Unscrupulous operators of CNG three-wheelers find a way as govt not registering commercial ones since 2004; bribery keeps lawmen’s eyes shut A large number of private CNG-run three-wheelers ply the city streets as vehicles for hire, flouting their registration rules. With the word “private” inscribed on their bodies, the grey vehicles wait at bus stops ... Read more
Headlines
Buriganga in peril
Faulty demarcation flouting HC order creates scope for grabbing the river’s foreshore The government itself now seems poised to make the Buriganga a leaner stream by squeezing its shorelines in violation of a High Court order. Earlier, in April last year, the Turag river suffered a similar fate as Gazipur district administration demarcated it by ... Read more
50 Indian double-decker buses arrive
240 more in pipeline Fifty Indian double-decker buses will hit the city roads Tuesday. This will be the first successful project under India’s $1 billion credit agreement inked two years ago. The new buses started arriving in small lots in the last two months. These could have been seen on the Dhaka streets much earlier, ... Read more
Public woes compounded
Wasa embarks on rainy season as work goes on at snail’s pace The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) has embarked on digging up 26 kilometre of road of the capital to lay utility pipelines but the work is progressing at a pathetic pace catching up the rainy season. In addition to the misery, ... Read more
Fake handsets swarm market, weigh on top brands
Telecom regulator seizes 89,000 counterfeit phones in two days Shafiq Ahmed, a worker at a motor workshop in front of Mohakhali bus terminal, uses a smartphone of a renowned Taiwanese brand. He said he bought the new handset for Tk4,000 only. He cares less about the brand, though. People like Shafiq are aplenty. These counterfeit ... Read more
Neighbours concerned
No Indian move yet to discuss water diversion from common rivers A Supreme Court order in India asking the government to link more than 30 rivers and divert waters to parched areas has sparked concerns in neighbouring countries. Bangladesh says it would be hardest hit because it is a downstream country to two major rivers ... Read more
DMP moves to stop illegal parking
Starts using wheel clamps Dhaka Metropolitan Police has started using wheel clamps to lock illegally parked vehicles and ensure that they are towed away. “We have procured 100 wheel clamps, which four divisions of traffic will use to tow away more illegally parked vehicles from a certain area,” said DMP traffic Chief Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman. ... Read more
Rivers losing navigability
The country’s rivers have lost half of their navigability since independence, creating serious socio-economic and environmental impacts. According to the latest statistics, the length of navigable waterways, which was about 14,000 km way back in 1964, now shrinks to 6,000 km during the rainy season and to 3,800 km in winter. Besides almost 80 per ... Read more
No bike riding on footpaths
HC asks govt to ensure walkways only for walkers The government has to stop straying of vehicles, particularly motorcycles, on to footpaths and walkways in the capital, the High Court said yesterday. The order came along with other directives, including removal of all billboards that darken foot bridges. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and Dhaka ... Read more
Mosquitoes free to bite
Citizens complain of the menace, 2 DCCs’ adulticide dearth Though the Dhaka City Corporation was bifurcated with a view to improving public service, city dwellers are hardly getting any respite from mosquito menace. Life indoors and outdoors in the capital has become so uncomfortable due to this seasonal boom of mosquitoes. The homeless and security ... Read more
Buriganga second channel at stake
Unabated encroachment, waste dumping leave it in a near-death condition The second channel of the Buriganga, which flows through the southwestern part of the capital, is almost dead due to wholesale encroachment by public and private organisations and also dumping of waste. Also known as Buriganga Morarkhari, the channel was originally around six kilometres long. ... Read more
Tolls being gobbled up
Probe finds vehicles crossing Bangabandhu Bridge without records; heavy vehicles turn light ones; role of toll collection company comes under question A probe has found that employees of a joint venture company collecting tolls at Bangabandhu Bridge have been misappropriating huge sums by showing a lesser number of vehicles crossing the bridge or by showing ... Read more
Biswa Ijtema begins
6 devotees die Prayers and sermons marked the first day of Biswa Ijtema — one of the largest congregations of Muslims — as it opened on the banks of the river Turag at Tongi yesterday morning. Six participants died of cardiac arrest and old age complications on Thursday night and early yesterday, organisers said, as ... Read more
People usher in 2012
People ushered in the year 2012 as the clock struck 12 midnight past Saturday amid jubilation. Security was heightened to fend off any untoward incidents on the New Year’s Eve. The police early today said that there had been no untoward incidents in the capital. Hundreds of people, especially the young, started thronging the campus ... Read more
Falling Aman prices add to farmers’ plight
Good harvest brings no smile As about 98 per cent of Aman harvest is over, the growers have no way but to count losses as the prices they are getting are much below the production cost. The production of rice would exceed the target of 132.6 lakh tonnes this season, said officials of the department ... Read more
Fresh grabbing narrows Turag
Wrongly Set-up Pillars Fresh grabbing narrows Turag Land grabbers have occupied a large portion of the Turag river after the Gazipur district administration “wrongly” put up boundary pillars along the dry-season waterline, excluding much of the river land. Since the pillars were set up nine months ago, river grabbers in their dozens have been filling ... Read more
Cracks come under fixing
The repair of cracks on Bangabandhu Bridge is now going on in full swing with a target to be completed by June next year. Traffic on the bridge has got slower as vehicles instructed by various signs are diverted at two points for the repair work that began last month. On an average, 15,000 vehicles ... Read more
Rab to get 2 copters
The government has procured two copters for Rapid Action Battalion so the force can perform better in fighting crime and militancy. This is the first time a Bangladeshi law enforcement agency is getting choppers of its own. Commander M Sohail, director of Rab’s legal and media wing, said the police authorities signed a contract with ... Read more
Fog cripples waterway, road links
Ferry services suspended A blanket of dense fog shrouded different regions of the country crippling traffic on the highways and inland waterways from Friday night to Saturday morning. Low visibility forced the suspension of ferry services between Paturia and Daulatdia as well as Mawa and Kawrakandi, linking key highways, for more than 11 hours beginning ... Read more
Garos dance away harvest festival
Dancing and singing, hundreds of jubilant Garos yesterday celebrated the conclusion of their two-day long Wanna (harvest) festival at Askipara of frontier Haluaghat upazila of Mymensingh. Wanna, one of the greatest Garo festivals, marks the beginning of the harvesting season. This festival is the ninth of its kind. On Thursday evening, William Hanna, ambassador, Head ... Read more