Bangladesh
Bangladesh will one day play in World Cup football: PM Hasina
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked the young players of the country to concentrate on their sports sincerely so that in the near future Bangladesh can clinch the football World Cup.
“I hope that gradually our players will play in the World Cup, for that you have to prepare yourselves. You will be our golden boys. We will clinch the World Cup,” she said.
The prime minister said this while addressing the prize giving ceremony of the grand finals of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman National Gold Cup Football Tournament Boys U-17 and Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib National Gold Cup Football Tournament Girls' U-17 at Bangladesh Army Stadium.
She said that through sports body and mind remain fit and concentration does not get diverted.
“The more you practice sports the more you will attain excellence. So I will tell you to play with utmost sincerity,” she said.
Read more: PM Hasina buys Dhaka's first metro rail ticket to become its first passenger
Briefly describing various development activities for upgrading sports of the country, she said that works to set up mini stadium in every upazila have been launched to ensure sports facilities in every area across the country.
She also said that the government has taken steps to flourish the domestic sports of the country.
She mentioned that some 56 stadiums so far have been constructed at district level.
She said the government has plan to establish swimming pool, shooting range, sports complex and indoor stadium in every district.
Read more: Won't allow anyone to play with fate of people: PM
“We will establish BKSP in all eight divisions for ensuring better sportspersons in the country,” she said.
She said that ‘Sports for all’ is the aim of the government. “Taking that aim in our consideration we are working tirelessly.”
The PM said that some 110,552 players have joined in the tournament and this is huge.
“Talented 40 boys and 40 girls from this tournament will get three months intensive training in the BKSP. Besides, we are taking steps to provide better training through sending players to abroad.”
State Minister of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel and Secretary of the Ministry of Youth & Sports Mesbah Uddin also spoke at the programme.
The prime minister also enjoyed the final match of the Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib National Gold Cup Football Tournament Girls' U-17 between Rangpur Division and Khulna Division.
Sylhet Division became champions in the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman National Gold Cup Football Tournament Boys U-17 while Barishal Division runners-up.
Rangpur Division clinched the title of Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib National Gold Cup Football Tournament Girls' U-17 while Khulna Division was the runners-up.
Hasina distributed prizes and medals among the champions and the runners-up teams as well as the best performers and the highest scorers in the two tournaments after the grand finals.
Besides, she conferred medals to the best goalkeepers of the tournaments and the best players of the grand finals.
Bangladesh reports 65 more dengue cases
Sixty-five more people were hospitalised with dengue in 24 hours till Thursday morning.
The official death toll from the mosquito-borne disease remained unchanged at 281 as no death was recorded during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Of the new patients, 18 were admitted to the hospitals of Dhaka and 47 outside it, said DGHS.
A total of 359 dengue patients, including 170 in the capital, are now receiving treatment at hospitals across the country.
Read more: Dengue fatalities now 281 with three more deaths
The DGHS has recorded 62,321 dengue cases and 61,681 recoveries so far this year.
Bangladesh logs 22 more Covid cases
Bangladesh reported 22 more Covid cases in the 24 hours till Thursday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,089, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,439 as no new fatalities were reported.
Read more: Bangladesh logs 21 more Covid cases Bangladesh logs 21 more Covid cases
The daily case test positivity increased to 1.09 from Wednesday's 0.79 percent as 2,133 samples were tested during the period.
The mortality and recovery rates remained unchanged at 1.45 percent and 97.57 percent respectively.
In November, the country reported 10 Covid-linked deaths and 1,345 cases.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
Lotus, Kayesh elected DCAB President, GS
Daily Sun Executive Editor Rezaul Karim Lotus and Bangla Vision Special Correspondent Abu Hena Emrul Kayesh have been elected President and General Secretary of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) respectively for the year 2023.
The Financial Express Special Correspondent Mir Mostafizur Rahaman has been elected Vice President of the DCAB unopposed while ATN News Chief of Correspondents Ashiqur Rahman Apu elected Joint Secretary.
Other unopposed elected office bearers are Treasurer Atiqur Rahman (Daily Jababdihi) and Office Secretary Morshed Hassib Hasan (Channel 24).
Khurram Zaman (Barta24.com), Nafiza Dawla (Independent TV), Rabiul Haque (The Industry), Sheikh Shahariar Zaman (Bangla Tribune) and Touhidur Rahman (Banglanews24.com) have been elected EC members unopposed.
