Firefighters brought a devastating fire in the world largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, under full control on Sunday morning, more than 24 hours after it broke out.
The fire caused damages to four acres of the forest, the country first UNESCO World Heritage Site, forest officials said.
A three-member body, headed by Dipen Chandra Das, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) of Chandpai Range in the Sundarbans East Division, was formed and asked to submit a report within seven working days, said Kazi Muhammad Nurul Karim, Divisional Forest Official (DFO) of Sundarbans East Division.
The probe body also includes Bipuleshwar Chandra Das, an officer of Dhansagar Station, and Md Rafiqul Islam, in-charge of Kolomteji Patrol Outpost.
DFO Nurul Karim said forest officials and local villagers worked tirelessly throughout Saturday night to extinguish the fire by using water from the Bhola River to douse the flames, with firefighters joining them on Sunday morning around 8am.
Ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Fitr, the wholesale and retail businesses in the old part of the city has gained momentum.
Traders are busy spending time in the wholesale markets of Bangla Bazar, Chawkbazar, Nawabpur, Sadarghat, Bangshal, Gulistan, Kaptanbazar, Shyamabazar and Islampur.
Especially, Sharif Market in Sadarghat, Punjabi, East Bengal Super Market and Gulshan Ara City wholesale and Islampur, Hawkers Market and Ladies Park Hawkers Market are the main centers of the wholesale business. Retailers buy products at relatively low prices from there and supply it to different regions of the country.
Due to the convenience of Sadarghat launch terminal, traders from different parts of the country come here for wholesale shopping.
Mohammad Selim, a retailer in Keraniganj, told BSS, "I have come to buy Punjabi for Eid. Good quality Punjabis are available at the Sharif market, so I buy every year from here."
Shah Alam, a seller of the East Bengal Super Market, said, "Sales are less than last year."
With the rush of thousands of Eid shoppers, shopping malls of the city have become most favourite shopping hubs for fashion aficionados due to its exciting facilities, collection of renowned stores and convenient location.
Apart from the city dwellers, shopping crazy people from adjacent districts like Narayanganj and Gazipur, even those from far flung areas of adjacent districts like Cumilla, Feni and Mymensingh are crowding at famous shopping malls for buying world class brand dresses.
While visiting different shopping malls including Bashundhara City and Jamuna Future Park on Thursday night, this correspondent found that the shopping malls were crowded with customers till midnight.
All major shopping malls in the city have been adorned with colorful lights while buildings and roads in different areas have been illuminated with red, blue, and green decorative lighting. Sales persons are passing busy time handling the rush of customers, especially in the stores of clothes and shoes.
Religious Affairs Adviser Dr. A. F. M.
Khalid Hossain today said they have successfully broken the air ticket
syndicate for Umrah.
“Airline ticket syndicate has been broken for Umrah. So, the opportunity
to sell at an excessive price by booking group tickets through syndicates
has ended,” he said.
The adviser said this as the chief guest at an inaugural function of the
District Model Mosque and Islamic Cultural Center in Coxs Bazar this
noon.
He said from now on the air ticket booking would have to be done using
the passport number of the concerned passenger.
“If the ticket is not issued within three days, the booking will be
automatically canceled. The group ticket can not be booked anymore to
increase prices by double or triple,” he said.
A policy has also been formulated to this end, he added.