Sohel Taj tenders resignation in person This time Speaker accepts

Finally, Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj's resignation from parliament was “accepted” by the Speaker as he in person tendered it yesterday.
“He [Sohel Taj] in person submitted the resignation letter to the Speaker at the latter's office around 6:30pm today [yesterday]. And the Speaker accepted the resignation,” Joynal Abedin, personal secretary to the Speaker, told The Daily Star yesterday.
His resignation now puts an end to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's efforts to keep him as a state minister without portfolio since his resignation from the cabinet on May 31, 2009.
Under Article 58 (1) (b) of the constitution, Taj's resignation as an MP disqualifies him from continuing as a state minister without portfolio.
Sohel Taj, son of Tajuddin Ahmad, the nation's prime minister at the head of the Mujibnagar government during the War of Liberation in 1971, stepped down as state minister for home following reported interference in his work.
But government documents continued to mention him as a state minister and Hasina on April 19 said she had not "accepted" his resignation.
Legal experts, however, say there is no need for the prime minister to accept the resignation letter of a minister or a junior minister.
Hasina's announcement apparently prompted Sohel Taj, who was elected MP on the ruling Awami League ticket from Gazipur-4 constituency at the last parliamentary polls, to resign from parliament on April 23 this year.
He did not cite any reason for his resignation as lawmaker but had issued an open letter to the people of his constituency, saying he had taken the decision after “much thought”.
Speaker Abdul Hamid, however, on May 9 declined to "accept" the resignation, claiming Sohel did not follow constitutional provisions and rules of procedure of the House in submitting the resignation letter.
Clarifying his decision, he said Sohel Taj, who was then in the US, did not write the letter in his own hand; it rather was typed up. Also, he did not submit the letter in person and it did not contain the phrase "willing to resign," which is mandatory under Article 67 of the constitution.
Sohel Taj had to come to Bangladesh to submit in person his resignation letter to the Speaker if he desired to quit, Hamid added.
The reasons the Speaker had cited to justify his decision, however, were not in conformity with a High Court verdict.
According to a 1995 HC judgment, the constitution does not have any provision authorising the Speaker to accept or reject a resignation letter submitted by an MP.
On the practice of a submission of a resignation letter by a lawmaker in person, the HC said the letter "need not be written by the lawmaker concerned; it is sufficient if it is signed by him or her."
However, Sohel Taj finally came to Bangladesh from the US and tendered the resignation letter to the Speaker yesterday evening, putting an end to the long drama over his resignation from parliament and also from Hasina's cabinet.
Contacted by The Daily Star over telephone, a senior official in the parliament secretariat last night said the secretariat will today publish a gazette notification declaring vacant Sohel Taj's seat in the House. The Speaker may also inform parliament today about the resignation.
A copy of the gazette notification will be sent to the Election Commission that will hold by-election to Gazipur-4 constituency within next 90 days.
Meanwhile, after tendering his resignation to the Speaker, Sohel Taj met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence around 9:30 pm.

Roads left in a bad shape Utility agencies dig up for dev work, DCC forgets to repai

