SQUARE-HIV

May 29, 2005

Leading Bangladeshi business house joins NGO to campaign against spreading of HIV/AIDS<

By JULHAS ALAM=
Associated Press Writer=

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ A national campaign was launched Sunday to raise awareness on HIV and AIDS in this conservative, Muslim-majority country where many are reluctant to discuss the issue, campaigners said.

Bangladesh, a nation of 140 million people, has at least 13,000 HIV-infected people, according to estimates by the World Health Organization and the United Nations' anti-AIDS agency.

This country's official HIV/AIDS rate is still relatively low, at about 1 percent among sex workers. However, the rate among intravenous drug users is above 4 percent, according to Health Ministry figures.

Health experts warn that the deadly virus could spread rapidly among drug users because they often share dirty needles. Also, the country shares about 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) of porous border with India, which has about 5 million HIV/AIDS carriers.

Square Group _ a leading business group _ has joined the Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs for the yearlong campaign, which began Sunday in the capital Dhaka. It will involve musical concerts, erecting billboards, and airing programs on television about HIV and AIDS, team leader Nazrul Haque told The Associated Press by phone.

The slogan of the campaign is "Let's talk, know and prevent HIV/AIDS", he said.

Haque said the awareness campaign was designed so "the HIV/AIDS issue is discussed freely, based on correct understanding of what it is and how it impacts on people."

A rock music concert was planned for later Sunday for several thousand youths, Haque said, to spread the message that "nobody is safe". Several dozen HIV/AIDS carriers were expected to join the concert.

"We want to give an impression that they (HIV/AIDS carriers) are not finished," Haque said.

Separately, teams of folk singers roamed Dhaka's streets, a railway station and slums to spread awareness of HIV and AIDS, he said. About 500 posters with the awareness message have been posted in Dhaka, a city of 10 million people, he said.

Campaigners said will extend the campaign to other Bangladeshi cities.

"We want to reach every corner of the society," he said.

The government has already launched plans for next year to teach children in the country's 21,000 schools about HIV and AIDS, the government said.

SAARC-Health Ministers

April 26, 2006

Bangladesh hosts South Asian health ministers to discuss AIDS, bird flu

By JULHAS ALAM=

Associated Press Writer=

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Senior health officials from seven South Asian nations on Wednesday approved a five-year regional strategy to fight deadly diseases like AIDS and bird flu, Bangladesh's health minister said.

The plan will guide member countries in fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS, laying out ways to intensify regional action and mobilize money, said Health Minister Khondakar Mosharraf Hossain of Bangladesh.

High-level health officials from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives held a one-day meeting in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, to discuss issues like AIDS and bird flu.

The seven countries make up the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC.

Hossain said member countries need massive awareness-building campaigns to combat AIDS, and more work on other illnesses.

"Unless all our countries initiate actions at the same time, we will not be able to fight against other communicable diseases for a longer period," he said.

Officials also agreed to strengthen cooperation to fight against spread of bird flu in the region.

"The issue of the bird flu is a serious challenge for us," Hossain said. He said a regional strategy against it would be prepared at the earliest.

AIDS is pandemic in India, South Asia's most populous country. Bird flu outbreaks have been reported in India and neighboring Pakistan.

Hossain said health officials at this week's conference decided to appoint an expert committee to prepare a directory of medicinal plants available in the region.

They also discussed ways to improve basic health care services and ensure safe drinking water and sanitation in rural areas, he said.

Most of South Asia's 1.3 billion people live on less than a dollar a day and have little access to primary health care, basic sanitation or clean drinking water, according to official statistics.

The ministers also discussed regional cooperation in harmonizing standards, exchanging medical expertise, producing affordable medicines and exporting pharmaceuticals, including traditional remedies, Hossain said.

CARE President

Sept 13, 2006

Bangladesh could become less dependent on foreign aid: agency chief says<

By JULHAS ALAM

Associated Press Writer=

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ Bangladesh could become less dependent on foreign aid in the future if its economy continues to grow at a moderate pace, said a top official of an international aid agency on Wednesday.

"But it has a lot of issues like corruption to tackle with to get the real benefits from its economic growth," Helen D. Gayle, president and chief executive officer of CARE USA, told The Associated Press in the capital, Dhaka.

She said Bangladesh's economy is viewed as making progressing, but corruption is a serious issue that must be dealt with.

