Bangladesh
FM Momen rues long delay in Teesta deal with India
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has reiterated the importance of signing Teesta water sharing agreement with India, saying it is “unfortunate” and “a shame” that the deal remains stuck for 11 years.
"It is unfortunate that we could not get the Teesta water sharing deal through for 11 years. It's a shame, we were ready, they were ready, yet the deal is not done. In future there will be a big cry for water and we have to prepare for it," he told India’s NDTV in Guwahati.
Also read: Momen meets Assam chief minister
While talking to NDTV on the sidelines of the NADI Conclave held in Guwahati on May 28-29, Momen said the two countries share 54 rivers with India and they are keen on sharing and working together on joint management of all rivers. “Joint management is necessary for the wellbeing of people of both sides, the entire basin area.”
The Teesta river originates in the Teesta Kangse glacier and flows through Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh. It has been mired in conflict since 1947 when the catchment areas of the Teesta were allotted to India.
In 2011, India agreed to share 37.5 per cent of Teesta waters while retaining 42.5 per cent of the waters during the lean season between December and March.
However, the deal never went through due to stiff opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, reports NDTV.
"We are very optimistic that India would agree to go forward with the deal, even West Bengal will agree, and we will achieve it," he said.
Moreover, constant building of dams along the Teesta in Sikkim has resulted in lean seasonal flow draining into Bangladesh, reads the report.
"Assam, Bangladesh faced floods this year at the same time, we need to collaborate more with technology for water discharge, jointly develop early flood warning systems, and joint management of rivers is win-win for both countries," said Momen.
There is a lot of media buzz that Bangladesh is discussing an almost $1 billion loan from China for a comprehensive management and restoration project on the Teesta river.
The project is aimed at managing the river basin efficiently, controlling floods, and tackling the water crisis in summers.
The foreign minister said, "We don't have a formal proposal from China on Teesta as yet, the one that China was proposing initially was a French project, designed by French engineers in 1989. It was expensive, at that time we could not manage funds. Now the Chinese are picking up one component of it, the Teesta project, but this I gather from media reports, they did not send us a proposal as of now. We have to see how it goes, because as of now India is not really doing much to resolve the Teesta water sharing issue, that's why they came up with a proposal, it's a lucrative proposal.”
Also read:Momen, Jaishankar to inaugurate River Conclave in Guwahati Saturday
In September 2016, the Bangladesh Water Development Board entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Powerchina or the Power Construction Corporation of China to carry out a technical study to better manage the Teesta for the benefit of northern Bangladesh's greater Rangpur region.
"However, Teesta is an unresolved issue, so our people would naturally push the government to look into any fresh proposal, that may be the reason why the Chinese project on Teesta is so much talked about in the media," the foreign minister said.
Overzealous woman in viral incident at Narsingdi station held for assault
A woman who assaulted a girl for wearing western attire in an incident last week at Narsingdi Railway Station has been detained from Shibpur upazila, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) announced on Monday.
The detainee was identified as Marzia Aktar alias Shila alias Shayla, a matchmaker of Narsingdi Sadar upazila.
Rab-11 Narsingdi Camp Commander Flight Lieutenant Touhidul Mobin Khan said they detained the woman from Shibpur upazila in the early hours of Monday.
Also read: Man held for assaulting girl wearing western attire at Narsingdi rail station
On Monday, a court sent the woman on remand for three days, said Ferdous Ahmed Biswas, officer-in-charge of Bhairab Railway Police Station.
On May 20, a three-member team from Narsingdi District Administration detained another man named Ismail Hossain, 25, after identifying him from CCTV footage of the incident, said ATM Musa, station master of the railway station.
On May 18, a woman at the Narsingdi Railway Station made distasteful comments at the young girl and two boys with her who were waiting at the station for a train.
The girl was wearing a crop-top and jeans and the boys were also wearing western outfits.
At one point the woman locked in an altercation with them and some local miscreants started beating the youths and harassed the girl, said the station master.
“The girl had to take shelter in the station master’s room to save herself. The matter was resolved later with my intervention,” said ATM Musa.
The matter sparked debate among netizens after video footage of the incident went viral on social media and several news media published reports on it.
14 bike lifters held in Magura
In separate drives police arrested 14 members of a bike-lifting gang from different areas in Magura district on Monday.
The arrestees are- Md. Nazmul Hasan Munna, 28, Md. Monirul Islam Majed Madhu ,23, Md. Shawkat Hossain,21, Jewel Rana ,24, Md. Tuhin Hossain ,22, Md. Ibrahim Hossain Shakil ,22, Md. Sagar Sikder ,22, Md. Enamul Hossain Tamim ,20, Md. Rabiul Islam Robi 23, Md. Rezaul Islam ,35, Shahidul Islam ,40, Md. Enamul Biswas 33,, Md. Salam Sheikh ,38, and Abul Bashar Mollah ,23.
