Bangladesh
Bailey Road fire: Journalist Brishty buried in Kushtia
Journalist Brishty Khatun, a victim of the restaurant building fire on Bailey Road in the capital, has been buried beside her uncle’s grave at the family graveyard in Kushtia.
The ambulance carrying the body of Brishty reached her village home at Banagram Paschimpara of Ward No. 7 of Betbaria Union in Khoksa Upazila at 8:20 pm on Monday (March 11, 2024).
At that time, mourning relatives and villagers flocked to see her body.
Fire at kitchen market in Dhaka’s Uttara doused
Around 10 pm, it was announced through loudspeaker of a local mosque that her namaz-e-janaza will be held in the courtyard of her house. Hundreds of people of the village and nearby villages attended the janaza.
A close relative of Brishty named Rabiul Islam conducted the namaz-e-janaza. After the namaz-e-janaza, Brishty was buried beside the grave of his uncle Mubarak Sheikh in the presence of administrative officials.
Brishty, also known as Ovisruti Shastri to her colleagues at The Report Live, was among the 46 people who lost their lives in the deadly fire on February 29 night.
Bailey Road Tragedy: Brishty Khatun's body handed over to her family
Due to identity complications, the body of journalist Ovisruti Shastri alias Brishty Khatun was handed over her father Sabuj Sheikh from the morgue of Sheikh Hasina Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute on Monday afternoon, 11 days after the DNA test report of Brishty and her parents came.
Bailey Road Tragedy: Brishty Khatun's body handed over to her family
After confusion over the identity of a female journalist who was burnt to death in the devastating fire on Bailey Road on February 29, police finally confirmed her real name was Brishty Khatun, and she used a pen name Ovisruti Shastri.
The result came as the samples of her DNA matched those collected from her parents on Sunday, Additional DIG of Dhaka Metro CID Md Jahangir Hossain Matubbar confirmed.
Later on Monday afternoon, 11 days after the incident, the body was handed over to her father Sabuj Sheikh from the Dhaka Medical College morgue.
In response to a question from the journalists, Additional DIG said, the victim worked in various places using the name of Ovisruti Shastri. That's why confusion was created over her identity and her colleagues claimed she was Hindu. Later they understood and wrote to the police station, to hand over the dead body to her parents.
Read more: High Court issues rule on compensation for Bailey Road fire victims
Sabuj Sheikh said the truth has been established: “I am her father, I thank Allah thousands and millions.”
“Finally I received the body today, I will take it to my village home. There, she will be buried in the family cemetery with a Janaza according to Islamic Shari'a,” he added.
Brishty Khatun was the eldest among his three daughters.
Habibur Rahman, sub-inspector (SI) of Ramna Police Station, was present at that time.
After due procedures, at 2.55 pm, Sabuj Sheikh left Dhaka with Birshty’s body.
Read more: Why Fire Safety Audit is Essential for Commercial Buildings
55 companies invited in global bid for Bangladesh offshore exploration; Energy Advisor optimistic
Prime Minister’s Energy Advisor Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury has said that the international bidding for offshore oil and gas exploration will draw a huge response.
“This round, we have introduced some new aspects like linking gas price with Brent and per year cost recovery at highest 75 percent to make the bidding more attractive,” he told reporters at a press conference at Petrobangla headquarters in Dhaka on Monday.
The Energy and Mineral Resources Division organised the press conference to brief about the “Oil and Natural Gas Exploration Under Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round 2024”, for which Petrobangla invited international oil and gas companies (IOCs).
Intensify efforts to scale up renewable energy technology: Energy Advisor
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, Energy Secretary Md Nurul Alam and Petrobangla chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker also addressed the event.
The tender notice was published in local newspapers and websites of concerned government entities including Bangladeshi missions abroad on Sunday giving six months’ time until September 9, 2024 for submission of the bids.
As per the floated tender, a total of 24 offshore blocks — of which nine are shallow blocks — and 15 deep sea blocks are available for the bidding round.
The nine shallow sea blocks are SS-01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10 and 11) and 15 deep sea blocks are DS-08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.
Gov wants AIIB to invest more in energy, power sectors: Nasrul
The bidder, singly or in association with other companies, can bid for one or more blocks.
Contracts will be signed with the successful bidders in line with the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2023, said the tender.
Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury informed that so far, the bidding invitation was sent to 55 IOCs who have contacted the government as potential bidders.
He, however, averted a question on the geopolitics that might appear to be a factor in the participation of the IOCs in the bidding round.
Nasrul Hamid said it’s an open bidding and any company eligible can bid for any block. He said a pre-bid meeting will be arranged after Ramadan for the interested bidders.
Read more: Petrobangla invites offshore bidding for oil, gas exploration
Ambitious targets: Govt aims to collect Tk 5872 billion and Tk 7097 billion revenue in FY 2024-25, FY 2025-26
The government of Bangladesh has set ambitious revenue collection targets for the fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26, aiming to gather Tk 5872 billion and Tk 7097 billion, respectively. The strategy hinges on enhancing digitalization and simplifying tax procedures for both businesses and individuals.
The focus will be on direct taxes and VAT to raise more revenue. In addition to expanding the tax net and increasing the capacity of tax officials, exercises will be carried out to rationalise the current culture of widespread tax exemptions and to bring in heightened transparency in the budgetary discourse.
As per the Medium Term Macroeconomic Policy Statement (2023-24 to 2025-26) of the Finance Division of Finance Ministry, some Tk 5343 billion will come from the tax revenue sector in 2024-25 fiscal and Tk 6463 billion in 2025-26.
In the next two fiscal years, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will provide Tk 5095 billion and Tk 6171 billion.
From the Income Tax wing, the projected collection will be Tk 1753 billion for the next fiscal, and Tk 2123 billion for 2025-26 fiscal. Collection from the import duties will be Tk 1511 billion and Tk 1830 billion respectively.
Tk 16.8cr in 4 days: AL revenues from nomination forms outpace toll collection from megaprojects
From VAT and Supplementary Duties, the revenue collection will be Tk 1831 billion and Tk 2218 billion respectively.
The non-NBR tax for 2024-25 and 2025-26 will be Tk 248 billion and Tk 292 billion respectively. Non-tax revenue collection will be Tk 529 billion and Tk 634 billion respectively.
The target for the running 2023-24 fiscal is Tk 5000 billion with Tk 4500 billion from tax revenue. Of the total amount, Tk 4300 billion will come from NBR through Tk 1480 billion from income tax, Tk 1275 billion from import duties, Tk 1545 billion from VAT and Supplementary duties. Some Tk 200 billion will be collected from the non-NBR sector while Tk 500 billion from non-tax revenue sector.
According to the Medium Term Macroeconomic Policy Statement, revenue outturns estimated for 2023-24 and projection for the next two years show high elasticity and buoyancy, implying robustness in revenue mobilisation in the medium term.
It mentions that among the tax and non-tax parts of the revenue, the tax revenue is forecasted to be more buoyant and elastic than the non-tax part.
Read more: Tax automation would generate more revenue collection: DCCI President
The elasticity data shows that the overall revenue is projected to grow 1.65 times higher than the nominal GDP in FY 2025-26.
As per the statement, the revenue elasticity of GDP for the 2023-24 fiscal is 1.28 times higher than the last fiscal while it is projected to be 1.40 times higher in the next 2024-25 fiscal year.
The tax revenue elasticity of GDP will be 1.33 times higher in the current fiscal while it will be 1.50 times higher in the next fiscal and 1.66 times higher in 2025-26 fiscal year.
The non-tax revenue elasticity of GDP for the running fiscal will be 0.92 times higher in the current fiscal, 0.47 times higher in the next fiscal year, and 1.57 times higher in 2025-26 fiscal year.
On the other hand, the buoyancy indicates that, in FY 2025-26 the tax revenue in real terms may grow 98 percent higher than the growth of real GDP.
The Policy Statement mentions that the revenue mobilisation acts as a catalyst to achieve the development outcomes of a country. Bangladesh has envisioned its long-term development trajectory to be a higher middle-income country in 2031 and to be a developed country in 2041.
Read more: Increase revenue, quality of services at airports: Faruk Khan tells CAAB
In addition to these aspirations, the ‘Perspective Plan of Bangladesh 2021-2041’ has targeted to raise the revenue- GDP ratio to 19.55 percent by 2031 and to reach 24 percent by 2041.
