Dhaka
Dengue menace to continue till mid-November: Experts
The gradual increase in dengue infection has created panic among the residents of Dhaka city. Hospitals are failing to cope with the pressure of dengue patients despite setting up new wards. Patients are dying within just three days of getting admitted to hospitals.
A total of 89 people have died of dengue till October 15 this year. Doctors of Dhaka Shishu Hospital said that 119 children have been admitted with the disease in the first 12 days of this month. While visiting various hospitals in the city, UNB saw that people were lying on the floors due to a lack of hospital beds.
Doctors and health experts say that measures taken by the city corporations and other authorities are not proving to be effective. The publicity and drives carried out by the authorities to destroy larvae of Aedes mosquito, the carrier of the dengue virus, are appearing to be inadequate.
Read: DSCC to launch special five-day anti-dengue drive Sunday in five wards
“Creating awareness among the public is a must to rein in the dengue menace. We’ve taken various steps in this regard,” Prof Dr Ahmedul Kabir, Additional Director General (Additional DG) of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), told UNB.
“Most of the casualties from dengue are happening outside Dhaka city. People aged between 40-50 years are the worst victim of this disease. It’s taking only three days for dengue patients to die from this disease,” Kabir added.
Public health expert Dr Mohammad Abdus Sabur Khan said that although dengue intensity usually decreases in September, but this time the situation has reversed.
Read:Dengue: Fatality rate far exceeds year of deadliest outbreak
“It’s October now, but dengue is showing no sign of retreating. It seems like dengue will prevail till mid-November this time,” Khan said.
Khan added that the under-construction buildings are the primary breeding grounds of Aedes mosquito.
“City corporations are conducting drives at people’s houses. But the construction sites are always covered by fences. As a result, the authorities can’t reach these places and thus the dengue menace goes on unabated,” added Khan.
Read 506 new Dengue patients hospitalised
Dr Nazmul Islam, Director of Disease Control Department of DGHS, described the activities that his institution was carrying out to prevent dengue.
“We do two things. Firstly, we prepare the hospitals for dengue treatment by keeping the doctors and the health care workers updated through training. Secondly, we conduct surveys in the two city corporations of Dhaka and submit the report to the local government authorities. According to our survey this year, the dengue epidemic has hit both the south and the north equally,” Nazmul said.
Nazmul added that dengue infection increases when the number of mosquitoes rises. He termed the current measures taken up by the authorities as a loss project as the breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquitoes still exist.
Read Dengue claims 55 lives since June 21: DGHS
According to the DGHS, a total of 24,326 people have been affected with dengue till October 15 of this year, while the number was 28,429 in 2021.
The highest number of people infected by dengue was in 2019, when a staggering 1,01,354 people were infected with the virus.
The same goes for mortality caused by dengue. In 2019, a record 179 people had died of dengue, while the figure has been 89 to date this year.
Read Dengue death toll rises to 63 with two more deaths: DGHS
Dr ABM Abdullah, an Emeritus Professor and the personal physician of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, provided some guidelines to fight dengue.
“First of all, if anyone is infected with dengue, he has to consult a doctor and start taking medicines according to the prescription. Some people tend to think that a mild fever won’t do any harm. This line of thinking must be discarded. People suffering from fever must test themselves, and if dengue is identified in someone, he has to be admitted in hospitals immediately,” Abdullah said.
Selim Reza, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), claimed that they’re conducting drives to weed out dengue from localities, although he couldn’t justify why they’re being unable to conduct drives at construction sites.
Read Why do Mosquitoes bite me so much?
Farid Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), said that they’ve fined numerous building owners for not cleaning stale water, the place where Aedes mosquitoes lay eggs.
“Mass awareness is necessary to fight Dengue. If the people are aware then Dengue won’t be able to do any harm,” Farid said.
Dhaka Table Tennis League under way
The Walton Dhaka Metropolis Table Tennis League, organized by Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation (BTTF),began on Thursday at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Indoor Stadium in the capital
Director General of BKSP Brigadier General AKM Mazharul Haque inaugurated the league in the morning as chief guest.
Senior Executive Director of the league sponsor Walton Hi Tech Industries FM Iqbal Bin Anwar Don, BTTF General Secretary Sheikh M Jahangir Alam and league committe chairman Saidul Haque Saadi were also present at the day's inaugural function, presided by BTTF acting President Khondakar Hasan Monir Sumon.
Read: Serena Williams: From reigning the court to leaving tennis as a winner
Four women's group and 12 first division league matches were decided on the opening day.
A total 10 teams are taking part in the Men's Premier League while nine teams in the Women's League.
Foreign players will not participate this time in the league.
