Haque Specialized Group's News

Four suspected criminals were killed in a reported gunfight with police at Nurpur intersection in Sadar upazila early Tuesday, reports UNB. The deceased have been identified as Saddam Hossain, 25, Ramesh, 24, Sohag, 27, and Kanon, 25, residents of Sonapur village. Abdullah Al Mahmud, additional superintendent of police of Meherpur, said that a team of police chased a gang of criminal around 2:30am. At one stage, the criminals opened fire on the law enforcers, prompting them to retaliate, triggering the gunfight, which left the four dead on the spot. Meanwhile, six policemen, including assistant police superintendent (ASP) Ahsan Habib, were injured in the incident. Police suspected that the four criminals are accused in a double murder case of Sonapur village.....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:05

Engineers have blamed the lack of supervision by the implementing agencies and violation of the rules for accidents like the fall of a girder of an under-construction flyover in Dhaka's Malibagh. They say only following the Building Construction Rules correctly in such projects can ensure the safety of the workers and passersby to some extent. A passerby was killed and two employees of the firm which is building the flyover from Mouchak to Malibagh Chowdhurypara, were injured when the girder fell off the top of a pier around 2am on Monday. Toma Constructions is building the flyover under the Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED). On November 24 in 2012, three girders of an under-construction flyover at Chittagong's Bahaddarhat collapsed, killing 13 and injuring scores. Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury thinks the number of such accidents can be reduced if the contractors are forced to strengthen safety measures. He says every big project has health and security manual and the ways to ensure the safety of the workers and the people nearby are written in the contracts and also in the building code. "But these are not followed in most cases in our country. The contractors don't follow them in most of the projects because they are not forced to do so," he said. The former BUET teacher says it is the duty of the agencies implementing the projects to compel the contractors to follow the rules. In Chittagong's Bahaddarhat, Parisha Enterprise and Mir Akter Enterprise were building the flyover under the Chittagong Development Authority (CDA). Delwar Majumder, former chairman of Engineers Institute of Bangladesh (EIB), Chittagong, alleged the Bahaddarhat accident occurred due to not following the rules. "There was supposed to be no work on a holiday, and not even in the night. But the girders were being lifted on holiday and in the night," he said. Delwatr also blamed the negligence of the supervisory agencies for such accidents. "They are not doing their duties properly. They try to evade (responsibility) after accidents," he said. "The contractors naturally try to dodge duties. But the supervisory organisations - RAJUK, CDA, or LGED - all the government agencies have a trend of evading the duties. That's why the gaps in security measures get bigger, and the accidents occur," the engineer said. He thinks it is necessary to keep safety records and review those regularly at the big projects. "The loose ends can be tied up once those are found. Decisions to improve safety measures can be taken through review. But this process is not followed anywhere in our country," he added. Delwar thinks there were faults in the safety measures taken at Malibagh. "I visited the area several times. I saw that the safety precautions were not being followed correctly. There was no cautionary sign under the flyover when the work was under way over it. Moreover, I did not see any worker wearing safety shoe, helmet or belt up there," he said. Contractor denies Toma Construction Managing Director Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan has claimed the safety condition of Mouchak-Moghbazar flyover project area is 'good'. "The girders are lifted after midnight by closing the street to avoid the risk. The work was under way on Sunday night in that way, but no one saw how the man came under the girder," he said. He said the firm took all sorts f safety measures to prevent accidents.  "It's a critical job. Engineers from our firm and LGED were there. All safety measures were taken. But the accident occurred," he said. "We lifted 1200-1400 girders safely. Noone knows when and how the accidents occur. That girder was already lifted and fixed. It was not supposed to fall. We don't understand why it fell," he added. Neither project director Nazmul Alam, nor LGED Chief Engineer Shyama Prasad Adhikari received phone calls for comments, according to bdnews24.com.....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:05

Customs intelligence in a drive arrested a man along with 1.4 kilograms of gold worth Tk 6.1 million (61 lakh) at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on Monday night. The arrestee was identified as Tarun Kumar Sharma, 32, a resident of Bhola district, reports UNB. Assistant Commissioner (Customs) Suman Chakma said Tarun came to Dhaka from Singapore by a Tiger Airlines plane and landed on the airport around 7:50pm. Tipped off that Tarun was carrying gold, a team of the customs intelligence challenged him while he was crossing the green channel of the airport. Later, the customs intelligence members searched him and found the consignment of gold concealed at a pedestal fan he was carrying.....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:05

UK Parliament on Monday passed the Brexit bill, paving the way for the government to trigger Article 50 so they can leave the European Union. Peers backed down over the issues of EU residency rights and a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal after their objections were overturned by MPs. The bill is expected to receive Royal Assent and become law on Tuesday. The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg said this would leave Theresa May free to push the button on withdrawal talks. The result came as Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced that she intended to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence at a time when Brexit negotiations are expected to be reaching a conclusion. Ms Sturgeon said she wanted a vote to be held between the autumn of 2018 and the spring of the following year. The prime minister could theoretically invoke Article 50, which formally starts the Brexit process, as early as Tuesday. However, Downing Street sources have said this will not happen this week and the PM is expected to wait until the end of the month to officially notify the EU of the UK's intention to leave, thus beginning what is expected to be a two-year process. "Parliament has today backed the government in its determination to get on with the job of leaving the EU," Brexit Secretary David Davis said. "We are now on the threshold of the most important negotiation for our country in a generation." The EU Withdrawal Bill was passed unamended after peers voted by 274 votes to 118 not to challenge the Commons again over the issue of whether Parliament should have a veto on the terms of exit. The House of Lords had already agreed not to reinsert guarantees over the status of EU residents in the UK back into the bill after they were rejected by MPs, with the government winning the vote by a margin of 274 votes to 135. Later analysis of the division list for the first Lords vote on EU citizens' rights to remain in the UK showed that 25 Labour peers sided with the Lib Dems, including former cabinet minister Lord Mandelson. Earlier, the government had comfortably won votes on the issues in the Commons, with only a handful of Tory MPs rebelling. The votes came after Brexit minister Lord Bridges of Headley warned that now was not the time to "return to the fray" by inserting "terms and conditions" in the legislation.....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:05

The owners of Dhaka’s Hazaribagh tanneries are mulling layoffs if the Department of Environment cuts the utility lines following a High Court court order. The workers have expressed concern over the news of the decision discussed at a meeting of the owners. They seek quick steps from both the government and the owners to save their jobs. The HC issued the order to save the area from pollution. The owners moved the Appellate Division but failed to get the final order in their favour. The Appellate Division upheld the order of HC to shut the factories by cutting the power, gas and water connections. Bangladesh Tanners' Association and the owners of the factories at Hazaribagh sat on Monday to set their next course of action. Association General Secretary Shakhawat Ullah said on Monday that the proposal of layoff was placed at the meeting. "The Association executive committee has not taken decision but they are considering the option of announcing layoff," he said, adding that the owners will have "no option but to announcing layoffs if the utility lines are cut". According to the Labour Act, “lay-off” means the failure, refusal or inability of an employer to give employment to a worker on account of shortage of coal, power or raw material or the accumulation of stock or the break-down of machinery." Though the law stipulates compensation for the workers in case of layoffs, they allege they do not get the damages. – source bdnews24.com  ....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:05