Joy of Eid all around

Lit up faces were all around at launch terminals, and bus and railway stations. The people heading home for holidays were abuzz as they waited to be reunited with their loved ones.
As tomorrow is one of the biggest religious festivals of the country, thousands were heading home to celebrate Eid amid worry of suffering on the way and concern over reaching home on time.
As a large number of home goers have already left the capital in the Durga Puja holiday, the hustle and bustle of the busy capital virtually stopped and the city turned almost congestion free.
At the bus and train stations, the home goers seemed to be indifferent to the sufferings that could be waiting along their way, in the form of traffic jams and other delays.
Train compartments were full with standing passengers. Those who got tickets were caught up in the holiday spirit and many of them were seen sharing seats with those who were less fortunate.
Buses and trains were seen carrying passengers even on their roofs. Launch passengers at Sadarghat were also seen risking their lives by getting on the roofs of launches. Going home for Eid seemed to be the most important thing in their lives.
A large section of the people going home yesterday was garment workers, who got off work yesterday.
Abbasuddin, a garment worker, was seen at Sadarghat trying to go to Bhola. “It is difficult to make the journey back home because of the rush of people. But go I will, I want to see my parents,” he said.
All the roads towards the Sadarghat launch terminal were jam-packed with home-goers. A seemingly unending stream of people proceeded from Gulistan to the terminal.
People were seen waiting for a launch since the morning. In the afternoon, there was a mad rush in the terminal. As soon as a launch reached the terminal, the home goers made a dash for it. As the passenger number was several times higher than the capacity, many failed to get on board.
Shamim Akhter, heading for Barguna, became one of the extra passengers of a launch. Talking to Daily Star he said all of his family members left Dhaka four days ago and he was going to join them.
Almost every launch departed Sadarghat with twice the passengers of its capacity, sources said.
The authorities concerned were seen facing difficulties to deal with the crowd.
One of the traffic inspectors of BIWTA, who was “clearing” launches for journey, said they were allowing the launches to carry additional passengers considering the rush.
“We are doing so to facilitate them in celebrating Eid with their families. But we are not allowing them [launches] to cross the load lines [the line on the hull indicating maximum load],” he added preferring to be unnamed.
The passengers, however, expressed satisfaction over the management.
Meanwhile, 16 ferries struggled to carry passengers and vehicles between Mawa and Kawrakandi throughout the day yesterday, our correspondent reported.
Several hundred vehicles were in queues on the highway waiting for their turn to cross the river.
Taking the advantage, speedboats and launches continued to overcharge passengers yesterday. Speedboats charged around Tk 200 instead of the usual Tk 130, alleged passengers.
Traffic on other major highways seemed to be going smoothly as of yesterday evening.

Muslims pray for end to divisions

Some 1.5 million Muslim pilgrims thronged Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia yesterday for the high point of the annual hajj, praying for an end to disputes and bloodshed.
Helicopters hovered overhead and thousands of troops stood guard to organise roads flooded with men, women and children.
Chanting “Labaik Allahum Labaik” (I am responding to your call, God), many of them camped in small colourful tents and took shelter under trees to escape temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius.
Special sprinklers were set up to help cool the pilgrims.
In his annual sermon, top Saudi cleric Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh urged Muslims to avoid divisions, chaos and sectarianism.
“Your nation is a trust with you. You must safeguard its security, stability and resources,” the cleric, who heads Saudi Arabia’s highest religious body, said in an address to the Muslim world.
“You should know that you are targeted by your enemy… who wants to spread chaos among you … It’s time to confront this.”
He recalled the Islamic prohibition of killing and aggression, while insisting there is “no salvation or happiness for the Muslim nation without adhering to the teachings of the religion.”
Attendance is sharply down from last year, due to fears linked to the MERS virus and to multi-billion-dollar expansion work at the Grand Mosque to almost double its capacity to around 2.2 million worshippers.
Governor of Makkah province and head of the central hajj committee Prince Khaled al-Faisal said 1.38 million pilgrims had arrived from outside of the kingdom while ony 117,000 hajj permits were issued for domestic pilgrims.
The pilgrims arrived at Arafat from nearby Mina where most of them spent the night following the traditions of the Prophet Mohammed, who performed the rituals 14 centuries ago.
They had moved to Mina on Sunday from the holy city of Makkah, home to the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest place of worship, which houses the cube-shaped Kaaba towards which all Muslims pray five times daily.
On reaching Arafat, they crowded onto the hill and the vast plain surrounding it to pray until sunset, when they are due to set off for Muzdalifah for a ritual yesterday symbolising the stoning of the devil.

