Bangladesh's National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways today (April 03, 2023) demanded a ban on motorbike movement on all highways for at least 9 days before, during and after Eid. The organisation also called for taking strict action to stop the movement of three-wheelers and charging extra bus fare on all inter-district roads, including highways, during Eid travel. The national committee President Haji Mohammad Shahid Mia and its general secretary Ashis Kumar Dey made this call in a statement. Besides, leaders of the civic organisation demanded to stop the movement of unregistered, defective and unauthorized vehicles on all roads and highways of the country. Read More: National Committee for taking action against lakhs of illegal vessels They also urged Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to strengthen the operation of mobile court and law enforcement agencies, including police, to implement these demands. Emphasizing safe and hassle-free Eid travel, the statement said that the number of motorcycle accidents across the country is increasing at a geometric rate. Motorcycle accidents accounted for more than 40 percent of all road crashes last year. There is a fear of more mishaps during the Eid season due to the long-distance commute on these two-wheelers. Small and unsafe vehicles slow down larger vehicles like buses and trucks on highways and inter-district roads, the statement said. This increases the risk of accidents and traffic jams. Despite the government ban, various types of three-wheelers including battery-powered rickshaws and numerous locally made vehicles such as Nasimon, Karimon, Bhotbhoti and Alam Sadhu are plying the highways and inter-district roads across the country. Read More: National Committee for reducing metro rail fare by 50% Citing examples from the near past, the statement of the national committee alleged that on many roads, various transport companies charge commuters one-and-a-half to double the fare on every Eid trip. As a result, bus owners and workers earn extra money, but general people are suffering financial losses.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (March 20, 2023) put emphasis on formulating new long term export policy for Bangladesh, considering graduation to a developing country from LDC after 2026. “After 2026, while we will graduate to a developing country from LDC, we will get some opportunities… We have to utilise those opportunities to make our economy stronger and develop the country further,” she said. The prime minister said this while speaking at the 11th meeting of the National Committee on Export, at her official residence Ganabhaban. She mentioned that after graduating to a developing nation, the next aim will be to become a developed one. Read More: Canada to increase potash exports to Bangladesh to boost food production, says country’s trade ministry Sheikh Hasina also asked the concerned to utilise opportunities regarding enhancing Bangladesh’s export items that have emerged due to Russia-Ukraine war. She said that due to Russia-Ukraine was, there is an opportunity for Bangladesh to create new markets with its own products. In this regard, she said that many countries have already shown interest to import food items from Bangladesh. “We could export food items after fulfilling local demands. We can take initiatives for that,” she said. Read More: Simplified policy, product diversification could boost exports to UK over $12 billion by 2029: Study says She said that immense opportunities could be created through establishing food processing industries in the country and export those items. The PM said that the government has given importance to the export sector. “After assuming office, we have taken steps to formulate long term export policies instead of policies on one-year basis. To sustain achievements, there is no alternative to long term strategy,” she said. She said that the government has formulated export policy until 2024 (2021-2024). Read More: Apparel export to EU up 14.3% during July-February of FY23  “…But what will we do after that? In the meantime, we are graduating to a developing country. I think this is the right time to consider what we will do in the coming days or how we will advance,” she said. She put emphasis on setting the next moves for economy, keeping in mind the current economic turmoil across the globe. “We have to find new markets across the globe. We have to diversify our products, we have to include new items in our export basket,” she said. The PM said that the Awami League government has given utmost importance to the private sector and it opened every sector to entrepreneurs as it is not possible for the government alone to develop the country. Read More: 'India a great potential market for Bangladesh's RMG exports' For the development of the export sector, she said, a strategy needs to be adopted and products have to be identified. “For that we have formulated a prospective plan – to turn the country into a developed one by 2041,” she said. The PM also mentioned ICT and digital devices, RMG, pharmaceuticals, light and medium weight industries, motor vehicles and electronic motor vehicles, while talking about diversifying products. She said that the government is preparing 100 economic zones with investment from home and abroad. Read More: Bangladesh export income rises despite bad global economy “Bangladesh has been able to attract foreign investments,” PM Hasina said.

The National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR) has urged the government to reduce the fare of metro rail by 50 per cent. President of the organization Md. Shahid Mia and General Secretary Ashis Kumar Dey issued a statement in this regard today (September 7, 2022). Read: Dhaka Metro Rail fare set at Tk 5/km Criticizing the government's decision to set the fare at 5 taka per kilometer and a minimum of 20 taka, the statement of the civic organization said, where the minimum fare of private buses is 10 taka, the fare of state transport companies like railways is completely unfair, unexpected and unacceptable. As a result, travel expenses of general people will increase, on the other hand, private transport owners, including buses and minibuses, will be benefited more, the statement said. The leaders of the NCPSRR said that due to increase in fuel price, the cost of transportation has increased excessively. Read:Metro Rail (MRT Line-6) project cost goes up by Tk 11,486 cr; Gets Ecnec nod At the same time, due to abnormal hike in prices of essential goods, including medicines, people's living cost has increased by more than 40 percent. The statement said, low and fixed income people are struggling to support their families. The National Committee strongly demanded that the minimum fare of this state-run transport should be reduced by 50 percent to Tk 10 and the fare per kilometer should be reduced from Tk 5 to Tk 3.

National Committee for Protection of Oil-Gas and Mineral Resources, Electricity Sector and Ports has identified nine specific reasons for the current situation in the power sector.  In a statement on Sunday, signed by the committee member and also general secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) Ruhin Hossain Prince, the organisation said that wrong policy pursued by the government to serve the interest of the foreign companies and also corruptions have led to the current crisis in the power sector. Read: Outage in Dhaka as discoms ration power Demanding the punishment to those persons responsible for the crisis, the committee said a section of local and foreign companies and their commission agents have benefited from this wrong policies and corruption. The nine reasons which the committee identified for the crisis, include development of power plants based on oil-coal-and LNG import-dependent policy, setting up rental, quick rental and other types of power plants that have been provided with Tk 54,000 crore as capacity charges, keeping the rental, quick rental and other oil-based power plants idle and increased dependence on LNG-import for power plant operations. Read: Chinese envoy meets FM The other reasons are Avoiding and ignoring renewable energy options, lacking initiatives for local gas explorations, non-utilisation of the potentials in offshore gas exploration after settlement of the maritime boundary disputes with the neighboring Myanmar and India, giving no attention to strengthening state-owned company Bapex for gas exploration, ignoring environment protection in setting up Rampal power plant and also lacking of initiative in appointing contractors to explore hydrocarbon be ensuring country’s ownership.

The National Technical Advisory Committee (NTAC) on Covid-19 recommended booster shots to the citizens above 60 and frontliners. The senior citizens and frontliners who got the two doses of vaccine six months ago will get the booster dose, the NTAC recommended at a meeting on Sunday. The committee also expressed deep concern over the emergence of the new coronavirus variant ‘Omicron’. It also suggested all to take steps to limit public gatherings, meetings and rallies to contain the spread of Omicron. Also read: Booster dose in Bangladesh: Authorities asked to work on a precise guideline In emergency cases, the committee said, online meetings could be arranged instead of in-presence meetings. The committee also recommended strengthening screening, quarantine and isolation at all entry points of the country.