Car licence plates have become a symbol of utter disregard for law where plates are tampered with by using varying typefaces, and design their numbers violating the existing rules that strictly prohibit such practices.

In the wake of increasing numbers of fatal street accidents and vehicle thefts, traffic police officers say altering the plates makes it difficult to make out the registration numbers. They are concerned that vehicles involved in crimes or hit-and-run cases can be difficult to trace.

“It has become a trend to have attractive number plates to go along with a new car where the designs, spacing and typefaces of number plates are freely altered. This makes registration numbers virtually unreadable from afar,” said Jahur, a traffic sergeant at Mirpur-1.

“Increasing use of English letters in plates is also alarming,” he said, adding, “A simple change in letter spacing can make 13 look like B. The letter O can look like D, 12 can look like 15 and the letter S can get confused with the number 5.”

As stated in Motor Vehicle Rules, 1984, it is illegal to cover any part of a licence plate with any material including clear or colourless material that affects the plate’s visibility or reflectivity.

The registration number has to be written in Bangla script and any illustration or written materials beside the licence number are also strictly prohibited. The plates must be 524mm x 112mm in size for a car.

However, cars with number plates of various sizes, fonts and designs along with ornamental adjustments are virtually everywhere on the streets.

New cars bought from showrooms come equipped with flashy number plates. Some have the numbers painted in reflective typefaces while others have metallic chains as borders.

Many car dealers and company cars also tend to use their logo in the licence plate for their promotion, which is a blatant violation of the rules. The logos, designs also tend to be eye-catching, making the registration numbers less visible.

Some cars are also seen on the streets with the licence plates illuminated with neon borders. While this practice is illegal and impracticable, it makes the plates virtually unreadable during night.

Disproportionately larger sized licence plates are also seen on the streets. This is gross violation of the rules that mandate that number plates of normal cars must have a measurement of 524mm x 112mm.

However, Monsur Hossain, a metal engineer from a metal engineering work store in Bangla Motor told The Daily Star that he could make a licence plate of any size as long as it fits on the car.

“Each type of car usually has a specific size of licence plate appropriate for it. But we can make it bigger or smaller if the customer wants,” said Alam, adding that he can add patterns and designs on the borders and fonts used in the plates.

According to regulations, licence plates must have the licence number in Bangla script, painted on flat steel or aluminium plate, following a specific colour code based on the type of the vehicle.

Car plates should have white characters on a black background while those of foreign personnel black characters on yellow.

The regulations specify black characters on white background for buses and taxis, while motorbikes are obliged to have white numbers over black backdrop on a smaller plate.

Most of the blame would fall on car owners who are putting personal preferences over the law.

A car owner, whose number plate is in English along with a metallic border, told The Daily Star that he was not aware of the regulations.

“I was not aware that such rules exist and installed that number plate because it looks nice and goes well with the car,” the car owner said.

Public transport vehicles such as buses, CNG-run autorickshaws and human hauliers tend to have licence plates in so poor a condition that they could be hardly read.

No form of disciplinary measures against the violators seems to be in effect. The violators continue to make a mockery of the law by ignoring all regulations while some are even running their vehicles without any number plates.

A source at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) on condition of anonymity admitted that the situation of defaced licence plates has virtually gone out of control. “There are other bigger issues such as fake driving licences, fitness papers which take priority over the issue of number plates.”

Other sources at BRTA admitted that the authority have little control over the different metal and engineering works stores, who are mostly responsible for making the licence plates.

Traffic sources said they avoid prosecuting cars with defaced licence plates as many motorists would dub the clampdown as traffic harassment.

Shafiqur Rahman, joint commissioner of traffic, said, “Some order needs to be maintain as to how people should display their vehicle numbers.”

“These are not offences that people commit by accident, these are deliberate. And as par the rules violators will be punished accordingly,” he said.

The State of Kuwait is eager to provide all-out support for different development projects of Bangladesh and expand the bilateral trade between the two Muslim countries.

The assurances came when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid separate calls on Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah and Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah here yesterday.

During the meetings, the Emir and the PM of Kuwait greeted Hasina on her party’s landslide victory and on her election as the prime minister of Bangladesh through the last general election held in a free, fair and peaceful manner.

