Cox's Bazar
Landslide kills four of a family in Cox's Bazar's Ramu
A landslide in Cox's Bazar's Ramu killed four members of a family living on the foot of a hill Wednesday, the authorities said.
The incident took place at around 8:30pm due to a landslide in Jadi Hill in Lot Ukhiyar Ghona area of Kauarkhop union, Ramu Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fahmida Mustafa said.
The four people killed were identified as Azizur Rahman, 50, his wife Rahima Begum, 45, mother-in-law Dil Faraz Begum, 70, and daughter-in-law Nasima Begum, 20, of Lot Ukhiyar Ghona, he added.
Kauarkup Union Parishad Chairman Shamsul Alam said Azizur and his family members were having dinner at night when the landslide demolished their house. "All of them immediately died from the impact of the collapse."
For a long time, the soil has been excavated from the hill for some brick kilns surrounding it, which might have caused the landslide, locals said.
Read more: Landslides remain most substantial damaging, recurrent hazards in Cox’s Bazar: UNDP
PM opens 29 development projects, lays foundation stones of 4 others
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday inaugurated 29 development projects and laid the foundation stones of four others in Cox’s Bazar.
The total cost of the 29 projects which were inaugurated is about Tk 1392.37 crore.
Read: PM to open 28 development schemes in Cox’s Bazar
The development schemes opened by the Prime Minister include Bakkhali river flood control, drainage, irrigation and dredging project (1st Phase), dam reconstruction and protection work in the sea dike section at Shah Porirdwip, rehabilitation project of damaged polders in Cox's Bazar district, upgradation of link road-Laboni intersection road to a four-lane, improvement of Ramu-Fatekharkul-Maricha National Highway, and reconstruction and widening of Shah Porirdwip section from Hariyakhali.
Other development projects include 399-metre long MP & Ambassador Osman Sarwar Alam Chowdhury Bridge over Bankkhali River on Ramu Kalghar Bazar-Rajarkul UP road, six union land office buildings in the district and four upazila parishad complex buildings.
Read: Cox’s Bazar gears up for PM Hasina’s first public rally in five years
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of four development projects worth Tk 571.49 crore that include the construction of Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute (2nd Phase), 153.25-metre jetty at Dhurung Ghat and 153.25-metre jetty at Akbar Boli Ghat on Dhurung GC Mirakhali Road under Kutubdia Upazila, jetty at Maheshkhali Gorakghata Ghat under Maheshkhali Upazila and rehabilitation Project of Polders along Naf River in Ukhia and Teknaf Upazilas to improve Bangladesh-Myanmar border security.
PM's Dec 7 rally expected to be Cox's Bazar's 'biggest ever'
Awami League leaders and activists are eagerly awaiting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's first public rally in Cox's Bazar in nearly six years, scheduled to be held on Wednesday (Dec 7).
Cox's Bazar is all set to welcome the AL chief amid festivity, expecting it as the biggest public rally ever.
The PMwill deliver her speech at the Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium in Cox's Bazar on Dec 7 organised by District Awami League.
Awami League leaders said this at a press conference organised at the Stadium ground on Monday (December 5) afternoon.
Read more: PM inaugurates, lays foundation stones of 35 projects in Chattogram
Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, presidium member of Awami League, was the chief guest at the press conference organized on the arrival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Cox's Bazar and the overall preparation of the district Awami League public meeting.
During her day-long visit, the premier will attend an international naval exercise on Inani Beach of Cox's Bazar's Ukhia.
The government has taken massive development schemes for Cox's Bazar which are now under implementation.
During her visit, PM Hasina will also inaugurate 28 development projects and lay the foundation stones of four others.
More projects may be added to the list of inaugurations and foundation stones, District Commissioner Md. Mamunur Rashid said.
Colourful arches and gates have been constructed on various roads of the town with the posters and banners of the Prime Minister.
Billboards, banners, balloons, festoons and posters welcoming the Prime Minister and the party chief have been hung in the city.
