Five more deaths were reported from dengue in 24 hours till Tuesday morning, raising the number of fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease in Bangladesh to 193 this year. During the period, 981 more patients were hospitalised with viral fever, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Of them, 196 dengue patients were admitted in hospital under Dhaka North City Corporation while 180 were hospitalized in Dhaka South City Corporation.  Read: Two more die of dengue; 1,218 hospitalised Some 3,384 patients are receiving treatment in different hospitals across the country. A total of 38,789 dengue cases have been reported since January 1, 2024. Last year, 1,705 people lost their lives due to dengue, making it the deadliest year on record. The DGHS recorded 321,179 dengue cases and 3, 18,749 recoveries last year. Read more: Dengue: 4 more die, 1,225 hospitalised in 24hrs

A Dhaka court on Monday (April 29, 2024) framed charges against 33 accused in case over the killing of Awami League leader Zahidul Islam Tipu and a female college student in Shahjahanpur area around two years back. The trial in the case began formally through framing the charges. Dhaka Special Judge Court-Judge Ali Hossain passed the order after rejecting an appeal for excluding the names of the accused from the charges.   The court also set May 21 to record testimony of the witnesses in the case, public prosecutor Md Rafik Uddin said. On April 25, a hearing on the appeal for exclusion of the accused was held while the court set April 29 for framing the charges against the accused. 3 of a gang arrested for manipulating stock market: DB Dhaka Metropolitan South unit Organizing Secretary of Awami League Golam Ashraf Talukder, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) ward councillor and Awami League leader Maruf Ahmed Mansur, expelled president of ward No 10 Jubo League Maruf Reza Sagor, Motijheel Thana unit of Jatiya Party leader Juber Alam Khan Robin, former convenor of Habibullah Bahar College unit Chhatra League Sohel Shahriar, former general secretary of Motijheel Thana unit of Chhatra League Khairul Islam Matbor and former president of ward No-11 unit of Jubo League Kamruzzaman Babu, Sumon Shikder Musa, Masum Muhammad Akash were among the accused. On the night of March 24, Tipu, who was on a microbus, and Samia Afrin Priti, a 22-year-old college student, who was returning home on a cycle rickshaw were killed in firing in front of Islami Bank Hospital at Shahjahanpur in Dhaka. Tipu was a former general secretary of the AL Motijheel committee and Priti was a student of Begum Badrunnesa Government College. Tipu’s driver was also injured in the firing. They were all stuck in a traffic jam in the area when a biker wearing a helmet and a mask appeared from nowhere and fired at them. HC wants to know the number of Rohingya voters in Cox’s Bazar The next day, a case was filed against unidentified people over the double murder. On June 5 last year, the investigation office of the case submitted a charge sheet against 33 people.

