Bangladesh
PM inaugurates Hajj programme-2023
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday morning opened the hajj programme 2023 (1444 hijri) in the capital’s Ashkona area.
The premier later exchanged greetings with the hajj pilgrims here at the Hajj camp in Ashkona.
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The first hajj flight is scheduled to depart Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for Saudi Arabia at 2:45am on Saturday.
This year, a total of 122,221 pilgrims from Bangladesh are going to perform the holy hajj. But the number of hajj pilgrims from Bangladesh was 57,585 last year due to Covid-19 restriction.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 127,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh performed hajj in 2019.
The hajj is expected to be held on June 27, subject to the sighting of the moon.
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State Minister for Religious Affairs Md. Faridul Haque Khan presided over the inaugural function.
State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism M Mahbub Ali, Saudi Ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Yussef Essa Al Dulaihan, local lawmaker Habib Hasan (Dhaka-18), Religious Affairs Secretary Kazi Enamul Hassan and president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) Shahadat Hossain Taslim also spoke on the occasion.
Man arrested with 1,400 Yaba pills at Damdamia checkpost in Teknaf: BGB
Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) Teknaf Battalion have arrested a man with 1,400 Yaba pills from Teknaf’s Damdamia checkpost.
The identity of the arrestee could not be known immediately.
According to a press release sent by BGB-2, a patrol team of Damdamia BoP under Teknaf Battalion (2 BGB) of BGB was conducting regular search operations at Damdamia checkpost. In continuation of this, a bus of Palki Paribahan from Teknaf to Cox's Bazar came to Damdamia checkpost yesterday and it was stopped for search.
A search dog of BGB’s K-9 unit identified a man with suspicious behaviour. Later, the patrol team conducted a thorough search and found 1,400 yaba pills from under the passenger’s seat, the press release reads.
A case was filed in this regard and the arrestee has been handed over to Teknaf Model Police Station.
Dhaka’s air 2nd most polluted in the world Friday morning
Dhaka city's air has been ranked the second most polluted in the world on Friday morning.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 166 at 9:00am, Dhaka's air is deemed "unhealthy".
India’s Delhi and Pakistan’s Lahore occupied the first, and third spots, with AQI scores of 169 and 161.
Read more: HC summons N’ganj DC, DoE officials for not complying with directives to control air pollution
An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’ while between 201–300 is ‘’very unhealthy’, and 301–400 is 'hazardous', posing severe health risks to residents.
The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.
Dhaka, the overcrowded capital city of Bangladesh, has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.
Dhaka-Ctg highway to remain closed for 2 hours on Saturday
Vehicular movement on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway will remain suspended for two hours on Saturday due to the installation of the beam of the pedestrian bridge at Bashbaria area of Sitakunda in Chattogram.
The highway will be closed from 5:30 am to 7:30 am at RR Textile Mills area of Bashbaria union of the upazila, said Chattogram Roads and Highways authorities.
Rokon Uddin Khaled Chowdhury, sub-divisional engineer of Sitakunda office of Roads and Highways department, said the Dhaka-Chattogram highway will be closed to avoid any kind of accident while installing the beam of the under-construction pedestrian bridge.
Relevant departments have already been notified, he said.
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Khaled also said that the beam was supposed to be installed on Saturday. But it was delayed because of cyclone Mocha.
Belal Uddin Jahangir, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bar Aulia Highway Police Station, said they will close the Dhaka-Chattogram highway for some time while removing the beams.
“We’ve asked the executive engineer to increase the manpower and complete the work quickly,” he said.
17 including 4 women arrested for alleged fraud using mobile apps
Police arrested 17 suspected operatives including four women of a fraud gang involved with realising money from people through several mobile phone applications from different areas of Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj.
The arrestees are Md Mohiuddin Mahri, 31, Bani Saad Monihaj, 23, Md Sana Miah, 35, Md Latin, 43, Md Mehedhi Hasan, 23, Md Hasan Imam Proncy, 33, Md Belayet Hossain, 28, Md Maruf Ahmed, 27, Sabbir Hossain Loyin, 26, Shahabul Islam Nishu, 22, Faizul Islam, 24, Md Sohan Khan, 21, Abdul Wadud, 25, Iti Akter, 20, Sriti Shah Soumik, 21, Ayesha, 21 and Rubaya, 20.
According to a media release signed by Md Rafiqul Alam, an additional deputy commissioner (Media) of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP), police in association with Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) arrested the 17 people from Dhaka and two other districts.
Initially the members of the fraud gang asked people to install a mobile phone application ‘Rapid Cash’ for taking a loan of Tk 30,000 and sent some money to the mobile phone user in cash, it said.
Later, the app users were asked to refund the money with a huge amount of interest, otherwise their naked pictures will be shared on social media including Facebook as they provided their pictures and relevant information from the NID card , it reads.
After being deceived by the gang, one Abul Ahsan lodged a case with the RMP’s Boalia police station in this regard on May 14.
Later, the police and the ATU arrested them from different areas of the country and recovered 11 laptops, 10 mobile phone sets, 5 pen drives and cash.
The suspects landed in jail following an order by a Rajshahi court on Thursday, the press release said.
10 Bangladeshis return home from India after serving for intrusion
Ten Bangladeshis returned home from India through Benapole checkpost in Jashore on Thursday night after serving sentences in jail for two years, authorities said.
The returnees are Arif Mollah, 23, Korban Ali, 25, Pannu Mollah, 28, Solaiman, 20, Sharif, 24, Saiful Islam, 19, Yeasin Sheikh, 25, Nazibul Islam, 20, Sumanto Mondal, 18, and Sohel Hawlader, 21.
