e_Paper, Monday, August 7, 2017

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. •