Month: June 2021

Assuring that a massive vaccination drive will begin in the country in July, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said the government will provide any amount of money to collect Covid-19 vaccines to ensure free jabs for all.

“I’ve already announced that the government will ensure free vaccination for all. We’ll provide funds, no matter how much is needed, to collect the necessary vaccines to this end,” she said.

The Prime Minister said this while participating in the general discussion in the House on the proposed national budget for 2021-22 fiscal year.

She said the government has kept aside Tk 14,200 crore in the national budget for vaccine collection.

“We’ve taken a plan to bring 80 percent of people under the vaccination coverage in phases,” Hasina told the House.

She said the government started contacting the countries developing vaccines when it was at the research stage and provided money to book vaccines.

But, she said, Bangladesh fell into trouble to some extent for the time being as India banned vaccine export after a massive surge in the coronavirus infections there.

“Now we’ve managed it. There’ll be no problem for us anymore (in collecting vaccines),” said the Prime Minister.

Mentioning that the government is in touch with China, Russia, the USA and all other vaccine-producing countries and companies, she said her government has already collected 1.14 crore doses of vaccines from different sources.

“We expect that more vaccines would come in this July and we’ll start the vaccination on a massive scale,” the Prime Minister added.

She said measures have been taken to vaccinate the outbound migrant workers on a priority basis so that they do not have to stay in quarantine once they reach their overseas workplaces.

Mentioning that the health sector has been given top priority as the pandemic persists, the PM said last year the government had successfully tackled its first wave. “We’ve taken effective steps quickly to check the ongoing second wave utilizing that experience. Insha’Allah, we’ll be able to protect public health and public life through tackling the pandemic,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina, also the Leader of the House, said a special allocation of Tk 10,000 crore has been kept aside in this proposed budget to meet any emergency demand as the second wave of the pandemic continues.

The government has recruited some 10,000 physicians, nurses and other health workers, and collected necessary medical equipment with a view to ensuring the quick healthcare services, particularly for the Covid-19 patients, she said.

A coordinated health science research and development fund has been formed to sustain the successes gained in the health sector and enhance the capacity to protect people from the fallouts of any pandemic in the future. Some Tk 100 crore has been allocated for the fund in the budget, Hasina added.

Despite the impacts of the Covid-19 second wave, the economy of Bangladesh is now on the way to complete recovery due to the implementation of 23 stimulus packages and various measures taken by the government.

Pointing out that her government stands beside the people of the country during the crisis as it did in the past, she said: “I promise to people that we’ll take prompt decisions, if necessary, to take any initiative to protect their livelihood and economic recovery. We’ll stand by people.”

She said agriculture is the second highest priority sector in the budget. Though there was stagnation in different sectors due to the pandemic, Bangladesh has been able to keep the production normal in the agricultural sector as the government gave the highest importance to it, Hasina said.

The PM said an allocation of Tk 107,614 crore has been earmarked for the social safety net programmed in the proposed budget, which is 17.8pc of the total budget and 3.1 percent of the country’s GDP.

Employment generation, helping the industry, commerce, agriculture and service sectors recover from the fallout, expansion of society safety net and mass vaccination were given special emphasis in the proposed budget, she said.

Hasina said the economy of Bangladesh incurred a loss of US$ 17 billion in 2019-20 and 2020-21 fiscal years due to the pandemic.

She said the government placed the proposed budget for 2021-22 giving priority to the lives and livelihoods.

“I believe we’ll be able to implement the budget and thus Bangladesh will make one step forward (towards prosperity and development),” she said.

Hasina hoped that Bangladesh would be able to join the development trajectory again by offsetting the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A large number of Bangladeshi expatriates living in Houston, Austin, and surrounding cities have received various consular services from mobile consular camps.

They received services like re-issuance of Machine-Readable Passports, NVR, and Attestation.

Approximately 800 people received services from these consular camps.

The Embassy of Bangladesh in Washington, DC organised the mobile consular camps from 18 -23 June in Houston and Austin of Texas.

