United News of Bangladesh

The Fire Service and Civil Defence is fully prepared to deal with Cyclone Remal which is likely to make landfall in the coastal regions of Satkhira in Khulna and Cox’s Bazar in Chattogram by Sunday evening. Director General of the Department of Fire Service and Civil Defence Brig Gen Md Moin Uddin has canceled the leave of all the officers and employees of the coastal areas and instructed everyone to remain alert, said Shahjahan Sikder, deputy assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) headquarters media cell. Besides, firefighting teams, search and rescue teams, first aid teams and water rescue teams have been kept ready at each fire station to deal with the emergency situation in the coastal disaster-prone areas, he added. Adequate firefighting and rescue apparatus, including ambulances, chains, hands, rotary rescue kits, spreaders, megaphones, ram jacks or air lifting bags, and first aid boxes have also been kept ready along with the required number of firefighting and rescue equipment.

Gas production started from the well No-14 of the Titas Gas Field on Saturday. According to Energy and Mineral Resources Division, the gas supply from the well to the national grid began following the completion of the workover by the Bangladesh Gas Field Company Limited (BGFCL). Energy Secretary Md Nurul Alam formally inaugurated the supply gas from the well of the Titas field. Initially, the well will supply 12 million cubic feet gas per day (MMCFD). Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) started the workover on 19 March this year using their Bijoy-11 rig and completed it successfully on 21 May 2024. The well is expected to produce a total of 40 billion cubic feet of gas. The well can produce gas over a period of 10-12 years at a rate of 10-12 MMCFD which current market value is Tk. 2,590 crore while it cost Tk 75 crore to complete the workover of the well. BGFCL is a subsidiary of the state-owned Petrobangla which now produces a total of 560 MMCFD gas from its six gas fields including Titas, Habiganj, Bakhrabad, Narsingdi, Meghna and Kamta. Petrobangla chairman Zanendra Nath Sarkar, Additional Secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Division Md. Humayun Kabir and Dr. Md Rafiqul Islam, Bapex Managing Director Md Shoaib, Sylhet Gas Fields Limited’s Managing Director Md Mizanur Rahman and Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited’s Managing Director Engineer Md Fazlul Haque were present on the occasion.

Three Bangladeshi girls, who intruded into India through the border, returned home on Saturday through Jashore’s Benapole checkpost after serving 18 months of imprisonment there. They are Tamanna Aktar, 21, Mahmud Akter, 22, and Mousumi Das, 24, hailing from Mymensingh, Dhaka and Khulna districts respectively. Azharul Islam, Officer-in-Charge of Benapole Checkpost Police Immigration, said Indian police detained them while working in Hyderabad as housemaids after entering the neighbouring country illegally. Later, they were sent to jail through a local court, he said. An Indian NGO sheltered them when they walked out of the jail after expiring jail periods, the OC said, adding that Indian Patropole Police Immigration handed them over on Saturday evening. Bangladeshi NGO ‘Justice and Care’ took the returnees under their shelter from Benapole police to hand over them to their families, he added.

Two sisters drowned in a river while bathing in Golapganj upazila of Sylhet on Saturday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Suheda Begum, 10, and Majeda Begum, 5, daughters of Joynal Ahmed of Fatehpur Paschimpara village of the upazila. Locals said that Suheda and Majeda went to bathe in the Kushiyara River near the house in the scorching heat. While swimming, they drowned in the river. Locals immediately came to the rescue. Later, their bodies were recovered by a net at around 3 pm. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Golapganj Model Police Station Masudul Amin confirmed the matter.