Read more: PM Hasina reaches CTG’s Polo Ground to address enormous rally
Novoair's Rajshahi-Cox's Bazar flight starts
Private carrier Novoair has started operating flight on the Rajshahi-Cox's Bazar route.
Rajshahi City Corporation Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman inaugurated the flight Thursday at Shah Makhdum Airport.
Novoair Managing Director Mofizur Rahman and Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Masudur Rahman were also present.
The direct flights will leave Rajshahi every Thursday at 10:30am and will arrive in Cox's Bazar at 12pm.
Also, they will depart Cox's Bazar every Sunday at 3:35pm and will arrive in Rajshahi at 5:05pm, according to a media statement.
Read more: Novoair listed as world’s safe airline
One-way fare starts from Tk5,900, it added.
Novoair now operates daily flights from Dhaka to Chattogram, Cox's Bazar, Saidpur, Jashore, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Kolkata.
Prevent further encroachments on Cox’s Bazar beach: High Court
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday ordered the authorities concerned to take necessary measures to prevent further encroachments on the Cox’s Bazar sea beach.
The HC bench of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order exempting deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar district Mamunur Rashid from contempt of court charge for failing to remove encroachments from the beach.
Cox's Bazar district Mamunur Rashid today submitted a report to the court, stating that 260 illegal establishments in Baliari and 417 in Sugandha Point of Cox's Bazar Beach have been evicted.
Following the report, the court disposed of the contempt of court charge.
Senior lawyer Momtaz Uddin Fakir appeared for the Deputy Commissioner in the court while senior advocate Manzil Morshed for the writ petitioner.
On August 25, HC summoned the deputy commissioner on contempt charge for failing to remove encroachments from the beach.
On June 7 in 2011, HC ordered the authorities concerned to remove all illegal establishments from Cox’s Bazar beach within 24 hours and halt further construction, following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh (HRPB), an NGO.
On February 7 this year, HRPB president Manzil Morshed, a lawyer by profession, issued a contempt of court notice. As no action was taken even after the notice, a contempt plea was filed in the HC.
Read more: JS body suggests stern action to prevent illegal sand extraction in Cox's Bazar
Digital Khichuri Challenge held to help Cox's Bazar youth promote peace, diversity
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and ActionAid have organised a hackathon to help young people in Cox's Bazar leverage digital means and tools to promote peace, tolerance, and diversity and contribute to SDG targets 4.7 and 16.
The three-day "Digital Khichuri Challenge for Pathway to Peaceful Societies: Catalyzing Youth as Responsible Citizens," was organised under UND's Partnerships for a Tolerant and Inclusive Bangladesh (PTIB) project.
Read: Banglalink SDG hackathon Code for a Cause 3.0 finale held
Almost 100 students from different educational institutions submitted their ideas. The top nine teams attended a boot camp from September 25-27 and presented their ideas on September 27 to the jury.
Team Hurricane and Team Decode the Peace were the winners among the nine teams who will receive mentorship from the UNDP.
7 cops get seven years in jail for kidnapping Cox's Bazar trader
A court in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday sentenced seven policemen, all detectives, to seven years in jail for kidnapping a trader and demanding a ransom of Tk 17 lakh for his release.
Cox’s Bazar District and Sessions Court judge Mohammad Ismail handed down the judgment in the presence of all the suspended cops.
The judge also imposed a fine of Tk 1 lakh on each of the convicts and ordered them to undergo an additional one year in prison for non-payment of the fine.
The court sentenced the convicted cops to five years in jail for kidnapping and another seven years for extortion by putting a person in fear of death.
As both the sentences will run simultaneously, the convicts will serve a total of seven years in jail, said plaintiff’s lawyer Mohammad Jahangir.
The convicts are sub inspectors Moniruzzaman, 35, and Abul Kalam Azad, 39, additional sub-inspectors Golam Mostafa, 36, Firoz Ahmed, 34, and Alauddin, 32, and constables Mostafa Ajal, 52, and MD Al Amin, 26.
