Day: August 6, 2023

At least eight bodies have been recovered, including children and women, after a bulkhead hit a passenger boat in the Bangladeshi central district of Munshiganj.

"We resumed the rescue operation on Sunday morning to search for 5 missing passengers as claimed by the locals and their families," Louhajung Fire Service Station officer Mohammad Abdul Malek said.

He said teams recovered the bodies and rescued 34 others.

The engine-run boat carrying 46 passengers sank late on Saturday in a part of the mighty Padma River near Tongibari town. Passengers were returning from a picnic, according to officials.

Two of the dead are male children, in addition to two women and four children, according to Malek.

The Bangladesh Navy joined rescue operations, according to the Inter-Services Public Relation Directorate (ISPR).

Police seized the bulkhead but the driver and others onboard are on the run. A five-member probe body has been formed to look into the incident, according to Munshiganj district police and administration.

Frequent boat accidents

Bangladesh is crisscrossed by more than 500 rivers.

Natural calamities such as storms and cyclones, fog in the winter, lack of vessel fitness, unskilled drivers and overcrowding have been factors in the causes of accidents.

More than 550 passenger ships capsized between 1991 and 2020, killing over 3,600 people and leaving nearly 500 missing, according to records from the Shipping Department of Bangladesh.

Source: TRTworld.com

Two persons died when landslide buried a house at Tarakeshwor municipality-5 of Kathmandu on Saturday night.

The deceased have been identified as Ganesh Tamang, 41, of Nuwakot district, currently living at Chigaun of Tarakeshwor, and his daughter, Asma Tamang, 15, said Spokesperson at District Police Range, Kathmandu, Superintendent of Police Kumod Dhungel.

The incident took place when landslide occurred above the house buried them.

Similarly, Sanju Tamang was injured in the incident, said police.

Source: National News Agency-Nepal

Beni municipality of Myagdi district has started collecting details of landlords providing their house and land on lease.

The municipality started collecting the details of landlords, who lease their private house and land in municipal area, in order to bring them under the ambit of taxation.

Tax officer at the municipality, Prabha Sharma, said they have issued a 35-day notice asking landlord to submit the details of their rented house and land at the ward offices by September 7.

The municipality has divided landlords in three categories in order to bring them under the ambit of tax, adding late fine would be charge for those landlords not submitting the details within the deadline, she mentioned.

Sharma further said house rent tax has been made mandatory from the current fiscal year. The municipal assembly amended the act and categorised the landlords after the number of landlords paying house rent was very minimal.

The landlords who lease their house and land for the official purpose have to pay 10 per cent tax, four per cent tax for business purpose and two percent tax for residential purpose.

Earlier, 10 per cent tax was determined for all purposes. The municipality had collected Rs 3.035 million revenue on house rent heading.

Source: National News Agency-Nepal

The Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday ordered to investigate those directly involved in decision making level from the then Council of Ministers and those certifying the decisions to take it to the implementation level.

A division bench of Justices Anil Kumar Sinha and Dr Kumar Chudal made such order.

Decisions on the Lalita Niwas land issue were taken during the premiership of Madhav Kumar Nepal and Dr Baburam Bhattarai.

As per the SC's order those involved in the decision making process from the Council of Ministers and taking into the implementation by certifying the decisions would be probed.

Likewise, the SC also ordered to investigate those taking the proposal to the higher level or authority.

Source: National News Agency-Nepal

Speaker Devraj Ghimire is going to hold a discussion with top leaders of major political parties regarding removal of obstruction at the House of Representatives.

Speaker Ghimire is scheduled to hold discussion with them on Monday, according to the Speaker's Secretariat.

Earlier on Sunday, Speaker Ghimire had discussed with the chief whips of various major political parties on the same. Since the ruling parties and opposition parties kept their stance on the gold smuggling case intact, the meeting was rescheduled for Monday.

The Speaker called for meeting with the top leaders of the major political parties on Monday 12:00 midday in a bid to clear impasse in the parliament, said Secretariat.

In Sunday's meeting, chief whips of the ruling parties said that there was no need of forming a high-level investigation committee to probe corruption cases including gold smuggling scam. According to them, the governmental agencies were capable enough to take the needful actions.

The parliamentarians from the opposition party- CPN UML- however called for a high-level investigation committee. They held the view that the government mechanism would not probe the scam and the leaders of big parties could not be brought under the ambit of investigation.

Present in the meeting held at the office of the Speaker were chief whip of Nepali Congress parliamentary party Ramesh Lekhak, CPN UML parliamentarian Leelanath Shrestha, Rastriya Swatantra Party Parliamentary Party chief whip Santosh Pariyar, Janata Samajwadi Nepal chief whip Pradeep Yadav and Rastriya Prajatantra Party chief whip Gyanendra Shahi.

There were no representatives from CPN (Maoist Centre) in the meeting.

Source: National News Agency-Nepal

Biplab Bijoy Talukder joined Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) as its new commissioner today.

Prior to the new assignment, he was Joint Commissioner at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

Biplab Bijoy began his career in Bangladesh Police as Assistant Superintendent of Police through 20th BCS in 2001 and completed his foundation training at Bangladesh Police Academy, Sarda.

During his long career, he worked as Superintendent of Police in Munshiganj and Natore and as Additional Deputy Inspector General of Police in Sylhet Range.

He got promotion to the post of Deputy Inspector General of Police on June 11, 2023.

Born and brought up at Badshaganj village under Dharmapasha upazila in Sunamganj district, Biplab Bijoy obtained BSS (Honours) and MSS degrees from the Department of Economics at Dhaka University.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha

Chattogram District Administration in the

backdrop of heavy shower today started eviction of the residents of 800

unauthorized makeshift houses from the hillocks nine risky hills in the city

today.

The eviction team also slashed the supply of electricity and water to the

houses during the drive during heavy rain to avert possible loss of lives

from landslides from Motizorna, Bijoynagar Zeel, Beltoligona and Battali hill

areas.

Five Assistant Commissioners led by Deputy Commissioner Abul Bashar Mohammad

Fakruzaman conducted the eviction drive in the slopes of three different

risky hills in the city around 10 am. Two shelter centers were opened in

different areas of the city in this regard.

The district administration along with the Department of Environment (DoE),

WASA representatives, police personnel, representatives of Chattogram City

Corporation, Chattogram Development Authority, Bangladesh Railway, Fire

Service and Power departments and other concerned departments started the

drive around 10 am, Touhidul Islam, NDC and executive magistrate of

Chattogram district administration said today.

The district administration came up with the move in order to avert possible

loss of lives from landslides in the monsoon as the soil on the hills become

softer and may trigger a landslide, posing threat to the lives of the poor

people dwelling on those risky hills pockets during the rainy season.

Touhidul Islam, after the eviction drive, told journalists that despite

several notices served from the district administration, the families were

still living in the hills in a very dangerous state.

The authorities would gradually evict all families living in different risky

hills in the city, he added.

Patenga Meteorological office measured 306 millimetres of record rainfall

during the last 24 hours ending 6 pm today and 698.7 millimetres of record

rainfall in last five days causing serious disruptions to civic life, port

and businesses activities in the city.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha