The week that was
Concern Services for Disabled (CSD) Secretary and former cricketer Biswajit Gupta Bishu hands over crests to the cricketer brothers Tamim Iqbal and Nafis Iqbal at a get-together on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja organised by CSD on Sunday.
Birthday of Hasina observed
The 63rd birthday of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was observed with festivity in the port city on Monday.
Primary and Mass Education Minister Dr Afsarul Ameen in his speech as the chief guest called upon the party leaders and activists to work unitedly under the leadership of Hasina to help implement the charter for change and materialise the dream of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Chittagong city AL organised the meeting at the party office of Darul Fazal Market marking the day. AL central leader Aminul Islam Amin and city AL General Secretary spoke as the special guests.
On the occasion, another meeting was held at the Dampara residence of late AL leader Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury.
Former AL lawmaker Md Ishaq Mia was the chief guest at the programme with Chittagong city AL vice-president and local AL lawmaker Nurul Islam Bsc in the chair.
Chittagong city units of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), Bangabandhu Smriti Parishad, AL Chittagong north and south district units and their front organisations also observed the day.
Tributes paid to Pritilata
The 77th death anniversary of Pritilata Waddedar, a veteran of the anti-British movement, was observed with due solemnity here on Wednesday.
Samajtantrik Mahila Forum Chittagong district unit placed wreaths at the monument of Pritilata at Pahartali where she committed suicide not to give in two British forces on September 24 in 1932.
A discussion was held beside the monument where BSD Chittagong district unit coordinator Manash Nandi, railway workers' leader Sadek Chowdhury, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front Chittagong city unit President Satyajit Bishwash, Mahila Forum organiser Popy Chakma and Purabi Chakraborty spoke with Parveen Akter in the chair.
Birkanya Pritilata Trust also organised elaborated programmes at the village of Pritilata at Dhalghat of Patiya in the district.
Different organisations placed wreaths at the statue of Pritilata on the Dhalghat Priteelata Private Primary School premises.
A discussion meeting also held on the school premises.
Foods distributed
Speakers urged the private organisations as well as the well off section of the society to play pro-active role in reducing poverty from the society.
They were addressing a programme to distribute foods among the distressed. Lions Club of Green City organised the programme at the city's Lalkhan Bazar on Thursday.
Lion Club District Governor Shah Mohammad Hasan was the chief guest at the programme with Safi Uddin Shahjada in the chair.
Speakers at the programme emphasised arranging short training programmes for the youths and women from the distressed families so that they can run their livelihood on their own.
The club distributed food items and clothes among 250 distressed families of Lalkhan Bazar, Bagghona and Pora Colony.
Adviser of the club Jafar Ullah Chowdhury, Secretary Sirajul Hoque Ansari, Treasurer Md Nazrul Islam, Region Chairpersons Syed Md Ayub and Dr Mahbubul Hoque, Club Secretary Mujibur Rahman, members Poritosh Biswas, Saroj Kanti Chowdhury and Shishir Bindu Chowdhury were present at the function.
Quality education stressed
Primary and Mass Education Minister Dr Afsarul Ameen underscored the need for making a survey on dropped out children to bring them back to schools.
He was addressing as the chief guest a view exchange meeting on improving quality of primary education in Chittagong at a local circuit house hall room in the city on Friday.
Debendra Chandra Sarker, deputy director of Chittagong division primary education, presided over the meeting. Education officers from all upazilas of Chittagong addressed the meeting. They emphasised the improving primary education.
Afserul Ameen in his speech said this year final examination of class five will be held on the same date in all the schools across the country.
He said the competitive examination will help know standard of education and pass rate of the schools and steps will be taken accordingly to improve quality of education.
He assured of taking measures to re-construct and renovate the dilapidated primary school buildings in the rural areas.
'Expand CTV broadcasting hour'
Artistes and performers of Chittagong Television centre urged the authorities concerned to expand its broadcasting hour to help the centre focus culture, history and heritage of the region properly.
They were addressing a view exchange meeting with the Director General (DG) of Bangladesh Television (BTV) Abu Jafar Siddique in the chair on Sunday.
Artistes, composers, music director spoke at the meeting.
They expressed their opinions on different issues like discrimination in wages of artistes, irregularities of the staffs and officials of the centre and upgrading the class of the artistes.
Siddique assured them of taking immediate steps regarding their demands.
He urged the officials and staffs of CTV to work with honesty and sincerity.
Composers and music directors Farid Bangabashi, Bani Kumar Chowdhury, Swapan Das, Fazlul Kabir Chowdhury, Tapash Barua, Dipak Acharjee, Shahidur Rahman, Alamgir Alauddin and Shankar Dey, Programme Producers Rupam Bhattacharjee, Afsar Uddin Oli and Jalal Uddin Sagar also spoke.
Tourism Day programmes begin
A week-long programme marking the World Tourism Day began at Hotel Agrabad on Sunday.
Chief Executive of Hotel Agrabad HM Hakim Ali at a function at the hotel urged the government to take steps for developing different spectacular sites in Chittagong in order to developing the tourism industry here.
The hotel chalked out different programmes including drawing and essay writing competitions for the school students to raise awareness about tourism.
It also offered 50 per cent discount in its room rates and 20 percent discount against its dishes.
Mentioning the theme of this year's World Tourism Day as “Tourism Celebrating Diversity” Hakim said the port city as well as the Chittagong region can be turned into an important tourist zone since there are lots of spectacular sites and places like Cox's Bazar, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Foy's Lake, Patenga Sea Beach and War Cemetery.
He expressed his resentment over absence of proper security measures and other facilities in many of these spots.
Deputy Director NM Shahed Chowdhury read the written statement at the conference while Deputy Chief Accountant AYM Badruddoza, Manager (Human Resource and Admin) Moksed Ali and Executive Farid Uddin were present at the programme among others.
A colourful procession was brought out from the hotel premises in the morning.