Two policemen sustained injuries during a clash with traders when Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) conducted an eviction drive at Khilgaon rail gate kitchen market on Sunday. The injured were identified as Inspector (Operation) Mahidul Islam of Shajanpur Police Station and constable named Mehedi Hasan (24) of Public Order and Management (POM) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Dhaka calls for solidarity, unity, strong South-South cooperation to achieve sustainable development Among them, Inspector Mahidul received injuries on his head, while Constable Mehedi Hasan sustained bullet injuries at his leg. The incident took place between 2:00 pm and 2:30 pm when the DSCC authority went to the spot to conduct an eviction drive, said Officer-in-charge of Shahjahanpur police station Sujit Kumar Shaha. The DSCC has conducted the eviction drive in the kitchen market as the authority will build a multistoried market there. They had earlier issued several notices to the existing traders of the market to shift their belongings but did not comply with the order, the OC said. Plot-to-Plot BDS map set to start in February: Land Minister When the DSCC along with a large number of police went there, local traders swooped on them with brick bats. The police resorted to baton charge, hurled sound grenade and fired rubber bullets to disperse the unruly people.  During the clash, Inspector Mahidul received head injuries due to hitting of brick bats and Constable Mehedi might have received bullet injuries accidentally at his leg from the bullets fired by other police members, the OC added. PM visits Walton Mega Stall at Dhaka Int’l Trade Fair This incident took place on Sunday (January 21) around 2 o'clock. Injured policeman Mehedi Hasan is being treated at Dhaka Medical and Inspector (Operation) Mahidul Islam at Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital. Injured policeman Mehedi Hasan is being treated at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Inspector (Operation) Mahidul Islam at Rajarbagh Police Lines Hospital.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh on Wednesday said the construction work of Dhaka City Inter-District Bus Terminal in Narayanganj’s Kanchpur will be completed by the middle of next year. “Fifty percent of the project, including landfilling, has already been completed. The rest of the work will be completed within the stipulated time,” said the DSCC mayor while talking to reporters after visiting the construction work of the terminal in the morning. No one will be allowed to do business without trade licence in Dhaka South: Mayor Taposh Mayor Taposh also said the construction of other infrastructures including the boundary wall and bus parking depot around the terminal will be done in phases.  “Once the terminal is opened, buses of 16 districts in Chattogram and Sylhet divisions will operate their rom this terminal,” he added. Zia directly involved in Bangabandhu assassination: Mayor Taposh The DSCC mayor hoped that the opening of the terminal would improve the quality of passenger services while reducing traffic congestion in the capital and its surrounding areas. Meanwhile, the existing bus terminal at Sayedabad will be renovated and modernised and transformed into an inter-city bus terminal, said Taposh.  National Eidgah ready to hold Eid Jammat even in case of heavy rain: Taposh He also talked to the officials of the concerned department including the Road Transport and Highways Division to learn about the progress of the terminal’s construction work. 

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh on Wednesday said that a ward will be marked ‘red’ if more than 10 dengue patients are detected in a week. Then a daylong special combing operation will be conducted in the 'red marked' ward, he said. Read: DSCC opens control room to check dengue  The DSCC mayor said this while inspecting a special cleanliness and destruction of Aedes mosquitoes’ breeding grounds  programme in Dhaka University Library adjacent area.   The mayor said, "From next Saturday, we are taking another special drive which is ward-based. We are going to declare those wards red-marked where more than 10 patients in a week will be detected.” Read: Dengue outbreak: DSCC distributes leaflets in mosques to raise awareness At that time, he urged the residents and the owners of  buildings and establishments of those wards (red-marked) to keep their surroundings clean.  Announcing the special drive in wards 5, 22, 53 and 60 next Saturday, Taposh said, "We have found more than 10 patients in these four wards in the last one week. We will conduct the special drive in these four wards on Saturday.” “We think we can control the Aedes mosquito completely this way. For this, locals have to be fully involved. Then our programme will be more successful," the mayor added. Read: 3 DSCC hospitals offer free dengue test from Thursday Du Teachers' Association General Secretary Professor Zinat Huda, Proctor Prof Dr Maksudur Rahman, Faculty of Arts Dean Professor Dr Abdul Basir, Shaheed Sergeant Zahurul Haque Hall Provost Prof Dr Md Abdur Rahim, among others, were present on the occasion.

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has fined 9 establishments a total of Tk 1.03 lakh for finding larvae of Aedes mosquitoes, the dengue vector, on Sunday. Also read : 3 DSCC hospitals offer free dengue test from Thursday DSCC conducted seven mobile courts to eliminate breeding grounds of Aedes mosquitoes in Central Road, Naba Roy Basak Lane, Tati Bazar, Wari, Rankin Street, Pear Ali Gali, Kadam Ali Road, Manda, Signboard, Demra, Sontek, Sheikhdi, South Kajla, Rayerbagh and Kadamtali areas of the corporation. Also read : Anti-Aedes drive: DSCC fines 13 offenders Tk 1.4 lakh During the drive, people associated with nine houses and under-construction buildings were fined Tk 1.03 lakh as the larvae of Aedes mosquitoes were found. A total of 355 houses and establishments were inspected in today's drive.   Also read : Dengue outbreak: DSCC distributes leaflets in mosques to raise awareness Bangladesh has recorded 466 dengue deaths this year, the highest on record. At the same time, the country has seen over 90,000 dengue cases since the beginning of the year.  The UN World Health Organization (WHO) urged swift action as dengue cases surge in Bangladesh. “The higher incidence of dengue is taking place in the context of an unusual episodic amount of rainfall, combined with high temperatures and high humidity, which have resulted in an increased mosquito population throughout Bangladesh,” WHO said.

