Over Tk 660.24 crore toll has been collected from the Padma Bridge till April 25, said Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday. Besides, 77,529 motorbikes crossed the bridge from 6 am on April 22 till 6 am on April 26 and during this period, Tk 77,52,900 toll were collected, he said while speaking at a view-exchange meeting with the staff of the Bridges Division at the Secretariat. Read more: Tk 603.76 cr toll collected from Padma Bridge till March: Quader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the Karnaphuli River is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in September, said Quader. He also asked the authorities concerned to take steps in advance considering the cattle market, movement of cattle-laden vehicles and rains to ensure smooth journey of people. Presided over by Bridges Division Secretary Md Manjur Hossain, Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, Kazi Md Ferdous and project directors of different projects and high officials concerned were present at the meeting.  

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said that motorcycles will be allowed to ply the Padma Bridge from 6 am on April 20. “This opportunity has been given at the instruction of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on experimental basis,” he said at Ganabhaban. The minister said that motorcycles can cross the Padma Bridge using the service lane.  Quader said that motorcycles should cross the Padma Bridge following the speed limit, and the maximum speed limit for motorcycles will be 60 kilometres per hour. He warned that if discipline is not maintained, the opportunity of riding motorcycles on the Padma Bridge will be cancelled.  The Bridges Division banned motorbike movement on the bridge from 27 June, 2022.

Bodies of two children who went missing while taking bath in the Padma river in Kushtia have been recovered. The deceased were identified as Rifat Mandal, 8, son of Rifat Mandal and Morsalin, 6, son of Mojibor Ragman in Daulatpur upazila. The children went missing on Wednesday morning and after searching the whole day locals recovered their bodies from the river around 11 pm, said Mojibur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Daulatpur police station. Read more: Missing man’s body recovered a day after wife drowned in Padma river The bodies were handed over to their families, he said.

The government on Sunday put on hold the proposal to form two new divisions – named after two major rivers in the country, Padma and Meghna. The decision was made in a meeting of the National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reforms (NICAR), chaired by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, held at the PMO. Read more: Cabinet Division clears proposal on carving out ‘Padma’, ‘Meghna’ divisions Confirming the matter to UNB, Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said the proposal has been suspended as huge amount of funding will be needed to implement it. On November 22, the Cabinet Division finalised the proposal to form two new divisions, Padma and Meghna. Read more: Padma Bridge Rail Project: Trial run of train begins The proposed Padma division will comprise five districts of Faridpur and Meghna division will have six districts – three each from Cumilla and Noakhali. Transferring Islamic University police station in Kushtia to Jhaudia area and renaming it as Jhaudia police station was approved at the NICAR meeting. The relocation of Jhaudia police camp to Islamic University campus and naming it Islamic university police camp was also approved. Besides, proposition  to form municipality at Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira district, subtracting conflicted part of Kajla and Boail union of Sariakandi upazila and adding it to Madarganj upazila of Jamalpur district, reforming the area of Madarganj upazila and extending the area of Mymensingh’s Nandail upazila were approved at the meeting.

The Cabinet Division has finalised the proposal to form two new divisions named after two major rivers in the country - Padma and Meghna.  The proposed Padma division will comprise five districts of Faridpur and Meghna division will have six districts - three each from Cumilla and Noakhali.  It will be placed at National Implementation Committee for Administrative Reforms (NICAR) meeting on November 27, according to the meeting sources.  Read more: Proposals to import sugar, fertilizer get cabinet body nod  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair the meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat.  Six proposals will be placed at the November 27 meeting including creation of administrative department for Padma and Meghna , transferring Islamic University police station in Kustia to Jhaudia area and renaming it as Jhaudia police station .  Also relocation of Jhaudia police camp to Islamic University campus and naming it Islamic university police camp will be proposed.  Read more: Cabinet okays 22 public holidays in 2023 Besides, proposition  to form municipality at Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira district, subtracting conflicted part of Kajla and Boail union of Sariakandi upazila and adding it to Madarganj upajila of Jamalpur district , reforming the area of Madarganj upazila and extending the area of Mymensingh’s Nandail upazila will be made at the meeting.