Bangladesh, which is largely dependent on foreign assistance, has been ranked by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog, Transparency International, as one of the world's most corrupt nations.

Gayle said scores of impoverished people around the world need foreign assistance due to disasters, both manmade and natural.

"A country like Bangladesh is in need of foreign aid, but I am sure if the economy continues to grow this way, the nation will be able to take care of its problems in the future with its own capacity," she said.

Bangladesh's economy has grown 5 percent annually over last few years, and the Asian Development Bank earlier this month forecast 6 percent growth in fiscal 2006. But almost half of its 144 million people still live on less than US$1 a day, despite improvements in various social indicators.

CARE works in Bangladesh in fields like poverty reduction, prevention of HIV/AIDS and disaster management.

Gayle said the Muslim-majority Bang, in which many people are reluctant to talk about sex, is at risk of rapidly spreading HIV/AIDS, if "the issues of prevention are not tackled properly."

The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS is less than 1 percent, but the country is surrounded by high prevalence countries such as India and Myanmar.

"It's a real threat that must be thwarted," she said, adding that CARE's HIV/AIDS prevention programs will continue in Bangladesh.

Gayle was on a visit in the South Asian nation to see CARE programs.

HIV campaign-Runa Laila

Nov 8, 2006

Bangladeshi celebrity couple joins UNAIDS campaign against HIV/AIDS<

By JULHAS ALAM=
Associated Press Writer=

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) _ A Bangladeshi celebrity couple joined hands with the U.N. AIDS agency Wednesday to campaign against HIV/AIDS, officials said.

Runa Laila, one of the country's leading singers, and her actor-husband Alamgir Hossain signed an agreement with UNAIDS to work as "spokespersons" for a year in the South Asian nation, where the prevalence of HIV-infected people is relatively low.

"I am extremely happy to have this opportunity," Laila, who is known beyond Bangladesh as a prolific singer in Bengali, Urdu and Hindi languages, told reporters at a press briefing. "This society has given me much, now it's my turn."

Hossain, who is principally a film actor, said the couple would work hard to raise AIDS awareness among young people, who are increasingly vulnerable to the disease due to lack of information and low awareness of the risk factors, a UNAIDS statement said.

In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, a nation of 144 million people, an estimated 13,000 people are HIV-infected. People in the conservative society are reluctant to talk about sex and sexually transmitted diseases in families or schools.

The infection rate among intravenous drug users is above 4 percent, while it is only about 1 percent among sex workers, according to Health Ministry statistics.

But experts are concerned that the disease could spread from next-door India. With 5.7 million infections, India has the world's largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS. But India's population of more than 1.2 billion means the prevalence rate remains low.

Blanket ban on fishing

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uttorshuri/message/2079

SAN-Feature Service
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
May 6,2004

HUMAN RIGHTS

Blanket ban on netting fish
Ultra poor fishermen in dire distress

By Julhas Ripon

DHAKA:SAN-Feature Service : Thousands of fishermen in Bangladesh are in dire distress due to ‘unlawful’ government ban on netting fishes for six months in the name of protecting the fish species in the major rivers.

When the laws of the lands do not allow the government to impose any blanket ban on netting fish and when there is a rule from the High Court upon the government for allowing the fishermen to catch fish in rivers, the poor fishermen are continuing their struggle to survive.

There is no alternative arrangements from the government for the survival of these ultra-poor .The fishermen, in tousands, have no other option for survival, reveals an investigation of the SAN-Feature Service.

Poor fishermen living in different chars of the world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarban are trapped in ‘dadan’ (debt), as they are not capable of returning borrowed money to the lenders this time due to the abrupt ban on fishing of shrimp fry in the coastal rivers. The dadan is a traditional money-lending system in rural Bangladesh, where the influential money-lenders give the money to the needy in advance and are repaid by products or services.

Following the strict enforcement of the ban since November last, the fishermen are in great distress due to the sudden shrinking of their lone income source . As the indiscriminate fry collection from coastal rivers is destructive, the government banned collection of shrimp fry and other fishes from the coastal belt through promulgation of a law in September 2000, though it was not enforced strictly then .

Villagers at Joymoni under Chandpai Range of the Sundarban, said they were passing their days in dire distress as they are facing both the dadan-wallahs and the police. Some of the dadan-wallahs have already filed cases against poor fishermen complaining that ‘they lent the money during the needy days of the fishermen, but now they are not returning the money’.