Mohammad Khokon was driving a bus from Narayanganj to Dhaka on Sunday morning. While crossing the Joykali Mandir area, its wheel got caught in a pothole on the road.
The road stretching from Joykali Mandir to Rajdhani Super Market was thick with wet clay as it was dug up recently by Titas Gas to relocate the gas supply lines and make way for the construction of Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover.
The trenches in the road were filled up poorly and Khokon did not notice the pothole. It took the bus around 12 hours to come out of the trap.
This has become a common sight in the area since June 12, when the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd started reinstalling its supply lines along the two sides of the road from the middle.
The excavation work in the rainy season has made driving unsafe, said Khokon. To negotiate the distance between Jatrabari and Gulistan, it now takes two hours longer.
"I have to walk around one kilometre every day along the muddy and greasy road to take my daughter to school,” said Rabeya Chowdhury, a resident of Swamibagh. Her daughter Mariha Chowdhury, a playgroup student at Moitri Kindergarten in Wari, used to go to school by rickshaw.
Contacted, Ashiqur Rahman, project director of Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover, said a recent meeting at the Prime Minister's Office had decided to relocate all the utility lines by June 15. But the Titas Gas undertook their work on June 12.
"We are now digging the road from Bangabhaban to Jatrabari and it will take two more months to complete," said Jasim Uddin, project manager for the rehabilitation of Titas Gas supply lines.
Asked about doing the job in the rains, he said they were ready to do it two years ago, but the project authorities have caused the delay.
The construction of around 10 km-long Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover is expected to end in July next year.
MINDLESS ROAD-DIGGING MOUNTS SUFFERINGS
Many roads in other parts of the capital are also in appalling condition due to careless digging by several utility service providers.
The roads include Darussalam Road, Mirpur Technical to Shyamoli, Mirpur-10 to Agargaon and Tibet intersection in Tejgaon Industrial Area to National Shooting Federation.
Sources at Dhaka Wasa said it has been digging the road stretching from Chankharpool to Buet to lay water supply pipes. The commuters and residents, therefore, have to suffer.
The water supplier has dug up around 26 km road in the capital this year.
Besides, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh has built trenches from Mirpur-14 to Shyamoli via Mirpur-10 and Agargaon to lay electric cables.
Dhaka south and north city corporations are responsible for repairing the roads.
Ahmed Ali Shah, superintendent engineer of Dhaka North City Corporation, said they have already started the repair works and will complete it at the earliest.
"We are not repairing part of the road stretching from Technical intersection to Shyamoli due to a request from Wasa, as they will check their supply lines later," he added.

Refugees' long stay to stretch even further

The recent sectarian violence in Myanmar has jeopardised the repatriation of Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh for the last 21 years.
Already the process has remained stalled for the last seven years because of issues such as the unwillingness of the refugees to go back and complications in getting clearance from the Myanmar government.
Last month's clashes between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in the neighbouring country have created further apprehensions about the future of the repatriation.
The situation worsened at a time when people involved with the refugee issue were expecting the repatriation to resume with Myanmar's return to democracy.
Officials say some initiatives were taken in the last few years to send back the Rohingyas, but things went back to square one as sectarian clashes broke out in the bordering Myanmarese towns of Maungdaw and Akyab.
Some 2,50,877 Rohingyas took shelter as registered refugees in dozens of camps across Cox's Bazar district from November 1991 to June 1992. After this influx, Bangladesh could send back 2,36,599 refugees till 2005, officials statistics show.
Only 19,000 Rohingyas, including those born here, were left at two refugee camps following the last repatriation in 2005.
But over the years the number of registered refugees in the two camps -- one at Nayapara of Teknaf and another at Kutupalang of Ukhia upazila -- has risen to 29,325. Around 18 thousand of them live at the Nayapara camp alone.
Of the total number of refugees in the two camps, around 4,000 do not get facilities as refugees because they were not present during the last survey in 2005.
