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There is no legality in ATN Bangla's claims - Rajuk

Rajuk has said there is no grounds for ATN Bangla to say that the Gulshan Avenue House number 69 is under their ownership.

NOAB appeals to PM to save newspaper industry

Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) has issued the following statement: The proposed budget has provided for imposition of five per cent tax on import of newsprint. But in effect, the actual tax will stand at over eleven and a half per cent.

Govt itself viloating building rules

No government building including those built by Public Works Department (PWD) has taken approval from authorities concerned since 1987, which is mandatory under the Building Construction (BC) Act of 1952 and subsequent building rules.

AL govt keen on reviving 1972 constitution

The Awami League led government is likely to restore within its tenure the 1972 constitution to bring back fundamental principles including secularism which were deleted by the controversial fifth amendment during the regime of Ziaur Rahman.

FBCCI backs money-whitening scope but have few complaints

Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) today supported the provision in the proposed budget for fiscal year 2009-10 to allow whitening of black money in exchange for payment of 10 percent tax.

Cases without specific allegations to be withdrawn: ACC chief

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Chairman Ghulam Rahman today said the commission will withdraw all the cases filed against political leaders without any specific allegations.

BNP for int'l steps to stop Tipaimukh plan

The main opposition BNP today urged the international community for taking effective measures to refrain India from building Tipaimukh dam. It also asked the government to take quick steps to stop the Indian plan.

Bangladesh Radio launches Comilla station

Information minister Abul Kalam Azad launched a new Bangladesh Radio station in Comilla on Saturday.

Parliament doesn't become lively without opposition: Speaker

Calling upon the main opposition BNP to join the important budget session, Speaker Abdul Hamid today said parliament does not become lively without opposition lawmakers.

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Sahara vows to bring Gulshan Ave home grabbers 'to book'

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Sahara vows to bring Gulshan Ave home grabbers 'to book'

Sahara Khatun, the home minister, has promised to bring to book those behind the assault on an octogenarian couple on the capital's Gulshan Avenue during a night time bid last week to dislodge them from their home of nearly 40 years.

The minister visited the couple for an hour and a quarter on Saturday night. "This is a democratic government; we won't allow such actions," she told reporters emerging from the house.

Over a dozen intruders, claiming they were from private TV station ATN Bangla, broke into the home of retired civil servant Abdul Qaiyum at around 1:30am on Wednesday and tried to forcibly evict his family from their decades-old home.

Sahara said the elderly couple were still visibly shaken on Saturday night. "We are on the side of truth," the minister added. "The home minister has assured us that the guilty will be brought to justice," said a family member.

The armed intruders, planting a signboard bearing the TV station's name, overpowered the house guards on the night, but were chased down by neighbours' security men. Eleven of them were arrested, taken to court and sent to jail on Wednesday.

Saiful Bari, a spokesperson for ATN Bangla, said on the day that the company's chairman Mahfuzur Rahman had purchased the property, at 69 Gulshan Avenue, from a man named Abdur Rashid Khan in March.

"But no one from ATN Bangla tried to illegally grab the house; those who did so are not associated with ATN Bangla," Bari told the media. He also said the signboard seized by police, with ATN Bangla's name, was not theirs.

According to a document shown by Bari, Mahfuzur Rahman bought the 21-katha plot for Tk 2.25 crore. The current market price for just one katha of land in upscale Gulshan, however, costs nearly Tk 2 crore.

A RAJUK official told on Thursday that ATN Bangla's claims of owning the land at 69 Gulshan Avenue have no legal basis. Mostafa Jamil Khan, assistant director of city development authority RAJUK, said the channel's chairman had bought the 21-katha plot from a fake owner.

Abdur Rashid Khan did not own the plot, he said. "He was hanging around in the office with fake lease papers. He came to us. But after scrutinising the papers it was found that his papers were false," said the RAJUK official.

bdnews

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