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Hospitals need
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As per the instruction of the prime minister, the government is now in the process of preparing an emergency management guideline with the pandemic in consideration, he added. The government will start its work within the next couple of months, he said.
Stressing the need for more attention on risk reduction and contingency planning for disasters like earthquake, Manik Kumar Saha, acting Dhaka and country portfolio manager of Plan International Bangladesh, said, “Though Bangladesh is known as a disaster management champion globally, most of our expertise comes in dealing with disasters like flood and cyclone.”
“We lag far behind when it comes to urban disasters like fire hazards, chemical pollution, or earthquakes,” he said.
Emphasising the need for inter-agency coordination, Manik said there are 42 to 45 government organisations involved with service providing works but communication gap among them prevents service efficiency.
Action Aid Bangladesh’s Morium Nesa said though policies are in place in the country, they need proper implementation to bring results.
“Hospitals need to safeguard themselves against disasters because they are the ones who will have to take care of people affected by the disasters,” she pointed out.
The tri-session webinar was moderated by Yasna Rahman, project manager of Plan International Bangladesh, and Shahnawaz Whara, manager-coordinator, Urban Resilience Project, Save The Children in Bangladesh.
Among others, Dr Mahbubul Alam, population Services and Training Centre; Prof Shuchita Sharmin; Prof Mahbuba Nasrin; Mostafizur Rahman, humanitarian and resilience manager of Plan International Bangladesh; and Shuvashish Roy of The Daily Star addressed the programme.
Nationwide initiative
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Bangladesh Diabetic Association chairman AK Azad Khan suggested that health insurance should be tax-free.
In the Keynote, HEI Professor Dr Syed Abdul Hamid said different NGOs operate various pilot health insurance projects to safeguard RMG workers.
“Research found that participation in the health insurance ease healthcare cost and increase productivity of RMG workers,” he said.
“Although most of the projects’ timeline is near the end, no policy or management framework has been developed yet to advance the project or undertake permanent initiatives,” he added.
Therefore, it is crucial to establish a social health insurance management unit in collaboration with all stakeholders including the government, factory owners and the workers, he further added.
Central Fund DG Dr Selina Akter, HEU’s research director Dr Md Nurul Amin, ANM Saifuddin from BGMEA, Mohammad Hatem from BKMEA, Progoti Life Insurance CEO M Jalaul Azim, Gonoshasthaya Kendra’s Dr Rejaul Huq, and Bangladesh Garments Workers’ League president Sirajul Alam Rony, among others, spoke at the roundtable, facilitated by Prothom Alo’s assistant editor Firoz Choudhury.

Helena Jahangir confesses to magistrate
Court Correspondent
Businessperson-turned-politician Helena Jahangir confessed to a magistrate yesterday that she illegally possessed foreign liquor and currency at her residence.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Dhiman Chandra Mondol recorded her statement after DB Inspector Shafiqur Rahman, investigation officer of the case, brought her to his chamber, court sources said.
After recording her statement, the magistrate sent her to jail.
She told the magistrate that she also kept a deer skin at her house, which is illegal.
Besides, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Jasim yesterday rejected Helena’s bail petition in a fraud case.