Besides, 32 teams are playing in the first division league.
13 muggers held in Dhaka
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) has detained 13muggers gang from different areas of the capital.
A team of Rab-3 detained the muggers after conducting simultaneous drives in Shahjahanpur, Motijheel and Paltan areas on Tuesday night, said Commanding Officer of RAB-3, Lt Col Arif Mohiuddin Ahmed.
The elite force also seized sharp weapons and a mobile phone from their possession.
During primary questioning, the alleged gang members said they used to mug people in these areas brandishing sharp weapons.
Legal steps have been taken against the detainees, the officer added.
Power supply in Dhaka: Until Ghorashal working in full capacity, situation won’t improve
Since the national power grid failure on October 4, 2022, Ghorashal Power Station could not resume operation in full capacity, a top official of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), has said.
“Ghorashal Power Station may take one more week to resume electricity generation in full capacity,” he said, wishing not to be named.
Read: As workweek starts, power supply situation in Dhaka worsens
Bangladesh Power Development Board data shows the country’s power generation varies between 11,000 MW and 12,000 MW, following the national grid failure on October 4 – against a demand for about 14,000 MW.
“As a result, we have to resort to about 2,000 MW of load shedding to manage the situation,” the BPDB official said.
Read: National grid failure: Power Division forms 7-member probe body
He also noted that power supply from Ghorashal station plays a major role in meeting demands in Dhaka city.
“Until Ghorashal resumes operation in full swing, power supply situation in Dhaka is unlikely to improve,” he observed.
Despite lower electricity demand on weekend, Dhaka residents suffer
During the weekend on Friday and Saturday when consumers expect an uninterrupted power supply against a lower electricity demand they had no luck this time.
Power cuts on Friday were like a usual working day when demand for electricity soars as offices and businesses operate.
Official figures show, though the situation has improved to a certain level following the restoration of power supply across the country after a 7-hour national grid failure on October 4, still the power generation could not reach the previous level.
Read Saving electricity: Bangladesh Bank issues notice to close evening banking
According to officials, Dhaka city and adjoining areas experienced more than 500 MW of power shortages daily against a demand of 2500 MW on Friday and Saturday.
Officials of both Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (Desco), which distribute electricity to Dhaka city and surrounding areas admitted that the power supply situation have deteriorated in recent days and now they have to resort to load shedding for more than 3 hours a day.
However, residents in both Desco and DPDC areas alleged that they have been experiencing power cuts for 3-6 hours a day.
read Focus more on generating electricity from renewable sources: Nasrul Hamid
" We have been experiencing more than 5 hours of load shedding on a number of occasions”, said Abdur Rahman Jahangir, a resident of Rampura area.
Similar allegations are being received from the residents of other areas under both DPDC and Desco.
DPDC is managing power supply with 300 MW of less electricity in the daytime and the outage level might go up further in the night, said Bikash Dewan, managing director of the company.
Read Bangladesh to sign PPA with Indian companies to purchase 500 MW electricity from Nepal
DPDC is responsible for power distribution to the central and west and south-west part of Dhaka city and parts of Narayanganj.
“We’ve to struggle with the relatively lower supply from the BPDB for DPDC areas where most key point installations (KPIs) including official residences of the President and the Prime Minister, cantonments and most public hospitals are located”, he told UNB.
DPDC received 1,100 MW at 7 am on Saturday against a demand of 1400 MW while the demand remains between 1650 and 1700 MW on a working day, he noted. The situation was almost similar on Friday as well.
Read National grid failure: Power Division forms 7-member probe body
Md. Kausar Ameer Ali, managing director of Desco, which distributes power to the north and east parts of Dhaka city and Tongi industrial hub, said that the distribution entity is receiving 750 MW of electricity against a demand for 932 with a load shedding of 182 MW.
"In the evening, the extent of load shedding might increase in Desco areas”, he told UNB.
A top official of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), quoting official data, said that the country’s highest power generation was 12,889 MW on Friday against a relatively lower demand of 13,900 MW while load shedding was recorded to be 1011 MW.
Read Power blackout triggers chaos in Dhaka petrol pumps
According to him, who preferred not to be named, the highest demand forecast for Saturday is 13,600 MW while generation forecast is 12,435 MW and load shedding is expected to be 1,165 MW across the country.
The country’s total power generation capacity is about 25,500 MW. But as part of austerity measures, the government kept all the diesel-fired plants closed while a good number of plants remained out of operation for a shortage in gas supply.
The official also admitted that the official figures sometimes do not rightly reflect the actual deficit in power supply as the figure is made based on the generation amount recorded at the power stations’ end.