Two women died after a boat with 20 people on board capsized off Rajshahi city in the River Padma, police said. Eighteen others managed to swim to safety, according to Rajshahi River Police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Obaidur Rahman. The two people killed were identified as Asia Begum, 35, of the Sonaikandi area of Haripur union of Paba upazila and Rasheda Begum, 45, of the same area. The accident occurred at 5:30pm in the Srirampur area of Rajpara in Rajshahi city, spilling 20 people into Padma. Haripur union parishad chairman Bajle Rezbi Al Hasan Munzil said: "On Monday morning Asia and Rasheda went to a pasture on the other side of Padma for hay. As they were returning home in the evening with bales of hay, the boat capsized." Asked what caused the boat to capsize, he said: "The vessel had been overloaded. Also, a hole appeared in the boat and water started gushing into it." "Asia and Rasheda were trapped under the boat after it capsized. They were taken out of the water by the locals and whisked off to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. The women were declared dead upon arrival," OC Obaidur said. Later, their bodies were handed over to the families, he added. Read more: Dredger capsized during Sitrang: Bodies of 8 workers recovered

A Dhaka court on Saturday placed 15 friends of Buet student Sunny, whose body was recovered from the Padma River on Friday, on a three-day remand each in a case filed over the death. Dhaka Senior Judicial Magistrate Kazi Ashrafuzzaman passed the order after hearing. Those remanded are -- Shariful Hossain, Shakil Ahmed, Sezan Ahmed, Md Rubel, Md Sajib, Md Nuruzzaman, Md Nasir, Md Maruf, Md Ashraful Alam, Jahangir Hossain Liton, Md Noman, Md Jahid, ATM Shahrier Momin, Maruful Haque, and Roukanuzzaman alias Jitu. Also read: Missing BUET student’s body fished out of Padma Earlier, sub-inspector Shamsul Alam, also investigating officer of the case, produced all of the accused before the court and sought a seven-day remand for each. The body of Tariquzzaman Sunny, a final-year student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) was fished out of the Padma River on Friday. UNB Keraniganj correspondent report: according to Sunny’s friends he went missing while bathing in the river with his friends at Moinot Ghat in Dhaka's Dohar upazila Thursday afternoon, said Mostafa Kamal, officer-in-charge of Dohar police station. “However the incident seems suspicious as police received a call from Sunny’s cell phone number which was made to National Emergency Service 999 Thursday evening. But the call was disconnected before talking with anyone,” said the OC.  Also read: Missing tourist’s body fished out of Kishoreganj haor On Friday afternoon, Sunny’s elder brother Hasanuzzaman filed a murder case at Dohar police station and then 15 friends of Sunny who went to visit Moinot Ghat with him were arrested from different places in the capital.

The body of a final-year student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was fished out of the Padma River on Friday, nearly 24 hours he went missing. The deceased was identified as Tariquzzaman Sunny. Also read: Two farmers go missing as boat capsizes in Sunamganj haor Mostafa Kamal, officer-in-charge of Dohar police station, said that Sunny went missing while bathing in the river with three of his friends at Moinot Ghat in Dhaka's Dohar upazila around noon on Thursday. Also read: Missing tourist’s body fished out of Kishoreganj haor Members of the Fire Service fished out his body around 11am, he said. A case of unnatural death has been filed in this regard and the body will be handed over to the deceased's family after an autopsy, said OC Mostafa.

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.

A man was killed and another went missing as two ferries collided head-on in the Padma River in the early hours on Sunday.  The deceased was identified as pickup van driver Md Khokon, 40, of Jhalakathi, said SI Sakhwat Hossain of Louhajang Police Station. Two ferries- Begum Rokeya and Begum Sufia Kamal- collided head-on near Jajira in Shariatpur district on the Shimulia-Majhirkandi route around 3 am.  Sufia Kamal ferry master Md Hasan said parts of both ferries were damaged in the collision.  READ: Paturia ghat sees huge crowd; Passengers suffer as 2 ferries remain inoperative Another person went missing after he fell in the river while 10  people on both the ferries sustained injuries.  Hasan said that he was asleep and the second master was operating the ferry.  The second master couldn’t control it at Shariatpur turning point due to strong current which led to the collision, he added.