Bangladesh Ambassador to USA M Shahidul Islam visited the consular camps and interacted with the service seekers.

The Bangladesh diaspora in Texas expressed their gratitude to the Ambassador for arranging mobile consular camps.

The Embassy, as part of its public diplomacy and welfare programmes, will continue hosting mobile consular camps in different cities to facilitate consular services to the Bangladesh community.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Brac will work to promote “Ami Probashi” app recently developed to digitally facilitate the process of migration for those aspiring to go abroad for work.

The Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment and private concern Bangla Trac Group have launched this mobile app “Ami Probashi” to make overseas employment related services easier.

Brac Migration programme and Bangla Trac have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure that the app makes a vast reach among aspiring migrants to procure correct information about the different steps of migration procedures.

Brac executive director Asif Saleh and Bangla Trac director Namir Ahmad signed the agreement on behalf of the respective parties on Tuesday.

Key account manager of Bangla Trac Sharif Uddin Ahmed, BRAC’s senior director KAM Morshed and head of BRAC’s migration programme Shariful Hasan were present at the signing ceremony, among others.

Expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister Imran Ahmad on May 8 inaugurated the app.

Any Bangladeshi interested in going abroad can avail the services offered by the app through registration using his/her mobile number or email address. It takes only five steps to complete the registration.

Through the ‘Ami Probashi’ app, people wishing to pursue a job abroad can easily get information on online applications, search for relevant jobs, connect to government-approved recruiting agents, get a list of passport offices and medical centers, stages of immigration process, and country-wise regulations. Brac will engage itself to inform aspiring migrants about the mobile app, taking it to the marginalised communities.

At the signing ceremony, Asif Saleh said migrant workers face different forms of harassment due to lack of authentic information. They get cheated in many ways.

“We are working long to make aspiring migrants aware and skilled. They will get authentic information using this app. BRAC will work so that migrant workers can make proper use of this app and access services.”

Bangla Trac director Namir Ahmad said, ‘Ami Probashi’ is an initiative of the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment to digitise the full system of the migration process.

“This app contains information on all the steps associated with going abroad legally. Users can scan and store necessary important documents including copies of their passports, job approval letters and National Identity Card in the app. The app also offers a list of detailed information and email addresses of the contact persons in different countries in case someone faces a problem abroad. We are expecting to make the app functional through BRAC.”

The app ‘Ami Probashi’ can be downloaded on play store.

Although the app has a list of 23 countries including the Middle East, the names of more countries will be available in the “other countries” section.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Even after four years they were forced to flee Myanmar, almost 900,000 Rohingya refugees at camps in Cox’s Bazar desperately need urgent action to secure their future.

Jeff Labovitz, Director for the Department of Operations and Emergencies (DOE) in International Organization for Migration (IOM) said this during his official visit to Bangladesh last week.

He also said, “The Rohingya are still waiting for durable solutions.’’

Labovitz urged all the stakeholders to come together with a durable solution for their future.

During his visit in Cox’s Bazar, the DOE director checked on the progress of rebuilding the camps destroyed by a fire in March which left thousands without shelter.

Labovitz also visited IOM’s key health-care facilities in the camps.

He was impressed with the Digital Island Project on the island of Moheshkhali, implemented since 2016 by IOM in collaboration with the government.

The project has transformed the island into an IT hub by improving the remote population’s access to high-speed internet and social services.

Jeff Labovitz also had strategic meetings with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, and the Office of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, as well as key humanitarian partners, donors and other UN agencies during his stay in Bangladesh.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A campaign titled ‘Remittance, Investment & Business Promotion in Bangladesh’ was recently held in Atlanta, Georgia.

Bangladeshi expatriates, community leaders, representatives of the Bangladesh Association of Georgia (BAG), businessmen, and entrepreneurs were present at this event attended by a team of Bangladesh Embassy in the US.

In the seminar, Bangladesh’s recent achievements under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina were highlighted, said the Embassy on Tuesday.

