Due to the law enforcement agencies' heightened vigilance on yaba trafficking, smugglers and peddlers are now going to great lengths to smuggle yaba across the country. As reported by this newspaper, traffickers are now using air routes.

The attack on four houses of Ahmadiyya Muslims by supporters of three Islamist organisations in Ahmednagar village of Panchagarh Sadar upazila on February 12 reminds us, once again, that the scourge of communalism is very much present in our society.

The story of a class III employee of Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) using an SUV he was not entitled to for 10 years, is quite surprising. It is hard to believe that such misuse of a government office car could go on for 10 long years without his supervisors knowing.

A recent study by Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET) paints a gloomy picture of the state of water bodies in the country.

Despite Bangladesh's remarkable economic development gains, the country's performance in some socio-economic indicators is far from ideal. While we have had public investment in development projects, the same priority needs to be shown towards education, healthcare and social protection.

In yet another report that depicts the sorry state of food quality in the country, it was learnt that raw cow milk contains unusually high levels of pesticide, antibiotic and bacteria, according to a study conducted by the National Food Safety Laboratory of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

We are deeply concerned about the report of a 16-month-old boy dying and several hundred children falling sick in Jamalpur Upazila allegedly after taking Vitamin A capsules during the latest Vitamin A Plus Campaign.

We appreciate the recent drive undertaken by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) against illegal grabbing of land.

An incident of two police officers allegedly abducting three youths for ransom, as this newspaper reported yesterday, is a matter of serious concern for the public who rely primarily on the police to protect them.

As per the front-page lead news in this paper on February 9, a shipbuilding company has put up a makeshift enclosure on the Meghna River on its west bank at Char Betagi in Gazaria Upazila, without bothering to obtain either environmental clearance or necessary permission from the authorities.

Children in this country have become increasingly vulnerable to sexual violence. According to The Daily Star reports, 29 of the 46 victims of rape in January were below 18 years and among the 29, 13 are aged between five and 12.

It is shocking that a sector as important as the public transport system should be in a state that the biggest carrier—BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation) should be plagued by buses that have an abnormally short shelf life.

It is unthinkable that 35,000 employees of 260 municipalities nationwide have been working without pay for years! Of them, 6,000 staff members got no pay for last five years, 12,000 for two

It's been nearly two years since more than seven lakh Rohingya people have entered Bangladesh having fled violent crackdown in Myanmar. There's no viable solution in sight. As Myanmar continues to procrastinate when it comes to the repatriation, signs on the ground suggest a dismal prospect: the Rohingya crisis is deepening.

Reportedly, the government is contemplating a plan to save the four rivers that serve Dhaka. It comes on the heels of the recent High Court order and its very comprehensive guideline for saving our rivers.

The relentless deaths on city roads appear to have no effect on the authorities when it comes to ensuring safety.

Over the first nine months of 2018, banks waived interests worth Tk 422.14 crore on nonperforming loans (NPLs). This practice has been the norm over the past few years which has had no positive impact on getting habitual defaulters to pay back their loans.

The Prime Minister's call to the police while addressing the inauguration of the Police Week-2019 is timely. There is no denying that our police force lacks accountability and transparency.

Although there is no official data regarding the number of cancer patients and the types of cancer most prevalent in this country, it is estimated that every year around 1.5 lakh people develop cancer in Bangladesh.

In yet another landmark judgment, the High Court has issued detailed orders to the government laying out various measures to reclaim and save our rivers.