Bangladesh
Four more products to receive cash incentives against export: Bangladesh Bank
Four more products will get cash incentives from the government against their exports, according to the central bank.
The new products, each of which will receive the cash support at rate of 4 per cent over their export value, are locally produced tea, bi-cycle and its parts, MS Steel products and cement sheet, said a Bangladesh Bank circular, issued by foreign exchange policy department on Monday.
The exporting firm or any individual can claim the incentives by submitting one or more applications within 360 days of receiving the export value.
However, the normal system of submitting the audit reports will be applicable in this regard. The new order will be effective from the fiscal 2021-2022. In this case, each of the product's local value addition has to be minimum 30 per cent.
At present, some 38 items of local products have been receiving the cash incentives against the export at different rates one per cent to highest 20 per cent. The current incentives for these items will continue.
READ: Bangladesh Bank Job Circular: Re-notice of recruitment of 200 people
The BB circular also mentioned that cash incentives will also be provided for the export of the products produced in the export processing zones, economic zones and hi-tech parks under A, B and C categories.
Besides, cash incentives at the rate of 4 per cent will be provided for export of IT services and software by individual freelancers. But their claim has to be authenticated by the Department of Information and Communication Technology and freelancers need to have the government certificates.
READ: Jobs Circular in Bangladesh Bank: 34 people in 2 positions
Apart from this, float glass sheet, opal glass wire, cast iron and aluminium engineering products, and light engineering products will be considered for export subsidy. As well as high-tech products (compressors) and HCFC-free refrigerators as electronic products will receive export subsidies under the consumer electronics, electrical home and kitchen appliance sectors.
Hasina seeks stronger steps to address ‘planetary emergency’
Renewing her call for strict implementation of the Paris Agreement, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked global leaders to take stronger steps urgently to address the planetary emergency of climate change.
Sheikh Hasina also placed six-point proposal before the global leaders as the COP-26 is just few months away.
Addressing a closed-door leaders’ meeting arranged for a small group of heads of state and governments on Climate Change held at Trusteeship Council of the UN Headquarters on Monday.
READ: PM arrives in New York to attend UNGA
The proposal include strict implementation of the Paris Agreement to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degree Celsius, realisation of annual $100 billion climate fund from the developed countries, 50 per cent of this fund should go to adaptation and resilience, especially to climate vulnerable countries.
The other proposals are: Forging new financial mechanisms and transfer of green technology to the developing countries, addressing loss-and-damage issue, and displacement of large-scale population due to climate change and capacity building of CVF countries to tackle the double jeopardy of pandemic and disaster, particularly with the increased frequency of climate-induced disasters.
“Finally, we need a ‘whole-of-the-world’ approach to leave a sustainable future for our next generations,” she said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UN Secretary General António Guterres convened the meeting.
Hasina said climate vulnerable countries contribute the least to the global Green House gas emissions. “Yet, they’re the worst victims of the impacts of climate change.”
37 Bangladeshi returns after serving jail term in India
Thirty-seven Bangladeshi nationals, most of them teenagers, returned home on Monday after serving up to three years of jail term in India for illegal entry into the neighbouring country.
Petrapole Immigration Police handed the returnees – 13 girls, 20 boys and four women to Benapole Immigration Police in the evening.
They were trafficked to India through different points of the border with promises of jobs, but unfortunately landed in jail. The boys and girls were aged between 12 and 18 when they got trafficked.
READ: 27 more Bangladeshis return through Darshana checkpost
Binoy Krishna Mallik, executive director of Jashore Rights, said the victims went to India’s Bangalore three and half years back.
Ahsan Habib, officer-in-charge of Benapole Check-post Immigration, said the Bangladeshi nationals returned through travel permits.
They were later handed over to Benapole Port police from where two NGOs will receive them, he said.
READ: 30 more Bangladeshis rescued from the Mediterranean return from Tunisia: BRAC
The returnees will have to stay there for 14-day institutional quarantine, he added.
Krishak Dal gets 7-member partial committee
BNP on Monday announced a partial committee of its associate body, Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal, five months after its national council.
Hasan Jafir Tuhin has been made president while Shahidul Islam Babul general secretary of the seven-member partial committee of Krishak Dal.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir approved the committee, said a press release.
Tuhin was the member secretary of the organisation’s previous convening committee while Babul is BNP's Dhaka divisional assistant organising secretary.