They expressed hope that parliamentary democracy would be consolidated and have a firm footing under her able and prudent leadership.

About her role in dealing with climate-change issues, the Emir of Kuwait said Bangladesh has come in the forefront of world leadership to stand beside the most vulnerable countries for the prudent leadership of Sheikh Hasina.

The Kuwaiti leaders also mentioned the role of Father of the Nation and the greatest Bengali of all time Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and her vision towards building a poverty and hunger-free prosperous Bangladesh.

The PM held series of meetings with Kuwaiti government and business leaders examining newer avenues of cooperation yesterday.

During the meetings, the two sides discussed matters of bilateral interest and expansion of trade and business for the benefit of the two peoples, officials from both sides said.

“Manpower export from Bangladesh, river dredging and Kuwaiti investment in Bangladesh’s development sector figured prominently during the meetings,” PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters after the talks.

On Kuwaiti investment in Bangladesh, Hasina urged the investors of the Middle-Eastern country to invest more in Bangladesh to cash in on her government’s lucrative investment policy and the country’s untapped potential in many sectors.

She said her government would provide all possible assistance for foreign investment in Bangladesh. The PM emphasised exchange of visits by businessmen of the two countries to pave the way for enhancing trade relations.

About manpower export, Hasina mentioned that her government is providing training to Bangladeshi workers on languages, customs, laws and technical know-how enabling them to work in different host countries.

She said Kuwait can import more Bangladeshi semi-skilled, skilled and technical people experienced in construction, power, water, civil aviation, petrochemical, gas and hospital works as they are gentle and law-abiding in nature.

Listing different pro-people programs undertaken by her government, Hasina said that the government has provided subsidy on agricultural inputs, including fertiliser and diesel, to boost farm production.

She referred to her government’s mega capital dredging and maintenance programmes to restore the navigability of the country’s major rivers. She sought Kuwait’s support in this regard.

Later, Hasina paid a call on Speaker of Kuwait Parliament (Maslis-e-Ummah) Jassem Al Khorafi at the parliament building in the afternoon. They discussed matters of bilateral interest, including strengthening parliamentary democracy.

Sheikh Rehana, younger sister of the prime minister, Expatriate Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, State Minister for Forest and Environment Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh Ambassador in Kuwait Shahid Reza, among others, were present on the occasions.

Earlier on her arrival at the Bayan Palace, Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah received Hasina when a smartly turned-out contingent gave her state guard of honour.

Later, Sheikh Hasina went to Seif Palace where she held meeting with Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina invited sister of Kuwait Emir, Anthal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, to visit Bangladesh for having a look regarding the adverse effect of climate change in the most vulnerable countries like Bangladesh.

Anthal, who is also an environment activist, accepted the PM’s invitation and expressed her desire to visit Bangladesh at her convenient time.

Kuwait has not yet paid the arrears of several hundred Bangladeshi workers who were arrested and deported following a protest there one and a half years ago against low wage and non-payment of salaries.

“The deported workers submitted their passports and legal documents of working in Kuwait. We have promised them to recover their arrears, but till date we did not receive the money from Kuwait,” said an official of Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET).

Many of the workers were hired for 50 Kuwaiti dinars per month, but later the contracts were changed. Their salary dropped at 40 dinars a month which was further reduced to 20 dinars, the BMET official told The Daily Star yesterday, adding that non-payment of salaries and low and irregular payments often prompted strikes by Asian workers there.

Some of the protesters vandalised several vehicles on street during a strike in July 2008.

Following the strike, Kuwait police arbitrarily arrested and deported over 1,100 Bangladeshi nationals, most of who were working in the cleaning sector.

After the incident, which drew the attention of the media worldwide and was censured by the human rights organisations, Kuwait set the minimum wage for cleaning workers at 40 KD (1 KD = Tk 258).

The country, hosting about 2.5 lakh Bangladeshis, stopped hiring workers from Bangladesh since late 2006 citing criminal activities by the workers and malpractice in the recruitment process.

However, Kuwaiti MPs criticised the government’s lack of control over the cleaning companies.

