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
Headlines
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
Research activities of BRRI at stake
Toxic industrial seepage, water-logging threaten field trials Research activities at Bangladesh Rice Research Institute have been threatened by intrusion of industrial waste water and possible spill-over of toxicity in the soil of the institute’s immediate vicinity. If the seepage of toxic industrial wastes continues, the institute may need to be relocated soon from the industrial ... Read more
Grabbers defy all
Filling up Shitalakkhya despite HC orders, cases filed against them Filling of the river Shitalakkhya at Kanchpur in Narayanganj continues under the very nose of district and police administrations despite a High Court order to stop the encroachment. The foreshores and a major portion of riverbed have been filled with earth, narrowing down the river ... Read more
23yrs more needed to clear Bangabandhu Bridge debts
Tk 1.5bn is paid in principal, interest annually to ADB, WB It will take at least 23 years more to clear the liabilities the country owes to multilateral lenders who gave loans for constructing the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge across the Jamuna River. An annual payment of Tk 1.50 billion in principal and interest to the ... Read more
Call for credible probe
Limon Shot to Disability Call for credible probe Amnesty terms govt’s dealing a mockery, says it exposes contradictions, lack of accountability within state system Amnesty International yesterday said the government’s dealing with the Limon issue was a mockery and it exposed contradictions and lack of accountability within the state system. Limon Hossain, a college student, ... Read more
Little done to stop polythene bag use despite ban
Continuing manufacture of polythene bags along with lax law enforcement is blamed by environmentalists for the increased use of non-biodegradable polythene bags. Save the Environment Movement president Abu Naser Khan blamed the government authorities for failing to implement the ban on the bags saying that their enforcement operations were very irregular. The environment department’s director ... Read more
Shady realtors choke Turag
DoE finds 4 companies responsible for earth filling in the river Neither the local administration nor the relevant authorities stopped the massive destruction of the river Turag, its foreshores and adjoining wetlands with mindless earth-filling by a number of private housing companies to develop plots choking the river almost by half at Goran Chat Bari ... Read more
Rain, tidal surge spell huge sufferings
Depression starts to weaken Relentless rain and unusually high tidal surge kept on battering people of the coastal areas yesterday and destroyed several thousand homes, damaged crops on half a lakh acres of land, fish enclosures and dams and disrupted communication. Over 10 lakh people have been rendered homeless in Barisal, Khulna, Chittagong and Cox’s ... Read more
Tidal surges batter coast
Crops, hundreds of houses damaged; embankments crack The depression over the Bay made landfall between the southwestern districts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, triggering tidal surge that destroyed homes and crops, damaged dams and disrupted communication in the wee hours yesterday. Large areas of the coastal districts, including chars, were flooded by the surge as ... Read more
Random parking goes unabated
DMP runs only 4 run-down tow trucks, 2 of them busy in VIP duty Random parking on roads has become a habit of city motorists as they very well know that nobody would tow away their wrongly parked vehicles. At worst, they will have to pay a nominal fine. Also, traffic personnel remain busy mostly ... Read more
Labourers the founders
Free Primary School in Tangail Labourers the founders A few day labourers have set a rare example of devotion to education and the society in a remote village in Tangail at a time when many have turned education into a tool of making a fast buck. The labourers, mostly rubber garden workers and rickshaw-van pullers, ... Read more