Sifayet Ullah

The cable car service in Sheikh Russel Aviary and Eco Park in the port city’s Rangunia upazila has remained closed since September 2021. The authorities have been working to restart its operations but no progress has been made to that effect in the last year.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) plans to start the first ever ferry service between Sandwip island and Sitakunda in Chattogram.

Land grabbers, including those belonging to the influential quarters, are hatching a conspiracy to occupy three acres of land in Chattogram’s Nasirabad Social Forestry Nursery and Training Centre (SFNTC), alleged forest officials.

The Roads and Highways Department is seeking 174 acres to widen a road through the Ramgarh-Sitakunda Reserve Forest in Chattogram amid concerns of damage to the environment and violation of rules.

The long-awaited Bakalia access road, built to ease traffic and improve connectivity with south Chattogram from port city, will be opened for vehicular movements soon, said project officials.

A group of individuals has reportedly cut a hill by Chattogram city’s Sarson Road to build a road, without getting approval from the Department of Environment (DoE), much to the dismay of locals and environmentalists.

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has taken an initiative to build a 5km road through the Ramu reserve forest, a move that forest officials and environmentalists say will bring disaster.

Alleging that the Awami League government has turned the country into a crematorium, the BNP has said there is no alternative to ending its rule.

To tackle erosion, the Forest Department has planted 29,000 trees on a stretch of Chattogram’s Halda riverbank -- which had been grabbed by locals -- bringing a welcome change for the region’s biodiversity.

As many as 81 species of plants on Karnaphuli riverbanks are in danger of going extinct over the next few decades due to the dumping of industrial wastes and other forms of pollution. 

Train services between Chattogram and Dohazari will resume next month amid widespread demands of commuters following two years of Covid induced closure.

Only two years after its reconstruction, the Ghoramora embankment in Sitakunda’s Sonaichhari Union collapsed. Now, over 25,000 people in five villages are passing their days amid fear.

After so many years, the Department of Environment (DoE) has finally taken an initiative to conduct a specialised survey with an aim to protect Chattogram’s hills.

Built at a cost of around Tk 2,675 crore, when the under-construction, 15.2-kilometre Chattogram City Outer Ring Road opened for vehicular movement in 2021, city dwellers and experts believed it would be a blessing for mitigating traffic congestion.

A new study found that Chattogram city produces 3,000 tonnes of waste every day, of which, 249-tonne is plastic waste.

Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) plans to bring Bayezid-Faujdarhat Link Road under toll system to raise funds for developing and maintaining the six-kilometre road.

Due to minimal rainfall, cultivation of Aman paddy in Chattogram has witnessed a setback.

Sixteen trains on different routes of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) eastern zone have remained closed over the last decade due to multiple crises, mainly a shortage of coaches.

Around two lakh saplings of forest land planted by the forest department have been destroyed by locals’ buffalo herds in the sea-coast pastures adjacent to the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar at Chattogram’s Mirsarai upazila in the past week.

Work for Package-1 of Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) of Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWasa) has started with an aim to create a pollution-free city for residents.