River-gobblers having a feast on Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu as they face no govt resistance
The Buriganga Second Bridge in Postogola overlooks a significant part of the river. Anybody standing on the bridge would have a clear view of the river and easily realise how shamelessly and ruthlessly encroachers have squeezed the lifeline of the capital.
Encroachment on the Buriganga over the years was so severe that the Shyampur side of the bridge has become just like a bottleneck.
A river view project of Bashundhara has filled up a part of the river and its shore on the Keraniganj side. On the other side beside the
Month: May 2009
Bijori Barkatullah: When beauty complements dramatics
She is a stunning beauty spruced up with talents. Bijori Barkatullah never thought that she would be this gifted actress and do all her job with utmost perfection. Reminiscing on the childhood days she says, “I was always busy with my studies. I also learnt to sing but then shifted to dancing.” Bijori is well versed in Kathak and Bharatnatyam and believes that one cannot learn anything without devotion and proper practice.
Talking about her first play, she says, “It was in the year 1998 and a play was to be aired in BTV. The actress failed to turn up and I was asked to do the role. I was given the script. I passed
Spectacular finale to IPL extravaganza
JOHANNESBURG – A galaxy of Bollywood stars added glitz and glamour to the spectacular closing ceremony of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 championship after the final game won by Deccan Chargers here Sunday.
Music and fireworks displays filled the air soon after the last ball was bowled, creating an electric-charged carnival atmosphere.
The Wanderers Stadium was transformed into a sea of shimmering, floating lights which were released into the sky as frenzied fans waved to their favourite
Tigers arrive in England
Oxford: The Bangladesh contingent has landed in England to start their World Twenty20 mission and it has been a pleasant arrival. The Tigers are the first among the top 10 teams to kick off their preparation for the tournament on English soil. The West Indies are of course currently on tour in England and are involved in the ODI series against the hosts which followed the Tests but Bangladesh’s purpose of coming in nine days before the launching of the tournament proper is solely T20 preparation
Gilly: An amazing experience
From laggards to champions! A fairytale ending for the Deccan Chargers. Captain Adam Gilchrist couldn’t have asked for anything better.
The heart went out to Anil Kumble! He bowled superbly, taking four wickets, and restricting the Deccan Chargers to 143. It looked an achievable target but the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen fell to a mixture of good bowling and reckless shots.
With 15 runs required off the last over, purple cap winner Rudra Pratap Singh bowled a disciplined line as the Royal Challengers fell
Deccan charge to glory
CricInfo, undated
Deccan Chargers took the bull in their emblem too seriously, as they came out charging to defend a modest total. They bowled with fire, they fielded aggressively, they sledged with a vengeance, and literally, almost by physical force, hustled Royal Challengers Bangalore out in a thrilling final that lived up to the occasion at the Wanderers in Johannesburg last night.
The Hyderabad side defended a
Rs 5,000 cr changed hands during IPL 2
Pune: Royal Challengers Bangalore making it to the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) second season in South Africa on Sunday caught punters on the wrong foot.
“Season 2 saw an overwhelmingly upward trend for bookies,” said a bookie on condition of anonymity. “With the Challengers making it to the finals, it has elevated them even higher.”
When the tournament began, the Royal Challengers were available at Rs30, but on Sunday, they were being quoted at Re0.80.
In all, over Rs5,000 crore were exchanged during the championship. “The championship has been a no-man’s game,” said the
Programmes on Nazrul jayanti
The 110th birth anniversary of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam will be celebrated across the country today. The government, foreign embassies, education institutions, socio-cultural organisations and TV channels have chalked out various programmes to mark the occasion.
The president Zillur Rahman will inaugurate the national poet’s birth anniversary programme at the Osmani Memorial Hall at 11:30am. The inaugural ceremony will be
Nazrul birth anniv on television channels
The 110th anniversary of birth of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam will be celebrated by all and the satellite television channels of the country will telecast special programs. They will telecast programmes including discussions, documentary show, dramas, soirees and recitations.
Channel-i
Channel i will telecast ‘Nazrul Mela’ live, from 11:05am to 5:00pm, from its office premise in Tejgaon. The mela includes musical programmes, poetry recitations, drama presentation, discussion and drawings on
Recession phobia
Md. Shairul Mashreque
AT the beginning of the new millennium the world has been beset by an insurmountable challenge in the wake of global recession. Economic downhill-slide in major capitalist countries in the north, which boast of having strong economies, threatens to affect countries in the south — especially the least developed countries (LDCs).
The economically poor countries are now feeling the shattering impact of the domineering role of the north in open market operations. Our economy might become stagnant because of the global recession. The crisis faced by many a country in America, Europe and Asia is a “danger with a
Singh is King: Lessons for Bangladesh
Hassanuzzaman
DR. Manmohan Singh has indeed proven himself to be the king of South Asian leaders by repeating history after nearly five decades. The Indian National Congress (INC) won a landslide victory in which it, along with its allies, now holds 262 seats in the parliament.
