The ecocidal mindset of our policymakers
The question posed by the bureaucrat reflects not only the depth of his ignorance but also reveals the general mindset of our policymakers.
24 March 2024, 00:00 AM
Rajuk caves in to realtors’ pressure
Just over a year ago, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) adopted a new Detailed Area Plan (DAP), introducing height restrictions for buildings in a bid to enhance Dhaka’s liveability.
6 October 2023, 18:00 PM
Climate fund stuck in Farmers Bank
The Bangladesh Climate Change Trust was supposed to get back in 2016 the Tk 538 crore, plus the accumulated interest, it deposited with the then Farmers Bank. However, it has so far received just Tk 74 crore after around seven years.
21 September 2023, 18:00 PM
Study finds high level of microplastics in salt
A recent study has found a surge in harmful microplastics in sea salt produced over the last couple of years in the country.
15 September 2023, 18:00 PM
Medical college to be built on Chandpur wetland
The Ecnec yesterday approved a project to construct a medical college, hospital and nursing college partially on a wetland in Chandpur despite Planning Commission’s observation that the project cost may rise because of the nature of the chosen site.
5 September 2023, 18:00 PM
Now, trees cut for govt housing project
Workers under supervision of the Public Works Department (PWD) officials yesterday cut down trees to make space for a housing block for parliament officials and staff near Shahid Shahabuddin Road in the capital’s Agargaon without authorisation from relevant authorities.
23 August 2023, 18:00 PM
Dohazari-Cox’s bazar rail line: Asian elephants to face existential threat
The new Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway line, which cuts through three forested areas, is likely to obstruct the free movement of the critically endangered Asian elephants that use these forests as corridors.
18 July 2023, 18:00 PM
Purbachal to host country’s first urban forest
When rapid unplanned urbanisation has been engulfing the green coverage of Dhaka, a praiseworthy initiative has been taken to create the country’s first ever urban forest in Purbachal Residential Area of the capital.
14 July 2023, 18:00 PM
2 nurses ‘sexually harassed’ by civil surgeon, aide
Sexual harassment allegations have surfaced against a physician in Cox’s Bazar who, according to a complaint, coerced two nurses into travelling to Saint Martin’s Island so they could “entertain” the district’s civil surgeon.
28 March 2023, 01:30 AM
Power Generation Up To 100Mw: DoE eases curbs on coal, gas-run plants
The Department of Environment in its new Environmental Conservation Rules has exempted small coal and gas power plants from Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), raising concerns among environmentalists.
24 March 2023, 01:40 AM
Building’s design: Rajuk doesn’t know whether it was approved
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha still doesn’t know whether the seven-storey building in which an explosion on Tuesday claimed 22 lives was constructed as per the approved design.
10 March 2023, 01:30 AM
Gulistan blast: Rajuk yet to find building documents
"The building is old, so is its file which has been maintained manually [only files that were approved by Rajuk after May 2019 are digitised]. On top of that yesterday was a holiday. That's why it is taking time"
9 March 2023, 06:16 AM
DoE fails to keep its own environment safe
The Department of Environment (DoE) has failed to keep the environmental indices at a permissible level even in Agargaon, its headquarters in Dhaka.
16 February 2023, 18:00 PM
Emission from coal-fired plants: Govt set bar too low
The government’s emission standards for coal-fired power plants are far lower than those of the countries investing in such plants in Bangladesh.
16 February 2023, 01:20 AM
From distress to hope
Beli Ara’s (51) life had all hallmarks of tragedy. She had been acquainted with great grief from an early age -- from losing her mother, step mother’s torture and an eventual forced, early marriage with an elderly man.
9 February 2023, 18:00 PM
Fish under threat, humans too
The menace of plastic is everywhere, even in the most remote locations, from the depths of the ocean to Arctic ice. So you can’t expect the Sundarbans to be an exception.
28 January 2023, 01:00 AM
Tackling Oil Spillage: Committee there, but only on paper
A high-powered national committee, formed to tackle oil or chemical spills along the shipping routes, has failed miserably to respond to the recent oil spill in the Meghna.
26 January 2023, 01:30 AM
Soaring Prices of Essentials: Low-income people hit hard
Riazul Haque, manager of a wholesale rice shop in the capital’s Mirpur, usually goes to Kachukhet kitchen market with Tk 500 every Friday.
20 January 2023, 18:00 PM
37,000 River Grabbers: NRCC decision to withhold names draws flak
The National River Conservation Commission has decided not to publish a list of 37,000 new encroachers of 48 rivers and the environment activists say protecting their identities is tantamount to siding with the grabbers.
19 January 2023, 01:40 AM
Rohingyas accuse APBn of abuse
A 36-year-old Rohingya refugee activist was preparing a list of refugees allegedly abused by Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion (APBn). In consequence, he faced arrest, arbitrary detention and torture, he claimed.
18 January 2023, 01:20 AM
A police officer’s bias against a rape victim
On December 2, 2021, 16-year-old Sadia Akhter (not her real name), a domestic worker, stole gold jewellery and cash from the apartment in Wari, where she worked, complying with her boyfriend’s instructions.
15 January 2023, 01:20 AM
Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary: UP chairman’s men plundering it for yrs
For years, under the nose of the Forest Department and the local administration, a syndicate led by a local union parishad chairman has been razing hillocks and tearing down trees at Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary in Chattogram’s Lohagara upazila.
14 January 2023, 01:40 AM
1,000MW solar power project stuck in red tape
Despite the government’s commitment in the national plan to increase production of renewable energy, an investment proposal to produce 1,000 megawatts of solar power is waiting for approval at a time when the country is facing persistent power-cuts.
24 December 2022, 02:00 AM
The checkpoint chronicle continues
What started as police frisking people and vehicles entering the capital has turned into checking pedestrians at different Dhaka gateways as well.
9 December 2022, 18:00 PM
WB to steer Dhaka rivers back to life
The World Bank has agreed to take lead in a landmark project to breathe life back into the five rivers surrounding Dhaka city involving about $20 billion.
15 November 2022, 02:00 AM
Will not leave the land alone
The Mongla Port Authority is still adamant to dump sand on arable land in Banisanta union of Khulna’s Dacope upazila despite having alternatives to pile up the to-be dredged sand elsewhere.
12 November 2022, 18:00 PM
Forest staffers helpless against offenders
A group led by a forest offender allegedly took away illegally extracted sand seized by the forest department from the reserve forest in Cox’s Bazar’s Chakaria upazila by attacking and threatening the department’s staffers at gunpoint.
8 November 2022, 18:00 PM
Plastic pollution: Karnaphuli most defiled
Mismanaged plastic waste of the metropolis has turned the Karnaphuli, on whose banks the country’s key sea port is located, into the top plastic-digesting river.
1 November 2022, 02:50 AM