Read: HC orders probe on ‘disappearance’ of birth and death registration info
Tipped off, police conducted the drives and arrested them from Doarpara, Batikadanga and Vaina Mor areas, said Additional Superintendent of Police Mohammad Kamrul Hasan in a press briefing on Monday afternoon.
The law enforcers also recovered 12 motorcycles from their possession during the drives, he said.
Read: JCD leader sues 33 BCL men for 'attempted murder'
During preliminary interrogation, they confessed that they have long been involved in stealing motorcycles.
The arrestees were sent to jail, the officer added.
Maritime ports asked to hoist local cautionary signal 3
The country’s maritime ports have been advised to hoist the local cautionary signal three to alert vessels of a possible squall as deep convection is taking place over the North Bay, said the weather department on Monday.
Squally weather is likely to affect the maritime ports, the North Bay, and the adjoining coastal areas of Bangladesh, said the Met office.
Also read: Asani weakens into depression
And so, maritime ports in Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar, Mongla, and Payra have been advised to hoist local cautionary signal three.
"All fishing boats and trawlers in the North Bay have been advised to come close to the coast and proceed with caution until further notice," it added.
Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur in most parts of the country with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places over the country under the impact of the deep convection, Bangladesh Meteorological Department said.
Also read:Well-marked low over Bay intensified into depression
Deep convection refers to the thermally driven turbulent mixing that moves air parcels from the lower to the upper atmosphere.
RU student assaulted ‘by BCL men’
A student of Rajshahi University has been assaulted allegedly by some activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) at Madar Bux Hall as he asked them not to smoke in the television room.
The victim is Shahabuddin Ahmed, a master’s student of Bangla department, who works for online news portal www.bdmorning.com and is also a member of Rajshahi University Journalist Association (RUJA).
Also read: Tension mounts as BCL, JCD clash at DU
Witnesses said RU BCL Madar Bux Hall unit vice president Giasuddin Kajol along with two of his fellow activists beat up Shahabuddin as objected to his smoking in the television room while watching an IPL match on Sunday night.
“While watching the cricket match, Giasuddin Kajol, a fourth-year student of History department, started smoking cigarettes, making him and the others feel uncomfortable,” alleged Shahabuddin.
Later, Shahabuddin was taken to the university medical centre for primary treatment.
Professor Ashabul Haque, proctor of the university said, “We will take necessary steps against the accused after an investigation.”
Meanwhile, RU-based journalists staged a sit-in at night in front of the vice-chancellor's residence demanding immediate action against the BCL men and the removal of the Madar Bux Hall provost.
Later, the journalists withdrew their sit-in programme at around 2 am after the pro-vice-chancellor Professor Sultan-Ul-Islam assured them of meeting their demands by Monday.
Also read:DU student assaulted ‘by BCL man’ for not offering salam
Nuruzzaman Khan, president of Rajshahi University Journalist Association, alleged that he along with his fellow journalists contacted the hall provost several times over phone, but he did not respond to their call.
“Instead of coming to the hall and taking necessary steps to solve the problem, the hall provost made the journalists wait in front of the hall gates for three hours, and later refused to come down”, Nuruzzaman added.
Missing man found dead in Sylhet
Police recovered the body of a man from a haor in the Pirer Char area of Beanibazar upazila of Sylhet, a day after he went missing.
The deceased was identified as Dulal Ahmed, 40, son of late Gias Uddin of the area. He was a fugitive accused in a case filed by his wife.
Police said Dulal jumped into the water on Saturday afternoon when the law enforcers went on a search operation to nab him. Since then, he has been missing.
Read: Man hacked dead in Jashore
On Sunday morning, locals found his body floating in the haor and informed police.
On information, police recovered the body and sent it to Sylhet Osmani Hospital morgue for autopsy, said Hillol Roy, officer-in-charge of Beanibazar police station.
Brace for showers in next 24 hours: Met office
Expect a brief reprieve from the sweltering summer heat, as the weather department has predicted rain or thunder showers in parts of Bangladesh in the next 24 hours.
“Rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely to occur at most places over Khulna, Barishal and Chattogram divisions; at many places over Dhaka and Sylhet divisions and at a few places over Rangpur, Rajshahi and Mymensingh divisions with moderately heavy to heavy falls at places over the country" the Bangladesh Meteorology Department said in a weather bulletin on Monday.
