Main Page «
Front Page «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

City dwellers have been facing acute crisis of water for the past couple of weeks due to supply shortage in the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority lines.
   The people of different areas, including Kalyanpur, Badda, Shewrapara, Kazipara, Senpara, Kadamtala, Basabo, Madartek, Mohammadpur and many parts in Old Town, complained about water crisis in their respective areas.
   WASA can supply about 170 crore litres of water per day against the demand of over 210 crore litres, said a high official of the water agency.
   ‘Consumers get water much lower than WASA production as cracks have developed in the supply lines at different points,’ the official said.
   Frequent power outages also hamper smooth operation of the pumps disrupting the lifting of water, he added.
   Residents of different areas claimed that they had been facing water crisis for long and it has deepened for the last couple of weeks forcing them to depend on other sources of water like tube wells.
   Moniruzzaman, a resident of Noorjahan Road, said about 200 households in the area have not been getting a drop of water from WASA line for the last five days.
   ‘I have been buying water from a pump, set up at a market, with Tk 20 per jar,’ said Saidur Reza, another resident of Noorjahan Road.
   Saltanat Sultana, of 10/7 Tajmahal Road, said they have been facing a severe crisis of water for the last four days. ‘After two consecutive days, we on Sunday got little water which met our demand only for drinking water.’
   Saltanat said they failed to purchase water from WASA office at Lalmatia as the officials concerned asked them to wait five more days for water from water supply vehicles.
   ‘We are getting about four buckets of water a day which are not enough at all to meet the demand of our family,’ said Riyad, a resident of Indira Road. ‘We have been facing water crisis for the last two weeks.’
   WASA chief engineer Mohammad Nurul Haque on Monday blamed the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority for frequent disruption in water supply at different parts in the city.
   The pumps of WASA and treatment plants fail to supply water as per their capacity due to frequent power outages and low voltages, he said. ‘Almost half of the pumps remain inoperative for a period due to load-shedding as we have only 264 generators to run 471 pumps.’
   The chief engineer said WASA planned to buy 40 gas generators but it would take time. ‘We will get new generators five months after the approval.’
   Jahirul Islam, operator of a pump on Tajmahal Road, said he had to stop operation of the pump for about 3 hours every day due to load-shedding and low voltages.
   Hossain Ali, operator of another pump on Tajmahal Road, said the capacity of the pump set up 10 years back was 4,300 litres per minutes but now it can lift only 2,200 litres of water.
   The chief engineer said groundwater level was dropping rapidly for dependence on deep tube wells that also caused reduction in the supply of water by WASA.
   ‘The layer of water drops by 10-12 feet every year due to lifting water through a large number of deep tube wells.’
   There are about 2,000 deep tube wells functioning in Dhaka city, of which only 800 got the approval of WASA, he said.
   An official of WASA said 85 per cent of supplied water come from underground source of water and 15 per cent from surface water sources. Presently, WASA has 471 deep tube wells and four surface water treatment plants.
   Work on Sayedabad water treatment plant phase-II and Khilkhet water treatment plant with the capacity of 22.50 crore litres and 50 crore litres per day is likely to completed within seven years, he said, adding that on completion, the two plants will be able to meet the demand of water for city dwellers till 2020.
   Sayedabad water treatment plant Phase II will take four to five years to be completed since the beginning of the work while it will take about seven years for the completion of work on Khilkhet treatment plant, if everything goes smoothly, he said.

