Shaheen Mollah

A crisis of edible oil, particularly soybean oil, has hit the domestic markets amid retailers and wholesalers stocking up and refiners slowing down delivery, as prices of essential commodities keep climbing in the international market.

Arrested for marijuana possession, rickshaw puller Abdul Kuddus landed in Dhaka Central Jail in October 2020.

Amidst the chaos that is Dhaka, Mirpur-10 stands almost as a perfect representation of the city’s frenzy, albeit with a bizarre aesthetic of its own.

On this day three years ago, 71 people lost their lives in a devastating explosion originating from chemicals illegally stored in Wahed Mansion in Old Dhaka.

It’s a curious term. When you hear of a “band party”, you know it’s different from a musical band, although a band party accomplishes the same function: to provide entertainment through music.

On February 22, 2015, three adolescent boys were shot dead in the capital’s Mirpur area during a violent political movement, on suspicion that they were arsonists linked to the opposition party.

Believe it or not, if someone wants to lease a grave -- even if it’s just around 28 square feet of land -- for 25 years in an area of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), they’ll have to pay a hefty Tk 20 lakh!

Right under Babubazar bridge in the capital, beside the Mitford morgue, there is a hub of floating boarding houses that many in the city have no clue of.

A police officer not authorised to drive took the steering of a bus and ploughed through a crowd, killing two men and injuring at least three others in the capital’s Gulistan yesterday afternoon.

He was supposed to take his ailing mother, who was on her way to Dhaka from their village, to a hospital for treatment. Now, he is going back to their village from Dhaka but as a corpse.

Abdur Rahman Bhandari was struggling to accept that his son would never come back.

“Nayeem wanted to ensure justice for all by becoming a judge,” said a weeping Shah Alam, father of the Notre Dame College student who died under a DSCC compactor vehicle on Wednesday.

Six months ago, 52-year-old constable Md Iqbal started working in the traffic department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

It was around 5 o’clock in the morning.

Basudeb, who hails from a remote village in Patuakhali, thought he had carved out a comfortable life for himself and his family in Dhaka.

At Mirpur’s Mazar Road, three to four vans can be seen running an off-beat food business. Throughout the week, especially on the weekends, sellers set up shop with an offering of delicacies, all at dirt-cheap price.

People from across the country flock to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) for treatment. According to hospital authorities, around 4,000 patients remain admitted to this 2,600-bed public hospital on a regular basis.  

When Jibon Sarker (not his real name) joined the police force as a constable about 10 years ago, he took it for a life-changing job. In many ways, it is; but not for the right reasons.

With the country’s temperature remaining abnormally high over the last two months, the number of patients suffering from different infectious diseases has gone up, with children being the worst sufferers and leaving hospitals struggling with an influx of treatment seekers.

Dengue became endemic in the country in 2000, but the government is yet to put in place an automated system that comes up with the exact number of cases, crucial to get a clear picture of the situation.