Others
Flash flood: 860 hectares of cropland go under water in Sunamganj
Another 860 hectares of cropland were submerged in Harmandir Haor in Dirai upazila of Sunamganj on Sunday night after the flood protection dam in Katakhali River collapsed.
Following the authority’s instruction farmers of Sunamganj haor region have started harvesting half ripen Boro paddy to reduce losses.
According to locals, water from the upstream have increased the water level in the rivers in haor region and created pressure at risky points of flood protection dams.
Water overflowed from Patlai River into an extended part of Gurmar Hair and later a dam beside Tanguar Haor watchtower broke down.
As a result Boro paddy in South Sreepur union in Tahirpur upazila and North and South Bongshikunda union in Madhyanagar upazila went under water.
Bimal Chandra Shom, Deputy Director of Agricultural Extension Department said this year Boro paddy has been cultivated on 2,22,805 hectares of land in Sunamganj with production target of 14 lakh metric tons.
Harvesting in only 51,000 hectares of land has been completed so far, he said.
READ: Second phase of flash floods hits Sunamganj haor region
On March 30, Sunamganj haor region was hit by the first phase of flash floods which inundated at least 5,000 hectares of land affecting at least 27,000 farmers, he said.
Prabir Kumar Goswami, Supervisor Engineer of Sylhet Water Development Board said, “From morning water level in the Surma River started decreasing and it will decline further if it does not rain in the next 24 hours. But excessive water from Sunamganj haors is likely to enter haors in Netrakona”.
Md Jahangir Hossain, Sunamganj Deputy Commissioner said,'' All the dams in Sunamganj haor region are at risk as rivers swell. We have instructed the farmers to cut 80% ripen paddy afer monitoring the condition of the dams 24 hours.”
PM’s Eid greeting cards drawn by differently abled children
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official Eid-ul-Fitr greeting cards this year, like in the past, contain the drawings done by 11 children with special needs, the PM’s media wing said on Monday.
The prime minister’s Bangla New Year’s greeting cards this year were also done with the drawings of 15 special-need children selected from all across the country, said PM’s Assistant Press Secretary MM Emrul Kayas.
“The artistes of the selected drawings have been given Taka 100,000 each as complementary prize,” he said.
READ: Expedite work on Sheikh Hasina Nakshipalli Jamalpur project: JS body
Kayas said the prime minister started sending greeting cards drawn by differently abled children during festivals like Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Bangla New Year (Pahela Boishakh) and English New Year since she assumed the office in 2009.
The PM sent the greeting cards to the speaker, chief justice, cabinet members, members of parliament, political leaders, dignitaries, professionals, military and civil officers, heads of foreign diplomatic missions and organizations based in Dhaka and heads of foreign state or government, said Kayas.
All preparations taken to ensure smooth hajj management: State Minister
The government has taken necessary preparations to ensure smooth and safe hajj for the pilgrims, said State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan on Monday.
All ministries, departments and organisations concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard, he said while speaking at an Iftar Mahfil organised by Dhaka Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (Haab) in the capital.
As per the Saudi government’s directives, a total of 57,856 people from Bangladesh can perform hajj this year.
The government will announce hajj packages approved by the cabinet and give specific directives to pilgrims, hajj agencies and agencies concerned , he said.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia raised the number of Hajj pilgrims from inside and outside the kingdom to one million in 2022, authorities announced in a statement on April 9.
Hajj is open to those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and are under the age of 65, added the statement.
READ: 57,856 Bangladeshis to perform hajj this year
Pilgrims travelling from abroad will also need to have a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before their departure for Saudi Arabia, the statement added.
Last year, 58,745 pilgrims performed Hajj in the world because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic, some 2.5 million people used to travel every year to Saudi Arabia for Hajj.
DMP Commissioner asks city police to step up vigilance during Eid shopping
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam has directed his subordinates to be on high alert to prevent incidents of crime during the holy month of Ramadan and the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr.
The commissioner was addressing the monthly meeting at DMP headquarters on Monday to review incidents of crime that occurred last month.
The city police boss said as with the Eid approaching shoppers will increasingly throng markets and shopping malls, where Malam (ointment) Party and Aggyan Party or Tana (snatcher) Party are likely to be active.
READ: Pahela Baishakh celebrations must end by 2 pm: DMP Commissioner
Therefore, he said, the patrol teams of the police stations have to perform their responsibilities with more vigilance. If necessary, special teams should be formed to deal with such criminals, the DMP commissioner added.
He said criminals should be identified, arrested and brought under the law to prevent crime.
Addressing the traffic division, the commissioner said, “Traffic congestion has increased due to rise in public movement before Eid.
The traffic flow at the entrances of Dhaka has to be kept normal by coordinating with the police of the surrounding districts, he said.
