Others
Six houses gutted in Magura fire
At least six houses were gutted in a fire at Khamarpara village of Sreepur upazila of Magura on Monday night.
The fire originated from a mosquito coil around 8:30 pm on Monday and quickly spread to the houses of Najak Joardar, Kamal Joardar, Shilan Joardar, Ziko Mollah, and Obayed Mollah around, confirmed Sreepur Fire Service Officer Delwar Hossain.
'KNF man' killed, weapons recovered during anti-terrorism drive in Bandarban
Three houses, three cowsheds, four cows and four goats, and two kitchens were burned in the fire, he said.
On information, a team of Sreepur Fire Service and Civil Defence rushed to the spot and brought the fire under control, added the fire official.
According to the victims' families, thet suffered losses worth Tk 15 lakh.
Prof Anu Muhammad needs combined surgery: Health Minister
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen has said noted activist-economist Prof Anu Muhammad requires combined surgery.
“After seeing the pictures sent by the doctors last night, I decided that Professor Anu Muhammad needs a combined operation for his injuries. For this reason, he has been brought from Dhaka Medical College Hospital to Sheikh Hasina Burn Institute," he said.
Prof Anu Muhammad suffers serious injuries while getting down from train in Dhaka
Samanta was speaking to reporters after a board meeting on Professor Anu Muhammad at Sheikh Hasina National Burn and Surgery Institute on Monday afternoon.
“The Honorable Prime Minister inquired about Professor Anu Muhammad's condition this morning. She has instructed us to take all necessary measures. I have also informed her of everything. This institute will be better for a combined operation. We need orthopedics, I think it will be better if everyone works together on this matter. We want him to recover and return to his workplace," said the minister.
25-year-old dies of heatstroke in Ctg
Speaking about the adverse situation due to the intense heat wave, Samanta said, "Today we talked to the principals of all the medical colleges in the country. We have had a detailed discussion on how the students of the medical colleges will stay in this intense heat and have taken some decisions in this regard. Most of the classes will be online and instructions have been given to bring patients to the clinics and take clinical classes in rooms where there is air conditioning. We hope that this natural condition will not last long. It will be fixed. Then the normal situation will return again."
Country pushes against heat wave setting new record in power generation on consecutive days
The country set a new record by generating 16,233 MW of electricity at 9pm on Monday, said the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
Right at this moment, an external heatwave is prevailing in the country, said the ministry, adding the Power Division has been working sincerely to produce uninterrupted power in order to give a relief to the public.
The previous record in power generation was 15,666 MW, just a day earlier on Sunday.
Enrolling in universal pension scheme can relieve old age worries: Agriculture Minister
Agriculture Minister Md Abdus Shahid on Monday said if anyone joins the universal pension scheme, they don’t need to worry about life after retirement.
“This pension system will ensure financial security during retirement,” he said, adding that Sheikh Hasina introduced the pension scheme for the welfare of all the people.
The minister made these remarks while addressing a motivational meeting on the universal pension scheme and pension fair in Moulvibazar Shilpakala Academy auditorium, said a PID handout.
He said family members do not take proper care of the elderly persons in some cases and even leave the elderly members in old age homes.
“In this case, the pension scheme is very important. So, if anyone joins the pension scheme, the person doesn’t need to worry (about financial security) during old age,” he said.
Deputy Commissioner Urmi Binte Salam presided over the meeting while local Member of Parliament (MP) Mohammad Zillur Rahman and Superintendent of Police Monzur Rahman, among others, spoke on the occasion.
People from all classes including chairmen and members from 67 Union Parishads of seven upazilas participated in the meeting.
65-year-old prisoner of Dhaka Central Jail dies at DMCH
A 65-year-old prisoner of Dhaka Central Jail died at Dhaka Medical College (DMCH) Hospital on Monday.
Prisoner Azhar Ali died around 6 pm.
He was admitted to DMCH on April 12.
DMCH Police Outpost Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Md Masud Mia, said the body has been kept in the hospital morgue for an autopsy.
It could not be known immediately what case he was arrested for.
Rescued sailors in sound health of mind, body
The 23 seafarers who arrived in Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday, are mentally and physically sound.