Many refugees who were absent during the survey later on different occasions came and claimed to be registered refugees. Although allowed to live in the camps, they did not get permits to receive rations.
An official said refugees were not allowed to go out of the camp but they hardly follow the rule.
One of the reasons behind the rise in the number of refugees from around 19 thousand to around 29 thousand in the last seven years is new births.
Some 68 refugees were sent back to Myanmar from Nayapara camp in 2005, and 35 refugees died the same year. But the number rose from 455 that year due to the birth of 558 children in the refugee families.
After 2005, there was no other repatriation except for some resettlement of some 926 refugees in third countries in the last few years.
Mohammad Kamruzzaman, who is in charge of Nayapara camp, recently told The Daily Star that 57 percent population of the refugee camps were those born here over the last 21 years.
Population growth rate and the family size of the Rohingya refugees are higher than that of Bangladesh.
According to the 2011 census, the average family size in the country is 4.4. But local officials say the figure is over 8 in the Rohingya refugee camps. Bangladesh's population growth rate is 1.34 percent but that of Rohingyas' is around 3pc.
Besides, the national infant mortality rate is 37 per thousand a year. In the camps it is only five.
Officials say they face complications in the process of repatriation, which has to be voluntary according to a memorandum of understanding between Bangladesh and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
Bangladesh needs clearance from Myanmar before sending back even a single Rohingya refugee.
Over the years, Yangon has given clearance for 10,315 refugees following verification. More than 15 thousand are yet to get the nod.
Officials say Dhaka sent Yangon a list of around six thousand Rohingya refugees for clearance in August 2009.
As the repatriation has been stalled for many years, the refugee families who were waiting to be repatriated despite securing the clearance had new members born. The additional population would now require the clearance.
Against this backdrop, Bangladesh made some moves in the last few years to repatriate the Rohingya refugees. Myanmar also expressed its willingness to take back some 2,415 refugees from the list of verified ones.
In November last year, the Myanmar embassy in Dhaka wrote a letter to Bangladesh, saying its government was “ready and willing” to receive 2,415 verified individuals under both countries' approval and in cooperation with UNHCR.
Besides, very few refugees want to return to their country. Those who are willing to go back want to return with all the relatives they have in the camps. Even some families who came from the same villages of Myanmar want to go back together.
Some officials said there was at least a little hope of repatriation before the early June sectarian clashes.
The Daily Star talked to a few hundred refugees at Nayapara camp in Teknaf in the third week of last month. All of them said they would feel insecure in Myanmar.
“The recent incidents [clashes in Maungdaw and Akyab] have further delayed the repatriation process,” said Md Feroz Salah Uddin, the refugee relief and repatriation commissioner.
“But as soon as the situation [in Myanmar] improves, the process [of repatriation] will acquire pace,” he said and hoped for a solution to the recent problems in Myanmar's bordering area with Bangladesh shortly.
Salah Uddin said it was very important to build confidence among the Rohingya refugees so that they could decide to go back to their homeland. “I hope it [repatriation] will be quicker, if Myanmar comes forward to build this confidence.”
Though there has been no repatriation since 2005, the authorities have resettled some 926 Rohingya refugees in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, the US, Norway, Ireland, Sweden and Australia.
But it has had a negative impact on the repatriation process, because refugees now prefer resettlement to going back to Myanmar.
"As time goes by, the issue gets more complicated. But nobody is going for a permanent solution," Salah Uddin said.
Nayapara camp in-charge Kamruzzaman said there were three solutions: repatriation, reintegration (merger with the local population) and resettlement.
Some officials said the UNHCR had been pursuing Bangladesh for the latter to allow Rohingya refugees to work in its territory, though they do not have any permission to go out of the camp. The authorities were even told to let the refugees merge with Bangladeshis.
Salah Uddin told this correspondent, “Repatriation is the best solution and all efforts should be concentrated on this.”
It would be helpful if UNHCR gave importance to repatriation, he said, adding that efforts from UNHCR and international agencies were needed more in Myanmar for the sake of the repatriation of refugees.