The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) on Sunday found Aedes mosquito larvae at 5 buildings including an under-construction building of Partex Group on the first day of its combing operation launched to keep the dengue situation under control. After visiting 30 houses and under-construction buildings, the DSCC mobile court fined Tk 28,000 in five cases after finding a favourable environment for Aedes mosquito breeding at five of them. Led by DSCC's  Executive Magistrate Jahangir Alam, the drive was conducted in the capital's Dhalpur and Maniknagar areas. Also Read: Aedes mosquito: DSCC to run mobile courts from June 18 Among others, Ward No. 49 Councilor Badal Sardar, Region-5 Assistant Health Officer Dr. Shihab Uddin and others were present during the drive. Earlier, Md Mizanur Rahman, chief executive officer of DSCC, directed its officials concerned on various issues and told them to start operating mobile courts at the field level. Also Read: Legal steps if larvae of Aedes mosquitoes found in buildings: DNCC Mayor He said that it is a proven method to destroy the breeding sources of Aedes mosquitoes to control the dengue outbreak. Besides, public awareness is also very important to destroy the breeding sources of Aedes mosquitoes. Also Read: DSCC launches control room to monitor Aedes mosquito eradication campaign "We hope that through this initiative we will be able to control the dengue disease in the area under the Dhaka South City Corporation," he added.  

Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Mayor Barrister Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has sent a legal notice to The Daily Star, seeking Tk 100 crore, for publishing a “defamatory” article about cutting down trees in the Dhanmondi area of the capital. The mayor’s lawyer Barrister Mejbahur Rahman briefed reporters on Wednesday (June 7, 2023). The legal notice was sent to The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam, Executive Editor Syed Ashfaqul Haque, and writer Naziba Basher on June 5. Also read: DSCC mayor Taposh sued for remark on ex-chief justice   They have been asked to remove the relevant content online within 24 hours of receiving the notice and take necessary action within seven days. Lawyer Mejbahur Rahman said that a “column” titled “Cutting trees to make way for air” was published in The Daily Star newspaper on May 13. “In the column, the name of Dhaka South City Corporation was distorted to make Dhoka South Town Corporation,” he said while speaking to reporters at the Supreme Court premises. Also read: June 14 set for hearing on contempt of court case against DSCC Mayor Taposh Besides, the name of Mayor Taposh has also been distorted, he said. Lawyer Mejbahur Rahman said the DSCC Mayor has directed him to take legal action after seeing the report.  “In the notice, we asked for two things – one is to remove the text in the online version and they must apologise unconditionally and will have to pay Tk 100 crore as compensation,” he said. “Seven days have been given to them. If they do not take any action by this time, the next decision will be taken at the behest of Mayor Taposh.” Also read: Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman gets bail in DSA case In the legal notice, The Daily Star was asked to pay the money within seven days of the date of receipt of the legal notice served “for creating and publishing defamatory imputation in your national daily, in online publication and on social media and network with criminal intention to insult, humiliate and persecute our client, thus intentionally harming hard earned reputation of my client, his family and his institution.” In a statement, published on The Daily Star’s website, the editor and publisher wrote: “We want to state that we have indeed received the said legal notice dated June 5, 2023, from the Lex Counsel late in the afternoon of June 6, 2023, and it allows us only 2 days to respond. We will publish our response within that time.” Also read: Prothom Alo reporter Shams gets bail in another DSA case “We, however, want to point out that our piece was termed a ‘report’ or a ‘column’ at the press briefing. This is factually incorrect. It was a satirical piece, which is a globally accepted and common practice in journalism, on an issue of urgent public concern, and that too was published in our designated weekly satirical page titled ‘Satireday,’' the statement added.

