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Over 100 shanties gutted in Mohakhali slum fire
Over 100 shanties were gutted in a fierce fire at a slum in the city’s Mohakhali area early Monday.
Quamrul Ahsan, duty officer at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters control room, said the fire broke out at ‘Sat Tala Slum’ around 3:57 am and it soon engulfed the entire slum area.
On information, 18 firefighting units rushed to the spot and extinguished the blaze around 6:35 am.
While briefing reporters on Monday morning, Brig Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire might have originated from an electric short circuit or any illegal gas connection.
Also read: Mohakhali slum fire extinguished
Shougat Nazbin wins GREEN Prize 2021
Bangladesh's Shougat Nazbin Khan has won the "GREEN Prize 2021" for her environmental activities.Nazbin is serving as Climate Ambassador at World Bank's Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN) and as Young Ambassador of ‘The Earth Project’ supported by UNESCO.
Nazbin is also a United Nations Young Leader for SDGs, Asia 21 Young Leader Fellow, Commonwealth Youth Awardee, Green Talent Awardee, and Forbes 30 under 30 honouree.
Read Global Youth Climate Summit 2021 urges pressing actions to combat climate change
The Grassroots Rising Environmental Education Network (GREEN) Prize honours leaders and educators who step up to address environmental issues, lead environmental education initiatives, or shine a light on environmental injustice within their communities.
Ten finalists from across the globe were selected based on their excellence in environmental initiatives and the quality of their proposed environmental projects. Then the competition was open for public voting for a very short period.
9 killed by lightning strikes in Feni, Chattogram, Manikganj, Magura
At least nine people were killed and two others sustained injuries from lightning strikes in Chattogram, Feni, Manikganj and Magura districts on Sunday.
In Chattogram, four people including two women were killed and two others injured as thunderbolt struck them in Fatikchhari, Boalkhali and Mirsarai upazilas of the district in the morning.
Lucky Das, 38, wife of Banuswar Das and Bhanu Sheel, 40, wife of Jugendra Sheel of Kanchannagar Dulurpara in Fatikchhari upazila, were killed and two others injured being hit by lightning while they were working at a field during rain around 11 am, said Kanchannagar union parishad member Afsar Uddin.
The injured women identified as Maloti rani Das, 50, wife of Mantosh Dash and Shobha Rani Dey, 45, wife of Bhuban Dey were taken to Abdul Monayem General Hospital.
Also read: Lightning strikes kill four in Dhaka amid rain
Besides, Sazzad Hossain, 16, son of Mosharraf Hossain of East Domkhali village in Mirsarai upazila was killed by lightning strike while he was working at a field with his father.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Jahangir, 39, a day labourer, was killed by lightning strike in Boalkhali upazila in the morning.
In Feni, two people including a minor boy were killed when a thunderbolt struck them at Alampur village in Sonagazi upazila in the morning.
The deceased were identified as Sazeda Akter Sathi, 15, a madrasha student and daughter of Soleman of Alampur village and Al Amin, 6, and son of Mohammad Bahar of Charsahabikari village in the upazila.
Also read: Lightning strikes to kill 3 in Chapainawabganj
In Manikganj, two people, including a college student were killed by lightning strikes in Ghior and Daulatpur upazila.
The deceased were identified as Shahin,18 and Mostofa, 40.
Meanwhile in Magura’s Mohammadpur upazila, a housewife named Sakiron Nesa, 50 was killed by a streak of lightning as she was doing household chores.
Officer-in-Charge of Mohammadpur police station, Tarak Nath Bishwash said a case of unnatural death was filed in this connection.
Lightning safety tips
Lightning strikes claim hundreds of lives in Bangladesh every year. The deaths mostly occur in the warmer period of the year from April to June, as hailstorms occur most frequently during this time.
Also read: 6 killed by lightning strikes in Sirajganj, Cumilla
The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief in a guideline says lightning usually continues for 30-45 minutes and urged people to stay indoors or take cover during the period.
Installing lightning insulation bars in every building in lightning prone regions is an essential long term safety measure, according to the ministry.
Recommended safety tips while outdoors during lightning include finding shelter immediately, wearing shoes with rubber sole, sitting down on toes, shutting ears while in open field, staying away from each other, avoiding using electric instruments, staying away from tall trees, electric poles and mobile towers.
Checking the weather forecast before participating in any outdoor activities is essential to be safe from lightning in the stormy season.
Stimulus packages: Experts, stakeholders for speedy disbursement to CMSMEs
The cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) need more attention and speedy disbursement of funds from the stimulus packages to ensure their sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also, the process will have to be digitised through the formulation of a database.
There is also a need for expanding and making the credit guarantee scheme flexible so that the entrepreneurs can maximize its benefits.
An alternate source or mechanism, apart from the banking system for distributing stimulus funds to the CMSMEs, has to be developed so that the unbanked entrepreneurs could get benefitted.
Stakeholders and experts came up with the observations at the webinar "Impact of Covid-19 on CMSMEs and Understanding their Recovery: Evidence from BSCIC Industrial Estates" organised jointly by Economic Reporters' Forum and PRISM Programme.
ERF President Sharmeen Rinvy chaired the event while General Secretary S M Rashidul Islam moderated it.
Dr Monzur Hossain, the research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and also a consultant of PRISM, said: "Around 96% number of firms were affected during the lockdown owing to the pandemic while the CMSMEs recovered up to 80% of their production by December last year."
Bangabandhu killers' gallantry awards revoked
The government issued a gazette notification Sunday revoking the state gallantry awards of four convicted killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The gazette issued from the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs mentioned the absconding murderers- Noor Chowdhury, Shariful Haque Dalim, Rashed Chowdhury and Moslehuddin Khan.
Also read: Executed Bangabandhu killer Majed buried in Narayanganj
For their contributions in the 1971 Liberation War, Noor was awarded the title Bir Bikram, Dalim with Bir Uttam, and Rashed and Moslehuddin were awarded the title Bir Protik.
Earlier the High Court ordered the government to suspend the state gallantry awards of the four convicted killers of the Father of the Nation.
Also read: Bangabandhu killer Rashid's son-in-law held under ICT act
Banks to transact from 10 am to 3 pm from until June 16
Banks will continue their existing limited hour- transactions from 10 am to 3 pm on workdays until June 16.
Bangladesh Bank issued a circular on Sunday for all banks in compliance with the Cabinet Division’s latest directives on the countrywide restrictions to contain the Coronavirus transmission.
The banks can keep open offices until 4:30 pm to do their necessary activities, said the BB circular.
In the normal situation, banks operate from 10 pm to 4 pm.
The BB circular said all other instructions will remain unchanged as per the circular of April 13.
In that circular it said banks can keep one non-AD branch open within 2km radius in the city corporation areas and at Upazila level one branch of each bank can remain open on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday.
READ: Banks can open during local lockdown, says central bank
Banks have to take measures to provide transport facilities for the staff during the period.
The BB circular said during the banking transaction hours, banks have to ensure different kinds of services including clearing of cheques, withdrawal and deposits of money, money transfer, the release of remittance, encashment of different instruments and also receipt of the payments of bills of different utilities.
BB said banks have to continue services like disbursement of loans, incentives, payment of salaries of different industries and also the purchase of export bills, loan sanction and distribution.
Banks have to follow instructions in keeping the branches located in the port areas in discussion with the local administration and other authorities, as per the circular issued on August 5 last year, it said.
READ: Banks to operate from 10 am to 2 pm from Thursday
Banks have to operate with limited staff under a roster system.
They have to ensure operation of ATM booths to facilitate transaction through cards by supplying adequate cash in the machines while the evening banking and weekly holiday banking activities will remain closed until further order, said the circular issued on April 13.
Bangladesh extends lockdown until June 16
The government has extended the ongoing lockdown until June 16 as there has been no substantial improvement in the Covid-19 situation.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
Keeping all the earlier directives and restrictions effective, the government has added some new restrictions, the circular says.
Also read: Local admins can enforce lockdown, says Cabinet Secretary
According to the circular, all the tourist spots, resorts, community centres and recreation centres will remain closed during the lockdown.
It says people must refrain from holding social (post-wedding ceremonies, birthday party and picnics) , political and religious programmes that may cause public gathering.
Besides, hotels and restaurants will be allowed to keep open from 6am to 10pm with half of their capacities.
Public transport services, including inter-district buses, are allowed to run, also at half of their capacities.
All concerned, including passengers, will have to maintain health protocols like wearing masks, the circular adds.
The Deputy Commissioners of the districts which are at high risk are allowed to take necessary steps to contain the virus spread in their areas in consultation with the technical committees, the circular mentions.
The authorities concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard.
Poor, jobless people largely ignored in budget: BNP
BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan on Sunday alleged that the government largely ignored the poor and unemployed people amid the pandemic by not giving necessary allocation and announcing incentive packages for them in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
“The government has reduced the corporate tax in the proposed budget from which only 20 leading profitable companies will get the benefit of Tk 146 crore. Other companies will also enjoy the same benefit,” he said.
Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader said, “But there’s no allocation and incentive package for lakhs of people who became unemployed and poor due to the coronavirus. Many industries and business institutions in the informal sector have been shut down. But there’s nothing for them in the budget.”
He said many hawkers, and workers of transport, launch, rickshaw-pullers, day-lobourers and hotel workers have become jobless while 2.5 crore people turned poor newly. “But the government has not given any incentive for them.”
Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal arranged the programme at the Jatiya Press Club, marking BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s 40th death anniversary.
