The northern border district of Lalmonirhat is experiencing an intense cold spell as dense fog blankets the region, throwing daily life out of gear. Vehicles were seen moving with headlights on to avoid any accident, said transport workers. Until 8 am on Friday, the entire district was shrouded in thick fog and such condition has been seen for the past couple of days. Nirmal Chandra, a rickshaw puller from Dulhali area of Kaliganj, said the past two days had seen heavy fog and amid chilly weather. His income has fallen as many are not venturing out into fog. Jewel Mia, a resident of Kakina under Kaliganj upazila, informed that the bone-biting cold is badly affecting people in char areas (river islands) while many were keeping warm by lighting fires with straw and dried leaves. Local met office predicts that the temperature may drop further as the district is experiencing light rainfall accompanying the fog during the early hours. Read: Cold grips Kurigram as temperature falls amid mounting miseries

Vehicles including cars; buses; minibuse; microbuses; small, medium and big trucks will be able to take the Dhaka Elevated Expressway every day from tomorrow (September 03, 2023) when it opens to traffic. However, motorcycles, bicycles and three-wheelers will not be allowed to ply on the elevated expressway. Read: Early winter vegetables come as blessings for Jashore farmers Vehicles using the Dhaka Elevated Expressway will have to pay tolls, which will be collected in four categories. Private cars, microbuses (<16 seats) and mini-trucks (<3 tonnes) will have to pay Tk 80; medium-sized trucks (up to 6 wheels) and large trucks with more than 6 wheels will pay Tk 320 and Tk 400 respectively. Meanwhile, all buses and minibuses with 16 or more seats will have to pay Tk 160 to ply the Kawla-Farmgate section of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway. Read: Big hopes of transformation in commute: Dhaka Elevated Expressway ready for opening today The authorities have set the speed limit at 60 km and it will take 10 minutes for a vehicle with a speed of up to 60 km per hour to reach Farmgate from Kawla. The elevated expressway will serve as an alternative north-south route. It will connect Hemayetpur-Kadamtali-Nimtoli-Sirajdikhan-Madanganj-Dhaka-Chattogram Highway-Madanpur directly. Read: Dhaka’s air 4th most polluted in the world this morning On the other hand, vehicles from the south-western region and the eastern region of the country will be able to enter the north-western region directly without entering Dhaka thanks to the Elevated Expressway – reducing travel time and traffic congestion within the capital city.

A mobile court on Wednesday fined five institutions Tk 35,000 and six vehicles Tk 16,500 for polluting the Eden College area and Mirpur area in the capital city. The drive was jointly conducted by the Department of Environment’s Monitoring and Enforcement wing, Dhaka Metropolitan Office and Dhaka District Administration as part of an anti-pollution campaign. The six vehicles were fined at Eden college area for noise pollution while five institutions were fined at city’s Mirpur area on the ground of polluting air by keeping construction materials uncovered. Such anti-pollution campaigns will continue in the future in Dhaka, officials said.

Nearly 50 vehicles collided on an icy highway near the South Korean capital Sunday night, killing one person and injuring dozens. At least 47 vehicles were involved in the accident on the Guri-Pocheon highway, where they skidded on the slippery road and collided in succession, said Hwang Tae-geun, an official at the fire department in Pocheon city. Read more: South Korean president travels to UAE, seeks arms sales Photos showed police officers and rescuers with stretchers rushing through throngs of cars on a road scattered with debris. Many of the vehicles, which included at least one commuter bus, had damaged fronts or rear-ends and some appeared to have been knocked sideways. Kim Dong-wan, an official at the fire department of northern Gyeonggi Province, said at least three motorists sustained serious injuries and another person who had been transported to a hospital in cardiac arrest was pronounced dead. At least 29 others were treated at hospitals for light injuries, he said. Hwang said rescue workers used buses to drive home an unspecified number of people whose injuries weren’t significant enough to require hospital treatment. The crash occurred near a section of the highway entering Pocheon, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Seoul. The crash was the biggest among multiple traffic accidents that occurred in the country over the weekend because of icy road conditions and snow. Earlier on Sunday evening, seven vehicles collided near a highway tunnel near the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, leaving at least two people injured. Read more: China halts visas for Japan, South Korea in COVID-19 spat The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said the snowfalls over the weekend and subzero temperatures forecasted this week likely means that road conditions will continue to be hazardous in the greater capital area and central and eastern regions. About 3.3 centimeters (1.29 inches) of snow fell in Pocheon over the weekend while some areas in the eastern Gangwon regions saw 40 to 60 centimeters (16 to 23 inches) of snow. At least nine highway sections as well as dozens of dozens of maritime transport routes and hiking trails remained closed as of Monday morning.

A case was filed against 50 people on Thursday in connection with the torching of a vehicle and vandalising two others allegedly from a procession of Chhatra Dal following the death of a Swechchasebak Dal leader during clash with police in Dhaka. Zahidul Kabir, officer-n-charge of Kotwali Police Station, said the owner of a private car which was vandalised, filed the case with Kotwali Police against 50 people including 40 unidentified ones. Read more: 1 killed in police-BNP clash at Nayapaltan; Over 150 leaders, activists held Earlier, a group of Chhatra Dal leaders and activists brought out a procession protesting the death of a Swechchasebak Dal leader during police action in Dhaka’s Nayapaltan on Wednesday. They set a pick-up van afire at Almas Cinema intersection and vandalised two private cars from the procession. Police are trying to arrest those involved in the vandalism and arson attack, the OC said. Meanwhile, Mohammad Saiful Alam, convener of Chattogram Metropolitan Chhatra Dal, denied the allegation of vandlising and torching vehicles. He blamed Awami League activists for the incidents. Read more: Police kept the bombs in BNP office: Fakhrul          

No heavy vehicles will be allowed to use Sonahat Bridge in Bhurungamari upazila of Kurigram for five days due to repair work, officials said on Saturday. The repair work began on Friday evening and will continue till July 27, the local administration said in a release. The repair work will be carried out from evening till morning daily. Plying of all kinds of Dhaka-bound and Sonahat-bound goods-laden trucks and other heavy vehicles will remain suspended during this period. However, light vehicles can ply on the bridge during the daytime. Also read: Floods damage 1600 km roads, bridges in Sylhet: Govt estimate Md Nazrul Islam, executive engineer of Kurigram Roads and Highways Department, said the plates of the bridge have become vulnerable and so "the repair work is being carried out".  