The statement says that the spectacular growth Bangladesh registered in the last decades, however, has not been underpinned by concomitant revenue growth. A large share of the revenue comes from the direct (income tax) and indirect taxes (VAT and customs) collected by the National Board of Revenue (NBR). Non-NBR taxes and Non-Tax Revenue (NTR) consists of smaller parts.
It said that there is a need to identify the reasons for low revenue collection to move onto the essential next step to correct the course. It is important to understand various issues such as the economic structure (large informality and exemptions), structural weaknesses (complicated processes and information asymmetry), and cultural factors (apathy towards paying taxes) that contribute to significant underperformance in revenue collection.
The government, the policy statement said, with the support of private sector operators, is keen to make paying taxes easy, tax rules easy to understand and rationalise tax exemptions.
Success in revenue collection will be strengthened by making the tax administration easy to approach, increasing digitalization to bring in transparency and predictability and bringing in progressivity in taxation where rich people pay a higher part of the taxes, it added.
Revenue collection up by 14.36 percent in July-October, but behind target: NBR
Metro rail operating hours to be extended by one hour from 16th Ramadan
The operating hours of metro rail will be extended by one hour in both directions during the last 15 days of the month of Ramadan, said MN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL).
According to the new schedule, the last train from Motijheel will leave the station around 9:40 pm while it will from Uttara station at 9:20 pm, he said while speaking at a press conference at Iskatan.
However, the schedule of the metro rail will remain unchanged in the first 15 days of the month of Ramadan.
As Dhaka embraces Metro Rail efficiency, bus services on Mirpur-Motijheel route suffer a blow
Meanwhile, commuters can carry 250ml of water bottles before and after Iftar on metro rail but in that case, the water bottle should be dumped into designated bins, he said.
The Iftar timing will be screened at the LED screen inside and outside the train.
Metro rail increases trips, commuters elated
Responding to a question about any decision to increase coaches for women, the managing director of DMTCL, said currently, six coaches are running every day and it is difficult to add another coach for women.
Primary, secondary schools to remain closed during Ramadan: HC
The High Court on Sunday (March 10, 2024) stayed for two months the government’s decision to keep the primary and secondary schools open in the first 10 and 15 days of Ramadan respectively.
The HC bench of Justice KM Kamrul Kader and Justice Khizir Hayat passed the order following a petition seeking closure of school activities during Ramadan.
Advocate Mahmuda Khanam stood for the writ petitioner while deputy attorney general Sheikh Md Saifuzzaman represented the state.
Milk, eggs, meat, and fish to be sold affordable prices at 30 points in capital
Following the order, the academic activities of primary and secondary schools will remain closed during the month of Ramadan.
On February 8, the government amended the holiday list for educational institutions keeping the regular activities of secondary schools open for 15 days during the month of Ramadan. The Education Ministry issued a notice in this regard.
In another notice, the Primary and Mass Education Ministry issued a notice to keep the activities of primary schools during the month of Ramadan for ten days.
Advocate Md Ilias Ali Mandal, a guardian, filed a writ petition on February 25, challenging the two orders of the government.
SCBA election: Khokon, Monjurul elected president, secretary
Secretaries to the Primary and Mass Education Ministry, Education Ministry, deputy secretary of Primary and Mass Education Ministry and deputy secretary of Education Ministry, Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education Department, Director of Child Welfare Trust were made respondents.
Ramadan is likely begin from March 11 or March 12 depending on the sighting of the moon.
Milk, eggs, meat, and fish to be sold affordable prices at 30 points in capital
The Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock will set up 30 sell points in Dhaka to sell milk, eggs, meat, and fish at affordable prices throughout the month of Ramadan.
Under the programme, liquid milk will be sold at Tk 80 per litre, beef at Tk 600 per kg, mutton at Tk 900 per kg, dressed broiler at Tk 250 per kg, and eggs at Tk 9.17 per piece.
Will enhance market surveillance from today: State Minister for Commerce
Fisheries and Livestock Minister Md. Abdur Rahman said these at the conference room of the Department of Livestock Services on Sunday.
The minister said the programme will be conducted from 25 places in the capital from the first to the 28th Ramadan. Besides, the products will be sold at five more points at several permanent markets in the city.
