Mobile courts will remain active to check charging homebound passengers extra fares, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday. Necessary preparations have been taken to ensure safe journey for homebound people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr as per the directives of the Prime Minister, he said. Also read: 3 flyovers, Nalka bridge in North Bengal route to be opened Monday to tackle Eid rush The condition of the roads and the highways is better than any time before, said Quader adding, “Directives have been given in the field level to take steps to mitigate  sufferings of travellers during Eid.” The minister said this while talking to reporters at the Bangladesh Secretariat. He also requested the transport owners and workers to refrain from taking excessive fares from the passengers. Besides, taskforce formed with members of law enforcement agencies to ensure discipline on roads and security of passengers will remain active at the terminals in the metropolitan cities , he said. Also read:Padma Bridge to be opened to traffic in June, Quader reiterates Quader also urged the leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) to arrange Eid leave for the garment workers in phases to avoid rush of homebound people. He also asked the highway police, district police, Ansar members, local administrations and upazila administrations to perform their duties properly to control traffic congestions at the exit and entry points of the city.

Two local traders were fined a total of Tk 1.5 lakh for hoarding soybean oil so as to sell the same at inflated prices at NagerBazar in the district town. Two mobile courts, led by two executive magistrates, Mohammad Mozaherul Haque and Rohan Sarkar, carried out separate drives and imposed a fine of Tk one lakh on Sridham Saha and Tk 50,000 on Shankar Pal for attempting to create an artificial crisis of soybean oil by hoarding the same. Read:FBCCI urges govt to lift VAT on edible oil import A litre of bottled soybean oil is currently available at Tk 168 in Bangladesh. In January, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (BVORVMA) proposed to the Commerce Ministry to increase the maximum retail price of edible oil by Tk 8 to Tk 168 per litre. The prices of daily essential commodities have already gone up in Bangladesh. Besides, the soaring price of edible oil is intensifying the woes of the lower middle-income group.

Starting Friday, mobile courts will carry out drives to ensure cable operators broadcast advertisement-free foreign TV channels in Bangladesh. Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud made the announcement on Thursday. Read: No one stays hungry in Bangladesh thanks to Sheikh Hasina, says Info Minister “We will conduct mobile courts from October 1 across the country. If the serial determined for television on cable lines at the tripartite meeting of the Ministry, the Television Owners’ Association and cable operators is not maintained and advertisements are shown, legal action will be taken against the distributors, operators who have the downlink approval of those channels," he told reporters. Read: Info Minister for strengthening Dhaka-Delhi people-to-people ties In countries like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, "the cable operators can't broadcast foreign TV channels without clean feed", the Minister said. “The operators were already informed in August about the drive. The excuse of foreign channels not sending clean feeds will no longer be tolerated,” he added.

Separate mobile courts of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) operated drives to evict illegal establishments and ensure use of masks by city dweller to curb the transmission of Covid-19.

The government has planned to go for tougher punishment like raising the pecuniary fine by mobile courts to force people to wear masks to stop the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mobile courts conducted to preserve Hilsa seized current nets worth Tk 9 crore and finned 178 fishermen in the last three days until Saturday.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh on Sunday said mobile courts will be operated from August 16 to keep the dengue situation under control by destroying Aedes mosquito. 

The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) on Thursday found Aedes mosquito larvae at 97 houses and establishments on the fifth day of its combing operation aimed at protecting the city dwellers from dengue.

Separate mobile courts fined 52 people for not wearing masks in different areas in Mujibnagar upazila of Meherpur district on Monday.

Mobile courts on Wednesday fined owners of 12 houses and other establishments Tk 57,000 as larvae of Aedes mosquito was found on their premises in different parts of the city under the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).