From The Daily Star Gridlocks in the capital halt traffic for 7.5 hours a day, earning Dhaka a bad reputation of being one of the world’s most congested cities alongside exposing it to huge economic losses, according to a survey report released yesterday. Roads and Highways Department (R&H) conducted the study. The respondents said tailbacks ... Read more
City News
Businessmen to grab sports
Mayor, environmentalists decry bid to take over Dhanmondi public playground A limited company of powerful businessmen will soon take over Dhanmondi playground, earmarked in the city’s master plan as a common field, to build there a mini stadium with exclusive sports facilities much to the chagrin of local residents. Dhanmondi Club, now a limited company, ... Read more
Overhead cables to go underground
The government has decided to move all overhead cables and electrical wires underground in phases to avert risk to public life and give the capital city a facelift. ‘We have decided to put all the cables underground as a huge number of overhead wires across the city are posing risk to public life as well ... Read more
Sadarghat terminal turns a nightmare
Sadarghat terminal has become a nightmare for long-haul launch passengers as porters and middlemen take control of the luggage just at the entrance and charge whatever money they wish to carry those up to the vessels. Passengers do not have any choice and refusal to pay the charged money or asking for the money receipt ... Read more
Most city roads in bad shape
Most of the roads, lanes and by-lanes in the Dhaka city remain in a poor condition for lack of regular maintenance by the Dhaka City Corporation. The corporation authorities have kept their eyes away from taking care of the city roads for about three years, making traffic difficult and risky in the capital. Road digging ... Read more
Gulshan Lake grabbing going on unabated
Nearly 40 percent of the lake at the posh Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara residential areas has been grabbed by some influential people over the years defacing the panoramic view of the area and degrading environment. Though Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) is supposed to preserve the lake and protect it from encroachers, it miserably failed to ... Read more
56th anniversary of RU observed
The Rajshahi University (RU) steps in 56th years with a glorious past as it celebrated its 56th founding anniversary with a day-long programme on Monday. The programme began with the hoisting of the national flag and the university flag at 6:00am at the administrative building and other buildings. RU Vice-Chancellor Prof Abdus Sobhan inaugurated the ... Read more
Monsoon Book Fair launched in city
A group of publishing houses on Thursday opened a book fair at the Concord Emporium Shopping Complex on Elephant Road in Dhaka, marking the inauguration of a book market at the place. Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Serajul Islam Chowdhury, also the editor of Natun Diganta, inaugurated the book fair as chief guest. Professor Ahmed Kamal, ... Read more
Dhaka University turns 88
The University of Dhaka, the premier university of the country, becomes 88 years old today. Its birthday will be celebrated by colourful celebrations by the students, teachers and employees. The university will observe the day as ‘Dhaka University Day’ through colourful processions, hoisting of flags, cutting the cake, friendly football matches, debates, concert, voluntary blood ... Read more
The City We Live In: Students join classes and Suffer from garbage stink
The whimsical waste management system of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) upsets the academic atmospherer of Siddeshwari Girls High School. Students of one of the age-old schools of the city attends classes squeezing their noses as the air of the Bailey Road gets heavy with the stink from the garbage disposed off in front of the ... Read more
Sustainable architecture can ensure best use of resources: BUET team wins world award
Architects at a programme here yesterday said Bangladesh needs sustainable architectures to ensure the best use of its existing resources. “Bangladesh suffers from various problems due to mismanagement of wealth and lack of sustainable architectures,” Architect Ahsan Ullah Mojumder of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) told a press conference on the campus. Sustainable ... Read more
5th Asian universities debating contest kicks off
The six-day ‘Fifth Asian Universities Debating Championship (AUDC) 2009’ began amid a gala ceremony at a hotel in the city yesterday. A total of 279 debaters comprising 69 teams of 10 Asian countries will participate in the championship. The participating teams are from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the ... Read more
Quick disposal of acid attack cases planned
Monitoring cell to be formed at every district, says home minister Monitoring cells would be formed at district levels for quick disposal of acid-violence cases, said Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday. “Normally the acid-violence cases take time delaying acid-victims justice. A national monitoring cell has already been formed in this regard headed by a joint ... Read more
DCC sitting on billboard mess
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) has failed to take any effective measures to prevent random installation of advertising hoardings, mostly illegal, posing serious risk to city dwellers, especially during storm. Only in the last week, three billboards collapsed in different parts of the capital. On May 6, a young man died and three others sustained injuries ... Read more
Migratory birds festival: Two-day exhibition at TSC
“Survey says within last 23 years, almost 30 species of birds in our country have disappeared while about 66 percent of birds’ population reduced,” said Enam-ul-Haque, a bird specialist and President of ‘Bangladesh Bird Club,’ at a press briefing at the beginning of a bird fair held at the Teacher-Student Center (TSC) of Dhaka University ... Read more
Ten receive Anannya Top Ten awards
Ten women received the ‘Anannya Top Ten 2008’ awards yesterday for their outstanding contributions to different potential sectors in society. The women from 10 distinct fields, including music, media, business, science, liberation war, publication, archaeology, instruments, photography and mountaineering, received the awards. The Anannya, a fortnightly magazine for
The city we live in: A death trap for passengers, passers-by
It was 9:30 in the morning. The busiest hour of the day. Masuma Jahan arrived at Jatrabari from Mirpur to see her ailing daughter who lives in South Jatrabari adjacent to a Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Seeing the condition of the road, she became perplexed. “The bus dropped me near the park. I crossed the Jatrabari circle ... Read more
Light shower brings relief in city life
After days of sultry weather, a late morning light shower for a few minutes yesterday brought relief to the city dwellers. The sky got covered with thick black clouds at about 11:15am after sunshine earlier in the morning and then the city experienced a shower for a few minutes. Earlier, the city experienced drizzles overnight ... Read more
Ruet reopens today amid tight security, restrictions
RU likely to reopen after summer vacation Rajshahi University of Engineering and Technology (Ruet) reopens today amid tight security and restrictions imposed by the authorities on rallies, processions and activities of the student bodies. Campus sources said the students have started returning to their respective halls as those were reopened yesterday. The hall authorities are ... Read more
Consultants breach terms in preparing DAP survey report
The four consulting firms responsible for preparing a survey report on the detailed area plan for Dhaka city have breached the terms of reference in carrying out their tasks, said experts and DAP review committee report. ‘The four consultants did not make specific proposals to implement the DAP guidelines on city’s development control, which is ... Read more