Students from seven colleges affiliated with the Dhaka University (DU) have blocked the busy Science Lab intersection in the capital, bringing all traffic in the area to a standstill. The demonstration, which began around 12:30 pm, followed a march from Dhaka College, where protesters demanded the formation of an independent university. The students have taken to the streets in protest, calling for their three-point demand to be met within 24 hours. Their demands are: Immediate formation of a commission to establish a university for the seven affiliated colleges, the commission must draft a proposal within 30 days, outlining the next steps, Dhaka University must ensure that no session jams occur until the new university is established, the protest follows a similar demonstration earlier in the week, during which the students blocked Science Lab and Nilkhet intersections. The colleges are Dhaka College, Eden Mohila College, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Begum Badrunnesa Government Women’s College, Government Bangla College, and Government Titumir College. They also issued a 24-hour ultimatum and threatened to wage a tougher agitation programme. The demand for an independent university stems from the students' dissatisfaction with the existing affiliation system.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Friday claimed that this year's Eid journey has been free of traffic jams and public sufferings. He said this to reporters while visiting the overpass constructed at the capital's airport this morning. Quader said that instructions have been given to the officials concerned  to make the return Eid trip smooth and comfortable. Roads and Highways Department Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Noori, Bridges Department Secretary Manjur Hossain and senior officers were present at the time. Read more: AL-backed syndicates make Eid holidaymakers suffer with extortion, harassment: Rizvi Quader said that this year there is no suffering of travellors on bus, train, launch during the Eid journey.  The government has opened the Padma Bridge to motorbikes for the benefit of young people.

The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations, which were postponed due to flood, will begin across the country on Thursday (September 15, 2022). Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic division has requested the examinees in Dhaka to leave homes early to reach the exam centers timely. It has been noticed that vehicles in many parts of Dhaka city are moving slowly due to incessant showers for the last few days, triggering traffic chaos, said a press release of DMP. Read:No chance of leaking question paper for SSC exam: Dipu Moni Besides, rainwater also filled the big potholes developed due to the ongoing construction works on roads. In such situation, the SSC examinees have been requested to start for their respective examination centers as early as possible to avoid traffic congestion, said the release. The SSC and its equivalent examinations under all education boards scheduled to begin on June 19 were postponed due to the flood situation in the country on June 17. Read: SSC exams this year will start from 11am, duration 2 hours: Dipu Moni Earlier,  it was deferred for about four months because of the coronavirus pandemic. Usually, the SSC exams take place in February. The examinations will begin at 11 am this year instead of 10 am considering the traffic jams. Coaching centres will remain closed across the country from September 12 to October 2. This year, the examinations will be held for two hours instead of three hours and the duration of the MCQ exam is 20 minutes while that of the written exam is 1 hour and 40 minutes. Read SSC, equivalent exams to begin on September 15: Dipu Moni According to the schedule, the SSC and its equivalent examinations will end on October 18. Some 20,21,868 students are expected to take the SSC and equivalent exams this year while last year this number was 22,43,254. The number of candidates has decreased by 2,21,386. About 15,99,711 candidates will sit for the SSC exam under nine general education boards, 2,68,495 for Dakhil exams under Madrasa Education Board and 1,53,662 for vocational exam under Bangladesh Technical Education Board this year, the minister said. Read SSC, HSC Certificate Information Change or Correction Process in Bangladesh Some 3,790 centers have been prepared for the SSC exams across the country.

Hundreds of commuters were greeted by gridlocks on Thursday morning, as a head-on collision between a bus and a van on Bijoy Sarani Road triggered traffic jams across Dhaka. The Bijoy Sarani gridlock around 7am saw long tailbacks that eventually spilled over to major roads of the city, hauling traffic on several stretches -- Uttara to Mohakhali and Agargaon to Bijoy Sarani, and in areas such as Mirpur, Bangla Motor and Tejgaon. Also read:Traffic gridlock cripples the Capital after New Market violence The worst hit were the office-goers and school and college students. In some areas, the jams intensified as few motorists tried to reverse their vehicles to reach their destinations fast. 

Law enforcement agencies and traffic police are working jointly to work out a plan to ease traffic congestion in the capital city, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said on Tuesday, hoping it will soon be under control. He was talking to reporters after a high level meeting to review the overall law and order situation ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr. Also read:Traffic jam may spread to upazilas thanks to development: Minister He attributed the traffic jams partly  to the ongoing development works in the city. The minister said the construction works of elevated ways, metro rail and flyovers in different parts of the city are going on. Besides, everything is open now after easing of Covid pandemic and people are out on shopping crreating traffic jams. The meeting, held at Secretariat, also discussed clearing of salaries of the garment workers before Eid and ensuring safety on roads and highways. Asaduzzaman said decisions have been taken to take effective steps to prevent criminal activities like stealing, mugging and extortion. He said necessary steps will be taken to stop use of counterfeit notes. Check-posts will be installed in important areas to ensure law and order, he said.

Commuters heading home ahead of Eid-ul-Azha were stuck in monster traffic snarls on the two national highways in Gazipur on Tuesday. Long tailbacks were witnessed on both the Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways in Gazipur in the morning due to a mad rush of home-bound people as well as vehicles carrying sacrificial animals amid the devastating second wave of Covid-19. Read: Facing hazards, Eid holidaymakers keep moving out of Dhaka The closure of several garment factories in Gazipur for Eid contributed to the mad rush while the potholed stretches of the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway owing to the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit project made the situation worse. Moreover, lack of public transport vehicles like buses and launches forced many to hire microbuses, CNG auto-rickshaws and even pickup trucks to reach their destination. A reality check by UNB revealed that all Covid-safety protocols went for a toss as people barely followed social distancing norms, despite law enforcement agencies keeping a strict vigil on the roads. Bangladesh on Monday saw 231 corona-related deaths, the highest since the pandemic hit the country, amid an eight-day pause in the nationwide strict lockdown. The situation is likely to get worse because of the fallout from the lockdown pause ahead of Eid holidays, many experts believe. Read: Holidaymakers' torturous journey goes on With Covid's Delta variant spreading fast, Bangladesh have already tallied more than 1.1 million infections and 18,000-plus deaths from the pandemic. The country's fatalities have been hovering at roughly 200 for the past two weeks. Also, Covid-19 infections in Bangladesh have reached 99% of the peak, with more than 11,828 new cases reported each day. The highest daily average was reported on July 15. The country recorded 13,321 infections in 24 hours till Monday morning after testing 45,012 samples. Bangladesh reported its highest daily Covid-19 fatality of 230 on July 11 and 13,768 infections the next day. The second wave of the pandemic is threatening to overwhelm the country's health infrastructure. There have been 1,117,310 infections and 18,125 coronavirus-related deaths in Bangladesh since the pandemic began, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Meanwhile, the daily test positivity rate rose to 29.59% though the death rate remained unchanged at 1.62%, and the recovery rate dropped to 84.25%. Dhaka division reported the highest 73 deaths, Khulna 57, Chattogram 43, Rangpur 17, Rajshahi 16, Mymensingh 11, Sylhet eight and Barisal six. So far, Bangladesh has administered at least 10,908,272 doses of Covid vaccines – enough to have vaccinated around 3.1% of the country's population, assuming every person needs two doses.    

Paris commuters inched to work Monday through exceptional traffic jams, as strikes to preserve retirement rights halted trains and subways for a fifth straight day.