Handloom apparels of branded boutique shops in the Dhaka city are drawing much attraction of Eid shoppers, particularly young people this year.
   Customers, mainly fashion-conscious young people, are crowding boutique shops every day to buy handloom dresses with only few days left for the Eid festival.
   The persisting hot weather is forcing the people to opt for buying handloom apparels, some employees of boutique shops told New Age.
   Fashion designers, cashing in on humid weather, are now busy making dresses of handloom cotton and silk materials, they said.
   There is a good many boutique shops selling handloom dresses in the Dhaka city. They include Prabartana, Grameen Poshak, Banglar Mela, Anjan’s, Akhra, Charka, OG, Nity Upahar, Kay Krafts, Bibiana, Sada Kalo, Mayasir, Banglar Darpan, Annamela, Nilanjana Palli, Grameen Check and Arong.
   Contrast colours, embroidery, block and boutique print, and hand stitch in local handloom clothes are the main features of these fashion houses.
   A sales executive at Akhra boutique shop at Mirpur said dresses of exclusive and cutting-edge designs have started coming to their show room since the beginning of Ramadan.
   Akhra’s exclusive designs of saris for this Eid are mixed texture of endi and muslin yarn and contrast colour in fringe (par) and anchal. The prices of these saris range between Tk 750 and Tk 10,000.
   The Prabartana show room on the Mirpur Road has also brought some new designs of muslin and silk saris.
   Handloom sari shops including Jamdani Sari Kutir and Tangail Sari Kutir on the Bailey Road are doing good business this year.
   ‘When I think of buying cotton saris, I generally come to the Bailey Road sari market and choose handloom cotton saris’, said Tamanna Nesa Dipu, a college teacher.
   ‘Traditional handloom cotton saris are not expensive and they are always nice,’ she added.
   New design handloom cotton and silk saris are available at the Baily Road. Most of the saris are selling here at a price ranging between Tk 300 and Tk 15,000.
   ‘I will buy a good number of saris to present my relatives and I have opted for handloom saris,’ said a woman customer at Bailey Road market.
   Handloom clothes are also available at the fairs being held at different places like Mirpur, Sherapara, Agargaon Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Bangladesh Shishu Academy, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Dhanmondi, Shahbagh, Jatrabari and Lalbagh.
   Hundreds of people are found rushing the fairs with the Eid festival coming near..
   Sari, lungi, salwar, kamij, three-piece, fatua, bed sheet and other textile materials of Sylhet, Rajshahi, Tangail, Kumarkhali (Kushtia), Comilla, Pabna and Sirajganj are available in the fairs.
   Handloom apparel products made by ethnic minority people in the Chittagong Hill Tracks areas are also being sold in the fairs targeting the Eid festival.

The Barisal river port, the second largest in the country, is on the verge of closure as the Kirtonkhola River is rapidly loosing navigability.
   Over 100 water vessels have got stranded at Char Shibli channel for hours for the last three days after failing to anchor at the port jetties, according to port sources.
   Sources at the Bangladesh Water Transport Authority said the water vessels plying on the Dhaka-Barisal-Khulna, Chittagong-Barisal-Khulna and other routes lie stranded for hours every day due to poor navigability of the river.
   The Char Shibli channel was opened only two months ago after closure of the Bamnir Khal channel due to emergence of shoals in the river.
   The water level of the Kirtonkhola River at the port side fell to less than four feet forcing water vessels to anchor about 10 to 15 feet away from the jetty.
   Rafikul Islam, deputy director in charge of the Barisal river port, said they are monitoring the situation.
   ‘We have started emergency-basis dredging on Sunday to increase the depth of the water level of the river surrounding the jetty area for smooth anchoring of the river vessels,’ he said.

