The Ministry of Shipping has launched an investigation against five officers and employees, including Chief Examiner and Chief Nautical Surveyor (current charge), Captain Gias Uddin Ahmed of the Department of Shipping, on charges of illegal monetary transactions. Allegations are there that these officers had been engaged in illegal money transactions over second-class mastership examinations conducted under the Department of Shipping. The other four employees under investigation are Abdul Aziz, Office Assistant of the Department of Shipping, Nazrul Islam, Office Assistant, Asad, and Md Swapan Islam. Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, Suraiya Parveen Shelley, has been assigned to carry out the investigation. They have been accused of exchanging Tk 22 lakh 40 thousand through a syndicate in the second-class mastership examination held on June 6 of this year. Sources at the Ministry of Shipping told UNB that the Investigation Officer and Additional Secretary, Suraiya Parveen Shelley, has set October 16 as the date for the field investigation. Besides, the Additional Secretary has written to the Director General of the Department of Shipping on October 2, requesting the appointment of an officer to assist in the investigation. When contacted, Director General of the Department of Shipping, Commodore Md Maksud Alam, said that his office has already received a letter from the ministry. Travel ban issued on Padma Bank’s ex-chairman Nafeez Sarafat amid corruption allegations Regarding the appointment of an officer from his department to assist the investigation officer, the head of the Department of Shipping stated that he is yet to select anyone but will nominate a suitable officer soon. All departments and systems are plagued by corruption: Adviser Sakhawat The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has already initiated a formal investigation against Gias Uddin for the alleged acquisition of assets beyond known sources of income.

The probe committee formed by the Shipping Ministry has submitted its report on the last month’s deadly launch fire on the Sugandha River. The probe committee submitted the report on Monday night, said State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury. “The report was submitted to the Shipping Secretary but he’s sick with Covid-19 infections. Now, I’ll go through the report. I’ll be able to say in detail once go through it,” said Khalid Mahmud. “As far as I know the negligence of owners, workers, and drivers of MV Avijan-10 launch was detected in the report. There were problems in the dockyard, too,” he added. Read: Jhalokathi civil surgeon made OSD over launch fire: Health Ministry The state minister said the engine had an issue for which the dockyard authorities are responsible. “Therefore, they’ll also be made accountable for the accident,” he added. Action will be taken against the owners and others who are responsible, warned Khalid Mahmud. Earlier on December 30, the probe committee was granted three additional days to complete its investigation. On December 24, the Shipping Ministry formed the seven-member probe committee, asking it to submit its report within three working days. But the deadline was missed. The confirmed death toll from the deadly fire on MV Avijan-10 rose to 49 on Monday. On Sunday, Dhaka Marine Court issued an order to send two drivers of the launch to jail in a case over the fire. They are the 8th accused in the case Abul Kalam (in-charge driver) and the 7th accused Masum Billah (2nd driver). On December 28, the same court sent the two masters of the launch  -- Riaz Sikder (master-in-charge) and the 6th accused Khalilur Rahman (2nd master) to jail when they surrendered before it. Advocate Billal Hossain, prosecuting officer of the Department of Shipping, said the overall responsibility of the engine room rests with the engine drivers. Not only did they neglect their responsibilities, their role in the aftermath of the fire was presumptuous. Read:Jhalakathi launch fire: Death toll rise to 49 The fire was initially reported to have started from the engine room, he said. If they had managed the engine room properly with perfect supervision, perhaps this horrible tragedy could have been averted, Adv Billal added. On December 26, the chief inspector of the Department of Shipping Shafiqur Rahman filed a case against eight people, including four owners of the launch, under the Marine Act with the Marine Court. The court took cognizance of the case and issued warrants for the arrest of the accused. The blaze broke out around 3am on December 24 on the Barguna-bound launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka and it engulfed the entire vessel within 10 minutes.