Ahsan Habib, officer-in-charge of Benapole Immigration Police Station, said they handed over the 10 Bangladeshis to Benapole port police station after completing formal procedures.
They (Bangladeshis) returned home with a special travel permit offered by the Indian government after ending their jail periods, he said.
Rokey Parveen, a field officer of local NGO ‘Justice and Care’, said the Bangladeshis went to India with a hope of managing jobs in Chennai but local law enforcers arrested them and sent them to jail for intrusion.
After serving the jail term, they were released while an Indian NGO ‘Tirgo’ took them under their custody and finally sent them back to Bangladesh through the checkpost, she added.
Latest episode of ‘Let’s Talk’ on international relations to air this Saturday
Young Bangla, country’s largest youth platform, has organized the latest episode of its interactive event "Let’s Talk" — with around 300 students from different parts and educational institutes of the Chattogram division, exchanging views with and asking questions to policymakers on the topic of international relations and economy.
In the fastest evolving geopolitical landscape, how Bangladesh has been moving ahead adhering to the core principle formulated by the Father of the Nation — “Friendship to all, malice to none” — subsequently carried forward by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also came up in the discussion.
In this episode, as many as four distinguished panelists were present to answer the concerns and lead the policy discussion including Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Foreign Affairs; SM Shahjada, Member of Parliament; Dr. A.S.M Lutful Ahasan, Vice Chancellor of Chattogram Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU); Kamrunnahar Mira, Joy Bangla Youth Award 2018 Achiever and the founder of All for One Foundation.
At the beginning of the event, Shahriar Alam emphasized exports of Bangladesh since it is one of the important elements of international relations.
“Alongside RMG, we have now spread out our market with IT-related products, pharmaceuticals, sportswear, leather, etc. so that we do not practice the mono-commodity economy,” he said.
Questions regarding the growing stature of the country on the global front in terms of new avenues of cooperation among other issues also came up in the discussion.
As a burning question over opportunities and potentials for Bangladeshi immigrants propped up from the student participants, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs divulged that over 10 million Bangladeshis are now residing across the globe.
In response to the issue of irregular migration, Shariar Alam also focused on the awareness generation process by the citizens alongside the security authorities.
The recorded event is set to be aired on TV alongside live streaming on Saturday.
Woman burned to death while cooking at home in N’ganj
A 20-year-old woman was burned to death while cooking food at home in Bandar upazila of Narayanganj on Thursday noon, police said. She was an epilepsy patient.
Shampa was the daughter of late Mohsin Miah of Noorbag area under the upazila. She used to live with her mother.
Witness Hasu Begum said she rushed to the house of Shampa after hearing screams when she was passing along it around noon.
“I found the fire caught Shampa from a gas oven. She was crying,” she said, adding that she tried to douse the blaze with water. But she died at the scene, she said.
Shawkat Ali, a sub-inspector of Bandar police station, confirmed the incident saying that the girl was burned to death while cooking food alone.
As she was an epilepsy patient who apparently fell on the oven’s fire after falling sick suddenly, he added.
Income inequalities widen between rich and poor during pandemic: BIDS study
The rich became richer in Bangladesh as their income increased by 64 percent during the Covid-19 pandemic period in between 2019 and 2022.
The study showed the income of higher middle-income groups increased by 25.5 percent while by 8.8 percent for lower middle-income groups and 10.2 percent for the poor and 16 percent for the ultra-poor.
It has been revealed in a study report of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS). The disclosure came in the BIDS Research Almanac held on May 17-18 in the capital, Dhaka.
In response to the study report, Prime Minister’s Economic Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman said despite income inequalities between higher and lower income groups, government service consumption did not widen. He attended the closing ceremony as the chief guest.
He said all the groups are getting the access to public services including health, education, electricity, and other sectors.
Regarding employment, Dr Mashiur said employment is not increasing as the academic lessons and employers’ requirement are not matching, so the issue should be resolved by reforming the education system.
The event’s special guest state minister for planning Dr Shamsul Alam said income inequality is getting narrower in rural Bangladesh as an outcome of government policy to generate employment in the rural areas during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Maximum people in villages are getting pure drinking water, sanitation, healthcare, education, better road communication, and other facilities, he said.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, also the special guest, said banks are opening letters of credit (LCs) between 1500 to 2500 everyday.
He said the central bank is looking into all of these to check over and under-invoicing or trade-based money smuggling.
“The central bank is encouraging sending inward remittance in the banking channel. The BB is working to develop a system so the expatriates from any country could send their remittance from their mobile phone easily through the legal channel,” he added.
The governor said private sector’s foreign loan was $ 17 billion in the last fiscal year, which now stood $14 billion, and the foreign exchange demand soared because of the repayment of these loans.
He said the central bank will go for a single exchange rate soon and work in this regard is progressing.
The Director General of BIDS Dr Binayak Sen moderated the programme. Prominent economists Prof Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of CPD, Ahsan H. Mansur, Executive Director of PRI, Dr Abdus Sattar Mondol, former VC of Bangladesh Agriculture University, Prof Muhammad Mahboob Ali of Dhaka School of Economics, Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin, secretary IMED also spoke as panelists.
May 25 exam of higher math of Madrasah board rescheduled
The Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board authorities on Thursday deferred the examination for higher mathematics scheduled to be held on May 25 due to an unavoidable reason.
A media release signed by Md Kamal Uddin, controller of the education board, said this on Thursday night.
Earlier, the board also postponed the examination for English first paper scheduled to be held on May 14 due to the cyclone Mocha.
The deferred examinations of the English first paper and the higher mathematics will be held on May 27 and 28 respectively across the country simultaneously, the release reads.
Also, the practical and oral tests of all subjects will be held from May 29 to June 4 next month, it said.