He reminded the city police force during Eid vacation many city dwellers travel to their village homes to share festival with their loved ones. At this time their homes mostly remain unoccupied. In order to prevent any untoward incident at this time, police have to talk to the security guards of the house and take necessary measures, he said.
Banks to remain open on April 29, 30 in industrial areas
Banks have been asked to continue operation on April 29 and 30 to facilitate payment of garment workers' salary, Eid bonus, allowances and export-import activities.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) gave the directive to the scheduled banks through a circular on Monday.
READ: Despite central bank's green light, banks shy to invest in capital market
BB has asked banks to continue operation before Eid-ul-Fitr in the industrial areas in Dhaka metropolitan area, Ashulia, Tongi, Gazipur, Savar, Bhaluka, Narayanganj and Chittagong ensuring adequate security.
The Department off-site Supervision of Bangladesh Bank issued the circular and sent it to the top executives of the banks to take necessary action.
Production in BJMC’s 2 leased out jute mills begins
Production in two leased out jute mills of Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation’s has resumed under private management, said Textiles and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi on Monday.
The Minister made the remark after visiting the production process at Bangladesh Jute Mills Ltd at Palash upazila in Narsingdi.
The minister hoped that the terminated workers of the closed jute mills will get priority in getting jobs in these mills.
Also read: BTMC’s jute mills incurred loss of Tk 3,168 cr in FY 21: Jute Minister
The minister said already two jute mills- Bangladesh Jute Mills Ltd in Narsingdi and KFD Jute Mills in Chattogram have been leased out while process of leasing out two more jute mills- Crescent Jute Mills Ltd in Khulna and Hafiz Jute Mills Ltd in Chattogram is underway.
“Apart from this, 53 proposals have been received from 18 national and international organizations after publishing the Expression of Interest (EOI) notice for another 13 jute mills. BJMC has sent letter to the ministry seeking permission for giving Request Financial Proposal (RFP) to the organizations evaluated by BJMC,” he said.
On July 1, 2020, the government announced closure of 25 state owned jute mills under BJMC for a permanent solution to the problems in the jute mills and reviving the jute sector.
Also read: International tender called for reopening closed jute mills: Jute Minister
Tk 3,563 have been paid to all the permanent workers of those 25 jute mills as gratuity, PF, holiday cashing and others through the golden handshake facility.
The Textiles and Jute Ministry and the Finance Ministry are also working to pay the arrears of 64 weeks.
5-yr jail for food related offense: Cabinet clears draft law
The Cabinet on Monday approved the draft of Production, Storage, Movement, Transportation, Supply, Distribution and Marketing of Food grains (Prevention of Prejudicial Activity) Act, 2022 providing for punishment for offenses in any stage of the food supply chain.
The approval came from the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office here.
“If anyone commits an offense under the proposed law, the person would be awarded maximum five-year jail or highest Tk 10 lakh as fine,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat.
He said the proposed law was brought by merging two existing laws -- Foodgrains Supply (Prevention of Prejudicial Activity) Ordinance, 1979 and the Food (Special Courts) Act, 1956 with a view to ensure quality food items.
Also read: 89pc Cabinet’s decisions implemented till March 2022
The cabinet secretary said tougher punishment has been proposed in the draft law to prevent offenses and misleading information in the stages of production, Storage, Movement, Transportation, Supply, Distribution and Marketing of food grains.
Besides, the draft of Attia Forest (Protection) Act, 2022 was placed in the meeting, but the Cabinet directed the authorities concerned to bring it again after conducting a digital survey over its lands.
The Cabinet earlier approved in principle the proposed law on October 28, 2021.
The digital survey is essential as the nature of its lands changed in different areas. Otherwise, it would create problems, said the cabinet secretary.
The meeting was informed that the digital survey could be completed within 3-4 months after getting approval of the purchase committee, he said.
Also read: Cabinet approves draft of Ansar Battalion Act 2022 with provision of death penalty
Anwarul Islam said the land comprising of some 59,000 acres in Tangail and Dhaka districts was first declared as reserved forest through a law in 1928. Since the law lost its effectiveness, the Attia Forest (Protection) Ordinance, 1982 was promulgated during the military regime.
Only elevated way can be constructed in Haor
The Cabinet made a clear instruction that no road except elevated ones can be constructed in the country’s Haors to ensure the water flow.
About Austagram-Mithamain Haor all-weather road, the meeting also asked the authorities concerned to assess whether the road causes any adverse effect regarding the water stagnation in the Hoar, said the top bureaucrat.
The Cabinet also asked to conduct a survey if the water stagnation problem would go in case of construction of a 150-200 meter bridge in the Hoar road maintaining a logical distance like in every half a kilometer, he said.
In the meeting, it was informed that flash floods have so far damaged the crops on 5,000 hectares of land in the Haor region. Crops are cultivated in a total of 270,000 hectares of Haor-land in the country, said the cabinet secretary.