Read National power grid failure: Blackout across Bangladesh
“But when the electricity reaches consumers’ end, automatically 10-13 percent of electricity is lost in the system itself as there are their own consumptions by the power stations, substations and transmission systems”, he said.
So, people usually get 10-13 percent less electricity than the figure shows, he said.
Meanwhile, officials of the BPDB informed that the still Ghorashal power station was not able to resume generation in full swing.
Read RMG factories bearing power outages of 4 to 10 hours a day: BGMEA President
The power station is generating a total 210 MW against a capacity of 700 MW as still 6 generation units, out of total 7, could not come back into generation, he said adding, the situation will improve in Dhaka when the remaining 6 units, having about a capacity of 500 MW, could add to the generation.
Dhaka’s traffic chaos: Officials have no answers
Banker Sarwar Hossain is anxious every morning as he becomes very tense five days a week before starting for his office in Motijheel from his home in Uttara.
“Sometimes it seems to me that I am just wasting my life. How can I do my job efficiently if I spend hours on streets everyday? Sometimes I spend up to four hours on streets to go to my office and come back,” he said. “Being painfully stuck in traffic is taking its toll on my mental health. It’s really painful.”
Read:Gridlock from Uttara to Mohakhali: Dhaka traffic paralyzed
It’s not the story of Sarwar only. Commuters in the capital city, Dhaka, are frustrated and angry for the city’s daily traffic chaos, which also costs the economy millions of dollars every year.
With 18.10 lakh registered vehicles in Dhaka alone and with a population of over 22 million such a chaos is expected in a megacity where traffic management is still rudimentary and road infrastructure is dilapidated.
According to a 2018 study by BUET’s Accident Research Institute, Dhaka traffic wasted 5 million work hours and cost the economy BDT37,000 crore in the year. According to other work done by the government’s BIDS and Dhaka-based thinktank Policy Research Institute (PRI), approximately 6 to 10 percent of the country’s GDP is indirectly lost to traffic chaos every year.
Because of ongoing construction of metro-rail, bus rapid transport (BRT) and broken footpaths and dilapidated roads traffic chaos has reached its peak in recent months.
Officials involved with such projects or traffic management can’t say when this chaos will end.
The worst traffic chaos has been disrupting people’s movement on Tongi-Banani Road via Uttara and Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport areas for months.
Many people have missed their flights due to traffic chaos on this route. Sometimes, it takes about two hours to cross the airport area alone, and if someone’s luck is bad, two to three hours won’t be enough to reach Paltan or Motijheel via this way.
Mohammed Raihan, another resident of Uttara, goes to the Bangladesh Secretariat from his home to attend his office everyday.
“On rare occasions, I can make the journey within 1.5 hours from Uttara to my office. But it depends on the road being free of traffic. Most of the time, I get stuck at the airport area, in Banani and Tejgaon for hours,” said Raihan.
Some other routes where traffic jam has reached an unprecedented level are Tejgaon-Farmgate-Shahbagh-Dhanmondi, Gulshan-Banani-Badda-Kuril and Gulistan-Paltan-Motijheel.
Md Ferdous, who goes to Paltan from Bashundhara Residential Area for work, said that it takes at least two hours for him to make the journey if he leaves early in the morning.
“Even two hours isn’t enough sometimes to travel this distance after 10:00 am. Badda, Mouchak and Paltan intersections-these are the points where getting stuck for indefinite periods has become a common experience,” Ferdous said.
Read: As work week ends, rain spells traffic woes for Dhaka dwellers
Md Munna, a regular commuter on Mirpur-Motijheel route, echoed Ferdous.
Traffic officials have no good news to share on whether it would end soon despite their optimism about taking up some measures to ease the problem.
Md Munibur Rahman, Additional Commissioner (Traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), said that following traffic rules and driving vehicles in a disciplined way can lessen the traffic congestion in the city.
“Chaotic driving, parking vehicles at undesignated places and taking passengers from the middle of the roads are some of the reasons why traffic congestion happens. Besides, development works at some parts of the city are also adding to the problem,” said Munibur.
Munibur added that only traffic police won’t be able to tackle the traffic situation, rather people should fix their mindsets for finding a solution to the crisis.
To ease the traffic situation, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has decided not to allow parents to use private cars for dropping off their children to schools.
“We’ve decided to start school bus service to discourage the use of private vehicles. At first, we’ll start the service experimentally at four schools and we’ll go for the rest if our experiment works,” Atiqul said.
The Mayor added that private cars parked beside roads is the main reason for traffic congestion in some areas.
“Using private vehicles will decrease if we can earn the trust of the parents. Besides, the kids will develop strong social bonding while going to schools together, which is very important,” Atiqul added.
