Worker falls from rooftop, dies

A construction worker died after falling from the rooftop of an under construction two-storey building in Mongla Sea Port area on Sunday. The victim was identified as Abdul Kader, 18, son of Golam Mostafa of Madhob Colony of Mongla Port. Nikhil Chandra Mondol, officer-in-charge of Mongla Police Station said Kader fell from the rooftop of a two-storey building while setting pipes at around 10:00am. He succumbed to his injuries on way to hospital.

Source : The Daily Star 

Abducted fish trader rescued 5 held in Manikganj

Police rescued abducted fish trader Abdul Hannan, 32, of Rampura in Dhaka from Begun Narchi village under Ghior upazila yesterday and arrested five people in this connection.

Hannan was kidnapped from from Rampura wholesale fish market on July 13.

The arrestees are Habib, 26, Matin, 22, Liton,22, Arobindo, 22 and Badal, 24 of Bharra village under Nagarpur upazila in Tangail.

Officer-in-charge of Ghior police station Azizur Rahman said the kidnapers took Abdul Hannan to the home of Habib of Bharra village under Nagarpur upazila in Tangail.

Confining him to a house, they demanded ransom Tk15 lakh from the victim's wife Shima Begum over cell phone.

The criminals also had threatened over phone that they will kill her husband if their demand is not met.

Hannan's family sent Tk 3 lakh to an address given by the kidnappers through S A Paribahan. But they stuck to their full demand of Tk15lakh.

Abdul Hannan was later moved to the house of Mohor Ali of Begun Narchi village in Manikganj from Tangail on July 15. Getting a scope, Hannan called his wife over cell phone. He told her that the kidnapers confined him to a house beside a school on the bank of a river of Ghior.

Hannan's family informed it to Ghior police station and police raided the Begun Narchi areas. The kidnapers fled into a jute field with Hannan.

Police however held the four abductors and rescued the fish trader.

Source : The Daily Star  

Man beaten to death

One person was beaten to death by his rivals at Gupinathpur villager under Kasba upazila on Sunday. The victim is Md Iqbal Hosain, 26, son of Md Abdul Khaleque of Bishnauri village in the upazila. According to locals and police sources, a group of youths led by one Abul Kashem swooped on Iqbal in Gupinathpur area while he was going to Kasba upazala headquarters at around 11:00am. They beat him up severely and left the scene. Critically injured Iqbal was rushed to Kasba Upazila Health Complex where the doctors declared him death.

Source : The Daily Star 

Risky ride on abandoned bridge: A 'death trap' for people of at least 4 districts

A large number of people have continued risky ride on the awfully dilapidated bailey bridge over the Nautara River near Nautara Bazar in Dimla upazila on Dalia-Sardarer Hat road as authorities failed to make any alternative arrangement.

Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) declared the 75-metre-long bridge abandoned three years ago but no step has been taken to reconstruct it to ease communication for people of Dimla and Jaldhaka upazilas of Nilphamari district and a part of Lalmonirhat district to go to Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts via Domar upazila.

Visiting the bridge on Friday, this correspondent saw signboards on both ends of the bridge, asking pedestrians and drivers of vehicles not to move through the risky bridge.

Four steel plates at north-east end are missing while the other plates, rusty due to overuse, are loosely connected with the iron frame.

"The remaining plates of the bridge are practically detached from the frame as many nuts and bolts are missing and welding materials are broken. Serious accident may occur if any of the plates slightly tilts or moves when a pedestrian or vehicle crosses the bridge," said Nurul Islam, former chairman of Nautara union parishad (UP).

Present UP Chairman Mosharaf Hossain Mintu said mechanised vehicles no longer use the bridge but people have continued passing through the bridge on foot, rickshaws and bicycles amid risk.

"About two years ago a man with his wife and child was passing the bridge on a motorbike when one end of a loose steel plate tilted, causing the three riders fall into the river. The man and the child survived but the woman died on the spot," said Abdur Rahman, 35, a resident of Nautara Bazar area.

There are often accidents, especially at night, as people find it difficult to see the risky spots on the bridge, locals said.

People of some unions of neighbouring Lalmonirhat district and also residents of Jhunagachh Chapani, Khalisha Chapini, Sutibari, Nautara, Gayabari and other places of Dimla upazila use this road and bridge to go to Domar and Dimla upazilas and some areas of Panchagarh and Thakurgaon districts, said Abu Jar Rahman, former president of Palli Bidyut Samity, Nilphamari, also a resident of Nautara village.

"They are facing difficulties as they have to cover additional 30 kilometres to use the alternative way. Locals brought the matter to the notice of LGED offices in Dimla and Nilphamari but to no effect," he said.

When contacted, LGED engineer in Dimla upazila Shyamapado Ghosh said, "Roads and Highways Department handed over the 75-metre-long bridge to LGED in 2003. All the steel plates are now so badly damaged that the bridge has become unfit for repair. Earlier we declared the bridge abandoned and hung a signboard, asking people not to use the bridge."

"We have sent a project proposal to the higher authorities to construct a new bridge to replace the abandoned one at an approximate cost of Tk 2 crore," he said.

Source : The Daily Star 

Prediction After Analysing Satellite Images: Erosion to devour 3,000 hectares of land on 3 riverbanks this year

Around 2,428 hectares of cultivable land and 413 hectares of settlement on the banks of Jamuna, Ganges and Padma rivers will disappear due to erosion this year.

Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) have made the prediction through analysing satellite images.

BWDB has started protective works in several vulnerable areas on both banks of Jamuna, Ganges and Padma but river erosion has turned serious in many places including Sariakandi and Dhunat upazilas of Bogra district, said AKM Momtaz Uddin, executive engineer of BWDB, Bogra.