Chittagong, Cox's Bazar Landslides kill 15 amid downpour

At least 15 people were killed in landslides in Chittagong and Cox's Bazar amid heavy downpour yesterday, with much of the port city going under knee-deep to waist-deep water.
Eleven of the victims -- five of them children aged between two and 12 -- died in separate landslides in different parts of Chittagong. In Cox's Bazar, four persons were killed as large chunks of earth fell on their hillside homes in different areas of Maheshkhali upazila, police said.
Several people in the port city were reported missing following a number of avalanches at Uttar Pahartali and Banshkhali areas.
All domestic and international flight operations to and from Chittagong Shah Amanat International Airport were declared suspended at 4:30pm as the runway was inundated.
Train services on the Dhaka-Chittagong route were cut off as a railway bridge at Bhatiari collapsed around 8:00pm, presumably due to the downpour.
As the monsoon torrent kept lakhs of people stranded at home throughout the day since early morning, business in the country's commercial capital came to a near halt.
With most of the areas of the city submerged, at least 11 areas experienced total power blackout for about 12 hours since 8:00am. Power connection was restored in some of the areas after 8:30pm.
The Power Development Board snapped the connections fearing accidents resulting from short circuits, said Md Moniruzzaman, public relations officer of Chittagong PDB.
The areas that suffered power cuts include Halishahar, Pahartali, Khulshi, Bakalia, Asadganj, Pathorghata, Sugondha, Chawkbazar, Bahaddarhat and parts of Reazuddin Bazar.
Water logging is a problem that recurs in Chittagong almost every year. It has been more so in the last four to five years.
City people and town planners blame the Chittagong City Corporation and other city authorities for not doing enough to put in place a better drainage and water management system.
SUFFERINGS
Beginning at around 3:30am, the downpour continued all day almost ceaselessly, causing immense sufferings to tens of thousands of people in Chittagong.
The exact number of the affected people could not be known.
Thick, filthy water swept through homes, businesses and other government and non-government institutions for hours, washing away scores of make-shift homes, shops and parts of other fragile establishments.
City life came to a standstill and businesses were badly affected.
The areas that went under knee-deep to waist-deep water include Panchlaish, Chawkbazar, Bakalia, Kapasgola, Bahaddarhat, CDA Avenue, Halishahar, Badurtala, Muradpur, Sholashahar, Mohammadpur, Agrabad, Chandgaon, Bayezid, Proborthak intersection, Medical college road, Chittagong College road, Katalganj, Khulshi, Kattali, Dewan Bazar, Chatteshwari Road, Sadar Ghat, Pathorghata, Khatunganj, Chaktai, Wireless area and Nasirabad area of Chittagong.
Loading and unloading of cargo at Chittagong port were greatly hampered. The rain also disrupted delivery of cargoes from the port to different destinations of the country, Syed Farhad Uddin, secretary of Chittagong Port Authority, told The Daily Star.
The city dwellers were mostly stranded at home. Those who dared to defy the rain found themselves in the middle of nowhere, as there was no transport except for a few rickshaws. Commuters had to walk to their destinations through the dirty water overflowing the drains.
Water was waist-high on some roads where movement of all types of engine-run vehicles remained suspended till the filling this report at 10:30pm.
Many in the affected areas were seen pumping rainwater out of their homes. Shawkat Iqbal of Bakalia area is one of them. He accused the CCC of not addressing the water logging problem.
Most businesses, including kitchen markets and grocery shops, did not open.
The miseries of several thousand slum dwellers at Bakalia were acute as the rain washed away everything they had, said CCC Councillor Zafar.
Attendance in schools and colleges was very thin as most students could not come out of their homes.
Tanima Chowdhury, a third year honours student of Haji Mohammad Mohsin College going to her classes on foot through knee-high water, said the CCC did not care about their sufferings.
The premises of many educational institutions, including West Bakalia Govt Primary School, Bangabandhu Govt Model Primary School, Kapasgola City Corporation Girls High School and College, Bakalia Govt High School, Bachelor of Education (B. Ed) College and Meron Sun School and College, went under water.
The Chittagong Met office recorded 342.5 millimetres of rain in the last 24 hours till 6:00pm yesterday, the highest rainfall this year. The Met office forecasts more shower in the next 24 hours.
In Cox's Bazar, 230 villages under eight upazilas were inundated, affecting about 3 lakh people. More than 800 mud houses were destroyed in those areas.
PORT AUTHORITIES BLAMED
City dwellers hold the CCC responsible for their recurring sufferings.
“Two years have passed since the Mayor took office. But we do not see any significant initiative taken by the city authorities to address the waterlogging problem," said Masud Ahmed of Panchlaish.
Dozens of others echoed his sentiment.
Asked, Bijoy Kumar Chowdhury, a councillor of the CCC, said the CCC alone could not solve the problem.
The job must be done in coordination with the Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) and the Chittagong Development Authority, added Bijoy, who is also chairman of the CCC's standing committee on waterlogging.
Mahbub Alam, senior vice-president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also stressed the need for coordination among the CCC, Wasa and CDA.
According to Zarina Hossain, a town planner, unplanned urbanisation is to blame for Chittagong's water stagnation.
Bijoy Chowdhury said the city authority had done a lot of work to address this problem but some major projects remained incomplete due to fund shortages.
“We have submitted a proposal regarding digging a canal in the port city from Bahaddarhat to the Karnaphuli River,” he said, adding that the proposal was under consideration of the local government ministry.
The seven-km canal will go through Khawza Road before falling into the Karnaphuli. Bijoy hoped that Chittagong's waterlogging problem would be solved to a great extent on completion of the Tk 297-crore project.
EVACUATION
Meanwhile, the Chittagong district administration yesterday evacuated 400 people from their houses on the hill slopes at Biswa Colony in Chittagong to prevent deaths in landslides.
A team led by Additional Deputy Commissioner (revenue) Ismail Hossain also demolished 25 shanties illegally built on the slopes.
Last year, 17 people were killed in landslides in the port city. The number was 127 in 2007.