The fire that broke out at the MV Avijan-10 launch leaving scores of people dead, many injured and missing on Sugandha river in Jhalakathi district is suspected to have originated from its engine room, the head of a shipping ministry probe committee said on Sunday after preliminary findings. “We are investigating the Jhalakathi launch fire incident closely and we have visited the launch several times. Primarily, we suspect that the fire erupted from the engine room and then spread across it for other reasons,” said Tofayel Hossain, who is the joint secretary of the shipping ministry. Tofayel was talking to reporters after interviewing several eye witnesses of the tragedy at Barguna Circuit House. “The probe is still going on so we can’t provide any concrete information now. But we are trying our best to unearth the reason,” he said. So far, we failed to talk to any staff of the launch, he added. Earlier, in the day, a case was filed with Barguna Chief Judicial Magistrate Court against the owner of MV Avijan-10 Hamjalal Sheikh and 24 others in connection with the deadly fire in the launch that left 41 people dead and many more injured and missing. Advocate Nazmul Islam Nasir, chairman of Baliatoli union parisahd of Barguna district, filed the case with the court on Sunday. Barguna Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Mahbub Alam accepted the case and asked the police station concerned to take the complaint as a ‘First Information Report (FIR)’, said administrative official of the court Akhter Hossain. Meanwhile, the search drive in the Sugandha River was going on for the 3rd consecutive day on Sunday for tracing those who went missing following the massive fire on Friday. The divers from local fire service and Coast Guard resumed the search operation on Saturday morning and it is still continuing, said Khalulur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sadar Police Station in Jhalakathi district. “No new body was recovered from the river till the filing of this report around 11 am,” he said. Besides, the control room, set up by the local administration, listed the names of 25 missing people with information given by their relatives and family members. Earlier, the bodies of 23 people were buried in a mass graveyard following a namaz-e-janaza in Barguna on Saturday. The bodies were buried at Potkakhali mass graveyard in Sadar upazila around 12 pm. The blaze broke out at 3am on Friday on the Barguna-bound launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka and it engulfed the entire vessel within 10 minutes. The death toll from the fire incident climbed to 41 on Saturday night. Besides, over 70 people suffered injuries and many of them are undergoing treatment at different hospitals.

The government on Friday announced Tk 1.5 lakh to be provided to the family of each deceased in the fire on the ‘Avijan-10’ launch. Besides, the arrangement of the treatment for injured will be ensured, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury said this while visiting the gutted launch at Jhalokathi on  Friday. Read: Jhalakathi launch fire: PM orders prompt, proper treatment of injured This financial assistance will be provided from the Shipping Ministry and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), said the Deputy Director of Public Relations of BITWA. Earlier, the state minister visited the injured in the launch fire at Jhalokathi Hospital and inquired about their treatment. On his way from Dhaka to Jhalokathi,  minister went to visit the injured in the launch fire at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital in Barishal at noon. Meanwhile, the Shipping Ministry and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority have formed two separate committees to probe the fire. The ministry panel has been asked to submit its report within three days. Read: Govt forms panel to probe launch fire, report in 3 days At least 39 people were charred to death and 72 others injured in a major fire that ripped through a launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka to Barguna in the early hours of Friday. The blaze  on board the three-storey Avijan-10 in the middle of the Sugandha River off the coast of Jhalokati district's Sadar upazila, 250kms south of Dhaka, around 3am. Within five to 10 minutes, the flames engulfed the vessel.