Kuwait lawmaker Saleh Ashoor told a local daily The Arab Times that demands put forth by the protesting labourers on July 29 were legal. He also slammed the employers’ inhumane practice of keeping the employees’ bankcards and paying them far less than they were actually contracted for.

Meanwhile, the workers also alleged brutal tortures on them at the detention camps. Many of them were found with bruises on their bodies when they arrived at Zia International Airport.

Leaving the blame game aside, Bangladesh embassy there talked with the Kuwaiti authorities about the arrears and belongings of the deported workers. The country’s labour department assured them of arranging the arrears for payment to the workers through Bangladesh embassy.

The BMET made a public announcement asking the workers to submit their passports and legal documents needed for working in Kuwait.

“After they submitted the documents, we sent those to the Bangladesh embassy in Kuwait, which approached the Kuwaiti authorities concerned. But till today no progress was made in this regard,” BMET Director Nurul Islam told The Daily Star yesterday.

As Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is visiting Kuwait, the issue has been included in her discussion agenda, he said.

Abu Shaker, brother of deportee Saiful, said his brother has an arrear of Tk 3 lakh.

“We have tried to get the money from the manpower bureau (BMET) several times but returned disappointed. Now we are struggling to pay the debt we took to send Saiful to Kuwait,” said Shaker.

With Open Market Sales (OMS) hardly stabilising rice prices, the government in yet another move yesterday decided to introduce fair price cards for 25 lakh ultra poor families across the country.

Under the programme, families with no permanent income or land and not enlisted for any social safety net programmes would receive 20 kilogrammes of rice per month at Tk 22 a kg for three months, said Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzaque.

He said the families maintained by women would have priority in obtaining the cards. Each family would be issued one card and the applicant member of the family must have a national identity card, he added.

The programme would start from February 21 after preparing a list of the beneficiaries at all the divisional and district headquarters, the minister told newsmen at his ministry’s conference room.

The programme would cover 10,000 families in all the wards under Dhaka City Corporation and 25 adjacent unions, 5,000 families of 25 wards under each of the rest divisional cities and 10,000 families of each district headquarters.

The Department of Food in consultation with the local members of parliament and ward commissioners will prepare the list for the programme.

The decision was made at a meeting of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit under the food ministry. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury and the high officials of the ministries concerned were present in the meeting presided over by the food minister.

“We have monitored the market for 15 days but did not notice results as expected. Therefore, we want to increase the supply in market,” Abdur Razzaque said.

The government on January 20 started OMS in the capital and areas in Narsingdi, Narayanganj and Gazipur where mostly the labourers live. Initially, it stabilised rice prices, but gradually prices, especially of fine rice, started going up.

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, price of coarse rice was Tk 26 to Tk 28 a kg even a month ago. But, prices of medium quality rice, which was Tk 30 to Tk 33 a kg a month ago, went up at Tk 33 to Tk 37 yesterday.

Prices of fine rice also went up at Tk 35 to Tk 44, which was Tk 32 to Tk 44 per kg a month ago.

Retailers said the millers, mainly of Kushtia, Chapainawabganj and Naogaon, were stocking rice because of rising prices in the international market.

There might be various reasons for the price increase, the food minister said, adding that rice usually sells in India at lower prices than that of Bangladesh, but this year price of rice there is higher. Besides, rice prices in Thailand and Myanmar are also as high as India, he noted.

“We have 8.67 lakh tonnes of rice in stock and need only 1.5 lakh tonnes for the programme. We do not need to import rice,” Abdur Razzaque said.

Asked what difference the new programme will bring when similar quality of rice is sold at Tk 22 a kg under the OMS, Razzaque said, “Production cost of rice is high. So, you cannot lower food prices as you wish. But, we want to increase the supply to make the market stable.”

Bangladesh capped off their best-ever performance in the South Asian Games with a dream gold in football at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday where the men’s team thrashed Afghanistan 4-0 in the final much to the delight of a packed home crowd.

Bangladesh scored twice in each half to make sure they end a decade of gold-drought in the most prestigious event of the regional sporting carnival since their first triumph in the 1999 Katmandu Games.