3 killed in boiler blast at factory

At least three people were killed and five others injured in a boiler explosion at a cloth processing factory in Narsingdi town yesterday.
The boiler exploded around 7:30am at M/s Mokbul Hossain Bhuiyan Calendar and Finishing Mill at Shahaprotap. Al Amin, 25, a worker was killed on the spot, said Asaduzzaman, officer-in-charge of Narsingdi Model Police Station.
Broken pieces flew over an area of 1km. Abul Hashim, 12, a student of a nearby madrasa, and Begum, 45, wife of Enamul Hasan, of an adjacent house, died as some of those struck them hard, the OC said. Police recovered the bodies and sent them to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital for autopsies.
The injured, Jesmin Begum, 22, Ichha Moni, 4, Enamul Haque, 3, Sabbir, 3, and Abdur Razzak, 45, were rushed to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital. Later, Razzak, a teacher of the madrasa, was shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated.
A CNG filling station close to the mill was badly damaged, the police officer said.
Following the incident, mill owner Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan and his manager fled.
Abdus Sattar had been running the mill in a residential area and without any clearance from the Directorate of Environment, said Md Asaduzzaman, senior chemist of the environment department in the district.
Locals had protested against the mill and the Department of Environment had issued several warnings but the owner did not pay heed to them, he added.
Being informed of the explosion, Deputy Commissioner, Narsingdi Obaidul Azam visited the spot and gave Tk 5,000 to each of the bereaved families.
A one member probe committee led by Additional District Judge Md Ali Ahsan was formed to investigate the matter and submit a report within five working days.
A case was lodged with Narsingdi Sadar Police Station in connection with the incident.

PDB now opts for unsolicited deal Recommends Japanese-Korean joint venture after Summit failure

Within a week of local company Summit's withdrawal from the deal for Bibiyana phase-1 power project, the Power Development Board (PDB) is seeking the power ministry's clearance on whether the same job could be awarded to a Japanese-Korean joint venture on the basis of unsolicited negotiation.
On June 18, Summit gave up the deal for Bibiyana 341 megawatt gas-fired plant that it won last year by quoting a very low power price of around Tk 2.6 per kilowatt hour. But, as the company could not arrange finance for the project within a specified deadline, it agreed to a government proposal to give up the job so that the project could be implemented by some other means.
“Acting on the verbal instructions of the energy adviser to the prime minister, the PDB sought the power ministry's clearance on awarding the deal to Marubeni-Hyundai,” said a highly placed source.
In recent times, the Japanese-Korean joint venture was awarded deals for two power projects in Haripur and for Bibiyana phase -3. But in both the cases, the tender authorities resorted to controversial measures to eliminate competitors.
Sources said a young and powerful lawyer-lawmaker from the ruling Awami League is lobbying for the joint venture.
This is the first time under the present government, the PDB is recommending deal for a large power project on the basis of unsolicited negotiation.
The PDB on Sunday suggested asking the joint venture to arrange “buyer's credit” from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) in the same financial model as that for Bibiyana phase-3 contract. In buyer's credit, the PDB gives sovereign guarantee and the contractor brings in the loan.
On June 20, Marubeni-Hyundai joint venture was issued notification of award to set up 399-MW Bibiyana-3 plant.
In recent months, the PDB succeeded in attracting many bidders in open tender for large power projects under the buyer's credit formula.
When Summit agreed to withdraw from this project earlier this month, officials said the government would opt for several options-- it may go for a buyers' credit formula where interested bidders will arrange the funding, or it may go for state-to-state deal with some Middle East investors or even go for negotiations with the second lowest bidder of the original tender in which Summit won the contract.
But the private power project has suddenly become a subject of unsolicited deal as in the cases of short-term rental power projects. “And this is happening because of political lobbying,” said the source.
A top PDB official, who declined to be named, said, “We are doing this to save time. But we have not taken any decision.”
He added, “The government is looking at different options. There are three-four options. But we have not decided which is the best one. It may even be an open tender. The point is we have to deliver.”
Asked if the government supported big deals on the basis of unsolicited negotiation where questions of political favour and corruption would always be raised, the official said, “We always prefer transparent deal. We can't say who is behind this deal.”
But this is not the first time Marubeni-Hyundai is being secured with large power deals.
In February, the PDB violated its rules in technically qualifying Marubeni-Hyundai and disqualified five Chinese co-bidders in the Bibiyana -3 project. The joint venture was selected although it did not submit an authenticated or notarized end-user certificate of experience.
The tender rule demands that if such certificates are not provided, the bid will be disqualified under a “Rejection Clause”. The PDB also sought 38 clarifications from Marubeni in order to qualify. At the same time, it gave no such chance to any other co-bidders and disqualified their bids under the rejection clause.
Similarly, following two years of inept handling of a 360 MW power project in Haripur, the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (Egcb) awarded the contract to Marubeni-Hyundai by technically disqualifying another Japanese bidder -- Sumitomo -- which is no less a reputed company than Marubeni.
The EGCB also violated its tender terms of not allowing use of any unproven technology by allowing Marubeni-Hyundai to use an unproven generator.
The Haripur project is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), with which Sumitomo had lodged complaints of foul play in the tender.
The Marubeni-Hyundai joint venture is also competing in another large power project in Ghorashal where it is most likely to bring in Japanese finance.

