Health Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen today said at least 46 people were killed in the devastating fire in a commercial building at Bailey Road area in the capital on Thursday night.
"The death toll in the deadly inferno originated in a multi-storey commercial building in city Bailey Road last night reached 46...even the condition of the injured people, now undergoing treatment at hospitals, are critical", he told journalists at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery here this morning.
The minister, himself a doctor and burn wound specialist, said 22 people were being treated at both the facilities.
He added that the conditions of all the 22 people are critical.
Doctors at the DMCH and the adjacent facility said that some of the bodies were burned beyond recognition and feared the death toll could rise.
Fire service officials said they salvaged some 75 people, including 42 in an unconscious state from the scene, a seven-storey building.
The fire broke out at around 9:50pm on Thursday night at a restaurant called “Kachchi Bhai” located on the first floor (US: 2nd floor) and quickly spread upstairs where some more restaurants and a readymade garments shop were housed.
Witnesses and officials said the panicked people tried to rush upstairs to be chased by the blaze as well while the firefighters rescued many of them using ladders.
Power tariff will be increased from February 1 instead of March 1, said State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Thursday (February 29, 2024).
Gazette notification will be issued today in regard to the power tariff adjustment, he said while briefing reporters at his ministry.
Earlier he said the new tariff will come into effect from March 1.
He said the power tariff will be hiked between Tk 0.34 and Tk 0.70 per unit for all kinds of consumers depending on their volume of consumption while gas price will go up by Tk 0.75 per unit only for power plants.
He also said that a dynamic fuel pricing will be introduced for the consumers from March 1 under which price of petroleum fuel will go up and down in line with international market price.
Singapore on Wednesday hanged a Bangladeshi man for murder, police said, in the first execution this year in the city-state.
"The capital sentence of death imposed on Ahmed Salim was carried out on 28 February 2024," the Singapore Police Force said in a statement.
The 35-year-old was sentenced to death in December 2020 for the murder of his former fiancee in Singapore, the SPF said.
He "was accorded full due process under the law, and had access to legal counsel throughout the process", it added.
Ahmed appeals before the Court of Appeal and petition for clemency to Singapore president were dismissed, according to the police.
It was the first judicial execution in Singapore this year, local anti-death-penalty group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said.
Before that, at least 16 people were hanged after Singapore resumed executions in 2022, all convicted on drug trafficking charges.
There had been a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.
State Minister for power Nasrul Hamid on Tuesday said the government has decided to increase power tariff from March 01 to minimize government subsidy to the sector.
"Those who consume up to 50 units will see a price hike of 34 paisa per unit. For those consuming above 50 units, the increase will range from 34 to 70 paisa (per unit). The new power tariff will come into effect from next month (March)," he told journalists at his ministry conference room.
Nasrul Hamid said that price of electricity usually fluctuates depending on the fuel price globally, adding, "So we have to synchronize with that, there is no other way. We are going to adjust a very small amount of power tariff that is 34 paisa.... There are 1.40 crore life line customers. They pay bill at Tk. 4 (per unit), those who are above, are charged Tk. 7. But on average our production cost is Tk. 12 per unit."