The 25 sale centers are: Natun Bazar (Badda), Korail slum (Banani), Khamarbari (Farmgate), Azimpur Matrisadan (Azimpur), Gabtoli, Diabari (Uttara), Japan Garden City (Mohammadpur), Shatfoot Road (Mirpur), Khilgaon (south of the rail crossing), beside the Secretariat (Abdul Gani Road), Segun Bagicha (kitchen market), Arambagh (Motijheel), Rampura, Kalshi (Mirpur), Jatrabari (at the mouth of Maniknagar Goli), Bosila (Mohammadpur), Hazaribagh (Shikshan), Lukas (Nakhalpara), Arambagh (Motijheel), Kamrangirchar, Mirpur 10, Kalyanpur (Jhilpara), Tejgaon, Old Dhaka (Bangabazar), and Kakrail.
The five selling points at permanent markets are Mirpur Shah Ali Bazar, Mohammadpur Krishi Market, Natun Bazar (100 feet), Kamala Bazar, and Kazi Alauddin Road (Anandbazar).
Well-equipped pickup cool vans will be used to sell the products. The cooling vans will reach each sale center by 9 am with the products and selling will start from 10 am, the minister said.
BGB-BSF border conference wraps up with pledge to bring down border killings to zero
Additionally, the Department of Fisheries has taken initiatives to sell fish at four designated spots in Dhaka North City Corporation and four designated spots in Dhaka South City Corporation.
The spots are Bangabandhu Square at Farmgate’s Khamarbari, Mirpur-1 (Eidgah Ground); Segun Bagicha Bazar; and Merul Badda Bazar under Dhaka North City Corporation; and Mughdapara (Madinabagh Bazar); Jatrabari (Dayal Bharosa Market); Motijheel (Southeast Corner of Bangladesh Bank) and Palashi intersection under Dhaka South City Corporation.
The fish sale will continue from 10 am to 3 pm every day, starting from March 11, and will continue for 15 days, the minister said.
Read more: As Ramadan is about to begin, prices of essentials high in Khulna kitchen markets
Petrobangla invites offshore bidding for oil, gas exploration
Petrobangla, the oil, gas and mineral corporation, has floated the offshore bidding, inviting international oil and gas companies to explore in the Bangladesh maritime area in the Bay of Bengal
The tender, named “Oil and Natural Gas Exploration Under Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round 2024”, was published in local newspapers and websites of concerned government entities including Bangladeshi missions abroad on Sunday giving six months time until September 9, 2024 for submission of the bids.
As per the floated tender, a total of 24 offshore blocks — of which nine are shallow blocks — and 15 deep sea blocks are available for the bidding round.
The nine shallow sea blocks are SS-01, 02, 03, 05, 06, 07, 08, 10 and 11) and 15 deep sea blocks are DS-08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22.
The bidder, singly or in association with other companies, can bid for one or more blocks.
Contracts will be signed with the successful bidders in line with the Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract 2023, said the tender.
Read more Cabinet body approves draft contract to invite int’l bidding for offshore gas exploration
The features of the proposed contract include full repatriation of profit, no signature bonus or royalty, uncapped attractive gas price linked with international marker, oil price to be determined on the basis of the fair market value prevailing in South and Southeast Asia.
It entails no duty for equipment and machinery imported for petroleum operations while contractor's corporate income tax liability will be borne by Petrobangla, and bank guarantee for performance of the minimum exploration program.
There will be provision for assignment of interest and share-transfer and 100 percent cost recovery with a yearly cap of 75 percent.
The contractor must have a mandatory work program consisting of 2D seismic
survey and mandatory purchase of available
2D multi-client seismic data against bidded blocks to get relief from mandatory work obligations proportionately.
They will have minimum work obligation in each of the exploration periods while biddable work program commitment over and above the mandatory program.
There will be petroleum profit sharing on the basis of R-factor with biddable upper and lower limits and option to sell contractor's share of natural gas in the domestic market to a third party, at a negotiated price, subject to Petrobangla's right of first refusal.
Read more: New PSC: Petrobangla awaits final nods to invite int’l bidding for offshore blocks
The bidder must ensure carried stake of 10 percent for state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) for both shallow and deep sea blocks.
The bidders’ qualification criteria include — individual or in case of joint venture at least one member — offshore daily production of at least 15,000 barrel of oil or 150 mmsc of gas. Bidders must have at least one global experience (other than home country) in the oil and gas exploration and production.