Directors without 2pc share to lose job

Some 350 sponsors and directors of listed companies will not be allowed to sit on the boards as they hold less than 2 percent shares individually in their firms.
They failed to comply with a regulatory directive on minimum shareholding by not acquiring the required percentage of shares within May 21, according to primary data available from Dhaka Stock Exchange.
In such case of directorship vacancy, anybody with 5 percent or more stakes in a listed firm will be entitled to be a director in its next annual general meeting.
However, the Securities and Exchange Commission is yet to gather accurate information from the listed companies about the vacancy.
“The commission will send letters to all listed firms, instructing them to submit a list of vacant posts of directors to the regulator by July 15,” an SEC statement said yesterday.
The stockmarket regulator also rejected the appeals of directors seeking time extension to comply with the rule on minimum shareholding.
The High Court on June 21 upheld the SEC's special power to impose any condition on the market, rejecting five petitions that challenged the Section 2CC of Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969.
The Section 2CC empowers the commission to impose any conditions on listed companies in the interest of the market as well as investors. The regulator has been exercising this since 1997.
Citing the Section 2CC, an SEC circular on November 22 last year made it mandatory for sponsors and directors of listed companies to always keep the fixed percentage of shares under individual and combined ownership.
The SEC directive was meant to stop share sales by sponsors and directors and to create a buying pressure on the stockmarket for the benefit of investors, who have been suffering losses since the price debacle in January last year.
After issuance of the directive, 1,330 sponsors and directors in 231 listed companies were found holding less than 2 percent stakes in their own firms.
Of them, 980 people got the required amount of shares either purchasing from the secondary market or as gift from their close relatives.
At present, 238 companies are listed on the stock exchanges.
From a meeting yesterday, the stockmarket regulator asked the stock exchanges to collect information from the listed companies on their latest shareholding position and submit a report to it within July 15.
The SEC will also ask Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies to provide every support in gathering the list of vacant posts of directors and the latest shareholding status.
Earlier on May 21, the HC also upheld the SEC directive on minimum shareholding after rejecting petitions filed by some directors and aspirant directors of three listed firms.
The petitioners had challenged the legality of the SEC circular.

Refugee boat carrying 150 sinks off Christmas Island

A boat carrying around 150 suspected asylum seekers capsized on Wednesday between Indonesia and Australia's Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, the second such incident in less than week, highlighting Australia's struggle to stem the flow of boatpeople.
A maritime rescue was underway with two merchant ships on site, said Australian authorities. Last week, a boat carrying around 200 suspected asylum seekers capsized in the same area, killing around 90 lives.
"The vessel has capsized, there are people in the water," Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) spokeswoman Jo Meehan told Australian television.
"There are survivors and they will be recovering survivors. Reports are the conditions are fair, not ideal."
A photograph of the boat before it capsized, released by AMSA, showed a heavily crowded boat, which looks like it is made of timber. The photo showed calm seas in the area, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Christmas Island and 185 kilometers (115 miles) south of Indonesia.
The latest incidents have reignited a heated political debate over refugee policy and border security in Australia, despite the fact the country only receives a few thousand asylum-seekers by boat each year.
The government has agreement with Malaysia to process asylum seekers, but the opposition refuses to support the plan in Australia's parliament, preferring to re-open an offshore detention center on the remote Pacific Island of Nauru.
The waters between Indonesia and Christmas Island are a popular route for asylum seekers, who transit through Indonesia with the help of people smugglers in often overcrowded boats.
So far this year, more than 50 boats carrying more than 4,000 asylum seekers have been detected by Australian authorities.
The trip is often dangerous. In December 2011, as many as 200 died when an overcrowded boat sank off the coast of East Java. In 2010, 50 asylum seekers died when their boat was thrown onto rocks at Christmas Island.
In 2001, a crowded boat known as the SIEV X sank on its way to Australia with the loss of 350 lives.

