Headlines

River taskforce wants those to be knocked down, rebuilt rightly A taskforce to save rivers yesterday identified 13 low bridges on rivers around the capital as obstacles to watercraft. The taskforce would urge the Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD) ministry, Roads and Highways Department and Bangladesh Railway, which constructed those bridges, to knock them ... Read more

Life in the capital turned miserable with mercury rising to a boiling point, power cuts becoming seemingly never ending and water taps and gas burners drying up amid an acute crisis of utilities. A nagging traffic congestion added to the woes, forcing the city’s 13 million people to pass some of the worst times in ... Read more

Nation celebrates Independence Day today The horrors of March 25 night return to haunt the nation as it observes the 4oth Independence Day today, but this time with a mixed emotion of joy and worry as the government is set to start the process of trying war criminals. Now, the nation waits for quick completion ... Read more

Poor doubly deceived by WASA Most of the people in both rural and urban areas still have little or no access to safe drinking water as the policymakers, industries and research workers are yet to come up with a comprehensive and pragmatic plan to address the problem, reports NewAgebd. Even most of the ‘improved’ sources ... Read more

Two people were killed and eight others injured when a poorly-mounted hoarding collapsed on them in front of a market at Gulshan-1 during the storm that swept through the capital yesterday evening. The collasped hoarding also wrecked four cars and a motorbike. Of the deceased, one was identified as Saiful Islam Sobhan, 15, an employee ... Read more

The severely affected people of the areas which bore the brunt of cyclone Aila’s fury in the south-western districts of the country have been suffering from acute shortage of safe drinking water and, as a result, from water-borne diseases in the ongoing dry season. Their water sources were ravaged by Aila, none of which have ... Read more

Delay in repair of embankments blamed More areas in the Aila-hit southern districts of Khulna and Satkhira are going under water as the authorities have failed to complete repair of the embankments, badly damaged by the cyclone last year, in time forcing hundreds of villagers to leave their homesteads, reports NewAgebd. Many people living on ... Read more

The 100th International Women’s Day will be observed in the country as elsewhere in the world today with the theme of equal rights and opportunity for women and men as a commitment for development and changing the days. On this day in 1857, female workers of a sewing factory in New York clashed with local ... Read more

Court directives not yet followed Instead of going by the High Court directions to protect Gulshan-Banani and Gulshan-Baridhara lakes from encroachers and restore them to their original state, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha is pursuing a scheme to conserve only whatever of the lakes are left, reports The Daily Star. Rajuk however intends to acquire any genuine ... Read more

Overpopulation and mismanagement are the major reasons of the capital’s acute problems such as unplanned growth, traffic congestion, and water and gas shortage which are making Dhaka unliveable, experts and planners said, reports NewAgebd. They called for immediate action to save Dhaka, which ranks the second among the worst liveable cities of the world, according ... Read more

The nation paid homage to the language movement martyrs a minute after midnight past Saturday, with thousands of people walking barefooted to the shaheed minars across the country with wreaths and flowers. People in Dhaka started streaming along the roads leading to the Central Shaheed Minar on the Dhaka University campus to place flowers at ... Read more

The nation pays homage to the martyrs of the language movement as the clock strikes one minute past midnight today amid heightened security at and around the Central Shaheed Minar in Dhaka on the occasion of Amar Ekushey, which is also International Mother Language Day, reports NewAgebd. The president, Zillur Rahman, is expected to place ... Read more

Holiday staggering system fails to improve situation The city dwellers have got little respite from persisting gas crisis despite some government initiatives including holiday gas staggering system, reports The Daily Star. Residents of different areas of the capital alleged that the crisis remains almost the same, and they continue to suffer for this. The areas ... Read more

Development partners yesterday pledged bigger doses of financial and technical assistance for the development of the country and endorsed ‘Steps Towards Change’, the revised Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP-II) ending the two-day meet. In line with the suggestions from the donors at the Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF) meet in the city, the government agreed to ... Read more

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) called upon the developed country representatives and donors, who are participating in Bangladesh Development Forum (BDF), to pay their carbon debt as compensation. A total of 21 CSOs yesterday formed a rally and human chain programme in front of National Press Club. A two-day-long BDF meet started on Monday. Speakers said ... Read more

Vehicle owners display licence plates as they wish, get away with the offence right under traffic men’s nose Car licence plates have become a symbol of utter disregard for law as the vehicle owners tamper with the plates by using varying typefaces and designs in violation of the rules that strictly prohibit such practices, reports ... Read more

Archaeologists in Mahasthangarh archaeological site have recently discovered an ancient city gate, used as the city’s entrance at least 1,500 years ago, reports The Daily Star. A joint archaeological excavation team of France and Bangladesh found the ancient city gate on February 1 on the south-western side of the site. After the discovery, the team ... Read more

Bangladesh is going to first-ever crocodile export next month as the country’s lone croc farm has finally obtained permission from the concerned authorities to this end, reports BSS. ‘We have finally got the permission from the Department of Forest on January 21 that paved the way for our croc export,’ Mushtaq Ahmed, Managing Director and ... Read more

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday in parliament said that her government has a mega-city plan to expand the areas of Dhaka city, reports The Daily Star Hasina also said her government had taken massive initiatives to digitise land survey records in efforts to build modern land administration. The government is seriously considering giving approval to ... Read more

Removal of each kilogram of Buriganga garbage costs Tk 833 The ongoing cleansing drive in the River Buriganga might prove costly for taxpayers as the authorities failed to shut down active polluting sources which are still discharging 25,000 tonnes of untreated wastes and 40,000 tonnes of toxic chemicals into the river every day, reports NewAge. ... Read more