Participants were also able to, in detail, learn about the benefits of investing in three major savings/investment instruments offered by the Bangladesh Government: Wage Earner Development Bond, US Dollar Investment Bond, and US Dollar Premium Bond.

They were informed of the existing 2% cash incentives on conventional remittances and discussed the procedures of the opening of foreign currency (FC) accounts in Bangladesh.

The participants highly appreciated this initiative and extended their sincere thanks to Ambassador of Bangladesh to the USA M Shahidul Islam, and expressed their keen interest in investing on those instruments.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A Bangladeshi young man was gunned down by some members of the Indian Border Security Force(BSF) along Patgram border in Patgram upazila on Tuesday morning.

The shooting occurred near No 862 main pillar of Shamsernagar Kanirbari under No 3 ward of Jagatber union of the upazila.

The deceased was identified as Rifat Hossain, 30, son of Islam Hossain of Munshirhat Najirgomani area in the upazila.

Belal Hossain, Company Commander of BGB-61 battalion, said a patrol team of BSF opened fire on a group of cattle traders when they went to the border to bring cattle around 10:30 am.

Later, Indian police and BSF took away the body.

A letter was sent to BSF seeking return of the body after holding a flag meeting, said Belal.

In September, Indian Border Security Force had reiterated its policy of using non-lethal weapons on the Bangladesh-India border.

The BSF made the assurance in response to the concerns expressed by Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on border deaths.

The BSF assured that all unarmed and innocent trespassers and victims of human trafficking will be handed over to BGB personnel.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

India has described the two-day visit of Indian Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria to Bangladesh “highly significant” in view of the Golden Jubilee of the historic victory in 1971 War for the Liberation of Bangladesh.

The Indian Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) was invited by his counterpart Air Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan, Chief of Air Staff, Bangladesh Air Force to review the Passing Out Parade and Commissioning Ceremony at Bangladesh Air Force Academy (BAFA) in Jashore on June 28 on the occasion of ‘President Parade 2021’.

“The two-day visit was highly significant,” said a media release issued by the Press Information Bureau of India on Tuesday.

This occasion also marks the first instance when any foreign chief was invited to review the Parade as the chief guest, a reaffirmation of the strong bonds of friendship and trust between Bangladesh India and their Armed Forces.

While addressing the graduating trainees on parade, Indian CAS complimented them for an excellent parade and noted the rapid progress being made in all aspects of military-level interactions, with bilateral defence cooperation having become an important pillar in the deep historical and fraternal ties between India and Bangladesh.

The CAS described this event as a reflection of the excellent state of professional relationship between the two Air Forces based on mutual trust and understanding.

He expressed confidence that his presence in BAFA during this historic 50th year of the Liberation War would reinforce the already strong and multidimensional partnership between the two Nations.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Bhadauria held discussions with his host, the Chief of Air Staff Bangladesh Air Force as well as the Chief of Army Staff and Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division; wherein matters of mutual interest and avenues to further strengthen the all-encompassing defence cooperation were discussed.

He also interacted with the High Commissioner of India Vikram K. Doraiswami during his stay in Dhaka.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

A woman went missing after a potato-laden trawler capsized in the Meghna River near Kazipura in Gajaria upazila of Munshiganj on Tuesday.

The missing woman was identified as Belayetunnisa , 52, wife of Abdul Jalil of Molla Char in Munshiganj Sadar Upazila.

Abdus Salam, in-charge of Gazaria Naval Police Outpost, said Belayetunnisa was going to Chandpur from Muktarpur area of Munshiganj in the large trawler carrying 400 maunds of potatoes.

The trawler sank in the Meghna at around 8:15 am. Three people managed to swim ashore but Belayetunnisa went missing, he said.

Police said the trawler has not been salvaged yet.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Customers can now enjoy up to 50% discount on bKash payment for health check-up and doctor consultations via online at three healthcare service providers while staying at home during the pandemic.

