River taskforce to seek PM’s help Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) have been filling up portions of Baunia and Ramchandrapur canals to build roads in another instance of violation of environmental laws by government agencies. The river taskforce yesterday expressed concern over the filling up of the two canals and decided ... Read more
Headlines
Income fixed, expense wild
Salaried people give up on savings to grapple with rising food inflation, cost of living A newborn usually brings a sense of happiness to family members and relatives, but the joy of becoming the parents of a second child is tinged with worries for Rafeza Khanam and her husband. Concerns over the means to build ... Read more
Khilgaon flyover to get loop at Sayedabad point
Move to facilitate traffic from city’s eastern part to Motijheel The government expects to start construction of a new loop at Sayedabad point of Khilgaon Flyover in October to maximise the structure’s benefit for the people in adjacent areas. Vehicles from Pragati Sarani and the capital’s eastern part Madartek, Bashabo and Sipahibagh will have direct ... Read more
Commuter train by next year
20 Chinese trains to ply in Dhaka, Ctg Modern trains will be introduced in Dhaka and Chittagong by the next year to make commuting with their adjoining districts fast and easier. Bangladesh Railway (BR) and Tangshan Railway Vehicle Company Ltd, a Chinese private firm, inked an agreement on the $58.31 million project at the railway ... Read more
Veggie prices skyrocket
Prices of various vegetables, used to prepare popular iftar dishes for breaking Ramadan fast, skyrocketed yesterday amid a surge in demand. Prices of sugar, onion, and chickpea also marked rise, after a brief stability which followed the businesses assurance to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that they would keep the prices stable. The prices of cucumber ... Read more
16 killed, 50 hurt
Buses Collide Head-on 16 killed, 50 hurt Punctured tyre of luxury bus leads to crash; drivers said to be dead At least 16 people were killed and 50 others injured when a luxury bus collided head-on with a local passenger bus at Shibpur in Narsingdi yesterday. The death toll may rise, as some of the ... Read more
Business behind police boxes
Nexus of some advertising agencies and cops flout rules to set up about 350 structures on pavements, intersections for quick money A group of advertising agencies in connivance with traffic sergeants and police officials has started building unauthorised police boxes on pavements and roadsides to rent out space on those in advertisement market. As many ... Read more
Dengue catches DCC napping
Strikes early this year; number of infection shows sharp rise as anti-mosquito drive hardly carried out; DCC complains of poor logistics The dreaded dengue fever is back. The number of dengue-affected people in the capital took a sharp rise with 82 new cases reported from July 23 to 28. According to the control room of ... Read more
HSC results better a little
75.08pc pass exams; 10,500 more score GPA-5 this year More than three-fourths of the total number of students appeared in this year’s Higher Secondary Certificate examination passed marking a slight improvement in overall academic standard. For the first time in the country’s history the combined pass percentage under 10 education boards, including Madrasa Education Board ... Read more
Commuters left to suffer
Gridlocks go from bad to worse as traffic regulated for VVIP movement Zihan Saba was sobbing as she entered her school around 2:15pm yesterday. A student of class two, she was 18 minutes late for her second-term exam. Saba’s mother, who accompanied her to Siddheswari Girls High School on Bailey Road in the capital, said ... Read more
Sirajganj town threatened
Breach in protection embankment widens as Jamuna erodes About 105-metre stretch of Sirajganj town protection embankment along with an adjacent road has collapsed in the River Jamuna. Locals became furious after they did not found any officials of Water Development Board when the portion at the Hard Point started to go into the river on ... Read more
People oppose school, college on Sabujbagh playground
The government decision to establish a school and a college on Sabujbagh playground in the city drew adverse public reaction. People in the neighbourhood said that the government took the decision ignoring a High Court verdict delivered on March 15 directing the government to remove, in 15 days, all illegal structures except for those built ... Read more
Population 14.23cr
Fifth census finds it grew by 1.8cr in 10 years Bangladesh’s population now stands at 14.23 crore, which is 1.8 crore more than a decade ago. According to the preliminary data of the latest government census, Bangladesh’s annual growth rate is 1.34 percent. The preliminary report says that more people now live in Bangladesh than ... Read more
Golden fibre holds hopes for revival
Demand for raw jute, jute goods goes up in last two years The once flourishing jute industry is showing signs of a turnaround with production and export of jute and jute goods going up over the last two years. Official sources and industry insiders attribute this to increased price of raw jute and demand for ... Read more
Mourning at schools today
Condolences pour in; case filed against helper-turned-driver Educational institutions across the country will today mourn the loss of 44 lives in Monday’s road crash in Mirsarai of Chittagong. As condolence poured in from across the country, ministers and education officials yesterday rushed to Mirsarai to condole with the bereaved families. No words were soothing enough ... Read more
3-day drive launched by authorities
Saving Shitalakkhya 3-day drive launched by authorities A joint team of the district administration and water transport authorities yesterday launched a three-day drive to free the Shitalakkhya river from massive earth-filling at Kanchpur. However, there is no mechanism in place on how to sustain the action, which came following a report in The Daily Star, ... Read more
Schoolboys’ trip of death
43 students killed as truck plunges into ditch; driver said to be talking on mobile, flees; nation in mourning A truck packed with students crashed and flipped over into a ditch in Mirsarai upazila yesterday afternoon, killing at least 43 of them and injuring another 12. Forty-one of the dead were schoolchildren and two college ... Read more
Pedestrians risk life multitasking
The afternoon was relatively calm because it was hot, more so because it was the weekend. No jam-packed streets in Dhanmondi with bumper-to-bumper traffic honking their horns uselessly. Only a few vehicles were whizzing by at almost regular intervals. Sultana Rahman was walking on the street. She was not on the pavement and she was ... Read more
Expressway work begins soon
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain Thursday reiterated that construction work on the much-vaunted Elevated Expressway from Uttara to Chittagong Road of Jatrabari would begin this month, hopefully to reduce traffic jam in the overcrowded capital city, reports UNB. “Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate formally the construction works under the project, the biggest public-private partnership ... Read more
Abdin assaulted by hostile cops
BNP asks home minister to quit; Sahara regrets excesses; case filed against Abdin Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque was assaulted by the law enforcers yesterday, the first day of the 48-hour countrywide hartal called by BNP-led four-party alliance. In a late night development, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police filed a case against 10 to 12 people ... Read more