Bangladesh
FM to attend River Conclave in Guwahati, JCC talks in Delhi May 28-30
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will attend the third edition of Asian Confluence River Conclave-2022 (NADI) to be held in Guwahati on May 28-29 before holding the next round of Joint Consultation Commission (JCC) meeting with his Indian counterpart scheduled to be held in New Delhi on May 30.
“We’re in constant discussion with India. It’s good that we can raise all the issues. They’ve (India) become good friends,” he told reporters at his office on Tuesday.
A number of Indian ministers including Indian External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar are likely to attend the Asian Confluence River Conclave-2022.
Meanwhile, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami on Tuesday had a meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on preparation of the JCC.
The JCC will be co-chaired by Foreign Minister Dr Momen and his Indian counterpart Dr Jaishankar. The two Foreign Ministers met in Dhaka last month and stressed on following up the decisions taken at the highest level for their effective implementation for mutual benefit.
The sixth meeting of the JCC was held on September 29, 2020. Although Dhaka was scheduled to host the meeting, due to the COVID-19 situation the meeting was held on a virtual platform.
Also read: No chance of Chinese debt trap: FM
Bangladesh and India noted that 2021 was a landmark year for the Bangladesh-India relationship as the President and Prime Minister of India visited Bangladesh in a single year and both the counties celebrated the 50th years of diplomatic ties through the joint celebration of a number of landmark events across the world.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will also visit India this year, most probably in July first week.
Mango export to Europe from Satkhira begins
Export of different varieties of mangoes to Europe started from Satkhira district on Tuesday.
The export began formally after collecting mangoes from the orchard of Moksed Ali at Chanka village in Sadar upazila.
Deputy director of Satkhira DAE Nazrul Islam, some 600 metric tonnes of mangoes will be exported this year from across the country to England, Germany, Italy, France and Denmark. Of which, 100 mts will be exported from Satkhira.
Also read: Early harvesting of mangoes puts Satkhira farmers in trouble
Ziel International Limited, an exporting firm, collected mangoes of different varieties including Gobindabhog, Himsagar, Langra and Amrapali from the orchard for export.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), this year 4,115 hectares of land have been brought under mango cultivation in the district with a target to produce 50000- 60000 metric tonnes of mangoes.
DNCC launches 10-day anti-dengue drive
The Dhaka South City Corporation (DNCC) on Tuesday launched a 10-day special drive against Aedes mosquito, a carrier of dengue.
Chief Executive Officer of DNCC Md. Selim Reza inaugurated the special campaign adjacent to Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed Park area in Gulshan in the morning.
Also read:Under-construction buildings responsible for 40 percent of dengue infections
Legal action will be taken if mosquito larvae are found in any house or establishment in the DNCC area or even in any office of the City Corporation, he added.
Different areas under DNCC are being monitored regularly by volunteers and 950 volunteers have already been enlisted and trained, he said.
HC issues rule on extending former ACC director Enamul Basir's sentence
The High Court on Tuesday issued a rule questioning why the sentence of suspended Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) director Khandaker Enamul Basir in a bribery case should not be extended.
The HC bench of Justice Md Nazrul Islam Talukder and Kazi Md Ezarul Haque Akunnd issued the rule during a hearing on a petition filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Also read: Former ACC director Basir gets 8 yrs in jail in bribery case
Senior advocate Khurshid Alam Khan represented the Anti-Corruption Commission.
On February 23, Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 Sheikh Nazmul Alam sentenced suspended DIG Mizanur Rahman and suspended ACC director Basir to three and eight years (three years for passing information and five years for bribery) in jail, respectively in the case.
Later Mizan and Basir moved the High Court against the order.
The ACC appealed to the High Court on Monday for extending Basir’s jail term.
On April 13, HC granted two-month bail to Mizan against which ACC appealed to the Appellate Division.