Singh’s entry in 1991 as the finance minister of India was at a time when the East and West were being reintegrated. Furthermore, the EU, which is an economic and political union of 27 states located primarily in Europe, was established through the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 — building upon the pre-existing European Economic Community.
Overall, the decade of the 1990s witnessed a period where economics triumphed over politics, i.e., the notions of free market and capitalism overrode the visions that
HC asks govt to halt river grabbers
The High Court on Sunday asked the government to act swiftly to stop erection of any structures – temporary or permanent – on the banks of the Buriganga, Shitalakhya, Balu and Turag rivers and earth filling and encroachment of any kinds on the rivers.
The High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque and Justice M Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed also asked the government to explain in a week why it should not be ordered to demarcate the original boundaries and limits of the four rivers by forming a
Climate change impact: Unplanned shrimp cultivation threatens environment
In view of the economic recession, particularly in the USA and European countries, the prices of frozen food in the international markets has fallen up to 40 to 45 percent posing a threat to the industry in Bangladesh.
“A red alert hovers over the frozen foods industry,” said Sheikh Abdul Baki, Vice President of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters’ Association (BFFEA).
He referred that export earning from frozen food recorded a fall by
Why are ministers denouncing army inquiry report?
Sadeq Khan
The representative government of Sheikh Hasina, brought to power by a landslide election victory of its grand alliance at the end of two years of emergency rule, is not yet faced with any serious civic challenge to its lackadaisical style of governance. The Prime Minister enjoys blind loyalty of a countrywide network of activist following, albeit factional feuding over sharing of spoils.
She has an overwhelming majority in the parliament capable of recasting the Constitution in her desired mould, albeit on pain of confirmation by a referendum if such recasting involves structural changes of the Supreme Law. Yet
Turag almost grabbed
River grabbers back after 2 years of hibernation; rampant encroachment narrows the river down to a canal
Encroachment, after pollution, stands as the biggest threat to the life of our rivers. The reach and scope of the encroachers have made them seemingly invincible. Powerful, rich and ruthless, these encroachers have come to pull strings in government, pocket law enforcers and lean on land administration to produce ownership papers out of the blue. The legal system has been left helpless in its wake and left our rivers in peril.
Starting today, we offer a series on the most visible encroachments on the Turag and
Govt initiates inquiry into unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers
The government has initiated an inquiry into unnatural deaths of Bangladesh Rifles soldiers in custody after the February 25–26 rebellion in the BDR headquarters in Dhaka.
‘The home affairs ministry has formed a committee for an executive inquiry into unnatural deaths of BDR soldiers after the February rebellion… The committee will find out the reason behind such incidents,’ the home affairs secretary, Abdus Sobhan Sikder, told New Age on Wednesday.
The government move came in the wake of pressure from local and international rights groups against the custodial death of
Govt retracts from e-passport move
The government has decided to go ahead with the project of machine-readable passports, to be issued from the next year, backtracking from its earlier decision to introduce e-passport, to be commissioned in 2014.
The Awami League government immediately after assuming office on January 6, 2009, first decided to implement machine-readable passports and then moved towards e-passport before once again reverting to the machine-readable passport project, which, critics say, will only put an additional financial burden on the state
Dhaka to sign Asian Highway pact as per UNESCAP routes
Communications ministry meets today to settle the issue
The Awami League-led coalition will sign the inter-governmental agreement on the Asian Highway network although the BNP-Jamaat government refrained from ratifying it on the grounds of ‘controversial’ route proposals, said officials of the communications ministry on Wednesday.
The BNP-led four party alliance, which tried to bring about changes in the proposed routes, did not sign the multi-national deal before the deadline that expired on December 31, 2005.
It believed that acceptance of the routes proposed by the United Nations for Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific
National secrecy on the verge of being leaked out: Clandestine arms trade and the trial
Two former generals who were once in charge of national security intelligence of the country were taken to dock for abetting arms supply to Indian separatist ULFA.
They were accused of using the government installations in CUFL Jetty in Chittagong Port for unloading arms.
But their political bosses have not yet been taken to task. From which country the arms were despatched to the Chittagong Port could not be ascertained.
Major General (retd) Rezzaqul Haider and Brigadier General (retd) Abdur Rahim said in their submission in the court whatever they have
Ex-NSI chiefs tell of foreign links
Ctg Arms Haul
Ex-NSI chiefs tell of foreign links
Interrogators have gleaned important information about the smuggling of 10 trucks of arms and ammunition and foreign links to the incident from the two arrested former National Security Intelligence (NSI) chiefs, the prosecution yesterday told the court.
But the former NSI directors general–Maj Gen (retd) Rezzaqul Haider Chowdhury and Brig Gen (retd) Abdur Rahim–tactfully avoided information about their involvement in the incident, the prosecution lawyer said while placing his