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
Headlines
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
43 Dhaka canals grabbed
Task force hopes to reclaim only 13 canals Encroachers have gobbled up 43 of the 54 canals that once crisscrossed through Dhaka city interconnecting the four rivers surrounding it, resulting in the destruction of almost the entire natural sewage system of the city. Most of the land of the 43 canals has been registered as ... Read more
All eyes on rich nations
Climate-hit countries count on their promises as Durban meet gets underway As the stories emerging from Africa to Americas, Asia to Australia tell the same grave situation of ever increasing drought, floods, storms and hot spells, a Climate Change Conference began here yesterday with hopes that the rich nations will keep their commitments to extend ... Read more
Beautification goes on silently
The government has taken up a massive scheme to beautify the 98-acre area of Dhanmondi Lake in the capital. The Tk 24-crore Dhanmondi Lake Restoration Project got rolling this week, with the work order being issued before the Eid-ul-Azha holidays. Neither the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) nor any other authority, however, made a formal announcement ... Read more
Green desert in the hills
Inam Ahmed All around us is a green desert. What was supposed to be reserved and forest is now just denuded hills. Welcome to Kasalong Reserve Forest. As our Chander Gari — a Second World War Willy’s Jeep fitted with a Mitsubishi engine — rolls on the topsy-turvy narrow herringbone road, tossing madly from one ... Read more
Dreadful land development
Inhabitants of city suburb living in fear of being evicted; developer fined Tk 50 lakh by mobile court Many inhabitants of Holan and Ashkona in the capital’s suburbs have been living there for decades, others for generations. But they are now living in fear of eviction, as land in their Dakkhinkhan neighbourhood has become a ... Read more
Date with disasters
Struck by cyclone Aila after Sidr, country braces for the next Amid increasing threats of climate change, Bangladesh today observes the fourth anniversary of cyclone Sidr, one of the worst natural calamities the country has experienced since its birth in 1971. This year the day is being commemorated with special significance. The Climate Vulnerable Forum ... Read more
4 lakh pumps run dry
Steep fall of groundwater table blamed About four lakh irrigation pumps out of over 16 lakh across the country go out of operation during the peak dry spell of March-April every year failing to draw the required quantity of water due to a sharp fall of groundwater level. “Owing to a steep fall in ground ... Read more
Sculpture mocks sculptor
It was supposed to be a symbol of our pride, the Bengal Tiger. But what is it on the southern side of the Sonargaon intersection? Is it a buffalo? Or a bear in yellow and black stripes perhaps? The cub next to it lying on the ground can never be a tiger cub. What is ... Read more
Century-old trees go
Netrakona admin, forest dept defy HC order, keep plundering Birishiri greens Defying a High Court order, the Netrakona Zila Parishad and the forest department continued chopping down century-old trees yesterday beside a road near the Baptist church in Birishiri. The High Court on Tuesday directed the government to maintain status quo for 10 days on ... Read more
Captain clinches a cliffhanger
One can dream many things, no matter how big it is, but it’s not always that the dream comes true in real life. But it happens sometimes when someone like Mushfiqur Rahim appears bigger than his stature. When the Bogra-lad hit a length ball over the deep mid-wicket boundary, a memorable chapter was in Bangladesh ... Read more