The situation is the same in other villages such as Holdeyboni, Bouddabari, Katakhali, Sundartola, Telikhali, Amtola, Kalatola, Keyaboni, Jipdhora, Amarboina and Kuchgonia. The villagers said that about 80 per cent of them have no land to cultivate and, as their main profession is in a critical situation and they have no other alternative to fishing, they are in no position to return the money to the dadan-wallahs.

The villagers of the nearby area mainly used to collect shrimp fry from the river Pashur, a major river that flows through the world’s largest coastal mangrove forest. “We understand the government’s concern, but what will we do to earn a living?” asked Aman Gazi, a fisherman at Joymoni Bazar in Chilai Union Parishad under Chandpai Range.

He said he had a family of five and had no land other than the site of his hut. “Then how can we survive if I am not allowed to catch shrimp fry?” he questioned.

Gazi said he took Tk 20,000 as loan from a local influential shrimp businessman last year, but he could not supply the shrimp fry to him though he had used the money for buying nets and related purposes. “I have only repaid Tk 3,000, but now he wants me to return the rest of the amount,” Gazi said sadly, adding that the money-lender recently threatened him with dire consequences.

The other villagers, who have some arable lands in the area, were also dependent on catching shrimp fry or doing shrimp fry business. They said due to abnormal increase of salinity in the land in the last few years, the production of rice and other crops has declined significantly.

Villager Mohammed Sultan Gazi said that they can produce only eight maunds of Amon rice in one bigha (33 decimals), which is not economically viable. “I am lucky that I have some land, but most of the villagers are in tremendous trouble for lack of cash,” he added.

On the other hand, the dadan-wallahs are also in a dilemma as a huge amount of their money is in the fishermen’s hands. “I lent Tk 2 lakh to the fishermen, but I cannot get back the money from them,” said Sheikh Abul Kashem, a dadan-wallah. “Now I do not know what will happen to my family if I lose the amount.”

The forest department officials said that they have no plan to withdraw the ban as the government has taken the issue seriously.
“We want to continue the ban for the sake of increasing and protecting fish population in the coastal belt,” said Mohammed Ali Kabir Haider, forest conservator in the Khulna Circle.

In Chandpur, the livelihood crisis is in such a state that the ultra-poor fishermen are struggling to feed their family members even once a day after fishing in the Meghna during the lean season was prohibited by the government .

According to the High Court, such a blanket ban does not have the sanction of the law. It has asked the government to show cause within three weeks why this ban should not be declared illegal. It is heart-rending to see the hunger and misery in which they are passing their days.

After having lost their only source of income, they are desperate to catch fish in spite of the ‘threats of the coast guards and local administration’. This may trigger off violence in the area,many fear. These ultra-poor people have not been provided with alternative sources of income during the period of the ban and are facing starvation, said local people.

In the last week of April, some hundreds of fishermen gathered at Jelekandi Para in Shaitnol village at Chhengarchar upazila in Chandpur to protest against the ‘brutality of the coast guards’, who regularly and mercilessly beat them up.

Local people said they are not allowed to catch fish in the stretch of river from Char Bhairabi to Shaitnol (distance between the two places is about 60 kilometres) and from Shariatpur to river Padma (distance about 40 kilometres).

In this area about three lakh ultra-poor fishermen, most of whom are landless, subsist by catching fish. The government slapped the ban as there are allegations that the fishermen catch ‘Jatka’ (fingerlings) in the river during the lean period, but made no alternative arrangement to provide employment to the starving community.

“This river is our blood and soul. Our forefathers have lived on it for ages. But now we are not allowed to fish. The government has made us thieves and criminals by making fishing illegal,” said Mohabir Burmen of Shaitnol village at Chhengarchar.

Like Mohabir, Nirmal Burmen, Haricharan, Fulchan Burmen, Ketuchandra Burmen, Shuvro Burmen feel humiliated, and all of them complain of brutal torture by the coast guards in the area. Narrating his sorry tale in the coast guards’ custody, Shuvro Burmen said that he was caught recently at night while catching fish. “The guards seized my nets, made holes in the hull of my fishing boat and took me to their camp, where they beat me up severely.” Next morning 20 women and two men went to the camp and started wailing to free him from their grip.

“Finally the guards let him go,” said Mohabir. The coast guards also caught Rupchan Burmen and his teenage son Jhotan Burmen in mid-river and tortured them allegedly . In the nearby Ekhlaspur area, where there is a camp of coast guards, two fishermen died recently without getting any treatment after brutal torture by the guards, complained local people.

