The WB will revive Dhaka’s rivers
$20b project plan
News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The World Bank will lead a $20 billion project to restore Dhaka's five rivers.
"We see the World Bank's imprint in countries where it has large-scale operations. Bangladesh lacks World Bank signage. It's hard to spot the World Bank here," Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal recalled his conversation with Hartwig Schafer, the WB's former vice-president for South Asia. He asked Schafer to lead a landmark project in Bangladesh.
Kamal told a press briefing Sunday after meeting Schafer's successor Martin Raiser, "Do something here so people remember the World Bank for ages."
Bangladesh lifts ban on visiting tourists
World Tourism Day today
News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The government is set to withdraw embargo on the visit of foreign tourists to Bangladesh as the National Technical Advisory Committee on Covid-19 on Monday recommended doing so if the tourists can show their ‘full vaccine certificates’ on arrival.
Civil aviation and tourism state minister Md Mahbub Ali said this at a press conference organised by the ministry at Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation in Agargaon of the capital ahead of the World Tourism Day today.
SME fair in Dhaka starts on November 24
City Desk : dhakamirror.com
The 10th National SME Fair-2022 will be held from November 24 to December 3 to promote SME enterprises and diversify their markets.
350 stalls will be accessible at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in Dhaka for SMEs to demonstrate their products and collect orders.
130 of the 325 participants are fashion-related. Participating industries include food and agro-processing, handicraft, leather, jute, ICT, light engineering, and plastics.
Dhaka’s “digital smart parking” system set to be introduced by the DNCC
The pilot project will begin in late November or early December on nine streets in Gulshan.
News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The Dhaka North City Corporation, with police help, plans to set up an app-based parking system in Gulshan to prevent people from parking randomly.
The app will show users empty parking spots and hourly charges that can be paid through the app. Authorities are coordinating with Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, and Niketan societies.
The Gulshan pilot project will launch at the end of November or the beginning of December.
Shoilmari: A river dead, livelihoods endangered
Dipankar Roy
The once mighty Shoilmari river in Khulna's Batiaghata upazila can now only be called a river on paper. In just three years, it has been filled with silt.
The once 150-metre-wide river has now turned into a 3 to 4-metre narrow channel. Boats cannot sail there in low tide and people can cross its stretch by walking.
Experts say the lack of upstream flow, unplanned dams, and construction of sluice gates are responsible for the river's death. Besides, after piling pillars for Rupsha Rail Bridge, the connecting river Shoilmari was silted within a short period.
BWDB officials say a huge amount of silt deposited on the river bed that comes through tide is a common trend in the southwestern region. Khulna's Batiaghata is no exception.
The water supply from at least 100 villages, including Dakatiya beel, Gutudia and Panchu, has been cut off as Shoilmari river's water disappeared. Besides, these areas also run the risk of waterlogging in near future due to the river's disappearance.
This correspondent visited Dhani Bunia, Soilmari, Uttar Shilmari, Hogolbunia, Hatbati, Choighoria, Jolma, Batiaghata, Khalashibunia, Baguladanga, Par Batiaghata, Mailmara along the river basin.
At Dakshinpara area of Uttar Shoilmari, some villagers have already occupied the river beds and filled the areas with sand. A similar situation was noticed in Hogolbunia Khayaghat area.
Brick kilns have also been built by encroaching the river.
At Ramdia sluice gate area of Jalma union, eight out of nine gates were seen closed due to the siltation of the river.
"Shoilmari was over 800 to 900 feet wide. Just 10 years ago, three launch routes from this river used to carry passengers to Koyra, Paikgacha in Khulna and Burigoalini in Satkhira district. Shoilmari began to fill up in 2015-16 and within a few years, the water flow stopped," said Nimai Chandra Roy (72), a former primary school teacher of Khalashi Bunia village, who used to cross the river to attend classes in the '90s and 2000s at Dumuria upazila.
Motiar Rahman, a resident of Uttar Soilmari village who retired from BWDB in 2008, said he was engaged in the construction of the embankment and polder 28/2 in the 70s.
"Due to excessive silt coming from the river's two heads, some brick kilns that occupied the river bed contributed to the river's dying state. If the river is not excavated, people will not be able to live in this area," he said.
Panchanon Golder, a mobile fish trader of Chalksoilmari village, said, "Earlier, I used to cross the river to go to Khulna by boat or trawler every morning. But in the last two years, boats don't run during low tide."
"Very often I crossed the river by walking in knee-deep mud. Locals used to catch fish, including Hilsa, Loitta and shrimp, from here. However, very few fish can be found in the river now," he said.
ABM Shafiqul Islam, president of Pani Committee, a civil society platform which works on rivers and water in the Khulna region, said, "The coastal rivers are naturally under the influence of tides. Upstream water used to balance these rivers. But in the name of river management, unplanned dams and construction of sluice gates are killing the river. Soilmari is a victim of it."
Ashutosh Barman, executive engineer of BWDB, Khulna Division-1 said, "We issued a notice for evicting the illegal structures, including brick kilns. We also plan to dredge the river."
However, he mentioned nothing about the tentative period required for excavation.
Countrywide heavy rains until 13 Sep
News Desk : dhakamirror.com
The current heavy rains brought on by the depression at the Bay of Bengal are predicted to last until Tuesday, according to the weather forecast service.
The low will weaken in next 24 hours and move towards the plain land through Odisha and towards Chhatishgarh through West Bengal afterwards.
Mostafa Kamal Palash, a weather and climate researcher at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, gave this information after reviewing various models of weather forecasting.
Can teachers be the pivot of change in education?
Views
Manzoor Ahmed
"No system of education can be better than its teachers" is an aphorism that remains meaningful. The nostalgic and idealised image of the teacher as a scholar, dispensing knowledge and wisdom to the young selflessly, who lives a simple life with little concern for material rewards and who is looked upon by the young as a friend, philosopher and guide, is surely overdrawn. But a teacher is still the custodian of the young – manush gorar karigor. To ignore the special role of a teacher in society is to place the future of the nation at peril.
Climate loss and damage are clearly visible in southwest Bangladesh
Views
Ashish Barua, Sawkat Chowdhury
The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that the sea level, over the last 120 years, has increased by 0.20 metres, and continues rising fast, caused by thermal expansion, glacier ice loss, ice sheet loss, etc. The sea level rise in Bangladesh estimated using gauge data shows varying in different parts of the coastal zone, while the coastal areas along the Sundarbans are highly vulnerable.