Farid Ahmad, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), said that they’re taking coordinated steps to put an end to the traffic problem.
“Both DSCC and DNCC have reached an agreement to bring the buses that ply on Dhaka streets under a single transport company. This will lessen the risky competition between the bus drivers to a great extent. Also, efforts are on to develop the traffic system of the city,” said Farid.
But banker Sarwar is not happy with the answers.
"These statements will not end our pain anytime soon. All these measures are half-hearted and will not address the problem at all,” he said with frustration.
Love in Dhaka. Marriage in India...
Love truly goes beyond geographical boundaries.
Yes, it was in the 2000s when Banya Baruah fell in love with her teenager-classmate Anirban Choudhury in Dhaka. Both were then students of Mastermind International School in the Bangladesh capital.
Read: Gorbachev’s marriage, like his politics, broke the mold
At the time, Banya's father Golap Baruah alias Anup Chetia, one of the founders of the outlawed Indian insurgency group United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa), was incarcerated in a Bangladeshi jail.
Chetia was, in fact, jailed in 1997 for sneaking into Bangladesh to escape Indian Army action against the separatist rebel group. He was also charged for possessing huge amounts of foreign currency.
The Ulfa general secretary was, however, deported to India in 2015 to participate in peace talks with the Indian government.
Seven years on, Banya and Anirban tied the knot in Jeraigaon, her father's native village near the eastern Indian state of Assam's Dibrugarh town on September 30.
Another marriage followed by a grand reception is, however, slated for November 15 in the Australian city of Melbourne, where Anirban now works.
Read: House passes same-sex marriage bill in retort to high court
"I was not aware of their relationship since I was in jail then. But we have love and regard for people in Bangladesh for the kind of help they provided to us in our revolution," Chetia recently told an Indian media outlet.
Chetia and a few youths founded Ulfa way back in 1979 and have since fought for a separate Assamese homeland.
Dhaka's air quality 'moderate' this morning
Dhaka is no longer the world's most polluted city -- it's air quality has turned ‘moderate’ again. With an air quality index (AQI) score of 61 at 9.25am, Dhaka today ranked 27th in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.
An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
Pakistan’s Lahore, the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai and Vietnam’s Hanoi occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 166, 163 and 162, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
Read: Dhaka’s air quality is ‘unhealthy’
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
Dhaka's air quality 'moderate' this morning
Dhaka's air quality continued to be in the ‘moderate’ zone on Monday.
With an air quality index (AQI) score of 72 at 9 am, the metropolis ranked 20th in the list of world cities with the worst air quality.
An AQI between 50 and 100 is considered ‘moderate’ with an acceptable air quality. However, there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.
Read: AQI: Dhaka's air quality improves after morning rain
Pakistan’s Lahore, the UAE’s Dubai and India’s Delhi occupied the first three spots in the list, with AQI scores of 178, 162 and 154, respectively.
An AQI between 101 and 200 is considered 'unhealthy', particularly for sensitive groups.
Similarly, an AQI between 201 and 300 is said to be 'poor', while a reading of 301 to 400 is considered 'hazardous', posing serious health risks to residents.
In Bangladesh, the AQI is based on five criteria pollutants -- Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5), NO2, CO, SO2 and Ozone.
Dhaka has long been grappling with air pollution issues. Its air quality usually turns unhealthy in winter and improves during the monsoon.
Read:Dhaka's air quality is 'unhealthy'
Air pollution consistently ranks among the top risk factors for death and disability worldwide. Breathing polluted air has long been recognised as increasing a person’s chances of developing a heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases, lung infections and cancer, according to several studies.
As per the World Health Organization (WHO), air pollution kills an estimated seven million people worldwide every year, largely as a result of increased mortality from stroke, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and acute respiratory infections.
PM leaves Washington for home via London
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has left Washington DC for Dhaka wrapping up her 18-day official visit to the UK and the USA.
A VVIP chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines carrying the premier and her entourage left Washington at about 6:30 pm (local time).
Read: Hasina invites MBS to visit Bangladesh
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh Ambassador to USA Muhammad Imran and Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN Muhammad Abdul Muhith saw the PM off at the airport.
She will have a stopover in London before reaching Dhaka early Tuesday.
Hasina went to London on September 15, on an official visit to the United Kingdom mainly to attend Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and a reception hosted by King Charles III.
Read:PM in NY: Rohingyas living in Myanmar’s Arakan since 8th century
On September 19, she left London for New York.
During her stay in the USA, Sheikh Hasina addressed the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23. She also took part in several events on the sidelines of the UNGA.