The corruption case dates back to June 24, 2019, when ACC director Manjur Morshed lodged a complaint against the disgraced DIG, his wife Sohelia Anar Ratna, nephew sub-inspector Mahmudul Hasan and younger brother Mahbubur Rahman.
According to the case statement, Mizan accumulated wealth worth Tk 32.8 million beyond his known sources of income. On the other hand, he had declared wealth worth Tk 37 million in his tax statement.
Then director of ACC, Basir, was made the investigating officer in the case.
During the probe, Mizan had accused Basir of demanding Tk 4.0 million as bribe for setting the case, prompting the Commission to appoint director Monjur Morshed as the investigating officer in the case.
Also read:Suspended DIG Mizan, ACC director Enamul Basir indicted
At the same time, a three-member probe body was formed, led by ACC director Sheikh Mohammad Fanafillah, to look into the allegations of bribery.
On July 16, 2019, Fanafillah lodged a complaint against both Mizan and Basir. And on April 16, 2020, a Dhaka court indicted the two and directed the official beginning of the trial in the case.
Extradition of PK Halder has to go through legal process: Indian envoy
Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram Kumar Doraiswami said on Tuesday that legal process has to be completed before extradition of Bangladeshi businessman PK Halder from India to Bangladesh.
Halder, wanted in Bangladesh for money laundering and a series of financial crimes, was arrested on Sunday by India’s federal Enforcement Directorate, in West Bengal.
While responding to questions from reporters after a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Doraiswami said it is a process and it is not like exchanging Christmas cards.
Also read:PK Halder to stay in federal agency's custody for 10 more days
“These are things done through legal process. Let that happen slowly,” he said, adding that they are working with the Bangladesh government.
He said there will be response from their side at some point of time based on the information they are provided with.
Earlier, the high commissioner had a meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen on the preparation of foreign minister-level Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission (JCC) meeting to be held in Delhi on May 30 and and discussed cooperation in bilateral and multilateral domains.
During his meeting the FS raised the issue and sought India’s support for handing over PK Halder to Bangladesh.
He said the envoy assured of their full cooperation in the matter.
The foreign secretary said India will take into consideration Bangladesh’s request once they complete their own legal process there.
He said there will formal request through the diplomatic channel too and the Home Ministry will play an active role to that end.
Bangladesh wants to know full extent of financial criminality of PK Halder in India that might help in terms of the cases he faces in Bangladesh.
It’s up to India to see if he committed any crime there and that may be under investigation , he said.
Responding to a question, the FS said it does not necessarily require legal framework always if there is very good friendship between the two countries.
He, however, said cases related to financial criminality might be different from other criminal cases.
Bailey bridge collapses with stone-laden truck in Bhola; 3 hurt
Three people were injured when a bailey bridge in Lalmohan upazila of Bhola collapsed with a stone-laden truck and other vehicles on Tuesday.
Locals said the Roads and Highways Department is constructing a new girder bridge over a canal in Daori Bazar area of the upazila and a temporary bailey bridge was built next to the under -construction bridge for traffic movement.
Also read:Worker killed, 20 others hurt as bridge collapses in Rangamati
The bailey bridge collapsed into the canal around 11am when a stone-laden truck and some other vehicles were crossing the bridge, leaving three people, including the truck driver, injured.
On information, police and fire fighters conducted a joint operation to salvage truck and other vehicles.
Meanwhile, traffic movement on Bhola-Char Fashion road has been suspended due to the collapse of the bridge, forcing people to cross the river by boat.
Also read: Barguna: Poorly planned bridges render re-excavated canal unnavigable
Md Nazmul Islam, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department, said the bridge will be repaired by Wednesday.
The present width of the 94 km long regional highway from Bhola Sadar upazila to Baburhat of Char Fashion is about 18 feet. It is being widened to 30 feet. For the development of the road, four bridges and 43 culverts are being reconstructed.