Three people were killed and 20 others were injured in a road crash involving a bus, a pick-up van and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on Dhaka-Sylhet highway at Alinagar in Bijoynazar upazila of Brahmanbaria district on Tuesday, said police. The identities of the deceased could not be known immediately. The accident occurred around 6 pm, leaving three people  dead on the spot and 20 others injured, said Sukhendo Ghosh, officer-in-charge of Highway Police Station. Read: 2 motorcyclists killed, 1 injured in Brahmanbaria road crash On information, police rushed to the spot and conducted the rescue operation. Vehicular movement on the highway came to a halt for some time following the accident.  

Long queues of vehicles were seen on Mawa and Jajira ends of  the Padma Bridge after the much-awaited  bridge opened to traffic at 6 am on Sunday , a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated it. Our Munshiganj correspondent reports: People started thronging the Mawa point of the bridge since night to cross the bridge at first chance. Long queues of southern-western districts- bound vehicles including motorbikes, buses, trucks were seen waiting to cross the bridge. Aminul Islam, 35, who came from Kamrangirchar area, crossed the bridge first after paying toll at Mawa point. He said he along with 100 other motorbikes riders came here to cross the bridge.    Toll collection at Mawa point was delayed due to manual system. Five booths out of six were opened on Sunday for collecting toll. READ: Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka congratulate Bangladesh on Padma bridge inauguration Syed Rajab Ali, executive engineer of Padma Multipurpose Bridge, said toll collection process is a bit slow as today is the first day. The process will be speedy later, he hoped. The government on May 17 finalised the toll rate for different types of vehicles for crossing the Padma Multipurpose Bridge. The Bridges Division under Road Transport and Bridges Ministry issued a gazette notification in this regard. According to the government decision, Tk 100 toll has been fixed for motorbike, Tk 750 for private car and jeep, Tk 1200 from pick-up, Tk 1300 for microbus, Tk 1400 for small bus (with 31 seats), Tk 2000 for middle bus (with 32 seats), Tk 2400 for big size bus, Tk 1600 for small truck (5 tonnes), Tk 2100 for middle size truck (over 5 tonnes to 8 tonnes),  Tk 2800 for middle size truck (over 8 tonnes to 11 tonnes), Tk 5500 for big truck (up to 3 excel) Tk 6000 for trailer truck (4 excel) and Tk 6,000 plus for trailer (over 4 excel). Earlier, on Saturday, Bangladesh wrote another golden chapter in history when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the Padma Bridge turning the nation’s dream into a reality.

Ferry services on the busy Paturia-Daulatdia route have been severely disrupted owing to strong current in the Padma since Friday morning. The disruption has triggered a serpentine queue of vehicles at Paturia ferry ghat in Manikganj. Since morning, hundreds of vehicles, including 300 trucks, have been waiting at the ferry ghat to cross the river. Read: Ferry services resume on Shimulia-Majhirkandi route after 7 hours Ferries are taking more time to reach their destinations due to the strong river current with the rise of water in the Padma, said Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation's (BIWTC) Aricha sector DGM Sheikh Shah Newaz. Besides, ferry services on the Shimulia-Kathalbari route are closed, as a result of which vehicles of that route have thronged this ghat. "Some 400 vehicles are stuck in the terminal area on both sides," he said. Read: BIWTC announces 20pc rise in ferry, ship fare A 3-4km tailback of trucks has been created on the highway of the Paturia ghat area, as commuter buses are prioritised to cross the river first, said the BIWTC official. At present, 18 of 21 ferries are in service on the Paturia-Daulatdia route, he added.

After a requisition, the police cannot keep any vehicle for more than seven days, the High Court said Wednesday in the full text of an earlier ruling. A HC division bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Khizir Ahmed Choudhury passed the order with an 11-point direction on July 31, 2019, following a writ petition filed in the public interest. The full text of the verdict was released today, said Advocate Manzill Murshid, who argued for the writ petition. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) commissioner has been asked to send the guideline in the form of a notification to the station officials concerned within 90 days of receiving the order. Vehicles requisitioned under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Ordinance 1976 will only be used in the public interest, not in any way for personal use. No police officer or his or her family can use requisitioned vehicles for personal purposes, according to the HC order. READ: Mitu murder case: Record statements of Babul's children, says HC For the requisitioning of vehicles of an individual, company or organisation, the owner has to be given prior notice with explanations. A committee should be formed through DMP to determine the compensation and daily allowance of the requisitioned vehicles and should be paid within 15 days of the requisition. Any complaint regarding requisition will have to be investigated and action should be taken by the authorities. Also, vehicles carrying patients, disabled persons, and passengers at the airport cannot be requisitioned, the HC order said. In 2010, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh filed a writ petition challenging the validity of the provision of police vehicle requisition under Section 103 (A) of the DMP Ordinance. The court issued a rule on May 23 of the same year regarding the preliminary hearing of the petition.