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6 MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017 DT News PWD props up cracked hospital ceiling with bamboo • Md Tauhid-Uz-Zaman, Jessore NATION Engineers of the Public Works Department (PWD) have made good use of bamboo stumps in the repair and risk management of an ageing structure. It is two months since the PWD engineers were called to inspect the vulnerable ground floor ceiling of the Old Building at Jessore General Hospital, but no steps were taken towards repairing it. The plaster of the ceiling was falling off at a number of different places, exposing the supporting iron rods, while a serious crack became evident above the ground floor veranda. Now, as a section along the crack has tilted, the engineers have arranged for the installation of 10 bamboo stumps to prevent a possible collapse. Hospital staff and patients on the ground floor of the Old Building, which holds 30 beds, are reported to have been in a state of panic ever since the tilt became apparent on Saturday. Shirin Sultana, a nurse at the hospital, told the Dhaka Tribune that she was startled to see the bamboo stakes supporting the fractured segment of the ceiling when she came to work on Saturday morning. Resident Medical Officer Dr Waheduzzaman said the relevant Cracked roof of the old building of Jessore General Hospital being propped up by bamboo sticks to prevent the building from collapsing entirely MD TAUHID-UZ-ZAMAN PWD engineer was informed about the fracture in the ground floor ceiling two days prior to the last Eid-ul-Fitr. PWD officials were again called on Saturday to assess the situation, and decided to support the ceiling with bamboo stumps. Contacted for comment, PWD Sub-Assistant Engineer Tarikul Islam said: “Some beams in the ceiling are weak and there is a problem at the side of the veranda. But it is nothing to panic about. There is no need to move the patients. Only movement around the veranda should be avoided.” An estimated cost for the urgent repair works had been forwarded to higher authorities, he added. • Southeast Asian nations feud over China India forms committee to oversee border fencing • Shilajit Kar Bhowmik, Tripura WORLD The Indian Supreme Court has established a committee to oversee the fencing of the Bangladesh-India border. The order was issued by Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Rahinton Fali Nariman on Friday. The order came at the hearing of a case bought by the Assam Public Works, the All Assam Ahom Association, and the Assam Sanmilita Mahasangha, a confederation of indigenous people. They allege that illegal migrations from Bangladesh into Assam is undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. The formation of the committee, which was due to be established in July, was necessitated after the chair of the previous overseeing committee, former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta expressed his inability to continue in the role, citing personal reasons. The three-man committee will be chaired by Former Union Home Secretary GK Pillai, who sits alongside former BSF Director-General D K Pathak, and Abdul Mannan, a former professor at the department of statistics of Gauhati University. It is due to present its first report within three months. In early 2017, the court ordered that construction of the border fence begin immediately. • • AFP, Manila WORLD Southeast Asian nations feuded yesterday over how to respond to Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, with Vietnam insisting on a tough stance but Cambodia lobbying hard for Beijing, diplomats said. The debates among foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) at a security forum in the Philippines were the latest in years of struggles to deal with competing claims to the strategically vital sea. The ministers failed to release a customary joint statement after meeting on Saturday because of their differences on the sea issue, and follow-up negotiations on Sunday did not end the stand-off, two diplomats involved in the talks said. "Vietnam is adamant, and China is effectively using Cambodia to champion its interests. But the Philippines is trying very hard to broker compromise language." Vietnam had insisted that tough language be inserted into the statement expressing concern over "land reclamation", a reference to an explosion in recent years of Chinese artificial island building in contested parts of the waters. Cambodia, one of China's strongest allies within Asean, has firmly resisted, according to the diplomats involved in the talks in Manila, as well as an excerpt of proposed Cambodian resolution. Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono (6th L) joins Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers and representatives for the ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Meeting of the 50th ASEAN regional security forum in Manila on August 6 AFP China claims nearly all of the sea, through which $5trn in annual shipping trade passes, and its artificial islands have raised concerns it could eventually build military bases there and establish de facto control over the waters. Its sweeping claims overlap with those of Asean members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. No consensus Tensions over the sea have long vexed Asean, which operates on a consensus basis but has had to balance the interests of rival claimants and those more aligned to China. Critics of China have accused it of trying to divide Asean with strong-armed tactics and chequebook diplomacy, enticing smaller countries in the bloc such as Cambodia and Laos to support it. The Philippines, under previous president Benigno Aquino, had been one of the most vocal critics of China and filed a case before a UN-backed tribunal. The tribunal last year ruled China's sweeping claims to the sea had no legal basis. But China, despite being a signatory to the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea, ignored the ruling. The Philippines, under new President Rodrigo Duterte, decided to play down the verdict in favour of pursuing warmer ties with Beijing. This in turn led to offers of billions of dollars in investments or aid from China. The Asean foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Sunday adopted a framework for negotiating a code of conduct to defuse tensions in the sea. Wang hailed this as a breakthrough. But analysts cautioned not to place too much significance on the agreement on a framework, pointing out it came 15 years after a similar document was signed committing the parties to negotiating a code of conduct. •
News MONDAY, Padma Bridge authorities seek more time • Shohel Mamun DEVELOPMENT The Padma Bridge project authority has submitted a proposal recently to the government requesting an extension of the deadline to complete the project – till June 2019 instead of December 2018. According to the authority, piling work for the bridge was disrupted due to uncontrollable current on the river bed, as well lack of hard soil underneath. The incumbent Awami League government, however, is committed to complete the priority project before the next parliamentary election. “Bangladesh Bridge Authority has already submitted the proposal to the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) for a new deadline,” said an official. “The IMED has already given a positive response after evaluating the condition of the river.” However, none of the officials, including the project Director Md Shafiqul Islam, made any comment on the issue. When asked, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said: “The government did not accept such proposal on the Padma Bridge project.” “Padma is one of the uncertain rivers of the world, like the Amazon. There will be ups and downs in its flow. But we are still firm on our decision to complete the bridge by December 2018,” the minister, also the general secretary of Awami League, added. The plan was to install the first span on the Mawa side, but now the span will be installed at the Jazeera point Meanwhile, Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, head of the advisory-panel of the project, said: “We have given some additional directives and guidelines to the construction firm to strengthen the piling work. Especially 14 (piers) pillars are proving to be problematic, which is why it should be re-analysed.” “If we have to remodel the pillars, it can take more time,” the renowned professor added. Padma Bridge will stand over 42 pillars, including two transition pillars towards the land, with the support of 240 piles. These pillars will carry 41 spans. Each of the span’s length is 150 metres. The Padma Bridge will be 6.15km long. According the design, the depth of the piles was 90 metres to 120 metres. But during the construction, the soil underground turned out to be in very poor state. As a result, the expert team headed by Prof Jamilur Reza set the pile depth at 130 metres for selected piles. The piles on the Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna River were constructed on only 78 metres depth. Bridge authority officials said some 44% construction work of Padma Bridge was completed till June and the first span of the bridge will be installed in September. Initially, the plan was to install the first span on the Mawa side, but now the span will be installed at the Jazeera point because of strong current in the river. The total project cost stands at Tk28,793cr after three re-estimations. The authority has already spent Tk13,000cr on the project. The China Major Bridge Engineering (CMBE) Co. Ltd is constructing the main Padma Bridge since December 2014, following a work order of the Bridge Division on November 26, 2014, at a cost of Tk12,133.39. Sinohydro Corporation Ltd China is doing the river training work at a cost of Tk8,707.81cr. • 7 AUGUST 7, 2017 DT Biggest