United News of Bangladesh

A total of six participants died on the Biswa Ijtema ground since Wednesday till Friday morning. Among them, three participants died on Friday morning. They were Md Matiur Rahman (55), Md Ekhlas Mia (70), Md Sahalam (60). Matiur Rahman was from Jamalpur Sadar thana, Md Ekhlas Mia was from Netrokona district. Md Sahalam was from Bhola district. Read: First phase of Biswa Ijtema begins The three died due to old age-related complications, cardiac arrest, and breathing problems. Gazipur Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Md Ibrahim Khan confirmed the matter. Earlier, three participants died on Thursday and Wednesday. They were Yunus Mia (60), Jaman (40), and Abdus Sattar (70). Read: Incredible development made under leadership of PM Sheikh Hasina in past 15 years: State Minister for Info Arafat Among them, Yunus Mia was from Brahmanbaria district's Sarail Thana, Jaman was from Chapainawabganj district, and Abdus Sattar was from Netrokona district. All three died due to old age-related causes and cardiac arrest. Abdus Sattar passed away on Thursday, and the other two died on Wednesday.

A motorcyclist died and his pillion rider was injured after a collision with a private car on the Hanif Flyover in Dhaka’s Jatrabari area on Friday morning. The deceased was identified as Md Shahin, 22, a motorcycle mechanic and injured Md Azim ,20, a motorcycle parts seller. The incident happened when the duo was going to Bangshal. Read: Man to die for killing ex-wife in Manikganj Locals rescued them and took them to the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital where the duty doctor declared Shahin dead. Azim is currently undergoing treatment at the emergency department. DMCH Police Outpost In-Charge Md .Bachchu Mia confirmed the matter. The body was kept at the morgue for autopsy, he said.

The government is preparing the next annual budget as contractionary aiming to reduce inflation rate and restore financial stability, according to an official document. The size of the budget is likely to be Tk8.05 lakh crore (8 lakh and 5 thousand crore), and the expenditure growth is being fixed at 8 percent, cutting from 10 to 12 percent of previous years. NBR’s pre-budget discussion to formulate budget for FY2024-25 begins Feb 4 At the same time, the GDP (gross domestic product) growth target is also being lowered to 6.9 percent (7.5 percent in the current budget). The government concentrates on giving more attention to controlling inflation rather than achieving growth. The policymakers are considering increasing the inflation target to 7.5 percent from 6.0 percent in the existing budget of FY2023-24, the document stated. NBR seeks budget proposals from chambers and institutions by February 8 Also, due to the existing political and economic situation, the budget for the current fiscal year (2023-24) will not be fully implementable. As a result, the government decided to cut at least Tk52 thousand crore. Amid the economic crisis and austerity programme, the finance division is moving away from giving an expansionary budget for the next fiscal year 2024-25. Budget session prorogued  “The new budget will be quite contractionary as the revenue collection is less, import and export situation is not good. This situation may continue next year as well. This decision has been taken after analysing the overall situation,” an additional secretary of the finance division who is involved in preparing the budget told UNB onThursday. He said that the size of the next budget- total expenditure Tk8.05 lakh crore, income Tk5.55 lakh crore, and deficit Tk2.50 lakh crore. In this case, the size is increasing by Tk43000 crore compared to the budget of the current fiscal 2023-24. The revenue target will increase by Tk51100 crore. Usually, the size of a new budget increases by 10 to 12 percent compared to the current year's budget, said a finance division official. But this time it will increase by less than 8 percent. This is being done as the size of the much match revenue collection. Revenue collection is low, imports and exports are decreasing. Considering these issues, it is not possible to give a big budget, like previous years, said the official who wished anonymity. Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam, former bureaucrat and adviser of a caretaker government, told UNB that the decision not to give an expansionary budget is correct in the prevailing situation. Currently, there is uncertainty in every supply, anr investment is not expanding as desired. In this situation achieving over 7 percent GDP growth is challenging, he said. “Inflation is now 10 percent which shows no signs of abating, so downing GDP growth is justified,” Mirza Azizul said. Dr Ahsan H. Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute (PRI) said in this regard that the decision against expanding the budget is in line with the time's requirement. There is no benefit in increasing the size of the budget if the revenue cannot be increased, he said. “There are dollar and revenue challenges. The size of the budget should be fixed keeping that in mind. As a result, a low growth budget will be correct,” he said.

