Chattogram Bureau: Hefazet Islam Bangladesh is moving ahead of the national elections. The Islamic organization has announced the National Ulama Mashaikh conference in the capital Dhaka on October 28.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the organization's newly formed central committee at Jamia Islamia Azizul Uloom (Babunagar Madrasa) in Fatikchhari, Chattogram on Thursday (September 21).

Hefazat Islam leaders claimed the conference is not politically motivated, but such a program is considered significant ahead of national elections. Although this conference was called to demand the release of imprisoned clerics and the withdrawal of all false cases, many leaders and workers of the organization think that they want to give a clear message to the government on various issues.

Recently, a committee of 211 members of Hefazat Islam was formed. The organization wants to be strengthened after the committee. As part of this, this meeting was held on Thursday. Leaders from all over the country attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by Ameer of Hefazat Islam Allama Shah Muhibullah Babunagari.

In the meeting, the Secretary General of the organization Allama Shaikh Sajedur Rahman announced the National Ulama Mashaikh Conference on October 28 to demand the release of imprisoned scholars and the withdrawal of all false cases. Apart from this, in the meeting, district, upazila and metropolitan committees were formed across the country and a decision was taken to hold a resolution conference in each district.

In the meeting, Amir Allama Shah Muhibullah gave a long speech to the leaders and workers of Babunagari. He said, "We don't have any candidates in the national and regional elections, nor any propaganda." We are not affiliated with any political party. We have always said, we are still saying that it is not our agenda to put anyone in power or to remove them from power. There is no scope for any political activities under the banner of custody.

Claiming that he is not the enemy of the government, the Amir of Hefazat also said, "We are not the enemy of the government, let the government do the work of the government, we will do our work." However, if an atheistic force raises its head and spreads Islam phobia, and if the government does not take any action or if the government takes any action that is against Islam, then we will protest on the basis of faith. If necessary, we will be forced to go to the movement in a democratic way.

Lalmatia resident Dr. Monirul Islam uses prepaid gas meter. Tk. 500 a month gas cannot finish. The meter goes to Tk. 400 per month with rent.

Another house of Dr. Monirul Islam is in Aruna Palli of Savar. Even if there is no one there, he has to pay a bill of Tk. 1080 per month. But both of its connections are under the same distribution company Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company. He told Barta24.com about these two experiences just a few miles apart. On the opposite side of his house in Dhanmondi, customers without meters have to pay extra bills.

He said, 5 people cook in my Lalmatia house. Never had to recharge more than Tk. 500. And paying bills for 3 years in a row where we don't live. That is more than double.

Monirul Islam expressed his regret and said that he saw the news in the newspaper that the profit bonus is being taken by cutting the customer's pocket. I saw in the newspaper that the officers and employees of Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company received a bonus of Tk. 18 lakh each year. We pay the bills and they are making mountains of money.

Abed Ali, a resident of Rupnagar residential area (Road 19), a prepaid meter user, told Barta24.com that his family has 4 members. Tk. 350 to Tk. 450 taka recharge month passes. This is more or less the experience of gas prepaid meter users. Those who have more family members are spending a maximum of Tk. 600.

Fixed bill is collected for unmetered residential customers which is currently equal to two stoves of 60 cubic meters and one stove of 55 cubic meters. Whether the customer uses, does not use or uses more. Gas distribution companies have been saying for decades that unmetered residential customers are burning more gas. By saying this, the price is increased from time to time. Their point was that installing meters would increase their revenue. But when the first prepaid meter was installed in Lalmatia area (in 2016), the result was reversed. It was seen that the bills of pre-paid meter users were coming from Tk. 150 to Tk. 250 (then the bill of unmetered customers was Tk. 450 for two stoves).

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said in the question and answer session in the Jatiya Sangsad(JS) in 2016, the results of the pilot project of installing pre-paid meters are good. 33 cubic meters of gas is being saved per month in two stoves. At that time the bill of 77.41 cubic meters was fixed in two burners. That is, customers are burning 45 cubic meters of gas.

Before the pilot project, the movement to install gas prepaid meters was noticeable. But now distribution companies have taken a strategic position to delay as much as possible. Out of 38 lakh residential customers, only about 4 lakh meters have been installed in 8 years. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) is pushing for the customers to buy and install themselves due to the slow-moving policy of the companies.