It may be the most one-sided final in the 26-year history of the Games, but the victory of the booters will definitely relieve the pain of the SAFF Championship two months ago when the same side were eliminated from the semifinals stage.

The gold in football was an icing on the cake for the hosts on the penultimate day on which they claimed two gold in boxing and another at wushu. Already having 11 gold in their coffer before the start of the day, Bangladesh raised their tally to 18 gold, 23 silver and 55 bronze, a feat they have never achieved before.

The only disappointment for the home side was the failure to make any lasting impression in the track and field events. India might have dominated athletics, but the two blue riband events — 100m sprint of men and women — went to Sri Lanka and Pakistan respectively.

Sri Lanka’s 20-year-old Shehan Saearuwan Abeypitia beat his more experienced and illustrious competitors to become South Asia’s fastest man with 10.46 seconds while 23-year-old Naseem Hameed created a piece of history when she became the first Pakistani woman to win the 100m dash with a time of 11.81 seconds.

At the newly-built Mohammad Ali Boxing Stadium, Bangladesh’s two boxers Jewel Ahmed and Abdur Rahim made sure the hosts fulfill a pre-Games projection of 17 gold by winning the lightweight 60kg category and light welterweight 64kg category gold respectively after Masbah Uddin won the gold in wushu away at the Sylhet BKSP.

With only three gold up for grabs on the final day today — two in table tennis and the other in men’s marathon — India once again established their supremacy with an overwhelming tally of 88 gold, 53 silver and 28 bronze.

Pakistan stayed second with 19 gold, one more than third placed Bangladesh. Sri Lanka took the fourth position with a collection of 16-33-51.

The 11th edition of the regional spectacle which started with a flurry on January 29 is all set to draw its curtain with a lot of fanfare in what promises to be a spectacular closing ceremony at the Bangabandhu National Stadium this evening.

Several hundred demonstrating garment workers yesterday suspended vehicular movement for four hours on Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway in Tongi, Gazipur.

Meanwhile, in another incident in Ashulia cadres allegedly of the ruling party attacked garment factory Crystal Composite Ltd and vandalised its machinery, windowpanes and injured at least 30 people, including the factory owners. The factory was allegedly attacked over a feud regarding the business of garment waste. Three people were arrested.

In Tongi, hundreds of vehicles plying 35 routs to and from Dhaka remained stranded due to the agitation of the garment workers causing untold sufferings to thousands of people.

Workers of Six H at Sena Kalyan Commercial Complex in Tongi started the agitation around 9:00am demanding their arrear salaries and overtime allowances. The factory closed on January 14 following a dispute over the ownership of the factory.

A few hundred vehicles switched to the alternative Ashulia Bypass Road but many others remained stuck between Tongi and Khilkhet in Dhaka and Tongi and Boardbazar in Gazipur.

Police and Rab personnel were there but they restrained themselves from taking action fearing that it would trigger widespread agitation involving workers of neighbouring factories.

The demonstrators refused ending it without the assurances of getting due payments and resumption of the factory operations.

They brought out indiscriminate processions that paraded the area inviting workers of neighbouring factories to join in.

Gazipur police and administrations contacted Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) leaders and the factory authorities. The workers removed the barricade around 1:00pm following negotiations conducted by BGMEA leaders and factory authorities.

Vehicular movement was normal about an hour later.

Gazipur Superintendent of Police Nuruzzaman told The Daily Star, “The workers were not paid their salaries and overtime allowances in three months.

“The main problem is, no one is claiming ownership of the factory. Police did not go for action apprehending mass unrest among the garment workers of the area.”

The SP said they were trying to resolve the issue with the help of BGMEA leaders and government high-ups.

Talking to The Daily Star, BGMEA President Abdus Salam Murshedy said they called for a meeting to resolve the matter. He said the workers would be paid their dues before February 21 and the dispute over the ownership might be solved legally.

Sources said BGMEA Vice-President Faruque Hassan sold the factory to Hasan Saiyeed and Nawshad Hasan, two brothers, in 2007. But after the sale, the two brothers alleged that Faruque Hassan did not follow some conditions of the sale. The brothers declined to takeover the factory.

