The temperature in Panchagarh, the northernmost border district of the country, has suddenly dropped to 8 degrees. As a result, public life has been disrupted by the bitter cold. However, the hardest hit in this winter are the hard-working people.

On Friday (January 3), at 6 am, the lowest temperature was recorded at the Tentulia Weather Observatory in the district at 8.5 degrees Celsius. Earlier, the lowest temperature of the season was recorded in this district on December 13 at 8.4 degrees Celsius.

On the ground, it can be seen that a cold wind blows from the north over this district every afternoon until the next morning. Along with the cold wind, a bone-chilling cold is felt along with light fog. Due to this, the common people, including daily wage laborers, agricultural, stone and tea workers who go out to work in the morning, are in extreme danger. In addition, due to the change in weather, the number of cold-related patients is also increasing in the four Upazila Health Complexes of the district, including the Panchagarh Modern Sadar Hospital.

In this regard, Nazrul Islam, a van driver in the district town, said, "Due to the cold, the van cannot be driven. Our income has decreased. We are having a hard time living due to the lack of winter clothes."

Maleka Banu, a stone worker from the Banglabandha land port area of the district, said the same thing, "Due to the cold, we are unable to work. My life is suffering. We do not receive any assistance from the government or the private sector. If we could get a little cold during this cold, it would have been a great help to us."

Jitendra Nath Roy, the officer-in-charge of the Tentulia Meteorological Observatory, said, "Today, Friday, at 6 am, the minimum temperature recorded at the Tentulia Meteorological Office was 8.5 degrees Celsius." Earlier, the minimum temperature recorded in the district on December 13 was 8.4 degrees Celsius. There is a possibility of further increase in cold weather next week.

After being blocked for 11 hours, the Rajshahi University (RU) administration has accepted the decision to abolish the pet quota in the face of students' demands. Students are celebrating victory after acceptance of the demand.

On Thursday (January 2) at 10 pm, the administration announced the decision to abolish the pet quota from the 2024-25 academic years in a meeting with student representatives for about 30 minutes. At the meeting, Vice-Chancellor Professor Saleh Hasan Naqib said, "I am not in favor of even a 1 percent pet quota. I am committed to completely abolishing the pet quota at Rajshahi University through the process and to do whatever I need to do for that. As long as I am here, this quota will not return. I will not waste a single moment for this."

It is worth noting that students have been agitating for the abolition of the pet quota for the past one month. In response to the demand, the Rajshahi University (RU) administration has canceled the quota for the children of teachers and officials in the upcoming admission test and re-allocated a 1 percent quota only for the children of auxiliary and general employees. However, the students wanted the dependents quota to be completely canceled. The students gave a 15-hour ultimatum on Wednesday night to accept the demand.

However, as no decision was made, they locked the main gate of the administrative building at around 10 am on Thursday (January 2) as per the previous announcement.

In addition, students of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement took a position in front of the administration building at 9:45 am. They called on everyone to leave the administration building on microphones from 9:50 am. However, those staying in the building did not leave. Then, at 10 am, the students locked the gate of the administration building. This trapped more than a hundred officials and employees.

Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman has visited BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's residence to meet her.

He entered the BNP Chairperson's residence in Gulshan at 8:30 pm on Thursday (January 2).

BNP media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan said, "He came to inquire about the health of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. His wife was with the Army Chief. They stayed for about 40 minutes."

Job seekers who were excluded from the 43rd Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) have demanded the publication of a new notification with their names included by next Sunday (January 5).

These demands were made at a press conference in front of the Central Library of Dhaka University (DU) on Thursday (January 2) afternoon.

A written statement was read out by Masuma Akhter, a gazette cadre of the 43rd BCS education cadre in the first phase and deprived of gazette in the second phase.