Govt fixes toll rate for using Padma Bridge
The government on Tuesday finalised the toll rate for different types of vehicles for crossing the Padma Multipurpose Bridge.
The Bridges Division under Road Transport and Bridges Ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard on Tuesday.
Also read:Dhaka-Bhanga train service through Padma Bridge to open by June, 2023: Railways Minister
According to the notification, Tk 100 toll has been fixed for motorbike, Tk 750 for private car and jeep, Tk 1200 from pick-up, Tk 1300 for microbus, Tk 1400 for small bus (with 31 seats), Tk 2000 for middle bus (with 32 seats), Tk 2400 for big size bus, Tk 1600 for small truck (5 tonnes), Tk 2100 for middle size truck (over 5 tonnes to 8 tonnes), Tk 2800 for middle size truck (over 8 tonnes to 11 tonnes), Tk 5500 for big truck (up to 3 excel) Tk 6000 for trailer truck (4 excel) and Tk 6,000 plus for trailer (over 4 excel).
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on May 11 said the much-hyped Padma Bridge will be inaugurated in June and preparations are going on for its opening.
Also read: Padma Bridge inauguration in June: Quader
Quader, made the remarks while briefing reporters after the 111th board meeting of Bangladesh Bridge Authority at the conference room of Bridges Division in the capital.
The minister said the work progress of the main bridge is 98 per cent while river training is 92 per cent and the progress of carpeting work is 91 per cent.
PK Halder to stay in federal agency's custody for 10 more days
A special court in Kolkata on Tuesday extended the federal economic intelligence agency's custody of Bangladeshi businessman PK Halder by another 10 days.
Though the Enforcement Directorate sought another two weeks for "further custodial interrogation" of Halder, the Bankshal court in the eastern Indian city gave the agency 10 more days.
Also read: HC to hear rule on bringing PK Halder back on June 12
The federal agency produced Halder and his associates, who were arrested in Bengal on May 13, in the city court after their three-day remand ended on Tuesday. Halder, the former MD of NRB Global Bank, had been on the run since being charged by the Anti-Corruption Commission in Bangladesh for money laundering and amassing ill-gotten wealth.
Two of his arrested aides have been identified as Pritish Kumar Halder and Pranesh Kumar Halder.
In fact, Halder and his associates were nabbed by the Enforcement Directorate during multiple raids across North and South 24 Parganas districts of Bengal on May 13.
Also read: India's federal agency may seek extension of PK Halder's remand
"PK Halder has been posing as an Indian citizen by the name of Shibshankar Halder after having managed to fraudulently obtain various government identities...," the agency said in a statement on May 14.
The accused, including Halder, managed to float companies in India on the basis of the fraudulent documents, according to the Directorate.
UNICEF: South Asia is epicentre of severely wasted children; Bangladesh fares better than India, Pakistan
South Asia remains the ‘epicentre’ of severe wasting, where roughly 1 in 22 children is severely wasted, three times as high as sub-Saharan Africa, says UNICEF on Tuesday.
Bangladesh is among the top 10 countries with the highest number of children under 5 years of age affected by severe wasting.
Bangladesh’s situation is, however, better than India and Pakistan.
Bangladesh ranks fifth with 327,859 children affected by severe wasting while India ranked first with 5,772,472 affected children and Pakistan third with 678,925 affected children, said the report.
At least 10 million severely wasted children globally – or 2 in 3 – do not have access to the most effective treatment for wasting, ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF).
The number of children with severe wasting was rising even before war in Ukraine threatened to plunge the world deeper into a spiraling global food crisis - and it’s getting worse, the UN agency warned in a new Child Alert.
Released on Tuesday, Severe wasting: An overlooked child survival emergency shows that in spite of rising levels of severe wasting in children and rising costs for life-saving treatment, global financing to save the lives of children suffering from wasting is also under threat.
Read: Nearly 1 billion people in need of assistive technology denied access: Report
Severe wasting – where children are too thin for their height resulting in weakened immune systems – is the most immediate, visible and life-threatening form of malnutrition.
