Rail operation on Padma Bridge from December 2022: Minister

Staff Correspondent: The minister said, it would not be possible to launch the rail link on the inauguration day of the main Padma Bridge if the tracks are not handed over for laying between December and January.
The Dhaka-Bhanga rail link through the Padma Bridge will be launched on 16 December 2022, said Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan.
The minister informed this while inspecting the rail link project at both ends of the Padma Bridge yesterdaymorning. However, the minister said, it would not be possible to launch the rail link on the inauguration day of the main Padma Bridge if the tracks are not handed over for laying between December and January.
Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said, “Efforts are being made to start road transport and train services through the Padma Bridge simultaneously in June next year. But the work will not be completed in time, as in June,
unless the bridge authorities hand over the part of the rail tracks to be laid on the Padma Bridge to the railways by next December. It is doubtful that the train service will start running through the Padma Bridge in June.”
The Minister further said, “We are trying to coordinate with the Bangladesh Bridge Authority in this regard. If for some reason it is not possible to start train services through the Padma Bridge next June, then we have an alternative plan to start the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga railway in December next year.”
Apart from the Railway Minister, Railway Secretary Selim Reza, Director General of Railways Dhirendranath Majumder, Padma Bridge Rail Link Project Director Md Afzal Hossain were present.
The cost of the Padma Bridge rail link project is around Tk 40,000 crore, which is by far the largest of the various projects of Bangladesh Railway.
Following an High Court order, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has formed a committee to prevent obscenity from online platforms OTT (over the top – Hoichoi, Netflix, Amazon, BongoBD), to collect revenue and formulate policies to control these platforms.
BTRC Commissioner (Legal and License) Abu Syed Diljar Hossain has been made the convener and one of the Deputy Directors (Law) has been made the member secretary of the six-member committee.
Other members are–Director General (SS) of BTRC, Director (Law), Director (SS), an appropriate representative of the Ministry of Information (not below the Deputy Secretary rank), a representative of the Department of Finance, Accounts and Revenue (not below the Deputy Director rank) and one of the BTRC Legal consultants.
The report of forming the committee was submitted to the High Court bench consisting of Justice JBM Hassan and Justice Khairul Alam yesterday.
The court has fixed 1 November for the next hearing in the matter.
Lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed stood for the writ while Barrister Reza-e Rakib represented BTRC.
Earlier, following a writ, the High Court directed to formulate a draft policy on prevention of obscenity from the online platform OTT, collection of revenue and control of these platforms, on 18 January.
Lawyer Md Tanvir Ahmed said that the court received two reports from the BTRC chairman and the Cyber Police Centre.