gold bust of the year at Dhaka airport • Arifur Rahman Rabbi CRIME Customs officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday seized 25kg of gold from a man who arrived from Singapore on a wheelchair, in the biggest bust of this year. The seized 256 gold bars are worth about Tk15.5 crore. The detained Jamil Akter, 48, is a Nilphamari native, arrived on a Singapore Airlines flight around 10:30pm on Saturday. This is the largest gold bust of this year. Last year, another passenger on wheelchair was caught with 23kg gold. “Acting on a tip-off, our team confronted the man when he was crossing the green channel on a wheelchair, pretending to be unwell,” Dhaka Customs House Preventive Team Assistant Commissioner Ahsanul Kabir said. “He denied having any gold initially, but admitted to it later, during interrogation. We found 250 gold bars in a vest kept between his legs. “The man has a chips shop in Singapore. He went in and out of the country 13 times in the last six months,” the customs official added. Customs officials were preparing to hand over him to police after filing a criminal case. Meanwhile, Another team found The wheelchaired man was challenged by customs officials at green channel COURTESY 6kg gold abandoned in a plane that arrived from Singapore on a US-Bangla Airlines flight, yesterday. Acting on a tip-off another customs official team found out that gold was being smuggled through a US-Bangla Airlines flight. It was coming from Singapore yesterday at 7:45am. They found the 6 gold bars abandonded in the plane’s bathroom, said AC Ahsanul Kabir. He said the 6 gold bar were scotch taped together. Each gold bar was weighs 1kg and is said to be worth Tk3 crore in the market. The Customs officials will take legal action against both the incidents he added. • India police: Pakistan-based Lashkar behind Hindu pilgrim murders • AFP, Srinagar WORLD An entourage of pilgrims on the way to Amarnath. Eight Hindu pilgrims on the way from Amarnath Temple in Kashmir valley were killed in a terror attack AP Indian police said Sunday a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks was responsible for last month’s killing of eight Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir. Police said an investigation had concluded that Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Kashmiri accomplices were behind the July 10 attack that saw militants open fire on a bus carrying Hindus on the annual Amarnath pilgrimage. “Lashkar was involved and the accused have been identified,” Inspector General of Police Muneer Ahmed Khan told reporters in Anantnag district in Indian-administered Kashmir. “Once the investigation was started it was revealed that... a Pakistani militant of Lashkar along with two other militants and one local Kashmiri Lashkar militant carried out the attack.” Three others who provided logistical support to the militants, including hiding places and vehicles, had been arrested. The July shooting was the worst such attack in the divided Himalayan region since 2000, when gunmen fired on a group of Hindu pilgrims and killed 32 people including two police officers. Khan said the militants had carefully plotted to attack any police or tourist vehicle that crossed their path on the evening of the assault. “They had kept separate code words for tourist and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) vehicles... It was purely an act of terrorism carried out with an aim to spread fear,” he said. LeT has been blamed for a string of deadly attacks inside India, most notably the Mumbai carnage in November 2008 when heavily armed gunmen battled commandos on the streets of the financial capital. It took the authorities three days to regain full control of the city and New Delhi has long said there is evidence that “official agencies” in Pakistan were involved in plotting the attack. Islamabad denies the charge. Rebel groups, including LeT, have for decades fought Indian troops and police deployed in Kashmir, demanding independence or a merger of the former Himalayan kingdom with Pakistan. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, but both claim the territory in full. •
Page 1 and 2: SECOND EDITION MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 20
Page 3 and 4: News MONDAY, 3 AUGUST 7, 2017 DT BI
Page 5: News 5 MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017 What
Page 9 and 10: News 9 MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017 DT Jo
Page 11 and 12: Accused in Chittagong cocaine haul
Page 13 and 14: Opinion 13 Is Islam the ultimate so
Page 15 and 16: Opinion 15 DT MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 201
Page 17 and 18: Biz Info 17 MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017
Page 19 and 20: Sports 19 DT MONDAY, AUGUST 7, 2017
Page 21 and 22: Jadeja bowls India to series-clinch
Page 23 and 24: Showtime MONDAY, 23 AUGUST 7, 2017

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