Though health check-ups of the sailors and other security issues will be evaluated thoroughly within short possible time, according to a message received from Dubai.
MV Abdullah, a commercial vessel owned by KSRM group of Bangladesh, was freed from Somali pirates on April 14 after remaining captivated for 31 days.
The MV Abdullah arrived at Al Hamrya port Sharjah of UAE on April 22.
After processing some port regulations, the ship will discharge coal that it was bringing from South Africa, in Al Hamrya port and will set for next assignment.
This release process was successfully done without any damage to the ship or any casualties by the effective communication of concerned authorities of Bangladesh Government, KSRM, embassy of Bangladesh in the UAE, the message reads.
Loadshedding hits 1000MW amid soaring demand spurred by heat
The country experienced about 1000 MW of load shedding in electricity supply on Monday against soaring demand. According to the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) at the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the country’s demand was recorded at 15,220 MW at 3pm on Monday, when the load shedding was 996 MW.
On the other hand, the demand forecast for Monday evening was 15,666 MW and supply forecast was 16,200 MW.
According to official sources, maximum burden of the loadshedding was diverted to rural areas, as part of a policy to avert power outages in capital Dhaka and other large cities. Reports from different areas said the extent of loadshedding is aggravating the plight of the rural people amid the sweltering heat this summer.
Meanwhile, state-owned Petrobangla’s official data shows that the country’s gas production was 3,046 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) against a demand for 3,760 MW.
It shows that a good number of power plants, specifically those using gas as their primary fuel, remained off generation due to gas shortage.
The power plants received a supply of 1349.9 MMCFD gas against their demand for 2316.9 MMCFD, the data shows.
130 joint secretaries promoted to additional secy
The government has promoted 130 joint secretaries to additional secretaries, raising the number of additional secretaries to 415.
The Public Administration Ministry issued a notification in this regard on Monday.
According to the ministry sources, there are 212 permanent posts of additional secretary and with this the total number of additional secretaries reached to 415.
Among the promoted secretaries, three are in lien, or deputisation at outside bodies.
No bar on unionisation in any factory: Law Minister tells USTR delegation
Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Huq has said workers of any factory can form a labor union from now on.
He said this while talking to reporters after a meeting with the US trade delegation in his office at the Secretariat on Monday (April 22).
“They mainly discussed the labor laws of Bangladesh, workers' rights and what we are doing. Their important question was - what is the current situation of the amendment of the Bangladesh Labor Act, what is being done? They wanted to know about eleven issues and how much progress has been made in this regard,” the minister said.
The delegation’s first question was about the threshold (percentage of workers required to form a trade union).
The minister also said, they informed the delegation about the new decision of keeping no threshold for forming a trade union.
“First, around 2016, it was 30 percent. When we went to the International Labor Organization (ILO) conference in 2017, it was decided to bring this threshold to 20 percent,” he said.
“During the last amendment, the first proposal was to bring it down from 20 percent to 15 percent. But there was a caveat, it would be applicable only for factories employing 3,000 or more workers,” said Anisul Huq.
But that limit has also been lifted, said the law minister, adding “We have informed the US representatives that too.”
The minister said that after hearing about the labor laws and rights, the US representative expressed satisfaction. “After this discussion, the US representatives told me that they were satisfied,” he said.
DSCC conducts second day of eviction drive in Mugda
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) carried out the second day of its eviction drive to widen the main road of Mugda area in the city.
DSCC executive magistrates Mohammad Munurzzaman and Jahangir Alam jointly led the eviction operation on the road.
The operation is being conducted in a joint initiative of DSCC and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) to widen the Bishwa road-Haider Ali School in Manda on the road to 50-feet one, according to the design of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP).
About the eviction drive that started on Sunday, executive magistrate Mohammad Muniruzzaman said many owners are removing their structures spontaneously for the sake of widening the road at the request of the city corporation.
The DSCC earlier issued notices for the owners on four occasions and announced on Thursday last through loud speakers for the eviction drive, he said.
Now the width of the road is on average 17 feet. But there is a plan to raise the width to 50 feet making it 40-feet two-lane road with 5-feet footpaths on two sides.