On September 24, 2017, the seven kidnapped Abdul Gafur, a trader hailing from Teknaf and later demanded Tk 17 lakh as ransom from his family by threatening to kill him in a fake encounter, said public prosecutor Faridul Alam.
According to the case complaint, the Bangladesh Army arrested six of the accused with the ransom amount from the Marin Drive in Cox’s Bazar on October 25, 2017.
Later, another absconding detective was arrested by the police.
Abdul, the victim, later filed a complaint with Teknaf police, based on which a case for kidnapping and extortion was lodged.
In August, 2018, Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) submitted a chargesheet in this case against the seven detectives.
On September 5 this year, the court rejected the bail pleas of the seven cops.
Drug peddler held with Tk1.5 crore yaba pills in Cox's Bazar
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) claimed to have detained a drug peddler with 50,000 yaba pills worth Tk1.5 crore from Cox's Bazar's Teknaf Friday.
The detainee was identified as Md Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, 20, of the district, Lieutenant Colonel Md Mehdi Hossain Kabir, commanding officer of BGB 34 Battalion in Cox's Bazar, said.
Read: Myanmar’s military regime encourages yaba smuggling to Bangladesh
On information, a team of BGB 34 managed to nab the peddler travelling in a three-wheeler from Palongkhali union parishad around 4:30am.
The yaba pills were found under the passenger seat of the vehicle.
Mostofa was handed over to Ukhiya Police Station, Mehdi said.
Contempt of court rule issued against Cox's Bazar DC, SP
The High Court (HC) on Wednesday issued a contempt of court rule against nine people including the Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Superintendent of Police (SP) for failure to halt hills cutting.
The HC asked the respondents why action will not be taken against them for not implementing its directions on the issue.
A bench of Justice Md Khasruzzaman and Justice Md Iqbal Kabir passed the rule after hearing a writ petition.
Nine respondents are Environment, Forest and Climate Change Affairs Secretary Farhina Ahmed, Department of Environment (DoE) Director General (DG) Abdul Hamid, Cox's Bazar DC Md Mamunur Rashid, SP Md Hasanuzzaman, Ukhiya Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Imran Hossain Sajib, Cox's Bazar Sadar UNO Mohammad Zakaria, Ukhiya Police Station Officer-in-Charge, Cox's Bazar Sadar Police Station Officer-in-Charge and Cox's Bazar DoE Assistant Director Md Saiful Ashraf.
Read:HC forms expert committee to prevent plagiarism in PhD thesis
Lawyers Manzil Morshed and Ripon Bare stood for the writ petitioner.
Morshed said the High Court gave a verdict to preserve the hills and stop cutting them down and protect the environment on July 19, 2012, and directed the respondents to implement the verdict.
However, defying the court order, houses and structures are being built in Cox's Bazar and Ukhiya by damaging hills. From this perspective, the court issued the rule.
Cox’s Bazar trawler capsize: bodies of two among missing eight recovered
Members of the Coast Guard (CG) on Saturday recovered bodies of two fishermen from the Bay of Bengal a day after a fishing trawler carrying 19 fishermen capsized amid the low depression in the sea on Friday afternoon.
The deceased were identified as Mohammad Abu Tayeb, and Saiful Islam, were residents of Khurushkul union in the Cox’s Bazar town.
M Hamidul Islam, contingent commander of the CG East Zone in the Cox’s Bazar Station, said on information they recovered the bodies of Tayeb and Saiful from Maheshkhali and Sonadia channels respectively on Saturday afternoon.
Read: Two dead, two others missing in Noakhali trawler capsize
Mentionable, the fishing trawler ‘MB Mayer Dua’ carrying the 19 fishers capsized due to unrest in the sea at Najiratek Channel on Friday afternoon.
Of them, the CG could rescue 8 fishermen and three others were able to swim to safety while the rest went missing.
Of the missing, bodies of the two fishermen were recovered by the CG men on Saturday and still six others remain missing.