Syed Mansur Hashim

Bringing more people under the tax net

The finance minister recently stated that it is the government’s intention to bring 10 million people under the tax net.
A quarter of Dhaka’s wetlands gone

At the end of April, at a joint conference that included Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association (BELA), Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and other groups came together to share the findings of a study spanning the last nine years on how there has been a systematic degradation of Dhaka’s overall environment to benefit business.
Illegal dam construction: The problem is not with laws but with their implementation

The lead item in the front page of The Daily Star on April 28 tells the story of a steel factory that has constructed a makeshift dam on a stream bordering the Jangal-Bashbaria reserve forest in Sitakunda.
Running out of landfills

As we urbanise at record speed, urban waste is being generated in massive quantities. The problem of course is that the two landfills serving the capital have nearly reached their limit.
A saga of non-compliance

Less than two days after the devastating fire that gutted FR Tower in Banani, city residents woke up to find the DNCC kitchen market had been burnt to the ground.