Read: US Ambassador hosts reception for DCAB
Chief Election Commissioner and Editor of United News of Bangladesh (UNB) Farid Hossain announced the result of the election at Jatiya Press Club on Thursday afternoon.
Read: FM, SM,diplomats attend DCAB iftar
Two Election Commissioners -- Business Editor of the Daily Observer Nizamuddin Ahmed and Machranga TV Head of News Rejoanul Haq Raja -- were present.
Earlier, Rezaul Karim Lotus presided over the annual general meeting (AGM) of the DCAB.
Outgoing General Secretary of the DCAB AKM Moinuddin and Treasurer Ahasan Jewel presented their reports at the AGM-2022.
TCB to procure 2.09 litres of soybean oil, 8000 MT of lentil for OMS programme
Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the state-run marketing agency, will further procure a total of 2.09 crore litres (20.9 million litres) of soybean oil from local and international suppliers without any tender process.
The TCB will also procure 8,000 metric tons of lentil through open tender.
Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase (CCGP) in a virtual meeting on Thursday approved a number of proposals in this regard.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presided over the meeting while members of the cabinet body attended it virtually.
The entire products will be procured for its ongoing open market sales (OMS) programme which has been introduced to control prices of essential commodities across the country.
For long the TCB has been procuring some essential items from local and international suppliers to sell those in the local market under the OMS programme.
As per the proposals, some 44 lakh litres of soybean oil will be procured through direct purchase method (DPM) from Sena Edible Oil Industries., Dhaka, at a cost of Tk 81.18 crore with each litre costing at Tk 184.5.
The TCB will procure 1.10 crore litres of soybean oil from Zad Al Rahil International LLC Sultanate of Oman (Local Agent: Sky Trading) through DPM at a cost of Tk 151.73 crore with litre coasting at 152.86 .
Read: TCB to procure 2.75 crore litres of soybean oil
It will procure another 55 lakh litre of soybean oil from Shun Shing Edible Oil Ltd., Dhaka through DPM at a cost of Tk 101.47 crore. Each litre will cost at Tk 185.5.
The TCB will procure 8,000 metric tons of lentil from Arabel Bakliyat Hububat Santic A.S (Local Agent: BINQ, Dhaka, at a cost of Tk 81.57 crore. Each kg will cost at Tk 101.97.
Besides, as per a proposal of the Ministry of Industries, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) will import 30,000 MT of bulk granular urea fertilizer from Fertiglobe Distribution Limited, the UAE at a cost of Tk 153.60 crore under a state level agreement.
As per a proposal of the Agriculture Ministry, another 30,000 MT of TSP fertiliser will be imported by Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) from OCP, S.A of Morocco at a cost of Tk 153.86 crore under a state level agreement.
The Cabinet body approved a proposal of Bangladesh Hi-tech Park Authority under the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division to award a Tk 424.54 crore contract to for Western Engineering Pvt. Ltd., for building of the infrastructure of Sheikh Hasina Institute of Frontier Technology in Madaripur.
Read: TCB to procure 1.65 crore liter of soybean oil, 8,000 MT of lentil
A proposal of the Roads and Highway Department received the nod of the CCGP to award a Tk 1,232.95 crore to Joint Venture of (1) HEGO, China; (2) Mir Akhter, Bangladesh for civil works under the package lot No-DS-o5 of the Sasec Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Development project.
The Cabinet body approved a proposal of the Chattagram WASA to raise the cost of its consultant NIJ Consultants Co. Ltd., for Karnaphuli Water Supply Project (phase-2) by Tk 24.52 crore.
Special drive to prevent use of illegal nets in 17 districts from Jan 4: Ministry
The government will launch a special combing operation in 17 districts of the country from January 4 to remove illegal nets which cause harm to fishery resources.
The drive will be conducted against all illegal nets including ‘Behundi nets’ (conical-shaped net) to protect fries of all marine fish including Hilsha, said the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock on Thursday.
The 17 districts where the drives will be conducted are Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Patuakhali, Barguna, Bhola, Barishal, Noakhali, Bagerhat, Khulna, Satkhira, Cox’s Bazar, Chattogram, Munshiganj, Laxmipur, Shariatpur, Madaripur, and Chandpur.
Read more: Six held for illegally netting fish in Sundarbans
Seventeen monitoring teams comprising of officers and field officers of the Fisheries Department will work to conduct the operations in these districts.
Also a control room will be opened to collect regular data about these drives.
