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AL likely to pick fresh face for DSCC mayoral post
Although heavy weight candidates of Awami League are seeking nomination to contest the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) mayoral post with its ticket, the party is likely to pick a fresh candidate having a clean image.
A Panchagarh farmer being innovative amid onion crisis
When the onion price hit the roof with each kg being sold at Tk 250, a farmer in Tentulia upazila came up with an innovative idea of cultivating the bulb in bottles that can be harvested round the year.
“Initially, I began cultivating onions in a single bottle on an experimental basis. Without spending a lot…I got good yields in just a few days and then I decided to grow onions in more bottles throughout the year at my home,” said the farmer, Ataur Rahman, hailing from Dangapara village.
He said he has taken all the preparations to grow onions in 10-15 bottles.
This method of cultivation is quite simple and inexpensive as explained by Ataur Rahman himself.
One has to cut off the neck of the bottle, punch some holes around the bottle, position the bulbs with the sprouts by the holes so they grow out neatly. Then one has to layer on the soil and sprouts until the bottle is full, water it and give it some light.
In barely a week, green leaves will start coming out through the small holes and after three months, fully-grown onions can be removed from a bottle.
According to Ataur Rahman, at least half a kg of onion can be planted inside a plastic bottle with a 2.5-litre capacity. Maximum 50 onions can be sown in one bottle.
Feni Trauma Centre itself is in distress
Set up at Mohipal along the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway promising to provide emergency treatment to accident victims 14 years back, Feni Trauma Centre is now battling for its survival for lack of physicians, electricity, gas and water connections.
Old clothes keep poor warm in Rangamati
Makeshift shops in the district selling old warm clothes are attracting customers from the low-income group with affordable options to survive the winter without digging too deep into their pockets.
The demand for warm clothes is high, especially for children and elderly. People throng these mobile shops as brand-new attires are mostly beyond their reach.
While vendors are delighted with the sale, buyers are happy with the reasonably priced attires they need to survive the shivering cold in Rangamati.
With the advent of winter, the import and sale of warm clothes in all upazilas of the district began in full swing. This year too, the prices of warm clothes rose, forcing the low-income group to go for secondhand garments.
Traders are reporting brisk sales.
Makeshift mobile shops and footpath vendors at College Gate, Bonorupa, Reserve Bazar, Tobolchhari and some other places were seen selling used winter items, including blankets, sweaters, blazers, shawls, caps and socks.
These are mainly brought from Dhaka and Chattogram and stored in heaps.
“We bought them from Chattogram as the cold intensified,” said Md Rafiq, a seasonal old clothes trader in the footpath of Reserve Bazaar.
“There are 350-400 outfits in one bundle that cost Tk 8,000-9,000. But the price of the bundle depends on the type of clothes. This year, the sale is pretty good,” he said.
Customers like Jasmine Akhtar, Sonali Chakma and Sonamoni Chakma said increasing cold weather forced them to come to buy warm clothes.
They said it is possible to find high quality clothes at affordable prices in the pile of used garments.
According to customers, the prices of old clothes this time are quite high. They have to spend a lot of time searching through the heap as the clothes are often found to be torn and worn out.
“If you’re lucky, sometimes you’ll find brand-new clothes in the pile,” said one of the buyers as he searched through the heap.
Teletalk awaits a big revamp under a mega project
State-run cellphone operator Teletalk, which is still lagging behind compared to its private sector rivals in providing services, has taken a mega project involving around Tk 3,000 crore, aiming to expand its network and improve services.
The project planned to bring hundred percent areas of the country under Teletalk’s network by 2024.
A recent meeting of the Post and Telecommunication Division took some decisions, including expansion of its network. Post and Telecommunication Minister Mustafa Jabbar and Prime Minister's Information and Communication Technology Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy were, among others, present.
Talking to UNB, Mustafa Jabbar said the government has taken all the necessary steps to address the shortcomings of the state-owned company and help it catch up with the private operators. “A mega project has been taken to bring the whole country under Teletalk network,” he added.
Sahab Uddin, Managing Director of Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd, said the project titled ‘Expansion of Teletalk 4G Network and Providing 5G Network Services in Rural Areas’ aims to bring the whole country under Teletalk network.
The project has already been approved by the Planning Commission, and it now awaits the Finance Ministry’s vetting. If it gets approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), the work will start by June 2020, he added.
A second project will be taken before completion of the first one, said Sahab Uddin adding that the government will take a decision in this regard later as many foreign investors have expressed their interest to invest.
Now Telatalk has 47 lakh subscribers and the company has a target to increase its customer base to 70 lakh by 2020, 1 crore by 2021, 1.5 crore by 2022 and 2 crore by 2024, he added.
Sahab Uddin also expects that people in rural areas will enjoy 4G network services by 2024.
As per the network expansion plan, the Teletalk chief said they will set up 5,850 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in 2019-20, 9,510 BTS in 2020-21, while 12,510 BTS in 2021-22, 13,310 BTS in 2022-2023 and 15,510 BTS in 2023-24.
The Teletalk authorities expect to earn Tk 1,001 crore in 2019-20 fiscal year against their last year’s revenue earnings of Tk 640 crore.
