Helemul Alam

The number of recorded cases of dengue infection this year hit 9,531 yesterday, the highest in 18 years, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

After years of neglect and a bit of experiment, the government is set to make rainwater harvesting mandatory.

Even a year ago, it took commuters some 30 minutes to travel a 1.5-km stretch on Natunbazar Road in Dhaka's South Paikpara as the narrow road remained congested with traffic.

Despite long-time demand from residents and commuters, a foot over-bridge at Shankar bus stop area in Dhanmondi has remained in a skeletal form for years.

Two city corporations of Dhaka have started to set up 50 passenger-sheds at as many bus stops in the city, to bring the city's chaotic traffic under discipline.

During the early hours of an April day, as remnants of a storm from the night before formed into a drizzle, small “meows” could be heard from a fourth-storey sunshade of a building in Khilgaon.

For Mohammad Anwar, crossing the Banglamotor intersection becomes a strenuous task everyday.

Like most children, Sadia gets fidgety as soon as she finds out that her parents will take her to a hospital.

Most chiefs of utility service providing organisations do not attend coordination meetings called by the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation defying an order of the Prime Minister's Office.

As the number of dengue cases was going up in the capital, Mamtaz Begum, mother of an eight-month old baby, was on alert. She would always keep her daughter Shafa under mosquito nets at night.

Babul Munshi has been commercially cultivating some local fish species, mostly pangas, in Bhaluka of Mymensingh for the past 11

The graphs look chilling. A red line sharply shooting north, crossing a purple, a yellow, a blue and a green. “That's what dengue looks like this year,” said Dr Ayesha Akhter, in-charge of disease control room at the directorate of health, pointing to the red line representing the number of patients this year.

He could have lived his life like others in his own country, New Zealand, but Lindsay Allan Cheyne thought differently and decided to dedicate his life for the welfare of the children of Bangladesh.

Within 24 hours ending yesterday evening, 54 people have been hospitalised with dengue in Dhaka and experts said more people could be infected if measures were not taken immediately.

People of Dhaka city started purchasing their sacrificial animals yesterday. Markets, however, have not reached their peaks yet due to prices being high. Traders of cattle markets blamed last year's loss and increased cost of fodder for the high price of the cattle this year.

Syndicates of ruling party leaders and activists are controlling the tender process of makeshift cattle markets of both the city corporations of Dhaka for Eid-ul-Azha, putting the two city corporations in loss.

A large part of Dhaka South City Corporation is at risk of a dengue outbreak as the carrier of the virus, Aedes mosquito, is present at over one-third of the houses and other structures in that zone, a survey has found.

Not many years ago, children in Dhaka used to go out for cycling every afternoon. Many children would eagerly wait for their first bicycle -- a gift that meant the ability to move about independently. Those days are gone, as this city has increasingly become overcrowded and unsafe for children on bikes.

On Tuesday, Mohammad Munna woke up earlier than usual and went to Jatrabari to purchase supplies for his store.

There was water everywhere on the road, mostly knee-deep.