Though there is a directive of the High Court to the government dated April 3 favouring the fishing communities, the local administration is continuously ignoring the ruling.

The High Court ruled that the fishermen are allowed to catch fish in the river Meghna but they will be punished as per the laws of the land if they are caught catching fingerlings.
The Court also directed the government not to bar fishermen from fishing in general and stop summarily meting out corporeal and other sorts of punishment, such as damaging their boats and burning their fishing nets.

Pleading for the petitioners, well-known lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain told the court that the laws of the land regarding fishing, including the Protection and Conservation of Fish Act, 1950, did not empower the government or any authority to impose such a blanket prohibition.

The present laws empower the government to impose a ban on catching a particular species of fish of specified size during a specified time. But the local administration imposed the ban on catching fish in general without any sanction of the law, he argued.

Dr Kamal told the court that the copy of the official order, if any, was not available to the petitioners, but they are being harassed by the local administration. Their boats have been damaged and fishing nets have been burned even in the presence of State Minister for Education Ehsanul Haque Milan, he argued. Local people said that a section of local influential people are enforcing the ban on fishing to do a brisk business in hilsha fish in the next season.

Fishermen in the locality told the SAN-Feature Service that they recently went to the deputy commissioner of Chandpur and upazila nirbahi officer at Chhengarchar with the High Court’s directive to convince them of the illegality of the ban so that they can fearlessly go to the river and catch fish for survival.But the officials were not convinced and directed the fishermen not to go to the river and threatened dire consequences in case of violation of the ‘administrative order’.

The government has recently distributed some ration to a few starving families in this area. At Jelekandipara in Shaitnol village there are 165 families who have been directly affected by the government’s decision, but the local administration has provided a small amount of support to only 62 families.

“I have received about eight kilograms of rice two times in the last five months from the government,” said Kanon Debi. “I cannot continue the education of my two daughters. Now they do not go to the school as I could not give them Tk 180 for sitting in the last examination in the school,” said Lakshmi Rani.

Considering the gravity of the situation ActionAid Bangladesh has sanctioned a good amount of relief to the poor fishermen and now it is trying to mobilise the fishermen with the help of a local partner.

Mahbuba Akhter, a social activist at Kalipur village in Chhengarchar Upazila, said that the local administration’s attitude towards the poor fishermen is totally negative.

“We are trying to mobilise the fishermen to resist the torture and brutality and to ensure their rights to their very own river,” she said.

She added that they have already talked to the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA) to file a suit against the local administration’s steps of destroying the seized nets and for getting compensation. The Matshajibi Odhikar Rokkha Sangram Committee, a local group of the fishermen, has planned to file contempt of the court case with the High Court soon.-SAN-Feature Service

DCC- Road

http://www.sdnbd.org/sdi/news/general-news/February-2003/25-02-2003/General.htm

DCC snails thru' papers on road repairs

Julhas Ripon, The Daily Star

The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) is yet to finish the paperwork let alone start repair works of around 2,500 kilometres of rundown city lanes and by-lanes.

Dhaka Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka recently said the road repairs would start before the rainy season and will be "complete by March".

Till yesterday, Chairman of the DCC tender committee AZM Shafiqul Islam signed only 250 of the 878 files for road repair works under a Tk 93 crore project, sources said. The files are awaiting the mayor's approval.

A total of 2, 540 kilometres of lanes and by-lanes of the city's 3,200-kilometre road network are unfit for vehicles to ply, sources in the DCC said. The DCC has not repaired the lanes and by-lanes for more than two years.

Commuters say the DCC's dilly-dallying over the launch of road repairs is testing their patience.

Since coming to office last year, the mayor has been promising to do the job, but nothing has been done yet.

The DCC floated the tender for the project in October last year. Work order may initially be issued only for one third of the road repair project due to severe fund shortage, sources said.

Top DCC officials failed to say when the repairs would start. But, sources in the mayor's office said a top DCC official is not signing the files on the pretext of scrutinising the schemes. The tender committee has already cleared the projects.

The top official is also not signing the minutes and recommendations of the tender committee meeting, the sources added.

"The cash crunches is not a big obstacle to starting the repairs.

Instead, it is bureaucratic tangle which is delaying the work," said an official, preferring anonymity.

He added that if necessary the DCC would consider allocating funds from other projects since the road repairs is urgent.

