Crackdown on drug dealers to continue: Home Minister

Amid the killings of drug dealers in growing 'gunfights', Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on May 21 said the crackdown on the drug dealers will continue. "No drug peddlers will be spared, no matter how powerful they are socially or politically. Law enforcement agencies will continue the drive against them to bring them to justice," he said while talking to UNB at the Secretariat. A total of 29 people, mostly suspected drug dealers, were killed in reported gunfights with law enforcers in the last 10 days till Monday. The Home Minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has instructed his ministry to take a 'zero-tolerance' policy against the drug trade and stop it at any cost.

Govt to redraft Digital Security Act: Law minister

Bangladesh government will redraft the Digital Security Act that has drawn flack over fears of gagging free media and freedom of speech. Law Minister Anisul Huq made the assurance on May 22 after meeting newspaper editors and the journalist community, all of who strongly opposed the law. "We (government) will consider the opinion of the journalists. Their opposition is logical. We will redraft the law," he told journalists after emerging from the meeting. Minister Huq was present at the meeting held with Editors' Council, Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO), and the parliamentary standing committee on post, telecommunications and ICT.

Ministers, Secys: Mobile phone allowance for them raised five times

The cabinet on May 21 approved a draft of the Government Telephone, Cellular and Internet Policy-2018 raising the mobile phone allowance for ministers and secretaries to Tk 75,000 from Tk 15,000. The draft brought a number of changes to the existing policy framed in 2004. According to the draft policy, those who are entitled to get mobile phones, including ministers, state ministers, deputy ministers, all secretaries and acting secretaries will get Tk 75,000 instead of Tk 15,000 to buy a mobile phone set, he said. He added that the allocation has been increased in line with the present market prices of android mobile phones.

Tailback for Feni Overpass: Lack of traffic management plan caused it

The massive tailback due to the construction of Fatehpur rail overpass on Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Feni over the past week was expected, said a leading traffic system expert. He noted that the work lacked a traffic management plan. "It is elementary to ensure safe and normal public and freight mobility with an alternative traffic control plan when a construction work is being carried out on such an active national highway," said Moazzem Hossain, a professor of transport engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Those in charge of the project were supposed to find alternative routes and improve them so that they could be used instead, he said. They also should have circulated public notices to make commuters aware of the situation.