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Experts seek roadmap for reopening educational institutions
As the Covid infection rate continues to fall, health experts advised the government to immediately take adequate preparations along with a roadmap to reopen the educational institutions in Bangladesh gradually.
They think the government should first reopen the universities and then colleges, high schools and primary ones within the next month by bringing teachers and eligible students under the vaccine coverage on a priority basis.
Read Closure of schools, colleges extended again until Sep 11
They also called for preparing national Covid prevention and control guidelines based on health sciences to ensure academic activities in the educational institutions with safety even if the virus transmission goes up further.
The government shut the educational institutions on March 17, 2020 after the country had reported its first Covid-19 cases on March 8. Then the closure was extended several times. The latest extension was supposed to continue till August 31.
Also read: General holidays extended till May 30
But the government on Thursday extended the closure of secondary and higher secondary-level educational institutions until September 11.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni said educational institutions in the country will be reopened soon if the coronavirus infection rate continues to decline.
Roadmap
Talking to UNB, public health expert MH Chowdhury (Lenin), chairman of the medicine department at the Health and Hope Hospital, said the government needs to prepare a roadmap quickly before reopening the educational institutions based on health sciences.
Read Protest 'classes' start Thursday at JU
Meghna erosion devours lands and displaces thousands in Lakshmipur
Meghna River that has featured in films, poems and folklores has now turned into a curse for villagers living along it.
In the last 10 years the river has swallowed croplands, houses, school buildings leaving thousands homeless. It has eroded its banks by its strong tide. The onslaught goes on unabated both during the dry season and the monsoon.
Around 170 sq km area in Ramgati and Kamalnagar upazilas of Lakshmipur in the last 10 years as erosion by the river continues, according to data derived by reviewing and analysing government documents and interviewing the residents in these areas.
Read Tagore’s historic Kuthibari is threatened by river erosion, locals scream for help
Last Monday, Char Balua Government Primary School building in Ramgati upazila collapsed into the riverbed within seconds, a sad portrayal of the helplessness of people in these areas to river erosion.
According to the survivors of the Meghna erosion on the Laxmipur coast, the severity of it has been three times more in the last 10 years compared to any time in the past.
Lakhs of people had lost their land to Meghna and became homeless during this time.
Read Climate migration in Bangladesh may increase 7-fold by 2050: ActionAid
In addition to the erosion, abnormal tidal water has been inundating localities and inhabited land , adding to the miseries of the residents.
Momen-Raab talks in London soon with focus on boosting ties
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen will have a meeting with his British counterpart Dominic Raab in London in between his visit to Switzerland and the Netherlands, and discuss ways to further strengthen the relations between the two Commonwealth countries -- Bangladesh and the United Kingdom.
Dr Momen said Bangladesh High Commissioner in London Saida Muna Tasneem informed him that there has been no meeting with the British Foreign Minister for a long time and Dominic Raab has already given an appointment to sit in a meeting in London.
“I’ll also have a separate meeting with Alok Sharma (President of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in London,” the Foreign Minister told UNB.
“Things are being finalized,” he said, mentioning that he will visit London in between his visit to Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Dr Momen will also attend programmes like a meeting with businesspeople during his busy stay in London, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB.
He will leave here on Sunday morning beginning his tri-nation visit, said the official.
The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow on October 31 to November 12.
Apart from the bilateral issues, vaccine cooperation and removing Bangladesh from the red list (for entering England amid the pandemic) are likely to be discussed, said a diplomatic source.
Read: See your own face in mirror before advising Bangladesh: Dhaka to London
Bangladesh finds no justified reason to see it on the red list as the Covid-19 situation is not that much bad compared to other countries which are not on the red list, said an official.
If anyone from a red listed country enters the UK, he or she must book a quarantine hotel and coronavirus (Covid-19) tests which is quite expensive.
LNG import: Foreign companies seek long-term deals, but experts want competitive bidding
International suppliers are offering long-term deals with Bangladesh to meet its soaring demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), while energy experts and consumer right groups want the government to go through a competitive bidding process to ensure transparency.
Currently, the government is importing around five to six LNG cargoes, having the quantity of around 138,000 cubic metres every month. But the forecast is that the import will go up gradually as the country’s focus is now being shifted to LNG from coal as primary fuel for power generation.
Also read: Cabinet committee approves 4 proposals, including LNG import
According to sources, Bangladesh now imports LNG from two companies—Qatar-based QatarGas and Oman-based Oman Trading International—on long term basis while short-term supply is coming from international spot market where 17 more companies are enlisted.
Four more companies have been given green signal to be enlisted with the state-owned Petrbangla to supply LNG from the spot market.
Official sources said the long-term import is based on unsolicited deal while the short-term imports are taking place through a bidding process.
Read LPG Growth in Bangladesh: Effective Alternative to Natural Gas
Single Point Mooring: The project of deadlines may miss another
Already nearly two years behind schedule, Bangladesh's ambitious Single Point Mooring (SPM) project in Chittagong is likely to miss yet another deadline.
One of this country's top priority infrastructure programmes, the SPM project is aimed at offloading imported crude oil at reduced cost and time. Initially chasing a December 2019 deadline, the project's latest timeline extension came in July last year.
However, highly placed sources told UNB that even the revised June 2022 deadline for the project may be pushed by a couple of months -- till August next year, at least -- due to labour shortage in the wake of Covid-19 and the consequent lockdown.
Read:Covid-19 to further delay Single Point Mooring (SPM) project in Chattogram
In fact, some 200 Chinese workers who were supposed to come to Bangladesh for the project, have been stuck in their home country since the outbreak of Covid in December 2019, the sources said.
“The Chinese contractor executing the SPM project on behalf of the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has sought another deadline extension," said an official of Eastern Refinery Limited, a subsidiary of BPC.
"We have forwarded the request to the higher authorities. Some 65 percent of work at the site is complete, but we will need another year (till August) to make the SPM project operational," said the official, who did not wish to be named.
Read Bangladesh explores JV agricultural projects with South Africa
When contacted, the managing director of ERL, Lokman Hossain, admitted the project’s current status but was quick to attribute the delay to Covid-19.
"Though the laying of submarine pipelines has been completed, the SPM floating buoy is yet to reach the country. We hope it will arrive here by November this year. Six oil tanks at Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar also have to be installed," he said.
The SPM project was undertaken by BPC in 2012 to transport imported crude oil to the state-owned Eastern Refinery plant in Chittagong in order to reduce the transportation cost of crude oil fuel and also ensure prompt unloading from deep sea vessels.
Read Red tapes are holding back the much-hyped Sundarbans conservation project
Hilsa prices rise as catch from the Padma dries up
Hilsa is a gastronome's delight. But for fish traders, Ilish is gold.
And with the arrival of the Ilish season, the Chandpur Boro Bazar fisheries ghat, the district's largest wholesale Hilsa market, is once again buzzing with activity -- hundreds of people thronging to buy the prized catch every day.
Read ‘Hilsa export not on the cards now’
But traders at this market rue the decline in Hilsa production in the Padma river -- they say this year's stock is mostly coming from Hatia, Noakhali and other coastal areas.
On Tuesday, this UNB correspondent visited the area and found a number of fishing trawlers and pickup vans at the market carrying Hilsa netted from the Hatia upazila.
“It is the peak Hilsa season. After a long time, we are seeing a booming supply at the market, though it's still low as compared to that of last year. But the catch is mostly from Hatia and not from the Padma," said Nurul Islam, a trader.
Also Read- Hilsa fishing resumes as two-month ban ends
Traders claimed that some 2,000 mounds of the popular fish arrived at the market on Tuesday, but the supply was less than that of last year.
Manik Jamadar, president of the Chandpur Matsya Banik Samity, said, "The number of the Padma Hilsa is less this year as the fishermen have not been able to catch the desired 40-50 mounds from the river, which is not good news."