The Information Package will be available at a cost of US$ 300 or equivalent Bangladeshi taka to the interested bidders/companies.
To enable companies to assess the geological prospects of the blocks on offer, Promotional and Data Packages are available on payment basis. Promotional Packages contain Bidding Document, sample seismic sections, gravity, magnetic, geological maps. Companies are required to purchase the Promotional Package in order to qualify for bidding, said the tender.
The purchase price of the Promotional Package is US$ 10,000 or equivalent Bangladeshi taka. Purchase of Data Sales Package is optional. Several Data Sales Packages are available at different prices.
Companies interested in bidding and purchase of Promotional and Data Sales Packages may contact the Director, Production Sharing Contract, Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla) Petrocentre, 3 Karan Bazar, Dhaka-1215, said the bidding tender.
Read more: Action against officials of Petrobangla companies if fail to achieve target: Nasrul
No concrete bridge for 20,000 inhabitants in Feni, Noakhali for over 22 years
About 20,000 residents of Sonagazi upazila of Feni and Companiganj upazila of Noakhali district are in distress as no concrete bridge has been constructed over the Chhoto Feni River at Kazirhat since it collapsed 22 years back.
The bridge, collapsed in 2002 due to high tide, was the only mean of crossing it for the people of two upazilas of Feni and Noakhali districts.
Despite promises from public representatives and political leaders, the bridge has not been built even after 22 years.
Sources said a Regulator-cum-bridge with 20 gates was built over the Chhoto Feni River in 1961-62 at Kazirhat in Sonagazi upazila during Pakistan era to protect the coastal areas of the district from tidal surge.
Read more: Focus on rural dev along with infrastructure: PM Hasina tells ECNEC
The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) got the task of management and repair work of the regulator.
WAPDA conducted maintenance work till 1970 and later it was renamed as Water Development Board.
Entry-level women's recruitment doubles in banking sector, but board representation still lagging
The women employment in the banking sector increased by 1407 in July-December period of 2023, and the overall perrcentage of women employees at banks stood at 16.37 percent in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile just 13.51% of board members in the banks are women.
Bangladesh Bank’s (BB’s) latest report on gender equality revealed this information. There are 33346 women employees in 61 banks in the country, which is 16.37 percent of the total employees of banks, according to the report.
The BB report shows that among the scheduled banks in 2023, 43 private commercial banks have the highest number of women employees 22,248, which is 16.32 percent of the total employees.
Foreign commercial banks have the highest proportion of female officers, 24.18 percent as compared to other banks.
In the period July-December 2023, the participation of women as board members was only 13.51 percent. Among them, foreign commercial banks have the highest female board member participation rate at 17.54 percent.
Read more: Bangladesh's women empowerment showcased in Myanmar
On the other hand, there is no participation of women board members of specialized commercial banks in the discussed period.
According to the reports submitted by banks during the period July-December 2023 shows that the participation rate of women employees is higher at the entry-level 17.04 percent and mid-level 15.79 percent than at the higher levels 9.36 percent.
Analysis of the obtained data shows that the participation of women in the banking sector is high at the initial stage.
At the same time, the participation rate of female employees under thirty years of age 20.99 percent is more than double that of female officers above 9.58 percent in scheduled banks.
Bangladesh’s place has improved by 12 steps in the gender gap report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2023, as women's employment increased in the country.
The BB report shows that Bangladesh is holding the 59th position in 2023 improving from 71st in 2022 in the gender gap of WEF, among 146 countries in the world.
Read more: PM Hasina keen to create more scopes for women in every sector: Nasrul Hamid
Executive Director of CDP Dr. Fahmida Khatun said that women's employment is usually increasing with the developing socio-economic scenario of the country and decreasing the ratio of women's employment does not match that calculation.
She focused on the need to study why the ratio of women employment has been decreasing in the banking sector.
Bangladesh Bank’s spokesperson Mezbaul Haque told UNB that women's employment has increased in the banking sector following the central bank’s policy to reduce the gender gap in banks and financial institutions.
The central bank prefers women both in employment and entrepreneurship development. Loan disbursement and interest incentives have been given to women encouraging them involved in financial inclusion.
The BB is still working to ensure a sound environment in the workplace of banks. Facilities including maternity leave and daycare opportunities for women’s employees have increased, he said.
Read more: Proven Passive Income Ideas for Women in 2024