Noting that the harvesting of paddy might be completed by April 30 next, he said it is expected that no crop would be damaged anymore there if there is no rain in the next 8-10 days.
Bangladesh sees 2 Covid deaths after 7 days gap; New cases 36
Bangladesh has logged two more Covid-19-linked deaths with 36 fresh cases in 24 hours till Monday morning.
The country logged one Covid-linked death with 44 cases on April 11.
As per the latest government data, the country’s total fatalities stood at 29,126 while the caseload mounted to 19,52 362 with the new numbers.
Also read: Shanghai reports 1st deaths from current COVID-19 outbreak
The daily positivity rate slightly dropped to 0.67 per cent from Sunday’s 1.04 per cent after testing 5,407 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
Besides, the mortality rate remained unchanged at 1.49 per cent.
The recovery rate rose to 96.87 per cent with the recovery of 355 more patients during the 24-hour period.
In March, the country reported 85 Covid-linked deaths and 8,000 new cases while 66,639 patients recovered from the disease, according to DGHS.
Among the 85 deaths during the period, 44 were unvaccinated patients, 11 were vaccinated with the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, 28 with the second dose and two with the third dose.
The country reported its first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year, along with 178 infections, since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020.
On January 28, Bangladesh logged its previous highest daily positivity rate at 33.37 per cent reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths.
Also read: Bangladesh logs 51 Covid cases with zero death
Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year.
89pc Cabinet’s decisions implemented till March 2022
Some 89 per cent decisions taken by the Cabinet from January 2019 to March 2022, have been implemented, while the implementation of remaining 11 per cent is underway.
The Cabinet took a total of 748 decisions during the period. Of them, 666 have already been implemented and the implementation of 82 others is underway, according to a report placed at the Cabinet meeting on Monday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting held at her office here.
Also read: Cabinet approves draft of Ansar Battalion Act 2022 with provision of death penalty
“The implementation rate of the cabinet’s decisions since January 2019 is 89.04 per cent,” said Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam while briefing reporters at Bangladesh Secretariat after the meeting.
Some 252 decisions (97.67pc) out of 258 decisions taken by the Cabinet in 2019 were implemented, while 237 ones (94.42pc) out of 251 decisions taken in 2020 were executed, 141 ones (78.33pc) out of 180 decisions taken in 2021 were implemented and 36 ones (61.02pc) out of 59 decisions taken in 2022 (till March) were executed.
Also read: Cabinet approves amendment to legalize digital evidences
Survey reveals big jump in Rana Plaza survivors in 'worsening' health
Closing in on the 9th anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy, over half the victims who survived with injuries report their physical condition as worsening - quadrupling from just 14 percent who reported the same one year ago.
Among the 56.5 percent who reported their physical condition as worsening in the latest survey, waist pain, headache, pain in hand and leg, and back pain were some of the major problems.
According to ActionAid Bangladesh, who have been conducting the surveys periodicallythe trend from previous surveys showed that the physical health status of the survivors was slowly improving over the years - but COVID-19 has reversed that progress.
A third of the survivors, or 33 percent, are more or less stable, and 10.5 percent are completely stable.
In terms of psychosocial health, 48.5 percent are still in trauma in comparison to 12.5 percent survivors last year.
Read: Rana Plaza victims get support from Brac amid Covid-19
Currently 31 percent reported that they are more or less stable, and 20.5 percent have recovered fully compared to 25.5 percent last year.
These findings were revealed in a survey conducted among 200 survivors ahead of the 9th anniversary of Rana Plaza tragedy.
The current unemployment rate of the survivors is 53 percent while 47 percent survivors are engaged in various types of wage and self-employment.
Among them, 67 percent of survivors are unemployed due to their physical condition and 10 percent have mental trauma.
Survivors tend to change work frequently as their physical conditions do not allow them to work for long-periods at a time.
According to the survey, 14.5 percent survivors have returned to garments with another 8 percent involved in tailoring while many of the survivors shifted to other pr-ofessions like domestic work, day labour, farming, and agriculture, sales and driving.
The survey found that income of most of the employed survivors have drastically decreased due the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A large proportion, 63.5 percent, of survivors said they had difficulty to buy food for their family in everyday during pandemic because they did not have the money to buy food.
Read: Rana Plaza murder case: Trial begins 5 years after charge framing
Over half, or 51.5 percent, said they couldn't pay their rent, and 22.5 percent said they couldn't afford childcare.
Nearly half, at 46.5 percent, of survivors had to take out a loan to manage their family's food and other expenses during the pandemic.
A total of 36 percent said their household income is less than Tk 5,000 while 34 percent have a household income between Tk 10,000- 15,000.
Some 35 percent of survivors reported that their monthly expenditure is over Tk 10,000, and 30 percent have above Tk 15,000 with major costs incurred for food, followed by house-rent, children’s education, and treatment.