Faruque Hassan told The Daily Star that he had handed over the ownership of the factory to the new owners on December 2, 2007. “I am not involved in the management of the unit after the sale of my share.”

He claimed that he has not been paid in full for the sale as the new owners have already caused a lot of liabilities for the factory.

In Ashulia, at least 30 armed-cadres on five microbuses stormed the Crystal Composite Ltd around 2:00pm and started firing in the air. They vandalised the factory and injured factory owners Firoz Hossain, his brother Selim Hossain and their employees who tried to resist them.

Sources claimed that local ruling-party men had been demanding the garment waste of the factory since the factory was launched. They launched the attack yesterday, as their demand was not met.

Witnesses said the attackers rampaged all five floors of the factory and assaulted the owners.

The workers of the factory tried to resist the attacks and caught Akhter, Saidur Rahman and Nurul Amin. They were handed over to the police.

The factory authorities filed a case with Ashulia Police Station saying that the attackers looted Tk 25 lakh, fired gunshots, vandalised the factory and caused injuries to workers.

The autopsy of a body could not be performed even after two days at Faridpur Medical College Hospital as no doctor was available for the job.

The relatives of the deceased hailing from College Para of Bhanga upazila of the district passed last two days with the body at the morgue.

Feroz Hossain, brother of deceased, is still waiting at the morgue. Hossain told this correspondent yesterday that his brother Karim Hossain, 45, committed suicide, on Sunday noon, taking poison following a family feud.

Police brought the body to the morgue on the same day but no doctors came to morgue for autopsy, he added.

Contacted, Dr Dipti Pramanik, the hospital’s superintendent-in-charge, said the morgue activities are run by the college’s forensic department. He declined to make any more comments.

Dr Rafiqul Akhtar, principal of the medical college, said there was no doctor available in the forensic department then. Five out of six posts in the department have been vacant for last couple of years. The only doctor Rezaul Haque in the department is on leave.

“We have reminded the higher authorities several times about the acute shortage of doctors in the department but to no avail,” said Dr Rafiqul.

Secretaries of the government at a meeting yesterday decided to work in a coordinated way to speed up the administrative activities for fully implementation of its development programmes.

The meeting, held at the cabinet division of the Secretariat, decided to prepare a detail work plan to fulfil targets set by the government in food, energy, healthcare, information technology and education sectors.

“Secretaries of different ministries and divisions decided to visit districts regularly for supervising and monitoring activities of the field administration,” Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told The Daily Star last night.

Apart from a comprehensive work plan, individual ministry will also make its plan to implement the targets, he said.

“Immediate recruitment in the vacant positions in public service was one of the major issues of discussion,” Sobhan said adding a large number of posts in different ministry have remained vacant.

The meeting also discussed dividing the Public Service Commission (PSC) in three separate divisions for recruitment. One division will recruit first class officers, another division will recruit non-cadre officers while the rest will recruit in technical posts, sources at the meeting said.

Some secretaries talked about the new warrant of precedence declared by the High Court on February 4. But the discussion did not continue as the Supreme Court stayed for six weeks the HC verdict, the sources said.

The home secretary said that they emphasised on executing family planning programmes properly to check population boom.

“We also decided how to increase cultivable lands by checking its ongoing reduction for ensuring food production in future,” he said.

Cabinet Secretary Md Abdul Aziz chaired the meeting.

Increasing energy production, eradication of poverty and inequity, job for one youth of a family, making the country illiteracy-free, trial of war criminals, ensuring food security and healthcare are major pledges of the government.

The monthly pay order (MPO) facility would be provided to the non-government educational institutions on the basis of performance index not on political consideration, said Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid yesterday.

“A bad practice of giving political consideration has been developed under this process…but we will maintain transparency in bringing the institutions under the MPO,” he told the journalists at a press conference of the ministry.

The minister said it would not be possible to bring all educational institutions, which are waiting to be placed under government’s payroll, under the MPO using a limited allocation of Tk 112 crore as the number of such institutions has increased significantly in last six years.

He however could not specify the number of educational institutions to be brought under the MPO this year.