"We are trying to protect three spurs in Sariakandi and Dhunat upazilas of Bogra which were constructed at accost of Tk 28 crore in 2000-2001 financial year," he said.

BWDB and CEGIES sources said that at least 1,53,566 hectares of cultivable land along with 50,339 hectares of settlement were eroded due to erosion by Jamuna, Ganges and Padma rivers during the period from 1973 to 2011.

In 2010, the rivers Jamuna, Ganges and Padma eroded more than 3,047 hectares of cultivable land and 332 hectares of settlements with 15 establishments including two health centres. At least 48 establishments including 35 educational institutions and two health centres are vulnerable to erosion along the Jamuna and Padma rivers. About 23,100 people on the riverbanks lost their shelter due to erosion in the last year, BWDB sources said.

BWDB and CEGIS predict that 24,270 people will become homeless and landless due to the erosion of the three rivers this year. The highest 18,000 people on the bank of the Jamuna will become landless and homeless this year.

'Prediction of River Bank Erosion along the Jamuna, the Ganges and the Padma Rivers in 2011' published by BWDB in June says that at least 2,620 metres of active embankment, 770 metres of district roads and 3,990 metres of rural roads are 50 percent vulnerable along the Jamuna, Ganges and Padma rivers in 16 districts this year.

According to the publication, the rate of erosion by the Jamuna river was 5,000 hectares per year in the 1980s and it is around 2000 hectares in recent years.

Erosion by the Padma River was 2,300 hectares per year in the 1990s and it came down to 1200 hectares per year in early 2000s. Satellite images show that the width of the Ganges is almost stable although the river has continued shifting.

"I shifted my house five times during last 20 years. I have lost my 30 bighas of land due to the erosion by Jamuna River during last 30 years," said Abdul Khaleque, 80, of Dhanbandi village in Sariakandi upazila of Bogra district.

Mokshed Ali, 50, of the same village shifted his house four times during last 20 years. He also lost his 16 bighas of cultivable land due to the river erosion.

BWDB and CEGIES data shows that 26 areas of Kurigram, Gaibandha, Jamalpur, Bogra, Sirajganj, Tangail and Manikganj districts are vulnerable to erosion on the banks of the Jamuna. Similarly, 10 areas of Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Kushtia, Pabna and Rajbari districts are identified as vulnerable on the both banks of the Ganges. The satellite images also identified Faridpur Sadar, Char Bhadrasan in Faridpur district, Zanjira in Shariatpur, Dohar in Dhaka and Tongibari in Munshiganj district as vulnerable on the bank of the Padma.

Database of the two organisations says that 120 hectares of cultivable land on the bank of the Jamuna in Sariakandi upazila in Bogra, 81 hectares of cultivable land in Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila on the Ganges and about 119 hectares of land on the Padma at Zanjira in Shariatpur district will disappear due to the river erosion this year.

Source : The Daily Star 

Mizanur Rahman

Today is the 8th death anniversary of Language Movement veteran and former commercial manager of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Mizanur Rahman.

Mizanur Rahman Smriti Parishad (MRSP) has chalked out an elaborate programmes including fateha at his grave, milad and doa mahfil at his village home in Tongi.

Milad and doa will also be held at the Jatiya Press Club after Asr prayers.

Memorial meeting and milad mahfil will also be held at Tongi and Gazipur press clubs today.

Source : The Daily Star 

58.37pc population suffers from fever

The highest 58.37 per cent of the country's population of both sexes suffered from fever, according to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey, 2010.

The survey showed that 9.94 percent of the population of both sexes at the national level suffered from pain, followed by 5.16 percent from diarrhoea, 2.12 percent from dysentery, 2.49 percent from weakness, 2.26 percent from palpitation, 1.97 percent from blood pressure and 6.62 percent from other diseases.

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics conducted the survey during a one-year period --February 2010 to January 2011 -- and completed the preliminary analysis of the data in a record four months.

Among the females who had some sort of diseases during the survey period, 56.79 percent suffered from fever, 11.82 percent from pain, 4.78 percent from diarrhea and some 6.63 percent from other diseases.

In 2005, the highest proportion of the population that suffered from some sort of fever was 55.32 percent, followed by pain 9.60 percent and diarrhoea 6.48 percent. The pattern was equally valid for both the male and female population.

In the first 30 days of the survey in 2010, the highest proportion of male that suffered from fever was 6.78 percent, followed by pain 8.22 percent and diarrhoea 6.84 percent. Similarly, the highest proportion of female that suffered from fever was 53.95 percent, followed by pain 10.90 percent and diarrhoea 6.14 percent.

Source : The Daily Star 

Qulkhwani

Qulkhwani of Jahan Ara Khan, daughter of politician AZ Syed Ahammed Chowdhury Feni, will be held at her village home Alipur in Noakhali tomorrow, says a press release.

Jahan Ara, wife of late civil surgeon Dr Shafiqul Alam Khan, passed away at the city's Central Hospital on Saturday night due to cancer at the age of 63.

She left behind her two sons and two daughters to mourn her death.

Source : The Daily Star

Md Ashraf Ali

Today is the third death anniversary of Md Ashraf Ali, senior health education officer of Tangail, says a press release.

On the occasion, Qurankhwani will be held and foods will be distributed among the orphans.

All are requested to pray for salvation of the departed soul.

Source : The Daily Star  

Office hours during Ramadan

Office hours during the month of Ramadan will be from 9:00am to 3:30pm for government, semi-government, and autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations.

A proposal in this regard will be placed in the cabinet at its regular weekly meeting today at Bangladesh Secretariat. Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina will chair the meeting.

Normally the government office hour is from 9:00am to 5:00pm.

Source : The Daily Star