State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has directed the Titas Gas authorities to take punitive action against officials responsible for a failure to increase customer services. He gave the directive on Monday while visiting the headquarters of the Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, the largest state-owned utility responsible for gas supply in Dhaka and adjoining districts.   He said he has been receiving constant complaints from the Titas Gas customers. “These complaints need to be settled quickly. The Titas Gas officials have to be held accountable to their customers for their services," he added. The state minister advised the Titas Gas authorities to keep their customers informed about its activities to increase their confidence in the company. READ: N’ganj mosque blast: 8 suspended Titas officials get bail He also directed the Titas Gas officials to step up the drives against the illegal gas connections. He mentioned that due to technical reasons and also for the increase in the global price of LNG, the pressure of gas is slightly lower in the Titas Gas area. While discussing the implementation progress of the existing projects of Titas Gas, the state minister said that schemes have to be taken up keeping in mind the next generation’s better services. The Titas gas officials informed him that 25 km of illegal gas connections have been removed in November-2021, 24.1 km in December-2021 and 16 km in January-2022 during drives against illegal gas connections. Titas officials also said that different government entities’ unpaid bills to Titas now stand at Tk 745.22 crore while private consumers’ unpaid bills are Tk 5620.25 crore. READ: Narayanganj mosque blast: Titas probe body files report Nasrul Hamid requested the customers to pay the arrears, saying it was not possible to take up many service-oriented projects if the arrears bills are not realised. He also instructed the Titas Gas officials to strengthen the drive for installing smart meters to enhance customer service.

Customers can easily locate nearby agents, customer care centres or merchant points from ‘bKash Map’ option in bKash app anytime from any corner of the country.  Due to the convenience of saving time in case of emergency, customers have availed this service more than 2.2 million times in the last five months. Read:  7 lakh bKash customers donate Tk20 crore to 50 organisations Recently, ‘ATMs’ option has also been added to bKash Map. From ATMs of Basic Bank, BRAC Bank, First Security Islami Bank, IFIC Bank, Jamuna Bank, Midland Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank and Social Islami Bank, bKash customers can avail Cash Out service at a cost of Tk 14.9 per Tk 1,000. Using Map of bKash app, it has now become easier to avail services from 240,000 agent points, 275 customer care centers, more than 250,000 merchant points and more than 1,150 ATMs across the country. Besides location, customers can get some added information like the image, address, business type and service time of specific agent, merchant, ATM or customer care centre in ‘bKash Map’. To use the map, customers have to select ‘bKash Map’ after tapping bKash logo on the top right side of the app's home screen. They have to turn on their location to use this feature and view the whole map. Read:  bKash gives food aid to 5,000 Covid-hit families At the bottom of the map, the logo of ‘Merchants’, ‘Agents’, ‘ATMs’ and ‘Customer Care’ have been placed. Customers can see five nearby agents, ATMs or customer care/customer care points by tapping on ‘Agents’, ‘ATMs’ or ‘Customer Care’. They can also get directions through 'Show Route' option after tapping on the logo of selected merchant, agent, ATM or customer care point or from 'Show List' button. However, one can see 10 nearby merchant points by tapping on ‘Merchants’.

Makeshift shops in the district selling old warm clothes are attracting customers from the low-income group with affordable options to survive the winter without digging too deep into their pockets.   The demand for warm clothes is high, especially for children and elderly. People throng these mobile shops as brand-new attires are mostly beyond their reach.   While vendors are delighted with the sale, buyers are happy with the reasonably priced attires they need to survive the shivering cold in Rangamati.   With the advent of winter, the import and sale of warm clothes in all upazilas of the district began in full swing. This year too, the prices of warm clothes rose, forcing the low-income group to go for secondhand garments.   Traders are reporting brisk sales.   Makeshift mobile shops and footpath vendors at College Gate, Bonorupa, Reserve Bazar, Tobolchhari and some other places were seen selling used winter items, including blankets, sweaters, blazers, shawls, caps and socks.   These are mainly brought from Dhaka and Chattogram and stored in heaps.   “We bought them from Chattogram as the cold intensified,” said Md Rafiq, a seasonal old clothes trader in the footpath of Reserve Bazaar.   “There are 350-400 outfits in one bundle that cost Tk 8,000-9,000. But the price of the bundle depends on the type of clothes. This year, the sale is pretty good,” he said.   Customers like Jasmine Akhtar, Sonali Chakma and Sonamoni Chakma said increasing cold weather forced them to come to buy warm clothes.   They said it is possible to find high quality clothes at affordable prices in the pile of used garments.   According to customers, the prices of old clothes this time are quite high. They have to spend a lot of time searching through the heap as the clothes are often found to be torn and worn out.   “If you’re lucky, sometimes you’ll find brand-new clothes in the pile,” said one of the buyers as he searched through the heap.