M Abul Kalam Azad

Hold meetings, make decisions and then forget all about them. This has been the practice of successive governments regarding road safety in the past three decades. Since the mid-80s, each government has undertaken numerous initiatives to reduce road crashes, but they are gathering dust at the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry.

All the successive governments made moves to reform the civil service but none of them brought about the much-needed changes due to lack of political will and resistance from a section of bureaucrats.

Traffic from Banasree, Badda, Rampura, and Hatirjheel used to converge on Pragati Sarani near Rampura TV station and it was a messy affair. Commuters previously feared the intersection but now a cheap U-loop has made a huge difference.

The quota system in Bangladesh civil service is extremely complex and cannot be implemented ensuring proportionate representation of all sections of the society, according to two former top bureaucrats of the country.

Since the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in mid-2014, the brutal ideology of the militant outfit has ensnared hundreds of young Bangladeshis, like it has brainwashed youth from across the globe.

Opening of three new bridges on the Shitalakkhya, Meghna and Gumti rivers will reduce bottlenecks on Dhaka-Chittagong highway early next year.

RHD engineers and ministry officials who were involved with the project now squarely blame overloaded vehicles for the condition of the highway, known as the economic lifeline of Bangladesh. This highway is responsible for carrying 90 percent of the export and import volume.

City authorities have tried out a host of “solutions” to control chaotic traffic over the decades. The result? All the money went down the drain and the situation turned from bad to worse.

The number of militancy cases filed each year go into the hundreds—way more than the handful of combat operations we have seen.

Her expression began to change as soon as she stepped into the Missionaries of Charity at Islampur in Old Dhaka on Christmas morning. The colourful Christmas decor of the premises could hardly draw her attention.

The man takes different names but introduces himself as an automobile trader to all. He lures people into buying vehicles at prices far lower than the market rate, citing special connections with the custom officials at Chittagong Port.

When all major infrastructure projects are facing delays and cost escalation, the venture to build three new bridges on the Shitalakkhya, Meghna and Gumti rivers is making good progress. All of them are expected to be completed by the December 2018 deadline, and setting an example, will cost less than what was estimated in the development project proforma (DPP).

Excessive rains and flooding twice in just four months have left most of the roads in a miserable state, which could make people's journey home for Eid-ul-Azha a nightmare. If rain continues and the flood situation doesn't improve shortly, the road networks will be further damaged, compounding woes of travellers. Many roads are currently under floodwater.

Tufan Sarkar his three brothers and nine of their men, killed Imran at his home in Bogra town's Chaksutrapur Modhyapara area in

Suspended Sramik League leader Tufan Sarkar has admitted raping the Bogra college girl after promising that he would marry her, police said.

It is apparently the criminalised politics of our country that made it all possible. A high school dropout became a millionaire and one of the most notorious figures in Bogra just in a decade.

Sohel Mahfuz, who had worked for about five years from 2009 to set up an extremist network in India's West Bengal, was planning to expand the activities of IS-inspired militant group “Neo JMB” to the neighbouring country.

The authorities' total denial of IS presence will not help. Whatever the reason behind the refusal—political or tactical—it is undermining gravity of the problem. The denial coupled with the complacency may again create ground for re-emergence of extremism.

When countries across the globe have multi-pronged approach to tackle militancy and extremism, Bangladesh is still relying on the use of force.

Be it construction of a road, a sea port or a power plant, almost all projects go through delays and cost escalations, a problem that