The leader, the idealist
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His Contemporaries’’.
Dr Kamal Hossain, Gono Forum president and a top leader of Jatiya Oikyafront, who was law and foreign minister during 1972-75, said Bangabandhu had sacrificed his life for a country free of exploitation, inequality and communalism. But his dream could not be fulfilled, even 50 years after liberation.
“We need to find out why, in all these years, we could not establish the values for which he sacrificed his life,” he said.
He proposed a convention of all parties, economists and others within three months to address the issues.
Noted economist and member of the first planning commission, Prof Rehman Sobhan, said Bangabandhu was definitely a man of his words.
“He [Bangabandhu] was different from those leaders who would say things but act differently after coming to power. This is a unique quality,” he said.
Bangabandhu was a strong believer of an equitable society. One can get a clear idea about his ideals from reading his memoirs and prison diaries, he noted.
One would realise that Bangabandhu lived his life among citizens and he was concerned about the working class and common people. He understood the true nature of the exploitation of farmers and workers, he added.
Veteran Awami League leader Tofail Ahmed, who was political secretary to Bangabandhu, said, “People were Bangabandhu’s first and foremost concern. He showed no discrimination based on someone’s political ideology. He always respected opposition.”
Eminent economist Prof Nurul Islam, who served as deputy chairperson of the first Planning Commission of Bangladesh, in a video speech, remembered his time with Bangabandhu.
He was a humanitarian who was greatly distraught by the starvation of people in 1974, Prof Islam said.
M Syeduzzaman, who served as planning secretary during 1973-75, said Bangabandhu was a pragmatic leader who could recognise people’s needs and priorities. “The country faced three crop failures in 1972 and 1973, which led to food scarcity. Aside from a little help from abroad, there were virtually no resources coming from domestic or external sources,” he remembered.
Former Bangladesh Bank governor M Farashuddin, who was private secretary to Bangabandhu, said Bangabandhu paid attention to political allies as well as political opponents.
Communist Party of Bangladesh President Mujahidul Islam Selim, who was vice president of Dhaka University Central Students’ Union for 1972-73, said Bangabandhu was an extraordinary leader and all should judge him objectively.
“We should know, study, understand and practise his ideals,” Selim said.
Planning Minister MA Mannan, who presided over the event, said it is true that disparity still exists in the country. “The highway of development we have chosen due to different reasons is increasing inequality… but if we go ahead with more initiatives, inequality could be diminished.”
Dr Binayak Sen, director general, BIDS, moderated the discussion.

A five-layered narcotics
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The DB team also recovered 88,000 yaba pills and 500 grammes of crystal meth in separate drives from Dhaka’s Mohammadpur and Jatrabari areas, Mashiur Rahman, deputy commissioner of DB (Gulshan Division) police, told The Daily Star.
“We have seen similar strategies in militant outfits, but this is the first time we have witnessed a narcotics syndicate applying a similar scheme,” he said.
First layer members maintain relations and smuggling operations from Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar. Consignments are then handed over to the second layer, which is responsible for the Cox’s Bazar-Chattogram route, the DC said.
The third layer oversees consignments till they reach Chattogram, from where the fourth layer takes over and brings them to Jatrabari, he said.
The fifth layer is in charge of taking the drugs to the end-users, said the official.
With the nine arrestees, police have only managed to arrest fourth- and fifth-layer members, but those in the top tier are still on the run, Mashiur said. During primary interrogation, the arrestees said they transported the yaba and ice from Chattogram to Cumilla in a large truck, which was mainly used to carry LPG gas cylinders from Chattogram to Mongla port.
DC Mashiur Rahman said the arrestees threatened the truck driver into taking them on the journey, but then paid him money for the work. Later, the syndicate brought the consignment to Jatrabari and Mohammadpur by private car.
DC Mashiur Rahman said, “We have primarily come to know that the ice and yaba have come from Myanmar. We are gathering information of other syndicate members and trying to arrest them.”
AKM Hafiz Akhter, additional commissioner (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, “Ice users are usually from the affluent class residing in upscale Dhaka areas.”
Detectives claimed they have managed to seize the consignment before its items began selling in the capital.
Addressing a briefing at DMP’s media centre, Hafiz said as the drug business was seeing a downward trend due to the lockdown, they syndicate brought in the consignment to revitalise business after the lockdown was lifted.

4 more die of dengue
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in 2019. We are on the brink of similar situation this year,” said DGHS spokesperson Md Nazmul Islam.
However the imminent disaster can be avoided if the concerned authorities including the city corporations speed up their anti-mosquito drives and people remain careful, he said.
If someone suffers from fever they should immediately undergo dengue test alongside Covid-19 one.
Besides, this test is free at government hospitals of the country, he added.
Meanwhile, the authorities concerned have urged all to be careful so that water cannot remain stagnant for more than three days at pots, flower tubs, rooftops, or containers.

SC confirms
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On February 4 in 2009, Nari o Shishu Nirjaton Daman Tribunal of Kushtia sentenced the five accused -- Shukur, Sentu, Azanur, Mamun and Kamrul -- to death in the case.
Following this, the convicts filed separate appeals with the HC. The HC in 2014 confirmed their capital punishment.
In the meantime, convict Kamrul died in jail, said defence lawyer Raghib Rauf Chowdhury.
The defence lawyer said they placed the arguments before the apex court that convict Shukur Ali was 23 and the three others were around 15 at the time of the incident.

A game-changing
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to resume regional cooperation centring Kabul. Bangladesh is a firm believer of multilateralism and regional stability, which is required to contain extremism, so it can take the lead.