Mostafa Yousuf

As life has almost come to a halt due to shutdowns triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, lower income people across the country are left to languish.

News is considered to be the first draft of history; it also happens to be a catalyst for action. At least in this case.

News is considered to be the first draft of history; it also happens to be a catalyst for action. At least in this case. On March 31, The Daily Star ran a report on the return of sagarlata also known as beach morning glory on the beaches of Cox’s Bazar -- owing to a fall in human movement in the area.

All it took was a mere few weeks for it to come back to the vast stretch of Cox’s Bazar sea beach.

At least two workers died and another required medical attention allegedly after being exposed to toxic gases while manually dismantling a scrap ship at a shipbreaking yard in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila yesterday.

The industries ministry yesterday banned the import of scrap ships until April 7 and asked around 100 foreigners on five ships, anchored at the deep sea of Sandeep channel of the Bay of Bengal, to be in quarantine for 14 days.

The iron-like object which fell on a village at Bhatiyari union of Sitakunda on Saturday afternoon, is part of a crane that was being used to drag fragments of a larger barge crane weighing 5,000 tonnes.

Amid fear of coronavirus spread, teachers in port city yesterday started participating in a training session to discharge duties at polling centres as presiding, assistant presiding and polling officers for the upcoming Chattogram City Corporation polls.

Relatives, activists and supporters of councillor candidates contesting in Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) election have been participating in campaigns, defying instruction of home quarantine imposed by government in a bid to contain a possible coronavirus outbreak in the country.

At a time when the government has declared shut down of educational institutions and discouraged gatherings as precautionary measures against the possible spread of coronavirus in the country, candidates for the upcoming port city polls seem unperturbed by it and are continuing to hold rallies and public meetings.

The Election Commission is motivating residents across the port city to turn up at polling centres on the election day (March 29) to cast their votes using electronic voting machines as “EVM is more convenient and easy to use”.

Two teachers of Chattogram’s Forestry Science and Technology Institute have been extorting students for years by threatening them with poor scores in exams, said students providing this paper with a video clip as evidence.

BNP began its electioneering in Kotwali area yesterday.

Parveen Akther (45), a resident of Joistopura village under Boalkhali upazila in Chattogram, used to hardly experience elephant attacks. The fear of elephant attack has never been a part of daily life for her. But in the last five or six years, a herd of elephants have regularly scoured their village in search of food, in the process attacking people and damaging crops.

Parveen Akther (45), a resident of Joistopura village under Boalkhali upazila in Chattogram, used to hardly experience elephant attacks. The fear of elephant attack has never been a part of daily life for her. But in the last five or six years, a herd of elephants have regularly scoured their village in search of food, in the process attacking people and damaging crops.

The Chattogram Development Authority has continued cutting hills in Sitakunda’s Jongol Salimpur area despite being fined Tk 10 crore for unregulated hill cutting just over a month ago by the Department of Environment, which also barred the CDA from harming the environment further.

Nomination papers of seven mayoral candidates for Chattogram City Corporation election were ruled legal by the regional election office yesterday.

A group of young tourists visiting Saint Martin’s Island collected around 500 kg of waste from various parts of the island over two days, in a bid to raise awareness regarding the environment among fellow tourists.

A tea estate in Chattogram has continuously been encroaching on one of the oldest and richest reserve forests in the country. Over the years, it has foiled forestation attempts and continuously damaged trees while expanding its territory.

An inter-ministerial body has decided against making a road through two reserve forests -- Hazarkhali Wildlife Sanctuary and Boroiyadala National Park -- in Chattogram.