Telatalk has fixed a target to earn Tk 1,324 crore in revenue in 2020-21, Tk 1,778 crore in 2021-22, Tk 2,389 crore in 2022-23, and Tk 3,734 crore in the fiscal year 2023-24.
He also said women and students are going to enjoy special offer packages on the occasion of Bangabandhu’s birth centenary with internet data facilities at a rate less than other mobile operators.
Oporajita package was launched for women and almost 15 lakh people have so far subscribed the package, he said adding that their target is to provide 23 lakh SIM cards under the package.
Teletalk started its venture in 2005 with a capital of Tk 643 crore and it was later renamed as Teletalk Bangladesh Ltd in 2008.
With the G2G Chinese finance, Teletak expanded its 2G/3G network upto zila and upazila levels in 2013-15 with the investment of Tk 1,700 crore.
Now Teletalk is targeting government and corporate officials, students, youths, and female customers to expand its business and provide them with modern digital services , he said adding that it is also planning to increase D-Education, Health, MFS, IOT, and AI-based services.
According to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), there were 75.619 million Grameen Phone subscribers, 47.760 Robi subscribers, 34.817 million Banglalink subscribers and 7.387 are Teletalk subscribers in the country as of August, 2019.
A bridge that sticks out like a sore thumb
A narrow 40-year-old bridge at Chengakandi in Sonargaon upazila has turned into the source of agony for commuters.
This bridge, now old, rickety and risky, was constructed over a small canal that has long been filled up in Pirojpur union. Accidents occur regularly on the bridge due to its dilapidated condition.
The bridge is located just beside the road leading to Chengakandi, Mridhakandi, Nagergaon and Chohissa villages of Pirojpur union on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. It sticks out like a sore thumb.
On one side under the bridge is the boundary wall of Sony SR Company while a sawmill’s road occupies the other side. From the lowland left unoccupied, one can hardly say a canal or a stream ever existed here. No water reaches the canal from high tide even during the monsoon.
The bridge is so narrow that only one rickshaw can cross it at a time. When one rickshaw enters the bridge, the rickshaw at the other end must wait. As a result, quarrels and brawls often break out.
Sometimes pedestrians are injured by rickshaws and motorcycles crossing the bridge. Passengers on rickshaws also get hurt when the rickshaw falls into the ditch through the broken railings.
Locals, who spoke to the correspondent, said the bridge is not needed anymore, and suggested building a road in its stead to facilitate smooth commuting.
“The bridge was built almost 40 years ago for pedestrians. As the roads improved, people started crossing the bridge on vehicles,” said Nowab Prodhan, a resident of Chengakandi village.
“No step has been taken even after we approached the ward member and union parishad chairman numerous times to tear down the bridge and build a road,” he said.
Nuruzzaman Nuru, member of ward number 5, said Chairman Masudur Rahman Masum is aware of the situation and accused him of not doing anything.
Pirojpur Union Parishad Chairman Masum could not be reached for comments.
Malta farming helps Boalkhali youth turn around his fortunes
A young man of Boalkhali upazila in the district has turned around his fortunes by cultivating Malta on Jaisthapura hill in Amuchia area.
Warm clothes sales rise on falling mercury
Businesses are taking advantage of the increasing demand for warm clothes amid a bone-chilling weather which is likely to continue for a few days more.
People are thronging the markets and makeshift stalls on Dhaka’s footpaths to buy clothes for winter, prompting sellers to hike prices.
Vendors said they have also stockpiled colourful winter wears to attract buyers.
Mir Jumla Road turns into garbage dumping zone, again
It took only three months for Mir Jumla Sarak, adjacent to Digubabu Bazar area, to return to its ‘original’ state – filthy, congested, and hard to navigate.
About three months ago, police freed the road after several rounds of drives. People going to Narayanganj College, Narayanganj High School, T&T office, launch and bus terminals prefer this route.
“But makeshift markets usually keep the road occupied throughout the year,” a local man said, declining to be named.
Continuous eviction drives helped keep the road free and clean to some extent for several months. But now, a large number of makeshift shops have occupied the road and are dumping wastes there.
During a recent visit, the UNB Correspondent found that the road has turned into waste dumping zone, making it very hard for people to move in the area.
Vehicles cannot enter as the road became narrow thanks to illegal occupation.
Some of the shops’ owners were extremely rude to this correspondent and said that running reports on the road’s condition will be in vain.
People said a former district police chief removed all makeshift shops from the road but after he was transferred, the shop owners occupied the place again. They have since been dumping wastes on the road.
Locals blamed the lack of supervision by authorities concerned for the sorry state of the key road and demanded freeing it as soon as possible.
Shyamal, the cleaning inspector of Narayanganj City Corporation, said a number of chicken traders set up shops on the road, preventing waste collection vehicles of the city corporation from entering the area.
“That’s why there are wastes on the road. Necessary measures will be taken to remove the garbage as soon as possible,” he said.
Business waiting to bloom in ‘Flower Capital’ Gadkhali
A doorway of new possibilities is set to open for flower farmers of Gadkhali in Jashore, distinguished as the Flower Capital of the country, where the government is establishing the first flower processing centre and a modern flower market.