BERC ordered expediting installation of pre-paid meters in 2018 in response to hike in gas prices. It was decided to open the facility so that customers can buy and install meters from the market themselves. Accordingly, after a long wait, a policy was formulated in 2021. The policy states that the customer will purchase the meter from the store of his choice and submit it to the distribution company. Distribution companies will test and install at customer's premises. However, it has been detained due to various complications. Companies are installing meters at prices several times higher than the market. That too slowly. Companies are starting to think of it as a new sector of looting.

BERC held a public hearing on the latest gas price hike in March last year. Then, based on the usage statistics of prepaid customers of the distribution companies, one stove was reduced from 73.41 cubic meters and two stoves from 77.41 cubic meters to 55 and 60 cubic meters respectively.

Titas Gas has applied to BERC to increase the existing one stove from 55 cubic meters (Tk. 990) to 76.65 cubic meters (Tk. 1379.70), two stoves from 60 cubic meters (Tk. 1080) to 88.44 cubic meters (Tk. 1591.92). Although the application was submitted in May this year, the matter was kept under wraps after much controversy. However, recently it has been known about the start of activities in this regard quite secretly.

BERC Chairman Nurul Amin said that the proposal to increase the gas bill of Titas will be taken up in the commission meeting soon.

Titas claims that unmetered consumers use more gas than the prescribed amount (55 and 60 cubic meters). As a result the system loss has increased. An application has been made to make one stove 76.65 cubic meters and two stoves 88.44 cubic meters. The earlier orders given by BERC were not realistic.

Former member of BERC (then member - Gas) Maqbul E-Elahi Chowdhury told Barta24.com, I think it should have been below 50 cubic meters. 55 and 60 cubic meters were done for the first time respectively. Provisions are then made for installation of prepaid meters and subsequent reductions.

In response to the question that on what basis 55 and 60 cubic meters have been made, he said that they had 3.5 lakh prepaid meters where it was seen that 45 was used on an average.

In response to a question, he said, will you consider 3.5 lakh meters, or their (Titas gas) 100 meters. If more gas is used in a particular area, then a meter should be installed there quickly, it will not be logical to increase the bill of 34 lakh customers.

BERC has started the process of increasing the gas bill of unmetered residential customers. It is said that two officials entered the field in collaboration with Titas and Petrobangla. They want it quickly to implement the card application.

Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) senior vice-president and energy advisor Shamsul Alam told Barta24.com that BERC must hold a public hearing to respond to Titas' application. There is no opportunity to increase the bill without public hearing. When the public hearing starts, there will be a discussion on this matter with data. I don't see any justification for increasing the bill.

Not only Bangladesh, after the corona pandemic, air passenger transportation has increased all over the world. The annual publication of Boeing, the world-renowned aircraft manufacturer's Commercial Market Outlook, predicts that Bangladesh's annual GDP will grow at a rate of more than 5 percent by 2032, which is more than double the global GDP growth average. Also, the annual growth rate of air travel is expected to be 8.5 percent.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority (CAAB) also predicts that the number of passengers by air from Bangladesh will increase several times in the next decade. An audit by CAAB says that in 2022, Bangladesh's airports handled about one crore passengers. Last year in 2019, this number was a little more than 85 lakh. By 2031, the number of air passengers from Bangladesh will double.

The truth of those predictions of Boeing and CAAB has also started to match in the aviation sector of the country. A recent report of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, analyzing the data of CAAB, says that air passenger transport has increased by 32 percent in the financial year 2022-23 on both domestic and international routes. In the financial year 2022-23, all airports of the country, including Shahjalal International Airport, handled 1 crore 53 lakh passengers on domestic and international routes. However, in the financial year 2021-22, the airports handled 1 crore 15 lakh passengers. And in the financial year 2020-21, the airports handled only 58 lakh passengers.

Aviation experts say that the rate of increase in the number of passengers by air was upward not only in Bangladesh but globally. Air passenger traffic rose 45.8 percent year-on-year in April despite global economic uncertainty, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported. Air passenger increased by 48 percent in April. All markets have seen strong passenger growth records. Among these, the airlines of the Asia-Pacific region are ahead again.