Also read: Early monsoon showers likely over Bangladesh
"Day temperature may fall slightly and night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country,” the department said.
The maximum rainfall for the last 24 hours till 9 am was recorded at 89 mm in Chandpur of Chattogram division.
Meanwhile, the trough of low extended from Bihar to North Bay across West Bengal and sourthern part of Bangladesh persists.
HC orders probe on ‘disappearance’ of birth and death registration info
The High Court has directed the government to investigate the disappearance of a large amount of birth and death registration information from the database stored on the server.
A HC bench of Justice Mojibur Rahman Mia and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order after hearing of a writ petition filed in the public interest on Sunday.
The HC also issued a rule questioning why the government’s inaction to prevent the difficulties faced by the people in obtaining birth and death certificates and non-investigation of the disappearance of a large numer of information from the relevant servers should not be declared illegal.
Also read: Stern action against harassment in issuing birth certificates: Minister
At the same time, the HC asked why the creation of a central database should not be directed as Rule-19 of Birth and Death Registration Act-2019.
The LGRD Secretary, the Registrar General of the Birth and Death Registration of LGRD, the Director General of the Planning-Monitoring, Evaluation and Inspection Office and the Joint Secretary of the Law Department of the ministry have been asked to submit the probe report responding to the rule in four weeks.
Lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed appeared for the writ petition in the court while Deputy Attorney General Bipul Bagmar represented the state.
Md Tanvir submitted legal notice in this regard on April 4 attaching a report published in a national daily on March 12 entitled 'Citizens in Extreme suffering with birth registration certificate' and on February 4, 'Birth Certificate: Birth registration information of millions of people in Bangladesh not listed on server'.
The report stated that the birth registration law was enacted in 2004 and came into force in 2006. Birth registration certificate is mandatory for various important activities including passport issue, marriage registration, admission in educational institutions, obtaining driving license, land registration.
In the beginning handwritten certificates were given. Then at the end of 2010 an initiative was taken to digitalise it.
At that time the government also provided a separate allocation for computer training to the registrars concerned. But not all the information was digitised at that time, especially of the city corporations and densely populated areas, the report said.
Also read:Birth Registration in Bangladesh: Application Process, Essential Papers
According to another report, the Registrar General's Office in charge of registration of births and deaths in Bangladesh and officials of the Dhaka City Corporation say that millions of people who had previously obtained birth registration certificates now need to be re-registered online as their previous registrations have disappeared.
The birth registration of these individuals has not been updated online and it will no longer be possible to transfer old data to the new server. Authorities concerned are also struggling to cope with the large number of online birth registrations of a large number of school students.
Man hacked dead in Jashore
A 33-year-old man has been hacked to death allegedly by miscreants following an altercation at Najir Shankarpur in Jashore town, locals said.
The deceased was identified as Afzal Hossain, a tea stall keeper of the area.
Also read: Woman, 2 daughters hacked dead in Manikganj: Husband held
Locals said 14-15 men, aides of Sujan alias Tera Sujan, stabbed Afzal from back at the Najir Shankarpur area around 8am on Sunday following an altercation between Sujan and Afzal a few days ago, leaving him seriously wounded.
When the locals came to resist the bid, they exploded two bombs and fled immediately, witnesses said.
Afzal was later rushed to Jashore General Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.
Also read: Woman hacked dead in Joypurhat
There are several cases against Sujan who was released from jail around a month ago, said Tajul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Kotwali police station.
“Drives are underway in the area to nab the killers,” said the OC.
Global Covid cases near 532 million
The overall number of Covid cases is fast approaching 532 million amid a rise in new infections in parts of the world.
According to the latest global data, the total case count mounted to 531,678,528 while the death toll from the virus reached 6,310,915 on Monday morning.
Also read: N. Korea moves to soften curbs amid doubts over COVID counts
The US has recorded 85,716,214 cases so far and 1,031,273 people have died from the virus in the country, the data shows.
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 43,153,043 on Sunday, as 2,828 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.
Besides, 14 deaths from the pandemic registered across the country since Saturday morning took the total death toll to 524,586.
Situation in Bangladesh
Bangladesh registered 40 new Covid cases in 24 hours till Sunday morning taking the country's total caseload to 1,953,447, health authorities said.
The country's total fatalities remained unchanged at 29,130 with no new Covid deaths reported during the period.
Also read: Lights of Vivid to return to Australia in COVID-19 revival
The daily test positivity rate slightly dropped to 0.79 percent from Saturday's 0.83 percent as 5,093 samples were tested, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
The mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 percent. The recovery rate rose to 97.39 percent as 215 patients recovered during this period.