Helaluzzaman Talukder Lalu has been made senior vice president of the committee while Gautam Chakraborty vice-president, Engineer TS Ayub and Mosharraf Hossain joint secretaries and Shafiqul Islam office secretary.
READ: Krishak Dal’s convening committee formed after 21 yrs
The fourth council of Krishak Dal was held on March 12 this year and BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir dissolved its convening committee at the inaugural session. But no fresh committee could be formed at the council due to conflict among its leaders.
On February 27, 2019, BNP constituted a 153-member new convening committee of Krishak Dal after 21 years of its third council.
READ: Thank govt for suspending Khaleda’s sentence, Hasan tells BNP
On December 30, 1980, BNP founder late Ziaur Rahman established the Krishak Dal to ensure the rights and welfare of farmers.
Regent Hospital scam: ACC approves chargesheet against ex-DGHS DG, 5 others
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on Monday approved a charge sheet against six people including former Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services(DGHS) Abul Kalam Azad in a case over Regent Hospital scam.
Azad was not initially named in the case but the charge sheet added his name after an investigation, Deputy Director of ACC Public Relations office Muhammad Arif Sadeq told UNB.
Deputy Director of the anti-graft commission Farid Ahmed Patwary filed the case against five people with Dhaka Coordinated Office-1 on September 23 last year for embezzling Tk 1.37 crore by issuing fake Covid test certificates from Regent Hospital.
READ: Quader says ACC is welcome to probe his ministry for corruption
The five others accused in the case are - Regent Chairman Shaheduzzan, former DGHS Director Aminul Hasan, Deputy Director Yunus Ali, Assistant Director Shafiur Rahman, and Research Officer Didarul Islam.
Last year, numerous incidents of mismanagement and irregularities in the health sector got exposed when physicians of some government hospitals, including Mugda General Hospital, complained of receiving low-quality masks and protective equipment.
Then issuance of fake Covid-19 certificates by some hospitals triggered huge criticisms at home and abroad.
The scandal came to light with a drive at Regent Hospitals on July 6 and the Regent Group head office along with its hospitals was subsequently sealed off.
READ: Ward councillor asked to submit wealth statements: ACC
Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested Regent Hospital chairman Mohammad Shahed from Komorpur border in Debhata upazila of Satkhira district early July 15 on charge of issuing fake Covid-19 certificates.
NRBs' engagement can shape Bangladesh's development: BGMEA chief
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) President Faruque Hassan has said engagement of non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) can play a crucial role in shaping the financial, social and economic conditions of the country.
He made the remark during a meeting with Nayem Uddin Ahmed, consul general of the Bangladesh Consulate General in Toronto, recently, said the apparel industry's apex body Monday.
BGMEA Director Abdullah Hil Rakib was also present at the meeting.
READ: BGMEA wants to increase RMG exports to Canada, promote positive image
Faruque said many NRBs are well-established businessmen, having huge investments in their countries of residence, while many hold influential positions in governments as politicians and members of parliaments.
Also, a lot of Bangladeshis are renowned scientists, academicians, researchers, high government officials and holding other prestigious positions.
Avenues should be created in an effective way to allow them to contribute to the development of Bangladesh, he added.
He sought the cooperation of Nayem Uddin to help the NRBs living in Canada promote the interests of Bangladesh.
The BGMEA president expressed thanks to the Bangladesh government for setting up a state-of-the-art office of the consulate general in Toronto as it would be helpful to showcase "Made in Bangladesh" products, including apparel items and attract potential foreign investors.
READ: BGMEA chief invites Canadian businessmen to invest in Bangladesh
Also, he requested the consul general to consider providing one-stop services to foreign investors from the consulate general
Krishak League leader shot dead in Cox’s Bazar
A leader of local unit of Krishak League was gunned down by some unidentified miscreants at Fasiakhali Ghonapara in Chakaria upazila of Cox’s Bazar district on Monday.
The deceased was identified as Sarwar Kamal, general secretary of Fasiakhali union unit of Krishak League.
Some 10-12 miscreants attacked Sarwar and shot him around 10:30 am, leaving him dead on the spot, said Shaker Mohammad Zobair, officer-in-charge of Chakaria Police Station.
