Saturday, September 4, 2010

Let's plant trees

Bangladesh is fast acquiring desert conditions due to destruction of our trees. When we travel on the highways of Chittagong-Cox's Bazar the heaps of logs piled near timber depots remind us of how fast we are destroying the work of nature by cutting down trees. No one bothers to plant trees in replacement.

Trees play a vital role in controlling the climate. The disastrous effects of felling trees indiscriminately are well known. Trees, whether they are grown for timber in forests or shade and ornamental trees in highways and gardens, are our national asset.

Imagine a forest without trees. What would happen to the flora and fauna that live under the cover of the trees? We must remember that more than half of the population of the plants in Bangladesh will disappear forever from the face of the earth once their host trees are destroyed. In addition, we must also take every action to preserve the existing trees.

Bangladesh has undergone a drastic climatic change during the last few years. We have cleared the forests. Due to the indiscriminate felling of trees periodic drought conditions are becoming more and more severe.

The elderly people of Bangladesh knew the value of trees and planted them by roadways and in forest reserves. This added to the natural beauty and the coolness of the environment. In those days it was considered a great sin to cut down any living tree and those who did so were severely criticized.

When trees are cut down, springs dry up, the soil is eroded and the air becomes less humid. Thus the entire balance of nature is upset. When we destroy forests, droughts, unfavourable climatic changes, soil erosion, lack of water resources and even disastrous floods are the results.

The younger generation must be made to realise the value and usefulness of trees. Drawing schoolchildren and teachers into the awareness programme is important, as schools are the most suitable institutions that could bring a change in the nation's attitude in conserving trees.

Stop pre-Eid extortion

Home Minister Sahara Khatun has asked police and other law enforcing agencies to maintain extortion free environment at city's markets and shopping malls.

The minister gave the directive while visiting several markets and shopping malls in the city yesterday.

She also called for checking other criminal activities in and around those places.

Talking to journalists, the minister said that there is no report of extortion at city's markets and shopping malls ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Law and order situation also did not deteriorate. Stern directives have been given to law enforcing agencies so that law and order situation does not deteriorate, she said.

The minister visited Gausia, New Market, Eastern Mollika, Rapa Plaza and Bashundhara City Complex in the morning.

The minister also talked to businessmen and buyers during the visit.

Lawmaker Fazle Nur Taposh, Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Shikder, IGP Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, Director General of Rab Moklesur Rahman and President of Shop Owners' Association Helal Uddin, among others, accompanied the minister during the visit.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Most ISD call rates down from Sunday

From Sunday, the costs of telephone calls to most overseas destinations will be reduced, according to the website of Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Limited.

These lower prices are part of the decision by the BTRC to bring all calls under a single platform - with callers from now on having to dial 00 to make international calls. Callers will no longer be able to make calls using 012 prefix.

The BTRC website shows the revised tariff for calls to India using both land lines and mobile phones will be Tk 12 per minute, reduced from Tk 15-18 per minute.

There will be a tariff of Tk 6 per minute for calling the following countries: Canada, the US, Argentina, the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China and Hong Kong.

Calls made to land lines telephones of the following destinations would be charged at Tk 8 per minute: Australia, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Austria , Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey ,Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, and South Korea.

Tariffs for making calls to the Middle Eastern states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar and Syria will range from Tk 12 to Tk 18.

An official of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) told bdnews24.com on Saturday that even though the rates of calls by dialling 012 were low, the quality of service was not good.

"At the same time BTRC subscribers had to spend more money on their regular ISD calls. This is why the 012 system is being discontinued," an official of BTRC told bdnews24.com, preferring anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the press.

source: bdnews24.com

Sunday, January 10, 2010

'Clean Dhaka' campaign begins

Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) launches the fourth 'Clean Dhaka' campaign to raise awareness and involve the people in the solid waste management.

DCC officials announced the weeklong programmes at a press conference at Nagar Bhaban yesterday.

The Clean Dhaka Week-2010 from January 10 to 16 is arranged with the cooperation of Japan International Cooperation Agency, WaterAid, Safe, Earth Club and Grameenphone.

The programmes include rallies, loudspeaker publicity, distribution of leaflets and posters and cultural functions to demonstrate community-based waste management and create public awareness in 90 DCC wards, said DCC Chief Executive officer Md Abul Kalam Azad.

The DCC mayor will award the most active ward in waste management on January 22.

The DCC will receive 100 modern and efficient compactor waste disposal trucks from Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) by April, which will help stench-free collection and disposal of solid wastes in the capital, said Azad.

Most of the existing 297 trucks are outdated and at least 30 of them remain out of order.

With the new ones, the total number of functional trucks will stand at 358 by April.

A total of 1.5 crore people, including 1.20 crore permanent city dwellers, generate a total of 4200 tons of solid wastes everyday, said DCC Chief Waste Management Officer Captain Bipan Kumar Saha.

The DCC has a total of around 8030 waste cleaners to cover a 144 square miles area of 90 wards, he said.

"The DCC team can remove at best 2200 tons of waste," said Saha, "And a total of 1.70 lakhs rag-pickers take away 800 to 1000 tons for recycling."

The rest 1000 tons of waste go into the drainage system, water bodies, canals and rivers, said Captain Saha.

Absence of segregation of domestic wastes, lack of proper collection mechanism, construction materials dumped in drains and inadequate road coverage constitute one-third of the problems the DCC faces in waste management, he said.

In 2005, DCC with Jica technical assistance prepared a ten-year master plan for a well-coordinated waste management.

The DCC collects Tk 33 crore from the city dwellers for waste cleaning every year, but it pays Tk 110 crores for the job. Jica contributes Tk 50 to 60 crores to the waste management expenditure.

Clean Dhaka project director Dr Tareq Bin Yusuf was present at the press conference.

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