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17 invasive plant species identified in 5 protected areas: Environment Minister
Bangladesh National Herbarium has identified 17 foreign invasive plant species harmful to Bangladesh under the Sustainable Forest and Livelihood Project of the Forest Department, seven of which are major, said Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md. Shahab Uddin.
“Under this programme, five strategic management plans have been formulated for the proper management of the alien invasive plant species in five protected areas of the country-Himchari, Kaptai and Madhupur National Parks and Rema-Kalenga and Sundarban East Wildlife Sanctuaries,” he said.
These management strategies will play an important role in conserving national forests and forest resources and achieving the sustainable development goals, said the minister.
He said these at the final workshop of the program titled 'Developing Bangladesh National Red List of Plants and Developing Management Strategy of Alien Species of Plants in Selected Protected Areas' organized at the Forest Department on Wednesday.
The minister said under this program, which is being implemented with the help of the World Bank and the support of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) all these invasive plants can be controlled by preventing their marketing and trade that have a negative impact on the environment, economy and society, and by eliminating them from the ecosystem and preventing their spread.
Moreover, preventive measures such as early detection, screening for imported plant species and quarantine procedures would be easy to incorporate, he added.
The environment minister said that as one of the signatories to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Bangladesh is committed to protecting ecosystems and biodiversity.
“Therefore, it is necessary to ensure the conservation of indigenous plant species and forest areas by fully identifying all alien invasive plant species in all areas including 51 protected areas that have the ability to compete with native species spread in different protected areas and forest areas of the country, change the ecosystem and disrupt the food chain, and formulate their proper management strategies,” said the minister.
Professor Dr. Mohammed Kamal Hossain presented the final results of Invasive Plants and its Strategic Management Plan of 5 protected areas namely Himchhari National Park, Kaptai National Park, Madhupur National Park, Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, and Sundarban East Wildlife Sanctuary. Specialists, researchers and field level officers of Forest Department also discussed the issues.
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Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr. Farhina Ahmed, Additional Secretary and Director of Bangladesh National Herbarium Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Gobinda Roy, Project Director of SUFAL Project and Rakibul Amin, Country Representative of IUCN Bangladesh spoke at the workshop as special guest chaired by Md. Amir Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Forest Conservator of the Forest Department.
Rain or thunder showers likely in parts of country: Met office
Rain or thunder shower accompanied by temporary gusty wind is likely at one or two places over Sylhet and Mymensingh divisions and Kishoreganj and Brahmanbaria disricts, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) said Wednesday.
Weather may remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country, it said.
Light to moderate fog may occur at places over the country during late night till morning.
Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged and day temperature may fall slightly over the country.
The lowest temperature in the country was recorded at 16.8 degrees Celsius in Tetulia in 24 hours till 6 am Wednesday. The highest temperature was recorded at 32.0 degrees Celsius in Chandpur.
By-election to Chattogram-8 constituency on April 27
By-election to the Chattogram-8 constituency – left vacant following the death of Awami League MP Moslem Uddin Ahmed – will be held on April 27, 2023.
Election Commission (EC) Secretary Jahangir Alam announced the schedule of the by-election today.
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According to the schedule, the last date for submitting nomination papers is March 27, while the date for scrutinising nomination papers is March 29, and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 5.
Voting will start at 8 am on April 27 and will continue till 4 pm.
Moslem Uddin, a freedom fighter and also president of Chattogram South unit of Awami League, breathed his last at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka on February 6. He was 75.
He was elected as an MP on January 13, 2020 – in the vacant seat following the death of former Chattogram-8 MP Moinuddin Khan Badal.
Shab-e-Barat on March 7
Muslims in Bangladesh will observe the holy Shab-e-Barat on the night of March 7 as the Shaban moon was sighted in the country’s sky on Tuesday.
As the moon was sighted, the month of Shaban will begin from February 22.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Moon Sighting Committee, held at the conference room of Baitul Mukarram, in the evening.
State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan presided over the meeting.
The announcement was made after analysing data collected from the district administrations, Islamic Foundation, Bangladesh Meteorological Department, and Space Research and Remote Sensing Institute.
Shab-e-Barat is observed on the 15th night of the Arabic month of Shaban. Muslims offer special prayers, recite the holy Quran, and take part in other religious rituals.
No improvement in Dhaka's air quality, still 'unhealthy' this morning
Dhaka’s air quality is in the 'unhealthy' zone this morning (February 22, 2023).
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 163 at 9:20 am, the capital of Bangladesh ranked eighth in the list of cities worldwide with the worst air quality.
India’s Delhi, Iraq’s Baghdad and Ghana’s Accra occupied the first, second and third spots, with AQI scores of 342, 198 and 191 respectively.
An AQI between 151 and 200 is considered ‘unhealthy’ while between 201–300 is ‘’very unhealthy’, and 301–400 is 'hazardous', posing severe health risks to residents.
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The AQI, an index for reporting daily air quality, informs people how clean or polluted the air of a certain city is and what associated health effects might be a concern for them.
The AQI in Bangladesh is based on five pollutants: particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2, and ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
As per World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, mainly due to increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and acute respiratory infections.
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3 police stations get new OCs
Three police stations of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have got new officers-in-charge (OCs).
The three stations are Banani, Kamrangirchar and Uttarkhan police stations.
An official order signed by DMP Commissioner Khandker Golam Faruq was issued on Tuesday.
DMP Detective Branch (Motijheel Division) Police Inspector Kazi Abul Kalam has been transferred as Officer-in-charge to Uttarkhan Police Station, Police Inspector (Investigation) of Kamrangichar Police Station Mohammad Mostafa Anwar has been promoted as Officer-in-charge of Kamrangichar Police Station and Officer-in-charge of Kamrangichar Police Station Md. Mostafizur Rahman has been transferred as Officer-in-charge of Banani Police Station.
