Wednesday, October 7th, 2009The government is facing difficulties in recovering the city's canals and water bodies encroached upon by real estate companies and individuals who, the LGRD and cooperatives minister yesterday said, are "highly influential and financially powerful".He said it is even difficult to fight these quarters legally.However, despite all these obstacles the government has taken up various measures to recover the canals and water bodies in and around Dhaka city, Syed Ashraful Islam said during the question-answer session in the House.The government has also planned to treat the water of the Meghna for supplying within the city, he added.Lawmakers had expressed serious ...
(read more) Friday, January 16th, 2009BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday said her party deputies will attend parliament from its inaugural sitting and play a constructive role there. She urged them to lead honest and constructive lives, shunning luxury."We hope the government will take the country forward in cooperation with the opposition. We want to assist the government and we want the government creates that atmosphere and maintain it," Khaleda said after a meeting of the BNP Parliamentary Party.After taking oath in the afternoon, the BNP lawmakers held the meeting at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban and elected Khaleda unanimously as their leader in parliament and decided to ...
(read more) Thursday, January 15th, 2009The government yesterday slashed the prices of non-urea fertilisers to almost half per kilogram to help farmers during the country's biggest crop season, Boro.From now, farmers will be able to buy 1kg TSP (triple super phosphate) at Tk 40, MoP (muriate of potash) at Tk 35 and DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) at Tk 45 from dealers and their agents at the union parishad level.Previously TSP cost Tk 75-80 a kg, MoP Tk 65-75 and DAP Tk 80-85.Farmers, however, will have to buy urea at the previous price of Tk 12 a kg.The move is meant to bring down the prices of ...
(read more) Wednesday, January 14th, 2009Greengrocers have to pay an illegal toll to Aratdars in two major kitchen markets in the city and, in turn, they force consumers to pay for that.The crooked practice was absent for over a year due to market monitoring by a Bangladesh Rifles (BDR)-led taskforce. It began again with the BDR personnel pulling out of the city markets last September.According to an estimate based on information gleaned from market sources, Aratdars (warehouse owners) in Karwan Bazar, Jatrabari and Shyambazar kitchen markets collect over Tk 40 lakh a day in toll from the retail buyers.Officials of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), the ...
(read more) Tuesday, January 13th, 2009A foreign delegation flew into Bangladesh on Sunday to identify the persons involved in laundering $200 million dollar to Singapore, and to help Bangladesh recover the money.The money was allegedly paid in kickbacks to former prime minister Khaleda Zia's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and several ministers of the last BNP-led four-party alliance government.The team is having discussions with different government agencies including the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) about the case of international money laundering involving Koko.Meanwhile, outgoing Attorney General Salah Uddin Ahmad said the delegation already traced $200 million dollars of the laundered money, and the Bangladesh government ...
(read more) Tuesday, April 1st, 2008Malaysia has warned Bangladesh of deporting Bangladeshi workers living in open spaces in Kuala Lumpur if problems regarding those workers are not resolved soon.The Bangladeshi workers living in open spaces would be deported even if they have valid work permits and travel documents, said Malaysia's Immigration Department Enforcement Director Datuk Ishak Mohammed, reported Malaysian newspaper The Star on Saturday.Ishak said the department could no longer compromise on the matter as the workers have been tarnishing the image of the country.The Star reported that 150 Bangladeshi workers have been living along the riverbanks near the Damai LRT in Kuala Lumpur ...
(read more) Saturday, March 29th, 2008Philippine activists warn about possible riots. Aid agencies across Asia worry how they will feed the hungry. Governments dig deeper every day to fund subsidies.Rice prices jumped 30 per cent to a record high yesterday across Asia, where the grain is a staple food for more than 2.5bn people.The sharp rise in the price of rice is hitting consumer pocketbooks and raising fears of public turmoil in the many parts of the subcontinent.Part of a surge in global food costs, rice prices on world markets have jumped 50 percent in the past two months and at least doubled since 2004. ...
(read more) Monday, March 24th, 2008The new prime minister of Pakistan has the distinction of saying a big no to both President Pervez Musharraf and late Benazir Bhutto many times. Yousuf Raza Gilani has always been loyal to his party but he is not a "yes man" and that is the quality which impressed PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari a lot.Zardari nominated Gilani for the post of prime minister because he is sure that his nominee will not take any dictation either from the president or from any powerful diplomat. Only Zardari can take the risk of bringing a defiant person to the office ...
(read more) Sunday, March 23rd, 2008Opener Tamim Iqbal slammed his maiden one-day hundred as Bangladesh completed a clean sweep against Ireland with a 79-run victory in the third and final match at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.The visitors' hope to finish the series with some solace all but evaporated when the Tigers piled up 293 for seven, their second highest score in the shorter-version after a 301-7 against Kenya, after deciding to bat.In reply to the mammoth target, the Irish were never in the game and they lost wickets at regular intervals, interestingly four of them fell victims to run outs, before being bundled ...
(read more) Sunday, March 2nd, 2008If Day Two of the second Test at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium yesterday was a day of fulfilling individual desires then the wishes were granted in a most fascinating fashion.South Africa captain Graeme and Neil McKenzie broke a 53-year-old record when they produced a marathon 415 runs for the first wicket, edging out the previous best of 413 by India's Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad against New Zealand in Chennai way back in 1956.McKenzie, back into the Test fold after a long time, stroked his first double hundred. Wily left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique, playing his final Test match, got his ...
(read more) 