The ministry has urged people involved in fishing to avoid use of harmful, illegal nets like current net and behundi net.
4 arrested over murder of trader, assistant in Dhaka
Police arrested four members of a gang on Thursday for their suspected involvement in killing a local raw material trader and his assistant after kidnapping from the capital’s Lalbagh area .
The arrestees were identified as Nuruzzaman Hawladar, 40, Md A Aziz Shikder, 34, Hafez Choukidar, 46, and Delwar Hossain Molla Delu, 35, said a Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) press release on Thursday.
They were all arrested during drives at different places in the capital and Barishal district, said police.
Read more: 3 arrested for raping, killing mentally-challenged woman in Sylhet
Plastic raw materials trader Jewel Shikder’s father registered a general diary on the night of December 15 at Chawkbazar police station over his son going missing.
After that police started a shadow investigation and drive and traced last location of Jewel and his assistant Morshed Alam at Mehediganj upazila in Barishal.
Later DMP Chawkbazar police conducted a drive to rescue the victims but managed to arrest the four kidnappers.
In primary questioning the arrestees confessed to kidnapping Jewel and Morshed for snatching money.
Read more: 31 members of mugging gang arrested in capital: Rab
They took the victims in the middle of the Meghna River in Barishal by a fishing trawler and strangled them after getting the money. They confirmed their death by drowning them in the river, said police.
A case has been filed in this regard at Chawkbazar model police station.
Two missing children’s bodies recovered from the Padma
Bodies of two children who went missing while taking bath in the Padma river in Kushtia have been recovered.
The deceased were identified as Rifat Mandal, 8, son of Rifat Mandal and Morsalin, 6, son of Mojibor Ragman in Daulatpur upazila.
The children went missing on Wednesday morning and after searching the whole day locals recovered their bodies from the river around 11 pm, said Mojibur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Daulatpur police station.
Read more: Missing man’s body recovered a day after wife drowned in Padma river
The bodies were handed over to their families, he said.
Fares of metro rail are reasonable: Quader
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said that the fares of metro rail are within the reach of people.
The Minister said this while replying to questions from journalists at the Secretariat on Thursday (December 29, 2022).
“At least Tk 20 has to be paid when people ride on rickshaws. In that sense, the fare of metro rail is okay. There are differences between the metro rail of Dhaka and Kolkata. Our metro rail is better than those of Thailand and Indonesia. Dhaka’s metro rail looks good,” said Quader.
The Minister added that the rest of the work of MRT-6 will be completed within next year.“Besides, we’ll also start the works of MRT-1 and MRT-5 under the rule of the Awami League (AL) government. Both of these MRT lines will cover an area of 31 kilometres, among which 21km will be underground and 10km will be expressway.”
Read More: Dhaka Metro Rail launch: From ticketing to seating – things to know
Feasibility study is being conducted in Chattogram to find out if metro rail service can be launched there, Quader added.
Replying to a question, Quader, also the General Secretary of the ruling AL, said that his party leaders and activists will be guarding the streets on the day of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) pre-scheduled mass procession on December 30.
“Will we eat lollypops while BNP activists create violence? We’ll be on the streets tomorrow like we were on December 10,” Quader said.
Quader further said that AL will take part in the next general elections whether EVM is used or not.“We want EVMs to be used in the next election. However, we’ll accept the decision of the Election Commission (EC) in this regard. Whatever happens, we’ll participate in the next elections,” Quader said.
Also read: Long queues seen at Agargaon station as metro rail opens to public.
Mother, daughter among 3 killed in Faridpur road crash
Three people including a woman and her minor daughter were killed and three others injured when a car crashed into a truck amid dense fog on Dhaka-Bhanga highway at Salildia in Bhanga upazila here on Thursday morning.
The deceased were identified as Laboni Begum, 38, wife of Jewel Sheikh of Atadi village, their daughter Joynab Akter, 2, and Suraiya Akter, 17, daughter of Turul Sheikh in the upazila.
The accident occurred around 7:30 am when the private car carrying six people hit a sugar-laden truck from behind, leaving one passenger dead on the spot and five others injured, said sub-inspector of Shibchar Highway Police Abdullahel Baki.
Also read; Biker, pillion rider dead in Kushtia road accident
The injured were taken to Faridpur Sheikh Mujib Medical College and Hospital where the doctors declared Joynab and Suraiya dead.
Police seized the truck but the driver and the helper of the truck managed to flee the scene.