The poor supply from the Padma river has also been pushing up the prices of the Padma Hilsa -- the wholesale price is Tk 1,200 a kg and the retail price is Tk 1,300-1,400 a kg. A kg of the Hatia Hisla, on the other hand, costs Tk 1,000.
Also read: Hilsa dearer in Khulna
Traders from Sylhet, Habiganj, Sreemangal, Kishoreganj, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, and the national capital flock to this popular market to buy Hilsa every year.
Bangladesh to automate land management and services, says official document
The government plans to bring all land-related services under automation through 18 integrated software in a bid to the make age-old system more dynamic and transparent and user-friendly.
The planned land automation management will create an interoperable land database providing fast and hassle-free online services such as Namjari, giving land development tax, collecting Porcha across the country, according to an official document obtained by UNB.
To this end, three projects have been taken so far.
The projects are- Strengthening governance management project (Component- B: Digital Land Management System), Digital land record, Survey and Maintenance project, and National Land Zoning project.
Read: Seminar on land management held at IU
Besides, to protect the arable land and to ensure food security there will be Mouza and plot based national digital land zoning.
As per the document, after completion of digital zoning depending of the usage of land it would be possible to take decision on protecting agricultural land of the country and its maximum utilisation.
The government has also taken move to bring all cases of the revenue courts under one integrated networking system to accelerate case disposal and mitigate public sufferings.
The project titled "Land Management Automation" that got Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approval is scheduled to end in June 2025, and its cost has been estimated at Tk 1,197.0318 crore.
Read Govt to spend Tk 4,167cr on 10 projects, Ecnec gives nod
According to the officials people would get land mutation, lease, and tax payment facilities online without hassle after completion of the project apart from bringing transparency in revenue collection.
About 5,247 land offices will be connected online to provide services to people.
Once the project is properly implemented, the number of land-related disputes and other incidents will be reduced significantly.
It would also reduce the influence of middlemen in land related cases.
The ministry of land will implement the mouza- and plot-based national digital land-zoning project. The project will cover some 56,348 mouzas under 4,562 unions of 493 upazilas in all the 64 districts of the country.
Read Ecnec rejects Tk 17,290-cr primary school meal project
Satellite images will be used for this digital land-zoning, while mouza maps will also be digitalized.
According to the project proposal, it will ensure collection, scanning, digitization, database creation, editing plot checking, geo-referencing mouza map, matching of mouza map, and field checking of some 1,38,412 sheets of maps.
In most countries, people get all land-related services, including that for land records and registrations, from a single office.
But in Bangladesh, three offices provide the services that cause sufferings to people and kill huge time. The present method of land recording in land management and registration offices follow the age-old system of hand-written documents.
Read: Russia to help Bangladesh in land management
Bangladesh's land has been divided in terms of authorisation, which continues to pose a problem.
The terrible road preventing an area's residents from getting married
Thousands of people living at Muradpur union in Sitakunda upazila of Chattogram district have been experiencing untold suffering for 30 years as the 2.4-kilometre road in the village turned unfit for movement.
Although structural developments have been seen in some areas in the upazila, no improvements has been brought in the rural roads of the upazila, becoming a curse for the residents in the village.
Read: Bhola-Barishal highway in horrible condition
The 2.4-kilometre road in the union lies neglected for 30 years and the authorities concerned have not taken any initiative to repair the road.
This is despite several hundred people of three-four villages using the roads daily, but the road remains neglected for long due to lack of a guardian.
During monsoon, people’s sufferings mount following the worsened condition of the road, as it is the only means of communication for them.
Read Padma Bridge: Installation of all roadway slabs completed
The road becomes marshy and immersed in the mud during the rainy season and people have to take off their shoes and wade through knee-deep mud.
Every monsoon people have to face tremendous sufferings and the communication betweenMuradpur union and other three-four villages remain suspended due to the bad condition of the road.
Local people claimed that many young men and girls remained unmarried due to the poor communication system, creating a headache for many parents.