On information, police recovered the body and sent it to a local hospital morgue for autopsy
7 members of RMG goods theft gang held
Detectives have arrested seven members of a RMG goods theft syndicate in Dhaka’s Uttara and Burichong thana area of Cumilla district.
The detectives also recovered 4,705 RMG products and two covered vans from their possessions.
The arrestees are Md. Shahed alias Saeed alias Sylheti Saeed (the ringleader of the gang), Razzak, Yusuf, Mainul, Alamin, Dulal Hossain and Khairul.
Briefing reporters at the DMP media Centre on Monday, Additional Commissioner (DB) of DMP AKM Hafiz Akhter said Network Clothing Limited, a RMG goods exporter, shipped a total of 17,152 pieces of garment goods in 1,431 cartons for export.
Also read: Three arrested in joint drive against counterfeit medicines
After the shipment reached the Chittagong port, 5,000 pieces of goods were found missing during the count.
A case was filed in this regard on September 17 at Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station. DB (Tejgaon division) started investigating the case, he said.
He said on the basis of information technology and intelligence information, the Tejgaon zonal team of DB (Tejgaon Division) raided Uttara area in Dhaka city and arrested Razzak, Yusuf and Mainul and Khairul on Friday.
They also recovered some stolen garments and a covered van from their possessions.
According to their statements, Al-Amin and Dulal were arrested along with the rest of the stolen garments and another covered van from Nimsar area of Burichang police station in Cumilla district. Later, ringleader of the gang Md. Shahed alias Sylhet Saeed was arrested according to the information gleaned from the other arrestees.
Also read: Uttara man arrested for brandishing firearms, setting off panic
There are 24 cases against Shahed in different police stations of the country including Dhaka and Chittagong. Shahed served jail term for a long time in six cases.
Additional Commissioner (DB) said Shahed had stolen RMG goods worth several thousand crores from 5,000 trucks / covered vans at different times.
Meanwhile, Hafiz Akhter said another garment exporter Jayanti Knit Wire Ltd shipped a total of 28,820RMG goods in 374 cartons for export to Chittagong port through a covered van on May 11 last.
After the export of the goods, it was found that each carton contains 20/40 pieces less than the exported amount. The foreign buyer fined Jayanti Knit Wire $28,908 dollars for the goods. This has also tarnished the international reputation of the organization, he said.
A case was filed in this regard on September 12, 2021 at Tejgaon Industrial Area Police Station, he said.
Later, on September 13, Mohiuddin, Mubarak, Ibrahim and Emran, the driver of the covered van, were arrested in separate drives in different areas of the capital.
The operation to recover the stolen RMG goods and arrest the fugitives involved in it is continuing, he said.
Covid daily-death toll in Bangladesh falls to 26
Bangladesh registered 26 more Covid-related deaths in 24 hours till Monday Morning, the lowest in in around four months.
The country last recorded 22 single-day Covid deaths on May 27, this year.
Besides, 1,555 more people came out positive with the virus during the 24-hour period after testing 27,431 samples, said the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Also read: Declining trend in Covid cases continues: DGHS
With this increase, the daily case positivity rate rose to 5.67 percent from Sunday’s 5.62 percent.
The fresh numbers took the country’s total covid-19 fatalities to 27,251 today (Monday), while the caseload mounted to 1,544,238, said the DGHS.
Meanwhile, it said, the fatality rate remained static at 1.76 per cent.
Besides, the recovery rate continued to rise as it reached 97.34 per cent on Monday with the recovery of 1,565 patients during the 24-hour period.
Also read: No vaccine crisis in the country: Health Minister
So far, 1,503,106 people have recovered from the deadly virus infections, the DGHS added.
Quader says ACC is welcome to probe his ministry for corruption
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has urged the Anti-Corruption Commission to conduct graft investigation in his ministry assuring that the government will not obstruct it.
Quader said this during a virtual meeting with the officials of BRTC on Monday,
“I am calling for investigating the ministry of road transport and bridges by the Anti-Corruption Commission. There will be no obstruction from the government. If there is any corruption, take action,” he said.
Also read: Govt working to constitute EC as per constitution: Quader
Underling the importance keeping service organisations like BRTC corruption-free, the minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has adopted a zero tolerance policy against corruption.
He said past non-Awami League government turned BRTC into a den of corruption. The greedy people must be checked to make the institutions free of corruption, he said.
Also read: President Hamid urges ACC to go hard after the corrupt people