The Week That Was

(From left) Industries Minister Dilip Barua, former Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, moderator Kamal Ahmed, Architect Zarina Hossain and former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury at the Bangladesh Sanglap organised by BBC at the Theatre Institute Chittagong (TIC) on Saturday.Photo: STAR

Kafco scholarships for school students
Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) Limited awarded scholarships to the talented students of four schools on Monday.
The Kafco Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Kaiser Jamal was the chief guest at the award giving ceremony with its Chief Operation Officer AK Azad in the chair.
Kaiser in his speech said Kafco has extended its social welfare activities in education, medication and public health development sectors.
He said the company gave scientific equipment to three schools and an ambulance to Ma O Shishu Hospital and scholarships to the poor and meritorious students every year.
Kafco General Manager (Procurement) Mahbub Ul Alam and Guru Panhak High School Headmaster Bidhan Chakrabartya also spoke at the ceremony.
A total of 84 students of four schools under Anwara upazila were awarded scholarships this year.

3rd Lifebuoy OT opens
The third Lifebuoy Operation Theatre, supported by Unilever Bangladesh Ltd, was inaugurated on Thursday at the Maa Shishu O General Hospital in the port city.
Naushad Chowdhury, director (brands and development) of Unilever, inaugurated the operation theatre as the chief guest.
Hospital's vice presidents Dr Syeda Nurjahan Bhuiyan and Dr MA Taher, General Secretary Dr Anjuman Ara Islam and Unilever General Factory Manager Ruhul Quddus Khan were present as the special guests.
Sources said Unilever came forward to extend its support to the hospital in 2004 in the construction of brand new OT and the renovation of old OT to cater the increasing needs of the patients.
“Due to the increasing number of surgeries in the hospital another OT has been built recently, being opened today, with the support of Lifebuoy,” they said.
A release of the company said Lifebuoy has been working in the rural areas for long to create awareness among the people about health and hygiene. Its vision is to make the people feel safe and secure by meeting their health and hygiene needs. And the initiative to build the Lifebuoy Operation Theatre Complex is a small step towards making this vision a reality, it added.

Leaders unanimous on trial for war crimes
Speakers at a BBC dialogue here on Saturday supported the trial of war criminals, reforms in Hindu family law and move to build a deep seaport.
Amid a round of applause from the audience at the auditorium of Theatre Institute, Chittagong (TIC), Industries Minister and Bangladesh Samyabadi Dal General Secretary Dilip Barua, former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, former mayor and Jatiya Party leader Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury and Forum for Planned Chittagong (FPC) leader architect Zarina Hossain called for trial of the war criminals to rid the country of a 38-year-old stigma.
They also emphasised the need for building a deep seaport for the sake of country's future economic development and amending the Hindu family law to ensure rights of the Hindu women in the properties of their parents and husband at the one-hour-long dialogue titled 'Bangladesh Sanglap (episode-4)'.
Kamal Ahmed, senior BBC journalist, moderated the dialogue.
Supporting trial of war criminals, Amir Khasru said his party is ready to co-operate with the government on condition that process of the trial would be free, fair and transparent.
“There must have a clarity of the definition of war criminals and the government must ensure fairness so that no question among the people does arise about the trial,” he said.
Dilip Barua said the government is on the right track on the issue.
He said the government is following the legal procedures to make it acceptable to all as well as the international quarters.
On deep seaport, the minister said implementation is likely to take time but the government is committed to start the work in this regard.
Terming the move a 'good initiative', Amir Khasru said the government should keep in mind the country's future economic growth and potentials.
He urged the government to mobilise the required fund from the country's booming capital markets for the deep seaport.
Mahmudul Islam, also president of International Business Forum of Bangladesh, favoured the built, operate and transfer (BOT) system for building the deep seaport.
Zarina, also a town planner, emphasised the need for enhancing the efficiency of Chittagong port before going for such a gigantic and highly technical project.

Prize giving ceremony held
Freshers' reception, farewell and prize giving ceremony of annual sports of Premier University College were held at the college auditorium on Monday.
Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) acting mayor SM Iqbal Hossain was the chief guest at the ceremony presided over by the CCC Education Standing Committee Chairman and Ward Councillor Shahidul Alam.
Speakers at the ceremony urged the students to be attentive in their studies to build a prosperous nation.
CCC Acting Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Shamsuddoha, Chief Education Officer Prof Rawshan Akter Hanif, Kapasgola Women College Principal Prof Chowdhury Manjurul Haque and Kulgaon College Principal Prof Amit Roy Chowdhury spoke at the function.
Later, the guests handed over the prizes among the students.

'Materialise dream of digital Bangladesh'
Speakers at a seminar emphasised the need for uses of information technologies based on the reality to materialise the dream of digital Bangladesh.
Students of 12th batch of undergraduate programmes of University of Information Technology and Sciences (UITS) organised the seminar on “Digital Bangladesh: Dream and Reality” on the university campus on Thursday.
Governing Body Chairman Sufi Mizanur Rahman was the chief guest at the seminar while Dr Mohammad Solaiman and Dr Nurul Mostafa were present as the guest speakers.
Underscoring the qualitative development of the technology-based education, they hoped that the students would drive the country towards a digital one in future.
A student of the batch presented the keynote paper while Civil Engineering Department Lecturer Sabrina Ali presented a paper on “ Green Building".