Bangladesh Sangbadpatra Shilpa Parishad, an organization of newspaper owners, placed a 14-point demand including the payment of all outstanding advertisement bills owed to newspapers by government agencies, including Department of Films and Publications (DFP), by next June. If not, the leaders of this organisation and publishers warned of waging a systematic movement to realise their demands from next July. The demands were read out during a regular meeting addressing the ongoing problems of the newspaper industry and its solutions at the Daily Industry newspaper office in Dhaka on Saturday with the organization’s president Dr. Enayet Karim in the chair. General Secretary of the organization Yunus Sohag put forward the demands during the meeting. The other demands included the formulation of policies for the equitable distribution of government advertisements including at least four Bengali and two English newspapers, ending price discrimination of government advertisements in English and Bengali newspapers, introducing government advertisement prices on online portals of registered newspapers, and increasing the rate of government advertisements based on market inflation. The demands also included the provision of low-interest loans for the newspaper industry, accommodation for journalists-employees, a special allocation of Tk 5,000 crore, the introduction of a special pension scheme for journalists and media workers, repeal of all black laws including the Digital Security Act, and providing VIP status to all editors. The leaders expressed their concern, stating that without timely payment of outstanding advertising bills, it would be challenging to sustain publications and pay journalists' salaries. The publishers sought government intervention and cooperation, particularly from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the state minister for information and broadcasting, to sustain the newspaper industry. The meeting highlighted that more than 700 listed newspapers in the country are owed approximately Tk 2500 crore in advertising bills from the government agencies. Tk 5,000 crores are required to clear these outstanding bills and cover bills for the next financial year to sustain the newspaper industry. Dr. Enayet Karim, also editor of the Daily Industry, informed the meeting that previously, newspaper advertisement bills were settled every three months. However, as this trend has ceased, the arrears have now reached Tk 2,500 crore. The meeting was attended by, among others, Freedom Fighter Md Faruk Alam Talukder, Chairman of Dainik Alor Jagat; KM Belayet Hosain, Editor and Publisher of Daily Bhorer Dak, Md Fojlur Rahman Zulfiker, Editor of Dainik Diner Alo; Md Abdul Awal, Editor and Publisher of Dainik Sangbad Protikkhon; Ayon Ahmed, Editor of Protidiner Chitra; Md Habibur Rahman, Chief Editor of Dainik Bhorer Somoy; Asaduzzaman Swadin, Executive Editor of Dainik Alor Jagat; and Muha Nurul Aziz Chowdhury, Editor and Publisher of Daily Amader Jagoran, Md. Rajaul Karim, Editor & Publisher of Daily Matribhumir Khabor, Nejamul Haque, Editor of Daily Ajker Provat, Md. Moniruzzaman, Editor of Daily Bank Bima and Adv Md. Rashed Uddin, Publisher of Daily Biswa Manchitra.

Nineteen more people were hospitalised with dengue in 24 hours till Saturday morning. Of the new patients, nine were admitted to hospitals in Dhaka city and the rest outside it, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Currently, 134 patients are receiving treatment at several hospitals across the country. So far, 2,745 dengue cases have been reported since January 1, 2024, said DGHS. Last year, a total of 1,705 people lost their lives due to dengue, making it the deadliest year on record. The DGHS recorded 321,179 dengue cases and 3, 18,749 recoveries last year. Last year’s September was the deadliest month for the dengue outbreak, with 396 fatalities and 79,598 cases, according to DGHS data.

Election Commissioner Rashida Sultana said on Saturday that they want to leave a clean electoral environment for the future based on the experience gained during the election. The election commissioner addressed the meeting with the presiding officers of 3 upazilas of Dinajpur (Sadar, Chirirbandar and Khansama). “Strict actions will be taken if any presiding officer is involved in irregularities during voting,” she warned. She also urged them to perform the duty in a neutral and correct manner. The meeting was held in the auditorium of Dinajpur District School on Saturday afternoon. Deputy Commissioner Shakeel Ahmed, Superintendent of Police Shah Iftar Ahmed, and District Election Officer Kamrul Islam were also present.  

Eminent economist Dr Wahiduddin Mahmud has said that the decision to provide expensive cars to deputy commissioners (DCs) and Upazila NIrbahi Officers (UNOs) is a waste of state money. He observed that some 80 percent of the rich are evading taxes. A large part of traders do not pay value added tax (VAT). In such a low revenue income situation, when the salary of the government employees cannot be paid, how will the development expenses be met? He made the remarks while addressing as chief guest at a shadow parliament debate competition at the Film Development Corporation (FDC) auditorium in the city on Saturday. Debate for Democracy, a debating organisation, organised the event on the strategy of the next budget in economic security with its Chairman of Hasan Ahmed Chowdhury Kiran in the chair. Debaters from Eden Women's College become the winners defeating the debaters of Barisal University in the Shadow Parliament on “Increasing revenue collection should be the main strategy of the next budget to protect the economy”. Dr. Wahiduddin Mahmud, also former caretaker government advisor, said that it will not yield good result in revenue collection if actions are not taken against corruption and weaknesses are not removed from the existing tax management.    He said that inequality and injustice must be removed as well from the existing tax management system. Seminar on sea-related promising professions held in Ctg “It must be ensured that the revenue collections are not impeded by the pressure from politicians or influential people,” he added. Wahiduddin Mahmud also observed that the dependence on debt is increasing alarmingly. He said that it’s a matter of great concern that the foreign exchange reserves are decreasing significantly. It’s really astonishing how we could have gone so far behind in financial good governance from a good position in this regard. He said that there is no reason to believe that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) knows better about Bangladesh's economy. “The advice of the IMF should be accepted considering the interest of the country. Some people of Bangladesh have written their names among the billionaires in different countries of the world including Dubai and Singapore”, he said. He also noted that it’s not clear which country they are citizens of. Bangladesh Bank is not being able to give correct information about how they laundered the money.

