Public sector Hathazari Peking Power Plant (HPPP) was fined of Tk.10 lakh for alleged pollution of the water of Halda River recently through dumping effluents of the plant. Department of Environment, Chittagong announced this penalty to HPPP for polluting and destroying the fish spawn in the only fish breeding centre of South Asia in current season .

Green and rights organisations on Wednesday demanded adequate allocation in the upcoming national budget keeping climate change adaptation activities in consideration.
The organisations working on climate change made the demand at a press conference at the National Press Club to press home their 11-point charter of demands.

Storm lashed four upazilas of Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts early yesterday and on Tuesday night, damaging over 3,000 thatched and tin-roofed houses and injuring at least 28 people.

Our Kurigram correspondent reported that at least 600 houses were damaged as storm swept 20 villages in four unions of Rajarhat upazila early yesterday.

Locals said the storm hit the village of four unions at around 12:00am and lasted for an hour.

Mamata’s Intractable Opposition Nixes Efforts For A Pact. Bangladesh could be ready to revisit the Teesta water treaty’s terms as the ruling Awami League faces growing political heat but Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s intractable opposition is stalemating all efforts to ink the pact.

20-year master plan has been formulated for the development of the country’s road communication network.
The Roads Department secretary, MAN Siddique, handed over a copy of the first-ever master plan to the communications minister, Obaidul Quader, on Tuesday.
Experts of the master plan formulation committee, including the chief engineer of Roads and Highway Department, Aminur Rahman Laskar, were present on the occasion.

Japan is likely to invest $ 400 million in private sector of Bangladesh to increase capacity in the energy sector. An agreement between the government and the Japanese private sector will be signed soon in this regard while another $ 300 million investment will be added to the initial investment in the second phase, said concerned officials on Tuesday.

Three people were killed and 20 others injured as storm lashed 10 villages in two upazilas of Lalmonirhat district yesterday morning.

The deceased were identified as Renuka Rani, 38, wife of Khitish Chandra Roy of Chalbala village, Shafiqul Islam, 35, son of Monir Uddin of Kakina village, and Shamsul Islam, 42, son of Entazur Rahman of Gopalroy village.

Shafiqul and Shamsul died as trees fell on them while Renuka was killed by lightning during the storm, said Amiruzzaman, officer-in-charge of Kaliganj Police Station.

Several hundred acres of cultivable land in the district loses fertility every year as brick kilns are collecting huge quantities of earth from the topsoil of agricultural lands for making bricks.

Consequently, the affected lands remain uncultivable and fallow for years, affecting overall crop production.

The situation sees a worsening trend due to lack of strong monitoring from the district and upazila administrations.

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a power plant in Chittagong Tk 10 lakh for polluting and hampering the biodiversity of Halda river through discharging furnace oil into the river.

DoE Director (Enforcement) Mohammed Munir Chowdhury gave the sentence to the project director of a 100 megawatt Peaking Power Plant in Hathazari.

On April 11 this year, around 1,600 litres of furnace oil went into Halda river through Changkhali canal for the negligence of the power plant authorities, said a DoE press release.

Bangladesh on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Netherlands to prepare the "Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100" in order to build up a 50-100 years water management system.
Under the deal, Bangladesh will conduct about 20 studies of different types at the main rivers and adjoining areas with the Dutch help. Planning Minister AK Khandker and Dutch Minister for Development Dr Ben Knapen signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides at the Prime Minister's Office. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina witnessed the signing of the deal.