The first phase of the 57th Biswa Ijtema began on Friday after the Fazr prayer along the banks of the Turag River in Tongi of Gazipur.Maulana Ahmad Buttullah of Pakistan gave the opening sermon (Ambayan) at the congregation. All out measures taken for fire safety for devotees in Biswa Ijtema: FSCDThe Tabligh Jamaat-organised event, the second-largest Muslim congregation globally, is being simultaneously translated into Bengali by the country's Maulana Nurur Rahman.Amidst various challenges, including cold and rain, hundreds of thousands of Muslim devotees have gathered from around the world at Ijtema grounds. The first phase of this year's Ijtema, will conclude with the final supplication on Sunday. The second phase of the Ijtema will commence on February 9. 1st phase of Biswa Ijtema begins FridayIn the first phase of the Ijtema, media coordinator M Habibullah Rayhan mentioned that after Maulana Ahmad Buttullah's sermon, Pakistan's Maulana Ziaul Haq will deliver an educational discourse at 10 AM on Friday. Following the educational discourse, preparations for the country's largest Juma prayer will commence. Maulana Kari Jobayer will lead prayer in the Ijtema ground. After that, Jordan's Maulana Umar Khateeb will deliver a sermon, Bangladesh's Maulana Jobayer will speak after the Asr prayer, and India's Maulana Ahmad Lat will address the congregation after the Maghrib prayer. DMP, GMP set road, parking plans during IjtemaAfter the Maghrib prayer on Thursday, hundreds of thousands of Muslims devotees endured extreme weather conditions in the Ijtema ground. Those who have taken positions in and around the main Ijtema ground, on the banks of the Turag River and adjacent to the roads are facing even more difficulty.People from various countries, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Europe, America, and Africa, have gathered for the Ijtema.To maintain safety and law and order in and around the Ijtema ground, thousands of police personnel have been deployed. In addition to the police, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is also active. The situation is being monitored from a watchtower.Death of three participantsIn this Ijtema, three participants died within two days. They were Yunus Mia (60), Jaman (40), and Abdus Sattar (70). Among them, Yunus Mia was from Brahmanbaria district's Sarail Thana, Jaman was from Chapainawabganj district, and Abdus Sattar was from Netrokona district. All three died due to old age-related causes and cardiac arrest. Abdus Sattar passed away on Thursday, and the other two died on Wednesday.

State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Mohammad Ali Arafat said on Thursday that an incredible development has been made under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the last 15 years. He made the remark while addressing the opening ceremony of ‘Shaheed Dr. Fazle Rabbi Park’ under 'Modernisation, Development and Greening of Open Spaces of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC)’ at Gulshan in Dhaka on Thursday afternoon. He said that many things can be done if there is vision, taste and effort. “Over the last 15 years, we have seen various examples of those under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. What the people of the country could never think of, such development events have taken place in Bangladesh,” he said. "Our attitude changed in the last 15 years. We have become very brave, we can now dream big and implement them. From that place the issue of transformation from Digital Bangladesh to Smart Bangladesh has come,” he added. Chaired by councillor of the DNCC’s ward No-19 Md Mofizur Rahman, its Mayor Atiqul Islam, President of Niketan Society Dr. MA Bashar and Fazle Rabbi's son Omar Rabbi spoke on the occasion.

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder on Thursday said that no one can run a business violating the law existing in the country. “Strict action would be taken if anyone does business of rice and paddy for not complying with law,” the minister said while addressing a meeting with stakeholders related to controlling rice price hike at the conference room of Jhenaidah deputy commissioner of the district. Sadhan said it is not logical to increase the price of rice suddenly without any reason. The process is going on to ensure the write up the price of mill gate on rice bag and this will strengthen retail and wholesale market monitoring, he said. The minister said the millers are claiming that the corporate organizations are buying paddy with competition and stocking illegally. But the millers help them buy paddy and rice illegally. It was the millers who took the advance money from them and supplied the rice in packets, he said. He urged the local civil and police administration to take action against any hoarding of rice. There will be no scope of illegal storage of rice with ulterior motives of making a profit. Law violators must be brought to book, he said. The food minister said they are working relentlessly to keep the rice price static throughout the country. Among others, Md Abdul Hai, a lawmaker from Jenaidah-1 constituency, additional secretary of the food ministry Habibur Rahman, additional police super Md Imran Jakaria, Jhenaidah Auto Rice Mill Malik Samity president Md Moazzem Hossain and Jhenaidah Press Club President Md Mizanur Rahman, addressed the meeting with deputy commissioner SM Rafiqul Islam in the chair.