They say, because of these domestic and international forecasts, the government started the construction of the third terminal. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina partially inaugurated this terminal last October. It will be fully operational by the end of next year. It is being said that its size is more than double compared to Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 of Shahjalal Airport. The previous two terminals served 80 lakh passengers annually. And with the third terminal, it will be possible to serve one crore sixty lakh passengers.

The increase in passenger numbers from Bangladesh is encouraging aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus to sell their aircraft. Recently two companies have been seen courting in Dhaka to sell aircraft to Biman.

Experts say that domestic airlines do not have the capacity to transport the number of passengers. If this capacity is to be increased then they will have to buy new aircraft. Meanwhile, Biman Bangladesh Airlines is planning to buy 10 wide body aircraft (Airbus 350-800) from Airbus. They will first deliver 350 aircraft within the next year if they get the work order from Biman.

On the other hand, more than 15 foreign airlines have already shown interest in operating Bangladesh flights. These foreign airlines include Iran Air, Iraqi Air, Korean Air, Jin Air, Indonesia's Garuda Airlines, Wiz Air. Also defunct Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), British Airways. Also Emirates, Air Asia, Air Arabia operating flights from Dhaka are interested in increasing the number of flights.

Shafiul Azim, managing director and CEO of Biman, says that their network will be expanded when new aircraft arrive. The number of flights to Canada will be increased; new routes will be launched including New York flights.

The deep depression formed in the Bay of Bengal has turned into a cyclone. Moving towards India, the cyclone is likely to hit the coast of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday (December 4).

Due to its effect, it may rain all over the country, including the coastal areas of Bangladesh, and the temperature may also decrease. As a result, the normal winter of December may descend in the next two-three days. Then the winter can set in.

This has been said in the forecast of the Meteorological Department. At 12:30 pm on Sunday, the special weather bulletin said, Cyclone 'Migjaum', which is located in the South-West Bay of Bengal and adjoining areas, is moving further towards the North-West and is staying in the same area.

At midnight, it was located 1,555 km southwest of Chattogram seaport, 1,515 km southwest of Cox's Bazar, 1,410 km southwest of Mongla and 1,420 km southwest of Payra. It may move further north-westwards and intensify.

The bulletin also said maximum sustained wind speed within 54 km of the cyclone center is 62 kmph, increasing to 88 kmph in gusty form.

In this situation, all the seaports of the country have been asked to show remote warning signal number 2. Apart from this, fishing boats and trawlers operating in North Bay of Bengal and deep sea have been asked to move cautiously near the coast till further instructions.

Manowar Hossain, a meteorologist of the Meteorological Department, said, "There is no danger of the cyclone coming towards Bangladesh. However, due to its effect, it may rain all over the country including the coastal areas next Thursday and Friday. After one or two days of rain, the temperature will gradually decrease. After December 10, winter may set in the northern and southwestern regions of the country.

Meanwhile, according to the observations of the Meteorological Department, the temperature and rainfall were higher than normal in most parts of the country last November. Rainfall was 65 percent above normal.

The forecast for Monday from the Meteorological Department said that the temperature will remain mainly dry across the country. However, daytime temperatures may be a little higher than normal. Light to moderate fog may prevail over different parts of the country from midnight to dawn.

The Election Commission (EC) has instructed the Returning Officers to take steps to increase the number of voters in the upcoming 12th JS elections. The EC has also directed the Returning Officers not to do anything that is derogatory or prejudicial to the public.

This was stated in a circular signed by Deputy Secretary Atiyar Rahman of the election management branch of EC.

The purpose of Returning Officers is to act in accordance with laws and regulations to ensure that they do not act in a way that would bring discredit to the competent authorities or the local public and that they do not create the impression that they are biased.

In order to increase the number of voters, the EC has instructed the officials to organize a joint meeting with the district administration and upazila administration to encourage everyone to vote, and to keep in touch with the leaders of the local political parties.

In the circular, EC has instructed to work in the light of law, rules and code of conduct so that no influence or interference from any particular quarters can undermine the neutrality of elections.

The objective of the officials is also stated- not to act in a manner which may bring disrepute to the competent authorities or the local public and to ensure that they do not create the impression that they are biased, to act in accordance with the law and regulations.

According to the circular, intensive patrolling of law and order mobile units, strengthening of security measures in vulnerable areas and important polling stations and extensive pre-election publicity about the locations of polling stations after the finalization of the polling station list to create an assured environment for voters to come to the polling station smoothly and comfortably.