The metro rail in Dhaka will be operated from 8am to 5pm on January 22 for the smooth movement of the devotees attending the second phase of Bishwa Ijtema. The metro rail authority will extend their service hour to facilitate the devotees on the ‘Akheri Munajat’ (final prayer) day, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) (Public Relations) Nazmul Islam Bhuiyan told UNB on Thursday. The second phase of Ijtema will be held from January 20 to 22 this year. Read more: GMP issues traffic directives to reduce sufferings of Ijtema devotees The metro rail currently operates for four hours daily from 8:00am. The country’s commuting system entered a new era on December 28 last year with the inauguration of the operation of the first phase of metro rail service -- Uttara to Agargaon in the capital.

Voting for the second phase of the union parishad polls is underway in Bangladesh, with over 41,000 candidates in the fray for different posts. Polling began in 835 of 848 UPs at 8am on Thursday and will continue till 4pm. A total of 81 chairman candidates have already been elected unopposed. Similarly, all contestants -- for chairman and member posts, and reserved seats -- in five UPs were elected uncontested. Read: 2 hacked dead, 10 hurt in Meherpur pre-polls violence Though the Election Commission had earlier announced the second phase poll schedule for 848 UPs, it postponed election in seven UPs and cancelled polling in one. More than 41,000 candidates, including 3,310 contenders for the post of chairman, are contesting in the countrywide second phase UP election. Some 28,747 candidates are contesting for the member posts and 9,161 women for the reserved seats in the UPs. But 203 member candidates and 73 women candidates for reserved seats were elected unopposed in this phase. There are nearly 16.6 million voters -- 8,405,831 men, 8,189,379 women and 16 transgender (Hijra) -- under 8,492 polling stations in these UPs. Read: 4th phase elections to 840 UPs to be held Dec 23 About the recent election violence, Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda on Wednesday said that "it is not possible to prevent such incidents by only deploying policemen in every locality". "Tolerance among all people concerned with the election is the only way to check such incidents," he had said.  

Bangladesh Thursday kicked off the second phase of  its special nationwide mass vaccination drive, aiming to inoculate 80 lakh people with the second shot in a day. The 9am to 3pm vaccination drive is actually part of the special campaign that was first unveiled on September 27 to mark Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 75th birthday. "The health department aims to inoculate 80 lakh people with the second dose of a Covid vaccine in a day, though the first-dose drive met its target in two days," Dr Shamsul Haque of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told UNB. Read: Mass vaccination drive marks Hasina's birthday in Bangladesh