Worldwide, at least 13.6 million children under five suffer from severe wasting, resulting in 1 in 5 deaths among this age group.
UNICEF warns that a combination of global shocks to food security worldwide – led by the war in Ukraine, economies struggling with pandemic recovery, and persistent drought conditions in some countries due to climate change – is creating conditions for a significant increase in global levels of severe wasting.
“Even before the war in Ukraine placed a strain on food security worldwide, conflict, climate shocks and COVID-19 were already wreaking havoc on families’ ability to feed their children,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “The world is rapidly becoming a virtual tinderbox of preventable child deaths and child suffering from wasting.”
Meanwhile, the price of ready-to-use therapeutic food is projected to increase by up to 16 per cent over the next six months due to a sharp rise in the cost of raw ingredients, according to UNICEF.
This could leave up to 600,000 additional children without access to life-saving treatment at current spending levels. Shipping and delivery costs are also expected to remain high, said the UN agency.
“For millions of children every year, these sachets of therapeutic paste are the difference between life and death. A sixteen per cent price increase may sound manageable in the context of global food markets, but at the end of that supply chain is a desperately malnourished child, for whom the stakes are not manageable at all,” said Russell.
The Child Alert also notes that even countries in relative stability, such as Uganda, have seen a 40 per cent or more increase in child wasting since 2016, due to rising poverty and household food insecurity causing inadequate quality and frequency of diets for children and pregnant women.
Climate-related shocks including severe cyclical drought and inadequate access to clean water and sanitation services are contributing to the rising numbers.
Read: NEC approves Tk 2.46 trillion ADB with highest allocation for transport & communication
The report goes on to warn that aid for wasting remains woefully low and is predicted to decline sharply in the coming years, with little hope of recovering to pre-pandemic levels before 2028.
To reach every child with life-saving treatment for severe wasting, UNICEF urged the governments to increase wasting aid by at least 59 per cent above 2019 ODA levels to help reach all children in need of treatment in 23 high burden countries.
It also called upon the countries to include treatment for child wasting under health and long-term development funding schemes so that all children can benefit from treatment programmes, not just those in humanitarian crisis settings.
UNICEF called for ensuring that budget allocations to address the global hunger crisis include specific allocations for therapeutic food interventions to address the immediate needs of children suffering from severe wasting.
Donors and civil society organizations have been urged to prioritize funding for wasting to ensure a diverse, growing and a healthy ecosystem of donor support.
“There is simply no reason why a child should suffer from severe wasting – not when we have the ability to prevent it. But there is precious little time to reignite a global effort to prevent, detect and treat malnutrition before a bad situation gets much, much worse,” said Russell.
Covid-19: Bangladesh logs 32 new cases, no death
Bangladesh reported 32 Covid cases in 24 hours until Tuesday morning which took the total caseload to 1,953,081.
With no new Covid death reported during the period for the 27th consecutive day, the total fatalities from the pandemic remained unchanged at 29,127.
Also read: North Korea reports 15 more suspected COVID-19 deaths
The daily test positivity rate dropped to 0.75 per cent from Monday’s 0.77 as 4,275 samples were tested, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
On Monday, the number of cases was higher as 37 new cases were reported.
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 per cent. The recovery rate rose to 97.28 per cent as 258 patients recovered during this period.
In April, the country reported only five Covid-linked deaths and 1,114 new cases, while 14,100 patients recovered from the disease, according to the DGHS.
Among the five deaths during the period, two were unvaccinated patients while three were vaccinated with two doses of the Covid vaccine.
Also read: Covid-19 in Bangladesh: 37 new cases reported
The country reported its first zero Covid death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 cases, since the pandemic broke out here in March 2020.
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest positivity rate of 33.37 per cent.
The country registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and daily fatalities of 264 on August 10 in the same year.