Markets and shopping centres in Dhaka and other cities had dull sales on Monday as inclement weather confined most festival shoppers indoors throughout the day.
   The situation was even worse for the wayside dress shops and many small vendors waited the whole day for the drizzle to stop.
   The daylong rain or drizzle severely affected shopping at makeshift shops on the footpaths and fairs in open spaces in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Barisal as the street vendors could hardly arrange their shops.
   Although the situation was a bit better in the markets and shopping centres, crowds were fewer than expectation.
   In Dhaka, sales dropped significantly at the makeshift shops as well as fairs, which are mainly meant for low and fixed income group people.
   Sellers at some makeshift shops said their sales declined on the day because of bad weather.
   A larger number of makeshift shops have been set up at Gulistan, Sadarghat, Old Town, Baitul Mukarram, Gausia, New Market, Elephant Road, Mouchak, Mirpur, Panthapath, Karwan Bazar, Shewrapara, Dhanmondi, Lalbagh and Jatrabari areas, Eid fair at Shilpakala Academy and Textile Fair at T&T playground at Sher-e-Banglanagar targeting the forthcoming Eid.
   Many of the makeshift shops remained closed for stagnation of rainwater on the premises while shops at Panthapath, Karwanbazar, Mirpur, Segunbagicha, Mohakhali and Dhaka college areas were seen covered with polythene.
   Mujahidul Islam, a seller of readymade shirts at a makeshift shop in Dhaka college area said, ‘I used to sell a good number of shirts every day before Eid-ul-Fitr every year. But today’s sales sharply dropped due to foul weather.’
   Abdul Halim, a buyer at Karwan Bazar said all items are selling much higher prices compared to last year. ‘As I couldn’t complete my Eid shopping due to rough weather today, I will have to go for shopping again,’ he added.
   Punjabi, fatua, half-sleeved and full-sleeved shirts are selling between Tk 200 and Tk 750, T-shirts between Tk 50 and Tk 150 and shoes between Tk 200 and Tk 500 at different makeshift shops and fairs.
   Dresses for ladies such as three-pieces are selling between Tk 250 and Tk 1,000, cotton, silk and georgette saris between Tk 250 and Tk 800 and kameezes between Tk 200 and Tk 450.
   A Tangail sari is selling for Tk 250 to Tk 1,200 and a Jamdani or Muslin sari between Tk 2,000 and Tk 30,000.
   Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reports from Chittagong: Incessant rainfall from Sunday evening caused a disruption of civic life particularly in the Eid shopping in the port city as well as most part of the district.
   Officials of the Chittagong Port Authority said the rainfall moderate to heavy intermittently also disrupted partially the activities in Chittagong port.
   Patenga Meteorological office sources said they have measured 135 mm rainfall in last 24 hours ending at 3:00pm on Monday.
   Local Met office forecast of further rainfall with gusty wind in next 24-hour in Chittagong and some other parts of the country.
   Transport problems caused untold sufferings to the city dwellers particularly to the office goers. Rickshaw-pullers and three wheelers were seen demanding excess fare from the commuters taking advantage of the bad weather and thin traffic.
   New Age Khulna correspondent adds: Inclement weather of the past two days disrupted Eid shopping as well as normal life in the Khulna city and other parts of the district.
   Khulna witnessed heavy rain for a short time and drizzle throughout Monday and the city dwellers remained idle in their houses without urgent prices of business.
   The street vendors were the worst sufferers as they could not open their shops due to the rough weather. They, however, hoped that shopping would gain momentum again as soon as the weather became normal.
   Salesmen at the markets and shopping centres told New Age that their sales dropped drastically in the past two days.
   There were a small number of shoppers at the KDA New Market, Khulna Shopping Complex, Jali Tower, Shankha Market, Esha Chamber, Daulatpur Market, Maleq Chamber, Mashiur Rahman Market and Nixon Market Monday noon and the shopkeepers said the markets would abuzz with shoppers if the weather would remain normal.
   Shawkat Apu, owner of Latest Corner at Khulna Shopping Centre, said their sales had dropped drastically in the past two days due to the bad weather.
   New Age Barisal correspondent adds: Heavy rainfall since Saturday night due to the influence of depression in the Bay disrupted shopping as well as life in the city and other parts of the region.
   The local Met Office recorded 81 millimetres of rainfall from 6:00am to 3:00pm on Monday.
   The heavy falls and gusty wind also prompted the Barisal Port authorities to stop till further notice the operation of motor launches on 28 internal routes.
   Rafiqul Islam, BIWTA port officer in Barisal, said operation of motor launches on the coastal routes had been suspended since Saturday night as the rivers and sea became rough and turbulent due to the depression.
   People in the city avoided going out without emergency needs due to the downpour that also forced the street vendors to keep their shops closed.
   The markets and shopping centres remained opened, but the number of shoppers was very few.
   Although the number of transports on the city roads was less than usual, water logging caused severe tailbacks on many roads.