"A handsome amount of money can be channelled from the Environment Improvement Project," he added.

At present, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is conducting a main road repair project under the Dhaka Urban Transport Project. But hundreds of alleys, link roads, and lanes and by-lanes are being ignored.

Also, the pressure of rickshaws recently increased on these alleys, lanes and by-lanes, as some major thoroughfares have been made off-limits to rickshaws.

The commuters, especially the women and children, suffer greatly due to worn-out carpets and potholes causing tedious traffic congestion.

For instance, lanes and by-lanes in East and West Rajabazar, Indira Road, Tejkunipara, Green Road, Free School Street Road, Kanthalbagan, Bhuter Goli and Central Road have seen increased pressure of rickshaws.

Even Banani and Uttara, said to be designated residential areas, have similar problems.

Commissioner of DCC Ward No.40 at Tejkunipara in Tejgaon Anwaruzzaman Anwar said the residents of his area have complained to him about the rundown roads and the delay in the repairs.

He added Tk 1 crore was allocated for works in his area.

Commissioner of Ward No.1 in Uttara Hafizul Islam Kusum said he is yet to receive the work order to start work worth around Tk 2.50 crore.

Clean Dhaka

http://www.bcas.net/Env.Features/Energy/2003/December2003/15%20to%2030.htm

Master plan envisages ‘clean’ Dhaka by 2015
Julhas Ripon

The Dhaka City Corporation and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency have started formulation of a comprehensive, modern and environment-friendly solid-waste management plan for a ‘clean Dhaka by 2015’.

The Clean Dhaka Master Plan will deal with different aspects of solid-waste management and focus on a strategy of reduction, recycling and reuse.

The plan will be submitted to the government in January, said Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka on Wednesday.

The mayor was earlier briefed about the inception report on the master plan by experts and officials of JICA and the DCC counterpart personnel unit.

Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh Matsushiro Horiguchi and JICA resident representative Takashi Sakamoto were present at the briefing, and so were former chief executive officer A.Z.M. Shafiqul Islam and chief conservancy officer of the DCC Sohel Faruquee.

The 16-member counterpart personnel unit, led by Anwar Hossain Patwary, and JICA experts are conducting a study of the 360-square-kilometre corporation area and newly-urbanised areas on its outskirts to formulate the plan.

A joint study, conducted by JICA and the DCC in 2000, found that the city generated everyday about 5,000 tonnes of sold waste, more than 80 per cent of which is biodegradable domestic waste.

If the population growth continued at the current rate, the daily volume would be no less than 11,000 tonnes by 2015, says the study.

The planned master plan will address different technical, institutional and social issues to establish a sustainable mechanism of scientific solid-waste management.

The plan will also suggest how technology transfer through close collaboration with counterpart personnel unit can be ensured.

The joint team will pinpoint technical issues related to collection, transportation, recycling, immediate treatment and disposal of garbage to meet the ‘clean’ Dhaka target.

JICA officials also said they would work for capacity building of the corporation’s solid waste management cell, enriching its survey skills for comprehensive planning knowledge, selection and evaluation of technologies.

After preparatory works, the joint team will start fact finding and situational analysis.

At this stage of activities — between December 2003 and March 2004 — the team will conduct surveys, visit different sites, talk to stakeholders, and collect and analyse relevant data.

“We will work with a participatory approach where all stakeholders would be consulted to make the plan sustainable,” said Kihachiro Urshibata, deputy leader of the JICA study team, during a presentation.

Patwary read out a statement detailing the background of the master plan formulation process.

The corporation currently collects, transports and dumps solid waste generated everyday in the city without following any scientific procedures, said the co-ordinator of the waste management cell and the counterpart personnel unit.

“The corporation is working with JICA through mutual co-operation for smooth implementation of the study and effective use of the study results,” said Patwary.

The mayor thanked the Japanese government for extending co-operation in different development sector, especially in the environment sector. “We appreciate the current move and hope that the study will help us identify the problems and formulate proper action plan to fulfil our dream of clean city in near future.”

Horiguchi was appreciative of some recent DCC moves to solve the garbage problems and stressed community participation in all the process.

“We hope both the counterparts will work together to make the study a success,” said the Japanese ambassador.

Later, the ambassador along with JICA team members and DCC officials visited the corporation’s official dump site at Matuail to have a close look at the current waste-disposal system.

Source: New Age, December 18, 2003