Helemul Alam

Kaspia, a sixty-year-old woman, sat under a tree on a bench next to the platform at Kamalapur Railway Station in Dhaka, waiting for her son to return with iftar items. She had never broken her fast in a railway station before, but keeping the traffic situation in mind, she had no choice but to come early as she had to catch a return train from Dhaka shortly after iftar.

It appears the evacuation notice handed out to 41 risky buildings by the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) on March 13 was not well-thought-out.

Rabin Bhuiyan, a 27-year-old resident of Narayanganj, arrived at the Chawkbazar iftar market around 11:00am to purchase traditional iftar items. However, the shops of the makeshift market were not set up at that time. He performed juma prayers at the ancient Chawkbazar Shahi Jame Masjid next to the bazaar with his younger brother Miraz Hossain before making their purchases.

The building that was damaged by an explosion in the capital’s Siddikbazar should not be used before it is retrofitted, as the structure is currently unsafe, suggested a probe committee of Rajuk.

The Rajdhani Unnyan Katripakkha (Rajuk) will take steps to demolish 42 buildings in Dhaka, Gazipur, and Narayanganj within a short time, as these structures are in precarious conditions and are at risk of collapsing and causing casualties.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) is planning to conduct research from April to May to make anti-mosquito drives more effective. DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam took the decision after a recent visit to the US.

Building owners who put their basements up for commercial use, violating the approved plans, not only contribute to reduced parking spaces but also severe risks of accident.

A lack of maintenance of septic tanks and buildings, coupled with blocked ventilation ways are putting the capital’s buildings at huge risk of explosion. This newspaper yesterday reached out to multiple urban planning experts following the Gulistan explosion, who all echoed the same.

It was a Tuesday afternoon. Namima Binte Salma and Afraaz Zuhain Khan, two preschool children, were playing in a park at Lalmatia block-D. They appeared cheerful as they finally had the opportunity to take a breather out in the open, after a long time.

The government is yet to form an authority dedicated to enforce the revised Bangladesh National Building Code, the gazette of which was issued two years ago.

The lack of designated parking spaces for commercial buildings, markets, and city buses has led to vehicles being parked on the roads, causing severe gridlocks and huge loss of productivity

It’s a 10-minute walk from Farmgate’s Ananda Cinema Hall to the Panthapath intersection through Green Road. However, it takes 20 minutes to cross this 700-metre road, thanks to illegal occupants of the footpath

“We have many problems. We live with waterlogging and a lack of pure drinking water. But we never complain. This place to live is all we have. Where will we go if we are evicted?” asked Meghla, a 30-year-old cleaner from the Telegu community who lives in Outfall Colony-14 of Jatrabari’s Dhalpur.

"It is very important to construct earthquake-resilient buildings and for this, all buildings of Dhaka city will have to be tracked."

In a shocking development, Dhaka South City Corporation has allowed a private entity to construct a food court at the historic Bahadur Shah Park -- much to the dismay of locals and eminent citizens.

Dhaka dwellers and commuters suffered immensely yesterday as traffic came to a standstill on the Airport Road. Thousands were stuck for hours on end and many missed appointments, meetings and even flights.

After spending Tk 119 crore over 15 years on traffic lights that came to nought, Dhaka South City Corporation has moved to install an artificial intelligence-driven signalling system which experts fear is destined to fail.

The High Court yesterday asked the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha to explain the disappearances of around 30,000 documents from Rajuk servers.

At least 281 people succumbed to dengue last year, while 62,382 patients were hospitalised, the highest deaths and second-highest cases ever recorded in the country.

Mohammad Sohel, an employee at a firm, did not get metro tickets after waiting in a long queue for around three hours at Agargaon Station yesterday.