Mosharraf seeks Ashraf's help

Takes charge of LGRD ministry

Staff Correspondent

Khandker Mosharraf Hossain took charge of the LGRD and cooperatives ministry yesterday after meeting his predecessor Syed Ashraful Islam.
Mosharraf, also expatriates' welfare minister, went to Ashraf's Bailey Road residence at 11:05am, and had a 15-minute meeting with him. He sought Ashraf's help in discharging his new responsibilities, and Ashraf assured him of full cooperation.
After the meeting, Ashraf, general secretary of the ruling Awami League, talked to reporters.
Terming Mosharraf a gentleman, he said, "We are from the same party, and are members of the same parliament and the cabinet. Our cooperation will continue."
On July 9, Ashraf was made a minister without portfolio after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had removed him from the LGRD ministry.
Mosharraf, father-in-law of Hasina's daughter Saima Wazed Putul, was given charge of the ministry as an additional duty. He will continue to serve as the expatriates' welfare and overseas employment minister.
On his first day in office as the LGRD minister, Mosharraf told reporters that he was “feeling lucky” that the PM had chosen him for the job.

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Mosharraf promised to work towards materialising the PM's vision to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed one by 2041.
"But it will not be possible without development of rural areas, as about 80-82 percent people live there," he said at the Secretariat in the afternoon.
Responding to a query on his meeting with Ashraf, he said, "Syed Ashraf is the general secretary of my party. I met him and sought his assistance today before taking the helm of the ministry”.
About his work plan, Mosharraf said he would focus on improving the existing road networks under the Local Government Engineering Division. He would also work to ensure that people in rural areas get services of the Rural Development and Cooperatives Division.

405 seek to be Indian citizens

36 enclaves in Panchagarh

Quamrul Islam Rubaiyat

As many as 405 inhabitants in the 36 Indian enclaves inside Panchagarh got registered with a joint survey team to become Indian nationals in the last six days.
Of the enclaves, seven are in Panchagarh Sadar upazila, 23 in Boda upazila and six in Debiganj upazila, said Executive Magistrate Shahin Reza, in-charge of the control room set up at the Panchagarh deputy commissioner's office for the survey.
This correspondent talked to many of those enclave inhabitants recently.
Farmer Dijen Barman is one of them. The 38-year-old lives with his family in Grarati enclave inside Sadar upazila.
He said although he along with his wife and children was registered with the survey team to become Indians, his parents and other family members want Bangladeshi citizenship.
Vanu Ram, 35, a farmer of Shalbari, an Indian enclave inside Boda upazila, said he and three others of his family had a desire to become Indian national and they got their names enlisted accordingly.
"Our relatives are in India. So we want to become Indian nationals," he said.

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Meanwhile, 14 people of a Hindu community who had earlier registered with the survey team to be Indian nationals at Garati enclave now wish to change their decision, said Shyamal Kumar Dey, an Indian supervisor of the survey team.
"But we have no authority to delete their names from the list as they have already filled up the forms," he told this correspondent.
The case with Dulal Chandra, 22, of the same enclave, is similar to that of the 14.
"All our relatives live in Bangladesh and if we go there [India], it would be difficult for us to adjust there," Dulal said.
Sandip Mitra, assistant high commissioner, Assistant High Commission of India, Rajshahi, said as per the survey rules, no one can change their choice once it is registered with the survey team.
He made the comment while talking to reporters after a visit to the enclaves in the three upazilas.
”But, we will inform our higher authorities about the matter and they will decide on it,” he said.
According to the control room set up at Panchagarh deputy commissioner's office, as many as 1,109 children have registered their names with the survey team in the last six days to be included in the survey.
The children were born after the joint enclave census in 162 Indo-Bangla enclaves in July 2011, said Executive Magistrate Shahin Reza.
Besides, 445 more people were also enlisted as survey participants. They were married to the enclave inhabitants after that year.
The joint census found that 37,334 people live in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and 14,215 people in Bangladeshi enclaves in India.
On Monday, Bangladesh and India launched the 10-day joint survey in the 162 enclaves to know the choice of citizenship of those living there.
CONFUSED OVER CHOICE
A number of inhabitants of Indian enclaves in Lalmonirhat said they were still confused over their choice of nationality, reports our district correspondent S Dilip Roy.
"We are still discussing our choice as some of our family members are wishing to become Indian nationals," said Sankoshi Rani Rabidas, 65, a widow at Indian enclave Bhitarkuti which is inside Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila.
"We have a lot of relatives in this country [Bangladesh]," she said, adding that she wants to be a Bangladeshi national.
The survey team officials working at different enclaves inside the district said there were many cases where family members were coming up with different choice of their citizenship.

Eurozone lists tough conditions for Greek debt deal

Afp, Brussels

Greece must start to implement tough reforms as early as next week in exchange for a bailout to keep it in the euro, according to proposals drawn up by finance ministers for a eurozone summit yesterday.
The resumed talks early yesterday amid sharp differences over how much to demand of Athens, after nine hours' wrangling on Saturday failed to produce an agreement.
"We have finalised our discussions. We have come a long way but a couple of big issues are still open," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the 19-nation eurozone finance ministers' group.
"We are going to give those to the leaders, so it is up to them," Dijsselbloem said, without giving further details.