Padma Bridge: Army gets supervision job

The communications ministry’s Bridges Division on Monday signed a Tk 133.49 crore contract with Bangladesh Army for supervision consultancy work of two approach roads and two service areas of the Padma bridge.
Project Director of the bridge Shafiqul Islam and Maj Gen Abu Syeed Md Masud inked the deal at the capital’s Setu Bhaban in presence of Communications Minister Obaidul Quader and Chief of Army Staff General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan.
After the signing, Quader said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would inaugurate the construction work of the main bridge after the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
The army chief speaking at the signing ceremony said the Bangladesh Army will deliver the service as the prime minister has kept confidence on it.
Under the three-year contract, the Special Works Organisation (SWO-West) of Bangladesh Army will supervise the construction of the approach roads and service areas in association with Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC).
One each approach road and the service area will be constructed at both end of the bridge at a cost of about Tk 1,642 crore, according to official document.
Earlier on August 20, the communications minister announced that the consultancy work would be given to the army.
A Bangladesh-Malaysian joint venture company is constructing the approach road and service area at Janjira point of the bridge project under a Tk 1,098-crore agreement.
Another tender of about Tk 440 crore has been finalised for building the other approach road and service area at Mawa point of the project.
The government decided to construct the 6.15 kilometre bridge with its own fund as the World Bank and three other international donors cancelled financing for it in June last year for alleged corruption in the project. This has delayed construction of the road-rail bridge.
On June 26, the government floated tender for construction of the main bridge and asked the pre-qualified firms to submit bids by November 4. The estimated construction cost of the main bridge is Tk 11,829 crore or $1.18   billion while the total cost of the project will be $ 2.97 billion.
Tender for river training work, the second largest component of the project, has already been floated. The last date for submitting its bids is November 25.
The government has meantime completed rehabilitation and resettlement works by spending about Tk 1,500 crore.

Durga Puja to end today

The five-day Durga Puja, the greatest religious festival of the Hindus, will end Monday with solemn immersion of the goddess Durga in the capital and elsewhere in the country.

Devotees are seen to throng the puja mandaps to celebrate Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festival, from the morning.

The beating of drums and cymbals, intricately designed idols of Durga and drifts of incense lent the mandaps across the country a festive air as devotees Sunday celebrated Maha Navami.

Each of the mandaps across the country has been adorned with beautiful idols.

Skilled artisans and artists have crafted those and showcased the goddess in all her glory.

Devotees are reciting the mantras and offering flowers (pushpanjali) to the goddess Durga and pray for her blessings.

Bijoya Dashami is the special ceremony of reaffirming peace and good relations among people.

On this day, families visit each other to share sweetmeats. Married Hindu women put vermilion (sindoor) on each other’s forehead on the occasion.

In the capital, thousands of people will throng the Buriganga in the afternoon to observe the final phase of the festival — the immersion of the goddess Durga.

Shouldering the idol of the goddess Durga, devotees will go into waist-deep water into the river and immerse the mother deity.

Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival also known as Sharadiya (autumnal) Durga Utsav, is the worship of “Shakti” [divine force] embodied in goddess Durga.

It symbolises the battle between good and evil where the dark forces eventually succumb to the divine.

The state-run and private television channels and radios have been broadcasting special programmes since the morning while newspapers will publish special supplements marking the significance of Bijoya Dashami.

A total of 28,000 puja pandals had been erected across the country to observe the Durga puja festival this year.

Village banks for poor planned

Village savings banks will be set up to strengthen the rural economy, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said. But these banks will be for the poor, she stressed.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a function to hand out prizes to successful participants of the One House, One Farm project. A digital transaction facility for the project beneficiaries was also inaugurated.

A previous Awami League government had started the ‘One House, One Farm’ project, but it was promptly shelved by the BNP-Jamaat coalition government that came to power in 2001.

The Awami League returned to power and revived the project, creating a fund of Tk 13.32 billion for more than 1 million families from 17,300 villages across Bangladesh.

Two beneficiaries, Khulna’s Begum Donika Mistri and Abdul Goni Matbor, proposed the formation of a special bank for the project.

The Prime Minister mentioned their proposal at the end of her speech, drawing a loud applause from the gathering.

“I have not announced anything yet. Just listen to what I am about to say…,” said Hasina.

“We believe, the ‘One House, One Farm’ project is paving the way out of poverty, there needs to be a Pollishonchoi Bank there.”

The bank will be for the poor, said the Prime Minister. “It has to be made sure that no one can play around with it. The matter has to be discussed with the Finance Ministry, because it a new concept.”

“We have created an Employment Bank and the NRB Bank. We will eradicate poverty and give people better lives.”

The Prime Minister, in an indirect reference to the Grameen Bank’s microfinance scheme, said, “People are taking loan from someplace and taking another loan to pay the interest. They are stuck in a cycle of debt and interest.”

“We want the people to produce on their own so that they can come out of poverty,” said the Prime Minister.

The government had plans to set up Pallishonchoi Banks in every Upazila, a source in the Prime Minister’s office said. The poor people of the village would be owners of this bank. Its profits would be divided entirely among the members.