Bangladesh
Chhatra League lifts suspension of Eden College committee
The Bangladesh Chhatra League has lifted its suspension of the Eden College committee.
The organisation announced this in a notice signed by its central committee President Al Nahiyan Khan Joy and General Secretary Lekhak Bhattacharjee Wednesday.
Following fights between two factions of the organisation, the ruling party's student wing halted the activities of its Eden College committee on September 26.
Chhatra League also expelled 16 leaders and activists, including its college unit general secretary from the organisation for breaking the rules.
The organisation formed a probe body, too, to investigate the incident that left several injured on the campus.
Read more: Eden College: Probe finds no evidence of forcing students into immoral activities
Prevent further encroachments on Cox’s Bazar beach: High Court
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday ordered the authorities concerned to take necessary measures to prevent further encroachments on the Cox’s Bazar sea beach.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order exempting deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar district Mamunur Rashid from contempt of court charge for failing to remove encroachments from the beach.
Cox's Bazar district Mamunur Rashid today submitted a report to the court, stating that 260 illegal establishments in Baliari and 417 in Sugandha Point of Cox's Bazar Beach have been evicted.
Following the report, the court disposed of the contempt of court charge.
Senior lawyer Momtaz Uddin Fakir appeared for the Deputy Commissioner in the court while senior advocate Manzil Morshed for the writ petitioner.
On August 25, HC summoned the deputy commissioner on contempt charge for failing to remove encroachments from the beach.
On June 7 in 2011, HC ordered the authorities concerned to remove all illegal establishments from Cox’s Bazar beach within 24 hours and halt further construction, following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), an NGO.
On February 7 this year, HRPB president Manzil Morshed, a lawyer by profession, issued a contempt of court notice. As no action was taken even after the notice, a contempt plea was filed in the HC.
Read more: JS body suggests stern action to prevent illegal sand extraction in Cox's Bazar
It takes an architect to make a difference in cityscape: Momen
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has said no matter what the size of their project are, it is the architects who could make a difference, among its users as well as in its surroundings.
He urged the architects to be mindful of their enormous responsibility and deliver "innovative solutions" to some of the socio-economic problems that affect people today.
"I know that every building is also a commercial endeavour, but please, do not leave its success to the balance sheet alone. Your cumulative efforts could be epoch-making both in our cityscape and for its habitats," he said.
Momen was speaking as the chief guest at the Construction Fair 2022 commemorating the golden jubilee of the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB) at Bangabandhu International Convention Centre in Agargaon Wednesday.
"We have a shortage of land, yet we should be more mindful of landscaping in our architectural design," he said while speaking at a function marking the Golden Jubilee programme of IAB on Wednesday evening.
He said architects in Bangladesh need to be involved with key socio-political themes of society – population density, climate change, water management, and migration – themes that are at the same time global in nature.
"I hope that architecture in Bangladesh will deliver innovative solutions to some of the socio-economic problems that affect us today," Momen said.
In Bangladesh, a lot of people are moving to cities for river erosion, flood or other climate disorders.
"Could we address these challenges with architecture? Could we manage the stream of daily newcomers in our cityscape with architecture? Architects need to ask these questions and put their energy and wisdom into solving these issues," Momen said.
In the city of Dhaka, each year, people lose millions of working hours, burn billions worth of additional energy, and exhaust uncalled carbon-emission due to bumper-to-bumper traffic jams.
"It may be time for our architects and engineers to come up with innovative ways of reducing this traffic congestion," the foreign minister said.
Read more: 'Architecture is truly global, can also be deeply local'
Narayanganj: Drivers of two four-wheelers killed in vehicle collision
Drivers of a covered van and a human hauler, locally known as Laguna, were killed in a fatal head-on collision between their vehicles on Araihazar-Madanpur road in Narayanganj's Araihazar Wednesday.
The deceased were identified as Ratan, 42, of Krishnapur village of Araihazar and Din Islam, 45, of Laskkardi village of the same upazila.
The accident occurred around noon when the speeding covered van crashed into the human hauler with a lot of force in the Lengurdi area, Azizul Haque Hawlader, officer-in-charge of Araihazar Police Station, said.
Laguna driver Ratan died instantly from the impact of the crash; covered van driver Din Islam was sent to a local hospital with serious injuries.
Din Islam succumbed to his injuries while being rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
At the request of the relatives of the deceased, the bodies were handed over to them without autopsies, Azizul said, adding that legal action will be taken in connection with the accident.
Read more: 2 killed in bus-auto rickshaw collision in Kishoreganj
Ticket seller dies after falling off bus in Gabtoli
A 45-year-old ticket seller died after falling off a bus in the city's Gabtoli bus stand on Wednesday, police said.
The deceased was identified as Ekhlas Uddin, a resident of the city's Darus Salam area in Mirpur. He was a ticket seller at Matin Travels Bus Counter.
At 12:30pm, Ekhlas fell off the bus while getting on the vehicle at the counter and got severely injured, said bus counter manager Abdur Rouf.
Read more: Man dies falling off roof in Sylhet
He was rushed to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) where he succumbed to his injuries around 6pm, said Bachchu Mia, in-charge of DMCH police outpost.
The body has been kept in the hospital morgue, he added.
Budget cut or delay in approval will hinder process to buy EVMs, says EC commissioner Alamgir
Election Commissioner Md Alamgir on Wednesday said 150 constituencies will not be able to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the 12th general elections if the budget for buying EVMs is cut or the proposal to buy EVMs is not passed by January 15.
"As we can buy EVMs from the Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) only, we are unable to assess their market price," he told the media at the Election Commission (EC) office in Dhaka.
Without conducting a feasibility study, the EC sent a proposal for a development project worth Tk8,711 crore for purchasing two lakh EVMs and for their management. The EC forwarded the development project proposal to the Planning Commission.