Alongside the discount on Covid-19 test, customers can get up to 50% discount on health check-up at ‘Amar Lab’, 20% discount at ‘Dhaka Doctor’, and 5% instant cashback on payment of Tk 300-1500 at ‘Pulse Healthcare Services’ by making payment through bKash.

These offers will be available at Amar Lab till July 17, at Dhaka Doctor and Pulse Healthcare Services till September 17.

Customers can avail Covid-19 test service from their home from these three healthcare service providers and Asgar Ali Hospital via online.

bKash payment has brought special opportunities for patients outside of Dhaka to get specialized doctors’ consultation through online, said a media release on Tuesday.

This service is helping to curb the risk of Covid-19 infections for patients and their relatives, it said.

Patients can enjoy several health tests, Covid-19 test, full body check-up from the comfort of their home by paying through bKash.

In such cases, service providers will collect test samples from home, and later, patients can receive their reports online.

Customers can visit website and Facebook page of bKash and healthcare service providing organizations’ websites to know more about these offers.

They can make payment through bKash app or USSD code *247# to avail these offers.

They need to click on the given link provided by healthcare service providers after bKash payment to get the service.

bKash customers can Cash In to their own and dear ones’ account from 270,000 agent points across the country and also Add Money from 29 banks and Visa and Mastercard issued in Bangladesh conveniently.

Bringing money to bKash 24/7 and availing online healthcare service through bKash payment will help customers maintain social distance during the pandemic.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

The number of migrant children housed at the Biden administration’s largest emergency shelter for those who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone has dropped by more than 40% since mid-June, a top U.S. official said Monday, touting progress at the facility that has been criticized by child welfare advocates.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters that 790 boys were housed at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, and the last girl left Monday. All the girls were reunited either with relatives in the U.S. or a sponsor such as a family friend or sent to licensed facilities, which have a higher standard of care, according to the agency responsible for caring for migrant children.

In mid-June, the administration reported about 2,000 boys and girls were at the Fort Bliss facility amid child welfare advocates’ concerns about inadequate conditions. A high of 4,800 children were housed there in May.

Becerra said his agency was evaluating whether it can close some of the emergency shelters that the government opened in the spring as record numbers of unaccompanied children crossed the border. He declined to say whether Fort Bliss would be among them.

“Because we’ve been successful in managing the flow, we are prepared to begin the demobilization of several of our emergency intake sites,” Becerra said.

He made his second visit to Fort Bliss since it opened in March and said more services and staffing have been added, including case managers who have helped get children released to relatives in the U.S. or placed in licensed facilities more quickly.

In transcripts of interviews done by attorneys and filed in federal court in Los Angeles last week, migrant children described their desperation to get out of Fort Bliss and the other large shelters set up by the Biden administration.

The children were interviewed from March to June by attorneys monitoring a longstanding settlement governing custody conditions for migrant children.

Some of the children said they did not know if anyone was working to reunite them with their families, giving them anxiety. Others did not have enough access to a mental health counselor, had trouble sleeping because lights were kept on at night and were avoiding meals because the food smelled foul. Several said they spent their days sleeping and had been in the facilities, like Fort Bliss, for more than a month.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited El Paso on Friday, and her spokeswoman, Symone Sanders, told reporters that President Joe Biden has instructed Becerra to “do a thorough investigation” and report back about the conditions at Fort Bliss, which advocates have called particularly troubling.

“The administration is taking this very seriously. Extremely seriously,” Sanders said.

Shaw Drake, staff attorney and policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, applauded the reduction in the number of children housed at Fort Bliss but questioned why it has taken this long to see real progress in releasing kids from the government’s unlicensed shelters.

Drake praised the Biden administration for helping get children out of overcrowded holding facilities for adult migrants by opening more than dozen emergency shelters quickly. But he said “immediately after that, the focus should have been to reunify children with sponsors, and it seemed like that languished and left kids in places like Fort Bliss far too long.”

A rise in the number of migrant children crossing the southwest border alone has challenged the Biden administration. The Department of Health and Human Services has more than 14,200 migrant children in its care, down from 22,000 two months ago.

