Md Nazrul Islam

Unplanned industrialisation in Sitakunda without proper safety measures has made local people live in constant fear especially after the BM container depot disaster.

Right after the news of the deadly explosion at Sitakunda BM Depot broke, around 200 students of Chattogram University head out in two buses, in the middle of the night.

Even though pets are taken care of with much affection, the same can’t be said about animals on the street. These strays often suffer from different illnesses, but there’s no one to tend to them.

Tyre importers in Bangladesh have been hit hard by the rise in the exchange rate and the doubling of the cash businesses require to pay in advance to open letters of credit to bring in the item.

Local exporters are apprehending losing annual business worth $200 crore for a recent commerce ministry gazette barring rice bran oil export, for which a large number of letters of credit (LC) opened by foreign buyers have been blocked.

The installation of a fuel pipeline from Chattogram to Dhaka is progressing at a brisk pace as about half of the work is already complete while the rest is expected to be complete by December, according to project officials.

After a long wait, the experimental farming of vannamei is set to begin in the Chattogram region that could pave the way for the commercial production of a shrimp variety that rules the roost in the global market.

With Eid approaching, the spice market has stocked up on consumer goods. However, even though the wholesale market is somewhat stable in terms of the price of spices, retailers are selling the products to consumers at a higher margin.

With Eid approaching, the artisans of the port city’s Bihari Palli, who specialise in zardozi and karchupi work (intricate designs done by hand with beads and metal thread embroidery) are working day and night to straighten out their orders at different boutiques of the region.

The runaway fuel oil and gas price in the international markets has already hit Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves and intensified pressures on the exchange rate amid the escalation of imports at higher prices.

The far-reaching implications of an ongoing rally in oil prices amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have already descended on Bangladesh as the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is losing Tk 19 crore per day.

Water prices in the capital are set to see a sharp rise after Dhaka Wasa yesterday said that it wants the government to approve a “20 percent hike” in tariffs.

The government is counting a loss of Tk 12.40 crore per day in selling diesel to customers as the price of the most-consumed fuel in Bangladesh is on the rise in the global markets.