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     Volume 8 Issue 62 | March 20, 2009 |

  Letters
  Chintito
  Cover Story
  Secutiry
  Straight Talk
  Special Feature
  Follow up
  Personality
  Writng the Wrong
  International
  Energy
  A Roman Column
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Letters

Violence on Campus

Students are the future leaders of a country. Student politics plays a vital role in the politics of our country. But it is matter of sorrow that in the name of student politics some unexpected events are taking place in some of our reputed public universities. It is very harmful for the future of the student politics and as well as for our students. The violence that took place at Rajshahi University a few days ago harms the normal life of students living in the hostels. Girls especially are affected by such violence. The government must take early steps to prevent and contain campus violence. This is essential for our education and students.
Foyjul Islam
Comilla

A River in Distress

Rivers are the most significant source of usable water for drinking and washing purposes in Bangladesh and the contamination of the river Shitalakkhya is a tremendous threat to the availability of safe water. As your cover story pointed out, water from the river is processed by WASA for the increasing population of Dhaka city. As Bangladesh is a riverine country, the pollution of one river consequently affects other rivers and water reservoirs which has an adverse effect on the aquatic life in particular and human beings in general.
Human health as well as the breeding of fishes has been greatly hampered by the indiscriminate disposal of waste products from industrial and domestic sources and it's an irony that we have to drink this water after inefficient filtering by Dhaka WASA. Consciousness of the people will do a great deal and the authorities concerned must enforce the existing laws to curb further pollution which will be effective in saving a river from death.
Sheikh Abdullah
Department of Finance, University of Dhaka.

Importance of Special Economic Zone
SEZ (Special Economic Zone) is a very common Phenomenon in almost every country these days. Examples could be India, China etc. In Bangladesh, too, SEZs could bring bright prospects for new entrepreneurs. SEZ is familiar to businessmen around the world but it is still relatively unknown in business circles in Bangladesh. Sylhet is a major city in the Northeast of Bangladesh which is called the London of Bangladesh because of the large number of expatriates who have settled in London, UK. Non Resident Bangladeshis have a keen desire to invest in Bangladesh especially in Sylhet. There was also a lot of discussion about plot allotment in a Special Economic Zone for new entrepreneurs by the government. But it is very disappointing that nobody is conscious about that. Time is passing but no feasible steps have yet been taken regarding it. It could become one of the bright spots of the economy of Bangladesh as well as a source of foreign remittance. So, the authorities must look into creating the SEZ as a matter of priority.
Sheikh Md. Faysal
Department of Business Administration
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet.

Jaflong Violated
Thank you for highlighting the assault on Jaflong in your February 13 cover. While civil society and politicians sit in the capital and talk about environment, evildoers have for many years illegally crushed stones. The natural beauty of Jaflong has been almost totally destroyed. I have been to the place many times and I am always affected by the dust and pollution. I hope the government will wake up and pass effective laws to protect our natural heritage.
Shama Das
Amberkhana, Sylhet

International Women's Day

This is the age of capitalism, and our society becomes more materialistic day by day. By the influence of capitalism women have been transformed into a commodity. Those who believe that these capitalistic pursuits can play an active role in favour of women's rights, I think they are simply building castles in the air. In my opinion this is the worst form of oppression against women through they are sometimes not conscious about it. I think it is very important to distinguish between “Equality” and “Equity”. Out of these two words I prefer “Equity”. That means both men and women will be treated with respect in accordance with their respective sexes. On the contrary, if we prefer “Equality” between men and women, a confrontation may be created in the society, which we usually notice in the West.
So, it is my earnest request to all my countrymen to treat women as human beings rather than a woman or “Nari”.
Aiman Bin Shaofiqul Hamid
Dept. of English
International Islamic University Chittagong

Load shedding and Nuclear Power
At present after traffic congestion, power cut is the second grave problem facing Dhaka city. On a daily basis, we have to suffer between 4 to 5 hours from persistent disruption of power supply. However, it is no longer a new issue in Dhaka city. It's been discussed many times, but no effective measures have been taken to alleviate this unbearable misery. We see many experts talking about nuclear power generation to resolve this problem on some TV channels, but so far, nothing effective has been implemented. Are all these experts supposed to talk away concerning this issue or can their ideas be utilized to fix this problem through implementing the nuclear project by means of government's direct intervention? Now let's discuss regarding our power supply capacity. Our country needs 5200 MW electricity per day but against this requirement our capacity is only 4000 MW. It is pathetic that our power generation plants produce less power than their real capacity. This is due to inefficient management and maintenance. However, Bangladesh is now facing uncertain situation in the energy sector as hardly 30 percent people have access to power supply. Therefore, how can we think of further prosperity for our nation? It is high time government starts to think about nuclear power generation.
Hasnat
AIUB, Banani
Dhaka

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