Underprivileged in education and geographically disadvantaged areas, hilly, haor-baor and char areas, educational institutions for ensuring female education, socially disadvantaged groups, persons with disability and specialised institutions will get special consid eration in MPO enlistment, he said.

He said around 3,118 headmasters of lower secondary schools, 12,400 assistant headmasters of secondary schools and 5,141 superintendents and 5,141 assistant superintendents of Dakhil madrasas will get their salary under the recently upgraded pay scale.

The minister pointed out many issues, including distribution of textbooks, terminal examinations in class VIII and creative question method.

Regarding textbook distribution, he said though textbooks were distributed in the remote areas of the country in time, some problems occurred in distributing books in Dhaka.

Holding the district education officer (DEO) of Dhaka responsible for the problems, the minister said despite having books in his office, the DEO made a delay to distribute the textbooks for serving his bad intention.

“It would be difficult to find any institution which did not get books by now,” he said adding the institutions that gave their demands to the respective education offices have received books.

About the terminal examination, he said like primary terminal exams the government has decided to take a public examination for class VIII to ensure standard of education and reduce dropout rate.

A student has to wait for six years to get SSC certificate but the government will give certificates in class VIII to encourage poor parents to let their children study further, Nahid said.

The examination would create a pressure on the students, teachers and schools to obtain better results, as it would be held simultaneously across the country using same question papers, he said.

About the creative question method, he said students will be tested in two subjects– Bangla 1st paper and religious studies–using the new method for the first time in the upcoming SSC examination.

The government, however, has decided not to introduce the creative question method for mathematics in the SSC examinations to be held in 2011, he added.

Education Secretary Syed Ataur Rahman and high officials of the ministry were present at the press conference.

Pointing to a staggering lack of coordination within the party, leaders of Barisal district, city and upazila units Awami League and its associated bodies yesterday demanded formation of new committees at the grassroots tiers.

They alleged that the party activities have come to a standstill since AL-led government came to power in January last year.

While addressing the party’s extended meeting here at the Circuit House conference room, the leaders also demanded punishment of the BNP-Jamaat men who tortured the AL activists during the four party-led government’s rule between 2001 and 2006.

Awami League’s move to strengthen the party’s activities, resolve conflicts and ensure coordination at grassroots levels started from Barisal district yesterday with renewal of party membership and new recruitments.

Barisal district unit AL General Secretary Abul Hasanat Abdullah’s primary party membership was the first to be renewed under the process.

AL presidium member Yusuf Hossain Humayun was present as chief guest at the meeting with Mokhlesur Rahman, acting president of Barisal district AL, in the chair.

AL Organising Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, who is in charge of looking after the party activities in Barisal division, and central leader Afzal Hossain, Barisal City Corporation Mayor Shawkat Hossain Hiron, AL lawmakers Talukder Mohammad Yunus, Monirul Islam Moni, and Pervin Talukder and leaders of city, upazila, municipality units and associated bodies also spoke at the meeting.

The meeting started around 11:00am and continued till 5:30pm without any break.

Addressing the meeting Barisal City unit AL Convenor Hiron demanded party councils of the district, city and upazila units.

Hiron said change in the leadership is necessary to avert debacle in the next election.

Barisal city AL leader Anisuddin also demanded new leadership in all tiers.

Yusuf Mollah, president of Agailjhara upazila AL, demanded punishment to the BNP men who tortured AL men while the BNP-Jamaat coalition was in power.

AL leaders of Uzirpur and Banaripara upazila units criticised local lawmaker Moni for not involving them in party activities.

Babuganj upazila AL leader Farzana Binte Wahab, who is also the vice chairman of Babuganj upazila parishad, alleged that the local AL lacks proper coordination.

Bahauddin Nasim directed the local leaders to bring an end to the misunderstanding among the party leaders and to remain united to strengthen the organisation.

Nasim said the contribution of the grassroots level leaders would have to be evaluated. He also directed the party men not to get involved in tender manipulations.

Afzal Hossain urged all to remain cautious about the anti-government propaganda by the main opposition.

Hasanat Abdullah directed the local leaders not to get involved in criminal activities.