Read South Sudan names road after Bangladesh
Red tapes are holding back the much-hyped Sundarbans conservation project
Even seven months after its approval red tapes are holding back a much-hyped government project aimed at the sustainable conversation of Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.
The Tk. 1.5-billion Sundarbans Conservation project got the go-ahead by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) at its last January 5 meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Read: Tiger population growing in the Sundarbans: PM
The meeting set December 31, 2024, as the deadline to complete the project.
But officials are yet clear necessary files delaying take-off of the important project on the Sundarbans, home to famed Bengal Tigers, exotic flora, and fauna. Besides, the forest has worked as a natural shield to protect the coast from severe cyclones.
What’s the project about?
The project will be implemented to protect the Sundarbans in a sustainable manner through the modernisation of internal communication systems with ICT.
Read Effective strategies adopted to protect Sundarbans: Environment Minister
Surveys will be conducted to track the number of animals, their habitats and diseases and the characteristics of the conserved area and its environment under this project.
This project also aims at automating the conventional permit system and identity cards of about 30,000 collectors of the forest’s resources and other beneficiaries, introduce a plan for ‘Eco-tourism’ and ensure training up the tourist guides.
Employment opportunities will also be created through the project for locals in excavation and re-excavation programs of ponds, canals and rivers of the Sundarbans.
Read Golpata trees dying a slow death in the Sundarbans
“At least 3 million people of 39 upazilas of Barishal division will get jobs on implementation of this project,” said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of West Sundarbans, Dr Abu Nasr Mohsin.
Programs will be conducted to establish, repair and maintain offices, residential buildings, barracks, wooden jetties, pontoons and to buy fast moving vessels.
Besides, the officials appointed for safeguarding the vast forest area will be trained up, Khulna-based Geographic Information System (GIS) laboratory, computer software, software license and GPS tracking facilities will be improved under this project.
Read:Sundarbans plays role as a carbon sink: Alok Sharma
NBR directs big push to reach the revenue target for current fiscal
The National Board of Revenue has asked its offices to intensify their drive to attain this fiscal year’s revenue collection target overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic so the tax-GDP ratio improves to double-digit.
It also asked customs and taxes appellate tribunals to clear the pending cases in due time.
These directives have been given recently at a coordination meeting of the finance ministry’s Internal Resources Division (IRD).
Read BGMEA seeks customs, VAT, income tax-related support from NBR
Speaking at the meeting NBR chairman and IRD secretary Abu Hena Md. Rahmatul Muneem asked all NBR officials to remain sincere and active to achieve the revenue collection set at Tk 330,078 crore during fiscal 2021-22.
He asked the NBR members, customs commissioners and tax commissioners to intensify proper monitoring system.
The NBR chairman directed the research and statistics division director general to submit updated revenue collection information in every month’s coordination meeting.
Also read: NBR faces uphill task in achieving VAT collection target
Of the total target the VAT wing will contribute the lion share with Tk 127,745 crore which is 11 percent higher than the revised target of the last fiscal. Last fiscal the target was Tk 125, 163 crore.
The target for Income Tax and Tax on Profit has been set Tk 104, 952 crore where it was Tk 103, 945 in the last fiscal.
The revenue collection from import duty will be Tk 37, 907 crore, Tk 54,465 crore from from Supplementary Duty, Tk 56 from export duty, Tk 3825 from Excise Duty while Tk 1050 crore from other taxes and duties.
Read NBR to prioritize local industries in 2021-22 budget, says its chairman
In the last fiscal (2020-21) the revised revenue target was Tk 301,000 crore while it was set Tk 330,000 in the main budget.
But the NBR could not attain the revised target mainly due to the ongoing pandemic that saw the government to impose lockdowns affecting the economy.
According to the available data the revenue collection in 2020-21 fiscal was Tk 41,000 crore less than the revised target while Tk 70,000 from the original target.
Read NBR looking to procure non-intrusive inspection systems for export-import items
The collection was Tk 259,900 crore although the growth was 19 percent.