Mercury dips 45-year low; 82 deaths reported in a week; more cold spells this month A record-breaking cold spell sent the mercury plummeting across the country yesterday, with Dinajpur experiencing 3.2 degrees Celsius, the lowest in almost half a century. Many thousand people suffered badly as the persisting chilly weather with strong winds sent them ... Read more
Headlines
River commission to have little power
Cabinet Okays River Protection Bill River commission to have little power It can only recommend measures; greens doubt its effectiveness as grabbing, pollution go on In the wake of river grabbing and pollution, the government is forming the National River Protection Commission which will only make recommendations but have no statutory power of implementation. Green ... Read more
Smiles, all around
Children get free textbooks on first day of New Year Children began this year in a festive mood with new textbooks in hand yesterday. Gifts awaited them at schools across the country as they woke up to the first morning of 2013 to celebrate “Textbook Festival Day”. Students of primary and secondary grades were beaming ... Read more
Welcome 2013
Revellers poured out into the streets singing and dancing and exploding crackers to usher in the year 2013 as the clock struck midnight past Monday amid jubilation. Security was heightened in Dhaka and other cities to fend off any untoward incidents during New Year celebrations. Hundreds of peoples, especially the youths, started thronging Dhaka University campus, ... Read more
Biting cold grips country
Fog disrupts communications Dense fog coupled with bitter cold has disrupted movement of all modes of transport across the country in the last two days, causing immense sufferings to passengers. Ferry services remained stalled for hours and launches anchored mid-river, and bus and train trips were delayed. A cold spell has been sweeping the country ... Read more
Tigers wrap up series in rousing style
Bangladesh kept their cool under pressure as they beat West Indies by two wickets in the fifth one-day international to clinch the five-match series 3-2 in Dhaka on Saturday. Nasir Hossain played a crucial unbeaten innings of 39 as the home side became third time lucky to pull off a win in having wasted a ... Read more
Rivers officially made thinner
Faulty demarcation encourages encroachers; ministerial recommendations for pillar relocation ignored The rivers of Dhaka are destined to remain narrow as the shipping ministry has expressed its inability to fully rectify the faulty demarcation of the streams despite a High Court order and subsequent ministerial decision. An extensive visit revealed that relevant district administrations and officials ... Read more
Highly risky yet in high demand
Tin Housing in Dhaka Highly risky yet in high demand The acrid stench of burnt metal still hangs heavy in the air on the spot where Mohammad Karim’s house once stood. It ceased to exist last Thursday, reducing Karim and a thousand others to the role of helpless bystanders as it razed swiftly to the ... Read more
Dhaka too noisy
Call for tough action against polluters The capital’s noise pollution is driving its citizens crazy. The most comm on sources of noise pollution here are the construction and transportation systems. Despite having a law to check the pollution, city dwellers, especially the heart patients, senior citizens and children, have no respite from noise, as loud ... Read more
Sewage goes straight into Buriganga
Wasa disowns 70pc of total sewage in Dhaka A year after the High Court directed Dhaka Wasa to seal off sewage outlets into the Buriganga, Wasa says 70 percent of the capital’s sewage is illegally dumped into the Buriganga. Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) said it had no sewage lines of its own ... Read more
Elephants vs people
Kurkuttipara offers a classic case of human-animal conflict. In this remote place beyond Barkal of Rangamati, villagers cannot hate anything more than the herd of nine elephants. Even the mind boggling beauty of the place, surrounded by rippling crystal blue waters of Kaptai Lake, could not hide the deep-seated anger and enmity of the conflicting ... Read more
Fund crunch holds back 8-lane project
Upgrading Jatrabari-Kanchpur Road Fund crunch holds back 8-lane project Fund crisis has made uncertain the government project to upgrade the busy Jatrabari-Kanchpur stretch of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway to eight lanes. Aimed at easing traffic congestion on the eight-kilometre stretch, the project is estimated to cost Tk 120 crore and scheduled for completion in June next ... Read more
Monsoon brings life to Buriganga
Fishermen reappear as river swells with rainwater It is monsoon and the fishermen of Basila are all smiles. After nine months, they are back in business, fishing in the rain-fed Buriganga. But the joy of fishing will soon be gone for Ratan Rajbangshi, who was born and raised in a fisherman’s family. And that will ... Read more
Rajuk to raze forests for housing
Trees, farmland in 1,600 acres area to vanish for Purbachal project Around 1,300 acres of forest will be wiped out to make way for the Rajuk’s Purbachal housing project in Gazipur. The district administration has already acquired around 1,600 acres of land in five villages under Kaliganj upazila for the scheme that has no environment ... Read more
Heavy dose of formalin poses health hazard
Merchants of death go scot free Formaldehyde (formalin), used for preserving human bodies and animals in hospital mortuaries and laboratories, is reportedly being used indiscriminately during the holy month of Ramzan for preserving milk, fish, fruit and other perishables, including vegetables. The government has virtually no control over the sale and use of formalin, a ... Read more
Meter means nothing
CNG-run vehicles violating all rules Hop on an auto-rickshaw, tell the driver where you want to go in the capital, go there and pay him what the meter says. This was probably the original idea behind installing meters in every CNG-run auto rickshaw in the capital. The authorities had presented city dwellers with a rosy ... Read more
Endless woes of commuters
South Jatrabari Endless woes of commuters A stretch of road in South Jatrabari is less than 500 metres but it is in such a bad shape that it is making life of people in the area miserable. Popularly known as Kazla Power House Road, which connects Demra Road to Jatrabari Biswa Road, the road is ... Read more
Modhumoti Model Town is illegal
Project area to stay as flood flow zone; plot purchasers need to wait for full SC verdict to know their fate Modhumoti Model Town is illegal. The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court verdict that had declared the controversial project and its activities near Aminbazar on the outskirts of the capital unlawful. Metro Makers ... Read more
Eid shopping frenzy chokes traffic
On any weekend, it just takes five minutes to reach Farmgate from Shahbag intersection and vice versa by a car. But it was a bitter experience for the commuters yesterday as it took them a staggering 90 minutes to cross the two-kilometre stretch. On the 15th day of Ramadan, city dwellers seemed to have come ... Read more
Quizzical export
Hilsa Tk 900/kg at market, Tk 480/kg for export Hilsa has increasingly become elusive and is beyond reach of the common people for its high prices, but it was being exported to India for less than half the local market price before a ban was slapped on its overseas sales on Tuesday. The exporting price ... Read more