rain and dug water.
   Earlier, many villagers were suffering from various complications due to the arsenic poisoning.
   Water is supplied from an 800-feet deep tube-well under the community managed piped water supply system which can provide arsenic-free water from an iron and arsenic removal plant.
   ‘We had been facing shortage of pure drinking water for a long, but after installing the water reservoir in the area, we are getting pure water from its 31 points,’ said Abu Bakkar, a resident.
   He said by paying only Tk 20 a month, they can get pure drinking water. Each family can get about 45 litres of water twice every day.
   In 2002, water of all the tube wells at Putia was detected with arsenic beyond the permissible limit. It was found that the arsenic was containing 0.1 to 7.5 milligrams per litre water.
   The piped water supply system was introduced by a local NGO, Centre for Community Development Assistance, in 2002 with the support of NGO Forum for Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation.
   The NGO Forum had also introduced a number of mitigation options including pond sand filters, arsenic removal plants, rainwater harvesters, dug wells and piped water system at its different project areas in the country.
   The 11.26-mitre length, 3.96-mitre width and 2.74-mitre depth reservoir has the capacity of 100,000 litres of water.
   Khabirul Haque Hiro, assistant coordinator of CCDA, told New Age on Friday that they have got huge response from many residents surrounding the village of Putia. ‘The residents demanded installation of more reservoirs to supply arsenic and iron-free drinking water.’
   Due to arsenic contamination in groundwater, the people of different upazilas in Comilla are facing an acute crisis of pure drinking water.
   The groundwater in Muradnagar, Chandina, Debidwar, Homna and Daudkandi upazilas has been contaminated beyond safe level forcing the people of the areas to survive on alternative sources.
   According to NGO Forum, 45 deep tube wells, eight community based rainwater supply system, 138 family based rainwater supply system, 83 arsenic iron removal plants, seven pond sand filters and a community managed piped water supply system were installed in the Comilla region to supply pure water for drinking and cooking purposes from 1989.

Mahbubul Alam, adviser to the caretaker government in charge of water resources ministry, will visit waterlogged Bhabadah area in Jessore in a couple of days to see the progress of the government measures initiated to end the menace that plagued thousands of people for more than a year.
   Faulty water management project caused the water-logging in a vast area covering Abhaynagar, Monirampur and Keshabpur upazilas.
   The adviser, who is also in charge of information and religious affairs ministries, took the decision to visit the area at an inter-ministerial meeting on Sunday held at the water resources ministry.
   Water resources secretary Mohammad Zobayer and agriculture secretary M Abdul Aziz and senior officials of Water Development Board at the meeting reviewed the short-term measures taken by the government to drain out the logged waters from the area.

The District Bar Association chalked out programmes to observe the first anniversary of death of two judges killed in a bomb attack on November 14 last year.
   The two judges – Jagannath Pandey and Sohel Ahmed – were killed in a bomb attack by the Islamist outfit Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh in the district town while they were going to their office on this day.
   The programmes include wearing of black badges and bringing out a mourning procession.

Japan hopes that the current political developments in Bangladesh will move in an orderly manner to ensure holding of the forthcoming general elections in free and fair manner.
   ‘We believe democracy is firmly in place in Bangladesh. We look forward to seeing orderly developments for free and fair elections,’ the Japanese deputy foreign minister, Mitoji Yabukana, told reporters at Zia International Airport on Sunday before flying home.
   Yabukana, who came in Dhaka Saturday night from Laos on his way back to Tokyo, said Japan would send observers to join the international observation teams to monitor the coming elections.
   Terming Dhaka and Tokyo ‘natural partners’, he said the new Japanese government of prime minister Shinzo Abe attached importance to promoting relations with the Asian countries, including Bangladesh.
   He said Tokyo was committed to increasing its ODA (official development assistance) for infrastructure development in Bangladesh.
   Asked about the funding of the planned Padma Bridge, the Japanese minister said his government was positive about the funding with the successful completion of the feasibility study.
   He stressed the need for cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries
   for increasing trade and investment.
   Yabukana also said the Japanese government is committed to augmenting its ODA for Bangladesh.
   Earlier, the Japanese deputy foreign minister had a bilateral meeting with the foreign secretary, Hemayetuddin, discussing ways of exploring better cooperation in different fields.
   In reply to a question about the possibility of increasing the number of trainees from Bangladesh under the JITCO scheme, he would not commit an increase in the number but said the programme was running smoothly for enhancing capability and human resource development.
   Last year, 12 trainees from Bangladesh had gone to Japan for higher training on IT under an agreement between Dhaka and Tokyo.
   The Japanese ambassador, Masayuki Inoue, additional foreign secretary, Touhid Hossain, DG for East Asia, Shahidul Islam and DGEP Zahirul Haque, were present at the airport.

The leaders of the Sammilita Nagarik Andolan and the Peshajibi Samannay Parishad demanded removal of the chief election commissioner, reforms of election commission and withdrawal of the officials in administration appointed by the BNP-Jamaat government.
   The leaders of the Andolan and Parishad, two organisations of professionals leaning to the Awami League- led combine, in a joint rally in front of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh on Sunday, demanded immediate posting of the officers who were made officer on special duty by the past government.
   Speakers at the rally during the non-stop blockade called by AL-led combine criticised the activities by President Iajuddin Ahmed and said they would not tolerate holding of any election according to the blueprint of the past government.
   They urged the president neither to confront the people nor act as puppet of the four-party alliance. Barrister Amir-ul-Islam, Abdul Ahad Chowdhury, Kazi Faruq Ahmed, Nasir Uddin Yusuf, Golam Kuddus, Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Dr Iqbal Arsalan, and Dipu Moni, among others, addressed the rally.
   The rally was rounded off with cultural functions staged by the Udichi, Rishij, Kranti, Joi Bangla Sangskritik Oikya Jote, and the Gana Sangskritik Mancha.