Police on Sunday foiled an attempt of some demonstrators to lay siege to Nagar Bhaban, the Dhaka South City Corporation’s headquarters, protesting its decision to cut down trees in Dhanmondi’s Saat Masjid Road in the capital. Around 200 people took part in a possession under the banner of Saat Masjid Gaach Rakkha Andolan (Movement to protect trees on Dhanmondi’s Saat Masjid Road) in the morning, said our correspondent from the spot. The progamme was announced from a press conference on Saturday by Saat Masjid Gaach Rakkha Andolan to protest felling of trees by DSCC in Dhanmondi’s Saat Masjid Road in the name of development. As part of the programme, the protesters gathered at Shahbag’s Doyel Chattar on Sunday morning. Various cultural and environmental organizations including Poribesh Bachao Andolon (Poba, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA) and people from different walks of life joined the possession. The protesters left Doyel Chattar in Shahbagh at 11:30am to lay a siege to Nagar Bhaban to press home their 4-point demand. However, when they reached Bangabazar intersection in Dhaka’s Gulistan area, police obstructed them from moving forward, Alamgir Kabir, the general secretary of Poribesh Bachao Andolan (PoBa) told UNB.

Petrobangla has initiated a move to bring an end to the existing monopoly of a particular foreign company in its pre-paid gas metering system. “We’ve already received the government’s policy approval to allow battery-run pre-paid gas meter,” Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker told UNB recently. According to official sources, a Japanese company has been providing all the pre-paid gas meters which are synchronized with Titas and other distribution companies’ data accumulation system while others’ systems are not synchronised due to a monopoly in the system. They said the government took a decision more than three years ago to allow consumers to install pre-paid gas meters besides the ongoing process of installing meters by the gas distribution companies. Also read: Business disputes stall govt move to open pre-paid gas meters market to consumers Under the decision, any vendor can sell pre-paid gas meters, like pre-paid electricity meters, in the open market and any consumer can buy it to install at his/her own cost. Such a decision was taken in order to expedite the process of installing pre-paid meters for consumers’ benefit. Because, if a gas meter is installed, it will check misuse of gas as well as cut the overall cost of consumers. In the existing system, a pre-paid gas consumer pays almost one-third of the bill normally paid by a non-metered consumer. But so far, no public or private company has shown any interest in getting involved in the pre-paid meter business because of the monopoly of a certain company in the data acquisition system of Titas Gas and other distribution companies. Read More: Govt planning to invite int’l bidding for offshore blocks with more attractive PSC Some industry insiders alleged that the data accumulation system of Titas Gas remained monopolised by a particular meter-manufacturing company where meters from other companies are not synchronized. This has jeopardised implementation of the government’s plan to introduce pre-paid gas meters for all, industry insiders observed. Petrobangla chairman said that they are contacting multilateral agencies like ADB, World Bank and JBIC to get funds to install more pre-paid gas meters across the country. Petrobangla Director (Operation and Mines) Md. Kamruzzaman Khan said that a technical committee has been formed. “Now it has been working to eliminate the monopoly by introducing a unique language in the system so that any company complying with certain standards can have access to the data accumulation system of the distribution entities,” he said. Read More: Petrobangla wants to set up 3 more LNG terminals to meet growing gas demand “We hope 10-12 companies will make a demonstration on the issue in the current month,” he added. According to a study conducted by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), there are about 4.15 million consumers in the domestic category in the country. The number break-up: Titas Gas has 2.78 million consumers, Bakhrabad Gas 0.491 million, Jalalabad Gas 0.417 million, Poschimanchol Gas 0.128 million, Karnaphuli Gas 0.65 million, and Sundarban Gas has 0.0035 million consumers. The latest figure released by Titas Gas, however, shows it has more than 2.8 million household consumers. The latest study by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) shows that a pre-paid metered consumer uses 40-50 cubic meter of gas and pays around Tk 500-630 a month while a non-metered consumer for a single burner has to pay almost double, at Tk 990, for the same quantity of consumption. Read More: Risky way of supplying gas in cylinders: Petrobangla body for strong safety rules So far only 400,000 pre-paid gas meters have been installed in different areas in Dhaka city including Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Uttara, Mohammadpur, Badda, Tejgaon, Cantonment, Kafrul, Khilkhet, and Mirpur under a JICA-funded project. Another 120,000 metres are now being installed in different areas in central Dhaka, including Paltan, Ramna, New Market, Khilgaon and Segunbagicha under Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). Most consumers of Titas Gas and other distribution companies remain unmetered.