Syria in state of war, says Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said his country is in "a state of war", more than a year after the uprising against his rule began.
Addressing his new cabinet, Assad said that all efforts had to be directed towards winning the war.
Earlier, activists said fierce fighting in the suburbs of the capital Damascus had been the worst there so far.
The fresh clashes came amid heightened tensions with neighbouring Turkey over the downing of a military jet.
"We live in a real state of war from all angles," President Assad told members of the cabinet who were sworn in on Tuesday.
"When we are in a war, all policies and all sides and all sectors need to be directed at winning this war."
He criticised countries that have been calling for him to stand down, saying that the West "takes and never gives and this has been proven at every stage".
He added: "We want good relations with all countries but we must know where our interests lie."
Earlier the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that fierce clashes took place near Republican Guard positions in Qadsaya and al-Hama, about 8km (5 miles) from the centre of Damascus.
Correspondents say it is rare for fighting to take place near Republican Guard bases and suggests a growing confidence among the rebels.
The elite Republican Guard, led by President Assad's younger brother Maher, is tasked with protecting the capital.
State TV confirmed Tuesday's fighting but said dozens of "terrorists" had been killed and many others taken prisoner, including foreign fighters.
The Observatory said that 10 people had been killed by shelling in Qadsaya and some 58 people had died in violence across Syria on Tuesday - 24 soldiers, 30 civilians and four rebels. The figures cannot be independently verified.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency: "This is the first time that the regime has used artillery in fighting so close to the capital."
Heavy shelling was also reported in Homs, where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last week tried unsuccessfully to arrange the evacuation of civilians.
Civilians trapped
Also on Tuesday, Turkey said the rules of engagement for its military had changed after Syria shot down a F-4 Phantom jet over the eastern Mediterranean last week.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament that if Syrian troops approached Turkey's borders, they would be seen as a threat.
"Every military element approaching Turkey from the Syrian border and representing a security risk and danger will be assessed as a military threat and will be treated as a military target," he said.
Syria insists that the F-4 Phantom was shot down because it was inside Syrian airspace. Turkey says the plane in international airspace.
Nato, of which Turkey is a member, convened an emergency meeting of its ambassadors on Monday and afterwards expressed "strong solidarity" with Ankara.
In other developments on Tuesday, the head of the UN's peacekeeping operations, Herve Ladsous, said its monitoring mission in Syria would remain suspended because of mounting violence.
In April, following months of bloodshed, the Syrian government agreed to a six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. UN monitors were deployed to Syria to oversee a ceasefire but the truce never took hold.
On Tuesday Russia said its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, would attend an international conference on Syria which Annan hopes to hold in Geneva on June 30 to revive his peace plan.
However, Moscow is insisting that Iran also be allowed to attend, a move strongly opposed by the US and its allies.
The BBC's Barbara Plett at UN headquarters in New York says that without an agreement on either the agenda or who will participate, it is not yet clear whether the meeting will go ahead.
Last year, in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets of Syria's cities demanding greater freedom and political reform.
The government's response was a brutal crackdown that left hundreds dead and inspired many opposition supporters to take up arms.
The main rebel fighting group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), has become increasingly better organised - and armed - and is in effective control of swathes of Idlib province and parts of Aleppo province in the north.

32 killed in Bandarban landslides

Devastating landslides triggered by heavy rains killed at least 32 people in Lama and Naikhanchhari upazilas of Bandarban early Wednesday.
In Lama, the mudslide killed 23 people including 11 of a family while nine more persons including six of another family were buried alive in Naikhanchhari, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting KM Tariqul Islam, deputy commissioner of Bandarban district.
Eleven members of one Nurul Islam's family buried alive in Raimakhali area of Faitong union in Lama during the landslide, the DC said.
On information, police and firefighters rushed to the spots and were conducting rescue operation.
The number of casualties from the landslides that took place in remote area of Bandarban may rise further, he added.