The Bangladesh government Friday set up a seven-member committee to probe the early morning launch fire that left at least 39 people dead. Joint secretary of the shipping ministry Tofayel Ahmed has been made the probe panel's convener, while deputy secretary Aminur Rahman will act as its member secretary, according to a notification issued by the ministry. The committee has been asked to submit a report to the shipping ministry within three working days, it said. Earlier in the day, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority also formed a separate six-member committee to investigate the launch fire. Md Saiful Islam, additional director of port and transportation department, will head the committee. Also read: 37 dead as launch catches fire off Jhalokati coast The government notification comes hours after the devastating fire on Avijan-10 carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka to Barguna claimed the lives of the 39 people and left 72 others injured. The blaze, in fact, began on Avijan-10 in the middle of the Sugandha river off the coast of Jhalokati district's Sadar upazila around 3am. Within five to 10 minutes, the flames engulfed the entire vessel. "We were alerted around 3.30 am," Fazlul Haque of Fire Service and Civil Defence in Barishal, told UNB. However, due to dense fog in the area, the first firefighting vessels took some time to reach the ill-fated launch. “Some 39 bodies have been recovered from the launch," said Kamruzzaman,assistant director of Jhalokathi Fire Service and Civil Defence to UNB. Of the 72 rescued alive, 66 seriously injured passengers were admitted to the Barishal the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College (SBMC) hospital.. The ill-fated vessel has also been brought to the shore. "In fact, Jhalokathi’s local firefighters initially tried to douse the flames and later the Barishal fire service joined them," said Kamal Uddin, Deputy Director (Barishal division) of Fire Service and Civil Defence. Also read: Fire at Rangpur Medical College & Hospital under control; 5 hurt Eventually some 15 fire tenders took nearly two hours to bring the blaze under control, at 5.20am, according to fire officials. As it was Thursday, Kamal said, the launch was carrying more than 800 passengers. "Most of them jumped off the vessel and swam to the shore as the fire broke out."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday asked Muslims to celebrate the upcoming Eid-ul Fitr in their present locations to help check the spread of coronavirus across the country. “We all shouldn’t travel risking our lives on the occasion of Eid. Celebrate Eid where you’re now,” she said. The Prime Minister said this while inaugurating a good number of infrastructures and water vessels of different agencies under the Shipping Ministry through a videoconference from her official residence Ganobhaban. Also Read:Officials asked not to leave workstations during Eid holidays Sheikh Hasina said people can meet their near and dear ones later when the situation will get normal. “In order to stop the spread of coronavirus throughout the country, I would like to request you all to abide by health protection rules and not to travel from one place to another unless there’s an urgent matter,” she said. The Prime Minister said no one knows who is carrying the virus during their journeys. “When an infected person travels to another place, he may make many more infected and thus cause problems to their lives. This is why the government has taken steps to limit the movement of people,” she said. Mentioning that now the Covid-19 pandemic is inflicting severe sufferings on people, Hasina said her government is making all-out efforts to assist people properly. She said the government has already extended cash support of Tk 2,500 to each of 36.5 lakh families of extreme poor, workless or day-labourers, rickshaw-pullers, van-pullers, transport workers, low-income people who have been hit hard by the pandemic. Besides, the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry continues providing food support to the people in need during this Ramadan. The government is assisting people in different ways, she said. Hasina urged the affluent section of society to come forward to help the destitute at this time of pandemic. Inauguration The infrastructures and water vessels that the PM inaugurated include TS Ilia Ahmed Chowdhury Dada Bhai Training Ship, 20 cutter suction dredgers, 83 dredger-auxiliary vessels, newly-constructed dredger base in Narayanganj, special inspection vessel ‘Paridarshi,’ two passenger vessels ‘MV Tajuddin Ahmad’ and ‘MV Ivy Rahman’, and four marine academies in Pabna, Barishal, Rangpur and Sylhet. Besides, the Prime Minister inaugurated the distribution of 500 pucca houses, constructed under a rehabilitation project in Paira Port, among the families affected by land acquisition. Vessel registration mandatory In an oblique reference to recent waterway accidents, the Prime Minister urged both operators and passengers of the water vessels to remain careful and vigilant over the safety of their lives. “Those who run or operate water vessels will have to consider the passengers’ safety. The passengers will also have to be careful about their own safety,” she said. Sheikh Hasina said sometimes vessels meet accidents and people lose their lives due to overloading. “All will have to be careful and vigilant in this regard,” she added. “I think every water vessel will have to be registered,” she said, adding that it creates problems to identify vessels and realise compensation for lack of registration. If we can run water vessels giving operators appropriate training, the rate of accidents will come down,” she said. Also Read:Lockdown to continue until May 16, intra-district public transport services from May 6 The Prime Minister asked all not to allow excess passengers and abide by rules. “Just think once of the pain of those who remain alive losing their dear ones. So, you’ve to have patience. I would like to request you all – both passengers and operators—to remain careful,” she added. State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury presided over the function, joining it from the Bangladesh Secretariat. Principal Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus conducted the virtual event, while Shipping Secretary Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury delivered the welcome speech.  

Imports of rice and fertilisers were among 10 proposals approved by the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Wednesday.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Shipping Ministry on Sunday recommended the government take legal action against river encroachers.

The stalemate caused by the ongoing strike by vessel workers in ports is expected to end today (Thursday) as negotiations are underway with the workers and owners, said State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury.

Speakers at a discussion meeting in the capital on Saturday said most government measures taken to protect rivers and strengthen the river transport sector are positive but slow in implementation.