The question posed by the bureaucrat reflects not only the depth of his ignorance but also reveals the general mindset of our policymakers.
Just over a year ago, the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) adopted a new Detailed Area Plan (DAP), introducing height restrictions for buildings in a bid to enhance Dhaka’s liveability.
The Bangladesh Climate Change Trust was supposed to get back in 2016 the Tk 538 crore, plus the accumulated interest, it deposited with the then Farmers Bank. However, it has so far received just Tk 74 crore after around seven years.
A recent study has found a surge in harmful microplastics in sea salt produced over the last couple of years in the country.
The Ecnec yesterday approved a project to construct a medical college, hospital and nursing college partially on a wetland in Chandpur despite Planning Commission’s observation that the project cost may rise because of the nature of the chosen site.
Workers under supervision of the Public Works Department (PWD) officials yesterday cut down trees to make space for a housing block for parliament officials and staff near Shahid Shahabuddin Road in the capital’s Agargaon without authorisation from relevant authorities.
The new Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway line, which cuts through three forested areas, is likely to obstruct the free movement of the critically endangered Asian elephants that use these forests as corridors.
When rapid unplanned urbanisation has been engulfing the green coverage of Dhaka, a praiseworthy initiative has been taken to create the country’s first ever urban forest in Purbachal Residential Area of the capital.
The National River Conservation Commission has decided not to publish a list of 37,000 new encroachers of 48 rivers and the environment activists say protecting their identities is tantamount to siding with the grabbers.
A 36-year-old Rohingya refugee activist was preparing a list of refugees allegedly abused by Bangladesh’s Armed Police Battalion (APBn). In consequence, he faced arrest, arbitrary detention and torture, he claimed.
On December 2, 2021, 16-year-old Sadia Akhter (not her real name), a domestic worker, stole gold jewellery and cash from the apartment in Wari, where she worked, complying with her boyfriend’s instructions.
For years, under the nose of the Forest Department and the local administration, a syndicate led by a local union parishad chairman has been razing hillocks and tearing down trees at Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary in Chattogram’s Lohagara upazila.
Despite the government’s commitment in the national plan to increase production of renewable energy, an investment proposal to produce 1,000 megawatts of solar power is waiting for approval at a time when the country is facing persistent power-cuts.
What started as police frisking people and vehicles entering the capital has turned into checking pedestrians at different Dhaka gateways as well.
The World Bank has agreed to take lead in a landmark project to breathe life back into the five rivers surrounding Dhaka city involving about $20 billion.
The Mongla Port Authority is still adamant to dump sand on arable land in Banisanta union of Khulna’s Dacope upazila despite having alternatives to pile up the to-be dredged sand elsewhere.
A group led by a forest offender allegedly took away illegally extracted sand seized by the forest department from the reserve forest in Cox’s Bazar’s Chakaria upazila by attacking and threatening the department’s staffers at gunpoint.
Mismanaged plastic waste of the metropolis has turned the Karnaphuli, on whose banks the country’s key sea port is located, into the top plastic-digesting river.