Street vendors in the Rajshahi city, who were evicted several months ago and started their business on vans ahead of Eid, went out on demonstration at Shaheb Bazar Zero Point on Monday as the police barred them from arranging their shops on the footpaths.
   The hawkers went out on the demonstration at around 11:00am as they were not being allowed to arrange their shops despite an earlier order from the Rajshahi Metropolitan Police authorities allowing them to continue business on the footpath till the Eid-ul-Fitr.
   The situation came under control after the RMP commissioner had reached the spot and assured the hawkers that they would be allowed to continue their business without any disturbance till Eid.
   Ayub Ali, convener of Chhinnamul Footpath Babosayee Samiti, told New Age that the hawkers had taken loans to start their business ahead of Eid and if they were not allowed to arrange shops on the footpaths, they would be in deep trouble.
   ‘The RMP authorities evicted us several months back on the plea of making the footpaths free for smooth traffic making about 300 hawkers jobless and the police again tried to evict them today despite permission from the RMP commissioner,’ he said.
   Earlier, the evicted hawkers started their business on vans at different points of the city ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja.
   Both new and second-hand dresses and other goods are available at the shops where shopping was gaining momentum with the low-income group people like day laborers, rickshaw-pullers, transport workers, garment and factory workers rushing there to buy dresses and other goods.
   Second hand shirts and trousers were selling between Tk 60 and Tk 100 at the shops while new shirts and trousers were selling between Tk 100 and Tk 160.
   Low-price panjabi, lungi, sari, shawlar-kameez, three-piece and dresses for children are also available there.
   Mizan Ali, who was evicted from the railway station area, was selling dresses on a van in front of the Rajshahi Press Club.
   Sweet and Razu set up their business on vans in Shaheb Bazar Zero Point.
   Another hawker, Nurul Islam said the volume of their sale was lower than that of the previous year.
   He said they had to pay toll to extortionists in the previous years, but this year they were yet to pay toll to anyone.
   Rafique Alam, a farmer of Taherpur in Bagmara, bought a shirt and shorts for his eight-year-old son. ‘As we are low-income group people we have no capability to buy costly dresses from markets or shopping centres.’
   ‘Although the dresses put on sale on the vans cost low, the quality is not bad,’ said Abu Alam, a rickshaw puller, who purchased a dress for his son.

Light to moderate rain or thundershowers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind is likely at most places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Sylhet divisions with heavy to heavy falls at places over Rajshahi, Dhaka, Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions during the 24-hour period till 6:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   The day temperature may fall slightly over the country.
   Under the influence of land depression over Barisal and adjoining and active monsoon over Bangladesh, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at places over Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barisal and Chittagong divisions during the next 24 hours commencing from 1:00pm today, the Met Office said.
   The country’s highest temperature on Monday, 33.0 degrees Celsius, was recorded at Bogra and the lowest, 23.5 degrees Celsius, at Sandwip.
   The sun sets in the capital today at 5:38am and rises tomorrow at 5:53am.
   The Met office predicted a little change in the outlook for subsequent two days and decreased rainfall activity in the extended outlook for another five days.

Health Reporters’ Forum signs
MoU with FPAB
The Health Reporters’ Forum and the Family Planning Association of Bangladesh signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday to promote sexual and reproductive health. The FPAB director general, Halida Hanum Akhtar, and the HRP vice-president Proteek Ejaj signed the MoU at the FPAB conference room on behalf of the two organisations. The additional director general of the FPAB Jahir Uddin Ahmed, HRF general secretary Kabir Ahmed Khan and HRF organising secretary, Nurul Islam, among others, were present at the signing ceremony. ‘The FPAB intends to work in collaboration with the HRF as creating health awareness among people is the joint responsibility of media professionals and health activists,’ said Dr
Halida.
— New Age