READ: Budget fails to reflect people’s aspirations: BNP
Nazrul, a BNP standing committee members, demanded the government announce a monthly allowance for the working people who have become unemployed due to the Covid outbreak.
“It’s high time to introduce allowances for the unemployed people. We must protect them and provide them food at a fair price or under a rationing system. There’re now lakhs of both educated and uneducated jobless people in the country. We’ve to let them live with dignity,” he added.
The BNP leader recalled the contributions of Ziaur Rahman to the country’s Liberation War and its development and urged the party leaders and activists to take a lesson from his life.
READ: Budget only to widen debt burden: BNP
He also called upon them to get united to restore democracy and people’s lost rights through a movement.
Garment workers have little access to Covid-19 vaccine information, says a study
The country’s garment workers have little access to adequate information related to COVID-19 immunization, according to a joint survey by the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) and Microfinance Opportunities (MFO).
The survey found that only 22% of the workers who wished to be vaccinated had information on how to gain access to jabs, Sanem said a press release on Sunday.
“This is a concern because inability to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines will put millions of garment workers, who are employed in one of our most crucial industries, at risk,” it said.
READ: Focus on policy reforms to boost private sector investment: SANEM
In order to facilitate the recovery process of RMG production, export and the economy as a whole, factory owners, government officials, policymakers and advocacy groups will have to come together to prioritize the health and safety of workers.
SANEMand and MFO have been jointly conducting a series of surveys to better understand how the lives of garment workers in Bangladesh have evolved during the COVID-19 crisis.
The press release said that the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh
which has been one of the key drivers of economic growth, has faced challenges since the start of the pandemic. Consequently, the lives of the workers employed by the sector have been affected in various ways.
READ: 68% of businesses yet to receive any stimulus: SANEM
Under the title "Garment Worker Diaries", SANEM and MFO have been collecting monthly data since April 2020 on the employment, income, food security, wage digitization and health of garment workers employed in factories across the five main industrial areas of Bangladesh (Chittagong, Dhaka City, Gazipur, Narayanganj, and Savar).
The data disclosed were collected from a pool of 1,285 workers during surveys conducted over the phone on April 23, 2021.
Just over three-quarters of the working respondents are women, roughly representative of workers in the sector as a whole. The survey focused on COVID-19 lockdown conditions as well as on garment workers’ awareness of and opinions about COVID-19 vaccinations.
Despite the nationwide lockdown, garment-producing factories across the manufacturing sector were allowed to operate with strict guidelines in place.
However, in the absence of sufficient public transport, some apparel workers could not commute to their factories as they normally would: 8% of the workers surveyed told us they had to use alternative means to get to work.
READ: SANEM finds 70% wage-earners in 4 dists. worse off in a year
Further, only 4% of surveyed workers reported using factory-provided transportation, indicating that not all factories took the necessary measures to ensure transportation to work for those workers who are reliant upon it.
As it stands though, 76% of the surveyed workers reported that they walk to their workplaces, while only 10% used rickshaws, 6% used auto-rickshaws, 2% used bus, and 2% used CNGs.
Finally, 92% of the surveyed workers also reported that there was no change in their means of transport, indicating that the majority of workers usually travel to work on foot anyways.
Only 2% of the surveyed workers had received the COVID-19 vaccine prior to the survey. On being asked whether they think they are eligible to get vaccinated, 36% of respondents said they were eligible, 28% said they were not eligible, and 34% said they did not know if they were eligible.
Among the 36% of respondents said they were eligible for the vaccine, 76% said they want to get vaccinated.
Among the 28% of respondents stated that they were not eligible for the vaccine, 63% said they would get the vaccine if they became eligible.
And among the 34% of respondents who weren’t sure if they were eligible, 65% said they would get the vaccine if in fact they were eligible
Overall, 69% of respondents said they were willing to get vaccinated if they were eligible to get the vaccine whereas 31% said they did not want to get vaccinated.
Out of the 31% who were unwilling to get the vaccine, 48% were afraid of side-effects, falling ill or dying, 23% did not feel the necessity or the benefit of getting vaccinated, 17% said they would rely on their religious faith to stay protected, 3% said they were pregnant or suffering from other health problems or allergies, 2% said they were prohibited by their husband, a little less than 1% said they were waiting for everyone else to get vaccinated, and 7% gave us some type of other response.
Incessant rains: Parts of Chattogram city go under water
Despite repeated assurances from the authorities concerned to end waterlogging, parts of Chattogram port city witnessed a severe waterlogging on Sunday as previous years.
Witnesses said incessant rains since morning inundated different parts of the port city.
Important roads in Chawkbazar, Jamal Khan, Agrabad, Boro Pole, Choto Pole, Halishahar, Patenga, EPZ, Prabartak Intersection, Bahaddarhat, Muradpur, Bakolia, Sholoshohor, Dampara and many low-lying areas got waterlogged, causing immense sufferings to the city dwellers.