Becerra said more children are in licensed shelters now than unlicensed facilities, a reversal from a government report in May. He said officials are working to get more beds made available at licensed facilities.

“We have continued to expand our capacity, and as a result, we’re able to discharge more of these children into the hands of a responsible, vetted custodian, which then frees up a bed for another child,” he said.

Despite the improvements, Becerra said the shelters are not a solution and urged Congress to fix what he called a broken immigration system.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Parliament GM Quader on Tuesday said though the irregularities in the health sector is now the key point of discussion in the country, no effective step is in sight to check the graft.

Joining the general discussion on the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 in parliament, he also opposed keeping the scope for whitening black money as he thinks it is tantamount to legalising corruption.”

“Reports are being published in the newspapers every day on the irregularities and corruption in the Health Ministry. But it seems the minister and others concerned are not taking it seriously. A mask worth about Tk 4 is being bought at Tk 350. If there’s any factual truth, then action needs to be taken,” he said.

GM Qauder, also the chairman of Jatiya Party, said it is not possible to implement the budget, no matter how much money is allocated, due to corruption and lack of coordination and good governance. “They don’t get the benefit for whom the money is allocated just for lack of good governance.”

He said the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) found evidence of 1,024 cases of money laundering in the last five years and it has sent reports with evidence to various government agencies to take action against those involved in siphoning off money. “But there’s no information that punitive action has been taken against anyone.”

Referring to media reports, GM Quader said Bangladeshis’ deposits in Swiss banks have also been increasing, “According to Global Financial Integrity, about Tk 64,000 crore is siphoned off abroad from Bangladesh every year undercover of trade with false information.”

He said the scope for whitening black money has been kept in the national budget for many years, but it is contrary to the good governance and the Prime Minister’s zero-tolerance policy against corruption.

He said the black money whitening opportunity definitely encourages corruption and it should be stopped.

The Jatiya Party chief said the banking sector is now at a sorry state due to plundering and corruption, but no visible action has been taken against those involved in Bangladesh Bank’s reserve heist, Hallmark Tk 4,000 core loan scam, Bismillah Group’s financial irregularities and Basic Bank’s scam.

He said it was mentioned in the proposed budget that Tk 1,13,453 crore will be borrowed from the central bank. “How realistic is it to be dependent on banks which are now in a bad shape!”

Voicing concern over the uncertainty of Covid vaccine, he said it was mentioned in the budget about bringing most people under the vaccination programme, but no specific allocation was given to implement it.

The Jatiya Party chief said no one knows when the vaccination programme resumes and when it will end as there is an uncertainty about the collection of the vaccine.

He said crores of people lost their livelihoods while around 2.5 crore people became poor due to the Coronavirus fallout. “This number is increasing every day. If the lockdown and the recession in trade are prolonged, a state of famine may arise in the country.”

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Firefighters recovered the body of a security guard from debris on Tuesday, two days after the deadly blast in a three-storey building near Moghbazar Wireless Gate.

Fire service men recovered the body of security guard Harun-ur-Rashid, 65, around 3:30 pm, said deputy director (operation) Debashish Bardhan of Fire Service and Civil Defence.

Earlier in the day, police lodged a case against unidentified people for the deaths for negligence.

An FIR in the case was filed with the Ramna police station following a complaint by sub-inspector Rezaul Karim, officer-in-charge Monirul Islam told UNB.

Seven people were killed and more than 66 others injured after a powerful explosion ripped through a building near Moghbazar Wireless Gate on Sunday evening.

The next day, police formed a seven-member committee to investigate the blast.

Additional police commissioner of Counter Terrorism and Transnationals Crime (CTTC) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) will head the committee, the Bangladesh Police Headquarters said in a release on Monday.

Earlier that day, Brig Gen Md Sazzad Hussain, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said they had formed a five-member committee to investigate the explosion.

Both the committees have got seven working days to submit their reports.

Source: United News of Bangladesh