Bangladesh's National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways today (April 03, 2023) demanded a ban on motorbike movement on all highways for at least 9 days before, during and after Eid. The organisation also called for taking strict action to stop the movement of three-wheelers and charging extra bus fare on all inter-district roads, including highways, during Eid travel. The national committee President Haji Mohammad Shahid Mia and its general secretary Ashis Kumar Dey made this call in a statement. Besides, leaders of the civic organisation demanded to stop the movement of unregistered, defective and unauthorized vehicles on all roads and highways of the country. Read More: National Committee for taking action against lakhs of illegal vessels They also urged Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to strengthen the operation of mobile court and law enforcement agencies, including police, to implement these demands. Emphasizing safe and hassle-free Eid travel, the statement said that the number of motorcycle accidents across the country is increasing at a geometric rate. Motorcycle accidents accounted for more than 40 percent of all road crashes last year. There is a fear of more mishaps during the Eid season due to the long-distance commute on these two-wheelers. Small and unsafe vehicles slow down larger vehicles like buses and trucks on highways and inter-district roads, the statement said. This increases the risk of accidents and traffic jams. Despite the government ban, various types of three-wheelers including battery-powered rickshaws and numerous locally made vehicles such as Nasimon, Karimon, Bhotbhoti and Alam Sadhu are plying the highways and inter-district roads across the country. Read More: National Committee for reducing metro rail fare by 50% Citing examples from the near past, the statement of the national committee alleged that on many roads, various transport companies charge commuters one-and-a-half to double the fare on every Eid trip. As a result, bus owners and workers earn extra money, but general people are suffering financial losses.

The UCSI University, one of the top-ranked and largest private universities in Malaysia, has launched its first international campus in Bangladesh. Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni and Deputy Minister for Education Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury Nawfel Wednesday inaugurated the university's Bangladesh campus in the capital during a programme at a city hotel. UCSI Pro-Chancellor Tunku Abidin, Malaysian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Haznah Md Hashim, Bangladesh campus Chairman Mollah Waheeduzzaman and Senior Vice-President Ariful Bari Majumder were also present. UCSI was Malaysia's top private university in the QS World University Rankings 2023. Ranked 284, UCSI is classified in the world's top 1 percent. The university presently operates three campuses in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Port Dickson. Dipu Moni said the bilateral relations and cooperation will be enhanced between Malaysia and Bangladesh through the opening of the university's campus. "UCSI will ensure higher education of international standards." Haznah Hashim said the historical and friendly relations between the two countries will be further strengthened through the opening of the Bangladesh campus of UCSI. "Through quality education, this university will contribute to the development of Bangladesh and bring success and prosperity." On December 12 last year, the university received approval from the Bangladesh government to open its first branch campus here. Read more: Primary Scholarship results postponed for technical fault, to be published further Wednesday After that, Malaysia's Higher Education Minister Dato Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin inaugurated the soft launching of the Bangladesh campus at a ceremony at the main campus in Kuala Lumpur on February 3. The UCSI University's Bangladesh campus is located in Banani.

As Eid-ul-Fitr holiday came to an end people from south-western districts started returning to their workstations in the capital but the journey is taking more than 12 hours for many due to gridlock at Daulatdia ferry terminal. Shariful Islam, a trader from Barishal lying on the engine cover of a Dhaka-bound bus on Sunday morning, said he started around 7 pm on Saturday from his house and got on the bus around 9 pm. His bus was standing still three kilometers away from the terminal as he was talking to the UNB reporter. Also read: Dhaka-bound people suffer for 10-km gridlock near Daulatdia Like Shariful, hundreds of passengers were seen waiting to cross the river as the long tailback of vehicles on the Dhaka-Khulna highway crossed six kilometers and kept getting longer by the hour. To decrease the pressure on the terminal police have started stopping vehicles 13 kilometers from the terminal near the Ahladipur area in Rajbari sadar upazila.Hundreds of private vehicles reached the terminal crossing an extra eight-kilometer path from Padmar Mor and Jamidar Bridge area through Ujan Char and Char Daulatdia. Some drivers complained local influential people and brokers were charging extra money from the drivers of goods-laden vehicles with the help of police as they were given priority for crossing the river. Abul Bashar, a fruits trader from Barguna said he started around 8 pm with 22 tonnes of watermelon on a covered van to Dhaka and got stuck in the traffic around 11 pm. He said, “I had to collect a ticket paying Tk 4,000 instead of regular Tk 1,800 as they were allowing us to pass specially. Yet a huge number of my watermelons perished due to long 13 hours of wait amid heat.” According to the Daulatdia office of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA), 11, 593 vehicles crossed the Padma River in the last 24 hours till Sunday 6 am through ferry from Daulatdia terminal. Also read: Ferry services resume on Paturia-Daulatdia route after 4 hours Md Shihab Uddin, manager of BIWTA Daulatdia office, said a record number of vehicles have crossed the river from this terminal in 24 hours. “On Saturday noon two of the 21 ferries operating on Daulatdia-Paturia route became disable but both of them resumed operation again in the evening. Currently all the ferries are operating from five terminals but due to worn-out roads and increased pressure of all the vehicles of Shimulia-Banglabazar route there is the long tailback”, said the BIWTA official. Meanwhile, around 30,000 passengers crossed the river by 166 launches from Daulatdia terminal, said Nurul Anwar, spokesperson for Aricha Launch Owners’ Association in Daulatdia. He said after 10 pm Saturday launch trips were reduced considering risk as most of the launches were carrying almost double their capacity of passengers.

No long-distance bus was allowed to leave or enter capital Dhaka on Tuesday as the government enforced tougher restrictions in an effort to beat the deadly Coronavirus. As many people were not aware about the suspension of the bus services on long routes, they thronged Gabtoli, Syedabad and Abdullahpur bus terminals on Tuesday morning to catch buses to reach their destinations. Some of them returned home after a long wait and some others were seen looking for alternative vehicles to move to their destinations. Also read: Bus services resume in Bangladesh cities The decision to suspend the bus services was taken on Monday night after announcing a strict lockdown in seven adjacent districts of Dhaka to stop the transmission of Coronavirus amid rising infections in different districts, as it is believed to have been caused by Delta variant. The districts are Narayanganj, Gazipur, Munshiganj, Manikganj, Madaripur, Rajbari and Gopalganj districts. Akhter Hossain, traffic inspector at Uttara's Rajlakkhi, said Gazipur is one of the seven districts where lockdown has been enforced. No long-route bus left the city for Mymensingh and neither one came from that district. Also read: Govt mulls resuming public transport services AC (traffic-Dasus Salam) Iftekharul Islam said as Manikganj district has gone under lockdown, no bus from the southern part of the country neither entered nor left Dhaka. Only the movement of vehicles providing emergency services is allowed. AC (traffic-Jatrabari) Tariqul Islam Masud said the movement of long-route buses on Dhaka-Mawa highway remained halted since Tuesday as Munsiganj district is under lockdown. The movement of long-route buses on Dhaka-Chattogram highway remained halted as Narayanganj went under lockdown. The lockdown in the seven districts will remain in force until June 30 midnight. However, emergency services like transportation of agricultural equipment and inputs (seeds, fertilizer, insecticides, agri-machinery), crops, food items, relief activities, health services, Covid-19 vaccination, water, power, gas, fire service, port activities, telephone, internet services, mass media (electronic and print), private security services, postal services and offices related to emergency services, their employees, vehicles will remain out of the purview of the restrictions, says an official circular issued in this regard.

ZEE5, the digital entertainment destination, is going to start local production in Bangladesh with the release of a new movie, web series and a talent hunt event.