According to the Planning Commission's guidelines on development project formulation, processing, approval and revision, a feasibility study is a must for any project costing Tk50 crore or more.
Alamgir said, "There is no scope for feasibility studies as we cannot ask for a quotation to buy EVMs. We have to buy the EVMs at the price that BMTF has given us. There is no scope of a feasibility study."
Read more: EVMs in 150 constituencies: EC finalises Tk 8,711cr project
According to the proposals, EVMs with all their accessories would cost Tk3.33 lakh and about Tk6,660 crore would be needed to buy two lakh machines.
Another Tk1,155 crore would be needed to build a warehouse to store them, a customisation centre, and to buy 534 pickup vans and four SUVs. And Tk206 crore more would be required to carry out awareness campaigns on EVMs, on informing voters and training officials. The rest will go towards administrative costs.
The EVMs would be used in a maximum of 150 parliamentary constituencies during the 12th national polls. The EC currently has 1.5 lakh EVMs that can be simultaneously used in 70 to 80 constituencies.
British Council brings 'Artists Make Space' to celebrate 70 years in Bangladesh
The British Council has commissioned a project to nurture the collaboration and co-creation between young Bangladeshi and UK artists and to commemorate its 70 years in Bangladesh.
Britto Arts Trust Bangladesh, Tara Theatre UK and the British Council have jointly organised "Artists Make Space."
In collaboration with Chittagong University, the inaugural exhibition of this project was launched at the Rashid Chowdhury Art Gallery of the Fine Arts Institute of the university on November 6.
This exhibition will continue till November 12 and remain open for everyone from 3pm to 7pm every day.
Chittagong University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Shireen Akhtar was present at the launching event as the chief guest with Professor Benu Kumar Dey as a special guest. Professor Mahbubul Haque, artist Dhali Al Mamun and artist Nazlee Laila Mansur were also present.
Read more: 23rd Young Artists' Fine Arts Exhibition ends
Couple killed after covered van rams motorcycle in Nilphamari
A motorcyclist and his wife were killed as a covered van hit their vehicle on Nilphamari-Syedpur road in Sadar upazila of Niphamari on Wednesday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Paresh Chandra Roy, 40, and Maya Rani Roy, 28. They worked at Nilphamari Export Processing Zone (EPZ).
The accident occurred in the evening when the covered van crashed into the motorcycle with a lot of force near Shimultala while Paresh and Maya were returning from work, Shawkat Ali, officer-in-charge (OC) of Nilphamari Sadar Police Station, said.
Read more: Four die in horrific road crash in Gazipur
The couple died instantly from the impact of the crash, the OC said. "Police could not seize the vehicle as its driver sped away after the accident."
Speaker Shirin Sharmin for more participation of women in peacebuilding
Speaker of the Parliament Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury on Wednesday stressed the need for increasing the participation of women in establishing peace and security.
She was speaking at the programme "Orientation on Localization of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security" at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.
In collaboration with the UN Women, Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangstha (BNPS), an organisation working for women's rights, arranged the function participated by members of parliament (MPs).
The speaker said the MPs can play an important role in making laws to implement the national action plan related to women, peace and security.
Read more: Sheikh Hasina pioneer of women empowerment: Speaker
"The role of women in peacebuilding is inherent. That is why they are able to play an effective role through local dialogue and negotiations," she said.
Women are always more vulnerable to war, natural disasters and climate changes, she said, putting emphasis on increasing the skills of women through training.
BNPS Executive Director Rokeya Kabir delivered the welcome speech while gender expert Sheepa Hafiza presented a report.
Director General (UN Wing) of the Foreign Affairs Ministry Toufiq Islam Shatil spoke about the progress of the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, which was adopted in 2019.
Country Representative of UN Women Gitanjali Singh, Australian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Jeremy Brewer and Counselor (Political) of Canadian High Commission in Bangladesh Bradley Coates also spoke at the event.
ReadShirin leaves for Tashkent to attend women speakers' summit more:
Among the MPs, Mir Mushtaque Ahmed Robi, Shabnam Jahan, Sayeda Rubina Akter, Kazi Kaniz Sultana, Monira Sultana, Selima Ahmad, Aroma Dutta and Adiba Anjum Mita also talked about the localisation of the national action plan, said a media statement.
Increase supervision to ensure quality service: IGP tells officers
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chowdhury Abdullah Al Mamun on Wednesday ordered the police officers to enhance their monitoring capacity to ensure quality service in the police station.
The service quality of the police station has to be increased and the service seekers who come to the police station should be treated well, the IGP said.
The IGP gave this directive in his closing speech on the last day of a two-day Police Headquarters Quarterly Conference held at the Bangladesh Police Auditorium in Rajarbagh on Wednesday.
Read more: IGP promises stern action against anyone breaking the law
He said that police are capable of facing any challenge as its capacity has been enhanced a lot. The police have great success in controlling law and order, he added.
The IGP instructed the police officers to increase supervision so that thana police perform their duty with sincerity and goodwill in providing the expected service to the people.
The IGP also directed the field level police officers to discharge their duties with professionalism, dedication and integrity.
Referring to National Emergency Service '999', the top officer of the police force said, '999' has become a symbol of trust and reliance for the people. He asked the police officials to ensure the provision of this service at the earliest.
Read more: Militancy under full control in Bangladesh: IGP
The two-day Police Headquarters Quarterly Conference started on Tuesday. All Additional IGPs, Commissioners of Metropolitan Police, Range DIGs and District Superintendents of Police (SPs) participated in the conference.
In the conference in the third quarter of this year (July-September) the overall crime situation across the country was reviewed and necessary guidance was provided to the field level officers.