Rashidul Hasan

Several passengers at a public hearing yesterday expressed their grievances and dissatisfaction over the poor services at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).

The religious affairs ministry has taken various punitive measures including revoking license, forfeiting security deposit and imposing financial penalty against some 50 hajj agencies for their involvement in irregularities in hajj operation, causing sufferings to pilgrims last year.

A parliamentary body yesterday recommended “relaxed security checks” for MPs and other VIPs at airports of the country and separate queues for their security checks.

The dispute between two groups in the Jatiya Party has reached a critical juncture thanks to the absence of HM Ershad in party activities and his flip-flops over who would be the acting chairman.

In yet another dramatic turn of events, the Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad restored his younger brother GM Quader in the co-chairman post.

A syndicate in Biman had been blocking the sale of tickets online and channeling those to the black market with the help of some unscrupulous travel agents, a civil aviation ministry probe revealed.

Yet another foreign airline is going to shut its operation in Bangladesh.

The alleged hijacker of a Biman flight boarded the plane carrying a plastic toy gun in his backpack. But security staffers did not notice the object “clearly” during screening as there was no battery or metal screw with it.

Internal division over leadership widens in Jatiya Party as its Chairman HM Ershad has nominated his wife Raushan Ershad for deputy leader of the opposition, removing his younger brother GM Quader from the post.

Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims this year will not have to wait for completing the immigration process at Saudi Arabia airports as the Saudi government is going to do it in Dhaka.

No airlines of Bangladesh would be allowed to operate the Boeing 737 Max family of aircraft until the probe reports of the two 737 Max 8 crashes are revealed, said Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh.

The day began with high hopes of a square Ducsu election pending for nearly three long decades.

Some former Ducsu leaders hope that today's election and the leadership it will create will play a positive role in bringing about a qualitative change in the future national politics.

Ahead of the much-anticipated Ducsu polls on March 11, one burning question has been making the rounds.

Dhaka University authorities yesterday imposed a limit on the number of journalists each media house would be allowed to assign to cover Monday's Ducsu polls.

The Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry yesterday instructed all airports to ensure “foolproof” security checks amid allegations of security breaches at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

Due to hazardous levels of air pollution, a parliamentary body yesterday asked the environment, forest and climate change ministry to take measures so that the health ministry issues a public health alert urging people to avoid the capital, Narayanganj, Gazipur and Chattogram cities, unless it is an emergency.

Questions are being raised about the security at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after a handbag containing a firearm passed through the scanners undetected on Tuesday.

Biman high-ups, including some of its board members, have been misappropriating huge money through irregularities in tender process. On the other hand, some officials of CAAB, the aviation regulator, accept bribes from contractors, who are “looting money” by building poor-quality towers and boarding bridges, the Anti-Corruption Commission has found.

Nothing can console Rupa Begum. She lost her two-and-a-half year old son in a fire at Bhasantek slum in Dhaka's Mirpur area early yesterday. Her only child drowned in a ditch inside the slum when the occupants were fleeing from the flames.