In the same order, Officer-in-charge of Uttarkhan Police Station Mohammad Abdul Majeed has been transferred to Detective Branch (Motijheel Division) and Officer-in-charge of Banani Police Station Mohammad Noor-e-Azam Miah has been transferred to Detective Branch-Cyber Special Crime (South) Division.
Bangladesh reports 9 more Covid-19 cases in 24 hours
Bangladesh reported nine more Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours till Tuesday morning.
With the new numbers, the country's total caseload rose to 2,037,773, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
However, the official death toll from the disease remained unchanged at 29,445 as no new fatalities were reported.
The daily case test positivity rate increased to 0.72 percent from Monday’s 0.49 percent as 1250 samples were tested.
The recovery rate increased to 98.15 percent. However, the death rate remained unchanged at 1.44 percent.
Bangladesh registered its highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year and highest number of fatalities of 264 on August 10 the same year.
BNP pays homage to Language Movement martyrs
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Tuesday paid homage to the 1952 Language Movement martyrs marking Amar Ekushey, the Language Martyrs Day, and the International Mother Language Day.
The party’s central leaders led by its standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain reached the Central Shaheed Minar around 12:30 pm after waiting for nearly five hours and placed a wreath at its altar.
The leaders and activists of the party gathered in front of Balaka Cinema Hall at Nilkhet at 7:30am wearing black badges. Later, they first offered fateha at the graves of Language Movement martyrs at Azimpur Graveyard.
It took around five hours for the BNP leaders to go to the Central Shaheed Minar to pay tributes to the martyrs.
Talking to reporters there, Mosharraf alleged that they were subjected to political vengeance as they came to pay homage at the Central Shaheed Minar on the occasion of Language Martyrs Day and International Mother Language Day.
"We start moving towards the Shaheed Minar with a procession at dawn from Balaka building at 7:30 am. We had to stand in front of Salimullah Hall for almost five hours to reach the Shaheed Minar,” he said.
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The BNP leader said the names of some organisations have been repeatedly announced through the loudspeakers and they did not leave the altar intentionally as they wasted time unnecessarily.
“It is the failure of those who were in charge of administration here. Even today we’re subjected to political vengeance here (at Shaheed Minar). It is very sad. We strongly protest and condemn it. They have deliberately made it happen,” he alleged.
BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, chairperson’s advisers Aman Ullah Aman, Abdus Salam, Habibur Rahman Habib, joint secretaries general Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Habib-Un-Nabi Khan Sohel, acting office secretary Syed Imran Saleh Prince and publicity affairs secretary Shaheed Uddin Chowdhury Anne were, among others, present there,
Earlier on Monday, the party arranged a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, marking the day.
BNP also kept their party and national flags at half-mast and hoisted black flags at its Nayapaltan central office at 6 am in observance of the day.
Besides, BNP’s different units across the country also observed the day with due respect amid various programmes.
Ekushey February is observed simultaneously as Shaheed Dibas and International Mother Language Day in recognition of the Bengali nation’s supreme sacrifice to the cause of their mother tongue. In 1999, UNESCO declared the 21st of February as the International Mother Language Day.
Aminbazar-Agargaon grid line failure: Power transmission restored, says PGCB
After about 5 hours of partial grid line failure, power supply was restored in west Dhaka, including Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi and Mirpur areas.
“From our end, power transmission was restored at the 230 kV grid line at 10:38 am. But it takes some time to fully restore electricity supply to distribution line,” Badruddoza Sumon, public relation officer of Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), told UNB.
“We hope, gradually power supply will be restored in all areas,” he added.
Shahnaz Begum, who lives on Babar Road in Mohammadpur, said that her home was without electricity as of 11 am.
Also Read: Aminbazar-Agargaon grid line failure: No electricity in Mohammadpur, Mirpur areas
The 230 kV grid line from Aminbazar-Agargaon failed at 5:50 am today (February 21, 2023) — leading to no electricity in the western part of Dhaka city, including the entire Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas.
Officials from both PGCB and Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) confirmed the development.
“The grid transmission line tripped at 5:50 am,” PGCB official Sumon earlier said.
Further explaining, he said due to dense fog, sometimes grid lines can break down.
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This is not a technical fault of the system, he added.
Aminbazar-Mohammadpur grid line is one of the main sources supplying electricity to some of Dhaka city’s important establishments, including the Prime Minister’s official residence and Dhaka cantonment.
Power supply continued through alternative sources to those important establishments although regular consumers are without electricity.
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Aminbazar-Agargaon grid line failure: No electricity in Mohammadpur, Mirpur areas
The 230 kV grid line from Aminbazar-Agargaon failed at 5:50 am today (February 21, 2023)— leading to no electricity in the western part of Dhaka city, including the entire Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas.
Officials from both Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) and Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) confirmed the development.
“The grid transmission line tripped at 5:50 am,” Badruddoza Sumon, Public Relation Officer of the PGCB told UNB.
Further explaining, he said due to the dense fog, sometimes grid lines can break down.
Also Read: National power grid failure: Blackout across Bangladesh
This is not a technical fault of the system, he added.
He informed that the PGCB engineers are trying hard to restore the system by checking transmission towers.
Aminbazar-Mohammadpur grid line is one of the main sources supplying electricity to some of Dhaka city’s important establishments, including the Prime Minister’s official residence and Dhaka cantonment.
Power supply continued through alternative sources to those important establishments although regular consumers are without electricity.
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Maniruzzaman, executive engineer of the Mohammadpur power distribution division of the DPDC, said power supply could not be restored until 9 am.