With the theme ‘Sea is the Future’ a seminar on seafaring and sea-related professions, as an aid to choose a suitable profession at the beginning of one’s life for a bright future, was held at the hall of Ethnological Museum, Agrabad, Chattogram on Saturday. Chartered Marine Engineer Dr. Sajid Hussain focused on 35 types of seafaring (navigation and marine engineering) and shipping professions in the programme. He said an assured future would be created for youngsters in vast oceans and shipping based work-streams by taking a timely and right decision. After HSC, A-Levels or equivalent qualifications, it is possible to try for a Bachelor of Maritime Science Honours course in Marine Academies and become Deck Officers (highest rank – Master Mariner [Captain]) and Marine Engineers (highest rank – Chief Engineer). Besides, after completing graduation and post-graduation degrees from university, there lays a wide open professional pathway in international shipping work streams, he said. Students from the leading educational institutions and universities of Chattogram attended the seminar. The seminar supplemented with a few short video clips appeared to be lively at the intelligent questions of the young boys and girls. Marine Engineer Atiqur Rahman Chowdhury, Engineer Instructor & Business Development Officer of Bangladesh Marine Academy assisted Marine Engineer Sajid Hussain. Courtesy speeches were delivered by Dr. Md. Ataur Rahman (Dy. Director cum Keeper, Ethnological Museum), Md. Nur Uddin Alamgir (Bureau Chief, Daily Sun, Chattogram) and Noman Ullah Bahar (President, SDG Youth Forum). At the end, the participating students visited various artifacts of the museum at the courtesy of the Dy. Director Dr. Md. Ataur Rahman. Sajid Hussain is a Chartered Marine Engineer of UK, a graduate (MSc Maritime Safety) and a Member of Board of Governors (2013-2024) of World Maritime University, Sweden, Ex-Commandant (2009-2023) of Bangladesh Marine Academy, Chattogram and a Maritime Ambassador of International Maritime Organization (IMO – a UN Specialized Agency). He has been holding the position of the spokesperson of IMO since 2016 and spontaneously highlighted the advantages of the seafaring and shipping professions among the youngsters through lectures, seminars, social media and face-to-face discussions.

No specific reason has been found yet behind the killing of Jhenaidah-4 MP Anwarul Azim Anar, said Chief of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Mohammad Harun-Or-Rashid on Saturday. “However, there might be many reasons including  business transactions   and establishing supremacy behind the killing of the lawmaker,” he said while speaking at a press briefing held at DB Conference room. Besides, a three-member team of Detective Branch (DB) police will leave for India by tonight or tomorrow morning, he said. Plot to kill MP Anar made 2-3 months ago: DB Chief Apart from Bangladesh police, Kolkata police are also investigating the murder of the MP and they also visited Bangladesh , he said. “The killers took MP Anar to the flat after abduction and then the killers took one of his phones and went to another place to dodge that he was in another place. Besides, the killers came to the Benapole bordering area with four mobile phone sets after killing him and then called to different political rivals to implicate them in the murder,” he said. Replying to a question why police termed it a murder whereas no body was found, Harun said there are so many cases where the body has not been found for years. MP Anar went to Kolkata on May 11 for medical treatment and he remained untraced since May 14. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on May 22 said the MP was brutally killed at a flat in New Town, near Kolkata. Bangladeshi criminals killed MP Anwarul Azim: DB Chief A case was filed on May 22 following the death of MP Anar. A Dhaka court on Friday granted an 8-day remand to three accused arrested in connection with the murder.