Railways Minister Md. Zillul Hakim on Thursday sought cooperation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the development of a rail communication system. The minister made the call when the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Bangladesh Abdulla Ali Abdulla Khaseif AlHmoudi held a meeting with the latter at his office in Rail Bhaban in Dhaka. Addressing the bilateral relations established by the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with the UAE, he called for further strengthening the relations in the days to come. The minister requested the UAE to provide logistic support to the projects being implemented by the Bangladesh Railway and work for the development of the railway. He said the UAE can cooperate in the development of the Bangladesh Railway by exchanging its experience with Bangladesh in capacity building in different sectors and cooperation in the operation sector. The UAE ambassador greeted the minister with flowers.

Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md Tazul Islam said on Thursday that management of water development activities is essential in riverine Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has prepared a roadmap for the future course of delta Bangladesh through formulation of the Delta Plan-2100, he said. “As Bangladesh is a downstream country, numerous rivers flowing from different sources of the Himalayas flow through our country into the Bay of Bengal,” he said. “We have to plan various development activities by ensuring coexistence with water bodies in riverine Bangladesh. That's why it is essential to have proper management of water development activities,” he said while presiding over a workshop. Dhaka WASA and the Water Development Board organised the workshop. Environment Minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Water Resources Minister Zahid Faruk were present as special guests while UNDP Chief of Development Research Dr Nazrul Islam presented the keynote address. The LGRD minister emphasised the importance of restoring and cleaning various canals during his time, and due to various initiatives taken by the ministry in the past, it has been possible to restore the canals around Dhaka, he claimed. He mentioned that various bridges are being studied through feasibility studies by the local government engineering department built over the country's rivers. Besides while constructing village roads, it is being constructed without obstructing the flow of water, Tazul said. The drainage system beside the road has also improved a lot than before, he said.

New ambassadors-designate from seven countries to Bangladesh on Thursday presented their credentials to President Mohammed Shahabuddin at Bangabhaban. The president's Press Secretary Md Joynal Abedin briefed the reporters after the meeting. Welcoming the new envoys to Bangladesh, the president urged them to enhance the bilateral trade and investment ties with Bangladesh. Calling Bangladesh as a role model for development in the world and highlighting  the bright potentials of investment here, President Shahabuddin called upon the ambassadors to work on increasing investment in various sectors, including infrastructure, energy and information and communication technology (ICT). Noting that Bangladesh produces world-class products, including ready-made garments, medicines and ceramics, the president sought more support from the ambassadors to enhance the import of these products from Bangladesh.During the meeting, the new envoys praised  the socio-economic development of Bangladesh and expressed their determination to work with Bangladesh to increase the mutual cooperation of their respective countries. The ambassadors sought allout cooperation of the president in carrying out their respective assignments. Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and secretaries concerned to the president were also present on the occasion. Earlier, on their arrival at Bangabhaban, they were accorded a 'guard of honour' by a horse-mounted troop of Presidential  Guard Regiment (PGR).  

Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) Headquarters have taken sufficient measures to ensure fire safety for the Muslim devotees of the three-day Biswa Ijtema starting on Friday on the banks of the Turag River. The first phase of the congregation is set to begin on Friday morning while 357 firefighters will be on duty at the venue. Two firefighters with fire extinguishers, fire hooks and fire beaters will be on duty in each Khitta, a group where several people stay together, to deal with immediate fire accidents, said a media release signed by Talha Bin Zasim, station officer of the FSCD headquarters. Three fire control rooms have been set up to monitor fire safety at different places and Ijtema ground. The devotees have been asked to call on 01901020866 round-the-clock. It said portable pumps have been kept ready for rapid fire extinguishing. Three water carriers, four ambulances for transporting patients, two wheelers, and rescue command vehicles have been arranged on the ground. Rescue speedboats and divers have been kept in the Turag River to prevent river accidents. Also, Tongi, Uttara and Joydebpur fire stations will remain on standby during the event.