Headlines

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

From The News Today The Halda River in Chittagong, considered as the major source of Indian carps, is going to lose its fish resources over the next two decades due to intrusion of saline water apprehended to be caused by sea-level rise, reports UNB. “The Halda River will lose its sweet water flow eventually damaging ... Read more

Surveys on 4 rivers point at big names From The Daily Star The Narayanganj district administration in its survey report on the four major rivers has revealed how industrialists, influential individuals and government organisations have grabbed the Buriganga, Shitalakkhya, Balu and Dhaleswari since 1983. All the four district administrations, which also include Dhaka, Munshiganj and ... Read more

The much-discussed long march of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB) yesterday left the city towards Tipaimukh led by its Ameer and Chairmunai Peer Syed Rezaul Karim. The long march along with thousands of people in more than five hundred buses started its journey from Muktangan at 3 pm and few road marches were held at Motijheel, ... Read more

The government is expected to float an international tender for construction of Padma Multipurpose Bridge next February as a high-powered coordination meeting yesterday finalised a revised estimated cost of US$ 2.4 billion for the 6.15 km bridge. The cost almost entirely will be financed by the country’s development partners, which has gone up by one ... Read more

Govt spends Tk 35,000 a month on each car The government does not have any central mechanism to check misuse of its transport, especially the vehicles under various projects, allowing many officials and employees to avail themselves of transport facilities round the clock which they are not entitled to. An officer of the rank of ... Read more

The nagging traffic congestions on the city’s roads appeared to have returned to previous level as very few drivers were going by the lane system introduced by Dhaka Metropolitan Police to bring discipline on the streets. Commuters blamed the law enforcing agencies for lack of monitoring whether the drivers were going by their designated lanes. ... Read more

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) on December 15 declared the four rivers and its foreshores, adjacent to the capital, ecologically critical to save the rivers from encroachers and pollution. They banned dumping sewage from home, industries and other institutions, setting up industries which pollute soil, water, air and sound and any work which can ... Read more

Some 5,000 trees felled in Sitakunda to clear space for ship-breaking yard From The Daily Star About 5,000 trees were razed in over half a kilometre of the forest belt at Sonachhari coast under Sitakunda upazila in Chittagong on Sunday night. According to officials, the wholesale felling of the trees was carried out with instructions ... Read more

3 varieties to prevent a million tonnes of crop loss a year From The Daily Star Bangladesh is set to officially release three flood-tolerant rice varieties that would help farmers prevent up to a million tonnes of annual crop loss caused by flash floods, researches said. Officials concerned told The Daily Star that these rice ... Read more

Woes of waterlogged victims compounded as they slip out of spotlight; thousands still live on embankments, aid flow stopped From The Daily Star Lutfar Gazi doesn’t even tries to recall that disastrous day when cyclone Aila ripped through the area he lives and wrecked havoc on his life in May this year. Since then he ... Read more

JS body decides to get the troublesome job to PM for directives From The Daily Star The Land Survey Department of the land ministry has finally demarcated the capital’s 43 canals lost to grabbers and identified persons and institutions that encroached upon the water bodies. On receiving the list of canals and grabbers, the parliamentary ... Read more

From The New Nation The BIWTA authorities yesterday knocked down 30 makeshift structures and gave two-day ultimatum to sand traders for removal of sand piled on Shitalakhya river banks in Narayanganj as part of the ongoing eviction drive against the river encroachers. Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Narayanganj district administration conducted the drive ... Read more

High-rise buildings being constructed occupying canals, low-lying areas The low-lying areas on the outskirts of Dhaka city and vast areas of Mohammadpur, Hajaribag and Gabtali are being grabbed by different developers for constructing high rise building posing a threat to environment. The developers and vested quarters have been grabbing lands of the Buriganga river and ... Read more

US President Barack Obama sensationally won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday, just nine months into his term, with the jury hailing his “extraordinary” efforts in international diplomacy and to hasten nuclear disarmament. Obama said he was “humbled” by the distinction but criticism built over how the award could be given so quickly. “Only very rarely ... Read more

The LGRD and cooperatives minister, Syed Ashraful Islam, on Tuesday told the parliament it was difficult to reclaim water bodies and canals in the capital grabbed by influential quarters. In reply to a question of ruling Awami League lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Majumder, he said, ‘Despite the prime minister’s directive and the High Court order to ... Read more

AL’s poll pledge to formulate code of conduct for political parties stays elusive Ruling Awami League is yet to make a move to formulate a code of conduct for political parties in line with its electoral pledge to bring changes in the country’s political culture and establish good governance. During Awami League’s nine months in ... Read more