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The indiscriminate netting of shrimp and lobster spawn in the rivers and their estuaries in the greater Faridpur region is destroying fish resources.
   Local sources said about 40,000 people of Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Gopalganj are directly or indirectly involved in catching and marketing shrimp and lobster spawn.
   The spawn catchers use current nets and mosquito nets for catching shrimp and lobster spawn. In this process, a huge quantity of fish fry and small fishes are caught.
   As a result, some small varieties of boal, bele, pabdah, ganger, kalbaus, ruhita, shol, chital, gazar and kallah fish are not available in the markets.
   Though the use of current nets was banned by the government, the fishermen and the people are violating the ban as there seems to be no authorities to enforce the ban.
   Takerhat Bandor is the main centre for the sale and purchase of shrimp and lobster spawn under Rajoir upazila in Madaripur.
   One hundred pieces of shrimp or lobster spawn are sold at Tk 100 to Tk 150 at the wholesale market on the outset of the season.
   The price are coming down gradually as the supply is increasing. The big fish traders invest lakhs of taka in this sector. They even advance money to the spawn catchers to be sure of adequate supply spawn.
   As the shrimp and lobster spawn are remunerative, the people of all ages, especially children of poor families, embark on catching fry in the rivers.
   A family of four members can earn Tk 400 to 500 per day by catching and selling shrimp and lobster spawn.

A joint taskforce in Moulvibazar in an operation on Wednesday sealed four illegal saw-mills.
   Illegal timber of about Tk 2 lakh was also recovered from the saw-mills during the operation.
   The upazila nirbahi officer of Moulvibazar sadar led the operation comprising with the police, Bangladesh Rifles and Forest Department officials.
   According to source in the Forest Department, the taskforce have conducted operations in the Kagabala, Agiun and Dighirpar Bazar area and traced the four illegal saw-mills.
   The taskforce also recovered more than three hundred cubic-feet of timbers. Motors and other materials of these saw-mills were also seized.
   The Forest Department officials said they were taking preparation to file cases against the owners of these illegal saw-mills.

The police arrested three robbers and recovered a taxicab and its driver while the robbers were trying to slaughter the driver in the Gazipur forest area on Tuesday night.
   Sources said a group of three persons hired the cab and went into the forest area. On suspicious, local people informed the matter to the police who instantly raided the area.
   The police caught hold of the three while they were about to slaughter the driver at Kumarkhada-Kuchiapara area of Nanduain village adjacent to the Bhawal National Park. However, two of their accomplices managed to escape.
   The arrested were identified as Abul Hossain, 30, and his so-called wife Julakha, 22, and another Sumon, 24.
   A case was filed with the Joydebpur police in this connection. The police suspect that the arrested are the members of inter-district robbers.

More than one lakh children of all the nine upazilas in Kurigram are suffering from malnutrition.
   Some two thousand children died of malnutrition in the past two years while 45 children died in Chilmari Chinnu Mukul Hospital under treatment.
   Besides, 80.8 per cent of the infants are suffering from malnutrition, said a survey conducted by Chinnu Mukul, an NGO, al Jatrapur under sadar uapzila, Begumganj under Ulipur upazila and Chenai union under Rajarhat uapzila in Kurigram.
   The survey said lack of nutritious food for the mother during pregnancy, want of treatment, ignorance about how to make nutritious food and want of pure drinking water and child food are the main causes of malnutrition in the area.
   Dr Manashi Islam of Chilmari Chinnu Mukul Hospital said the infants born in the poverty prone char areas most suffer from malnutrition. The degree of malnutrition is the highest during the Bangla months of Ashwin, Kartik and Agrahayan, known as the ‘monga’ period.
   Although government and non-government organisations distribute foods in the area during the ‘monga’, child foods are not supplied adequately. As a result, the number of infants suffering from malnutrition increases during the period.
   There are 300 char areas in Kurigram. The Health Department administers polio vaccine and vitamin-A capsule to the victims only rarely.
   There is no paediatric ward at Kurigram Sadar Hospital. There is only one paediatric hospital at Chilmari upazila conducted by Chinnu Mukul.
   Dr Mohibul Hasan said the infants who suffer from malnutrition receive treatment here.
   The parents of these infants are trained on nutrition and low cost nutritious foods, but as soon as the infants return to home they become affected by malnutrition for lack of proper nursing and are admitted to the hospital again.

The Bangladesh Rifles detained two young men in possession of Indian Rs 75,000 in the Atgram frontier at Kanaighat in Sylhet early Wednesday.
   The detained are Zaynal, 25, of Kalakouta and Suman Roy, 19, of Dashgram at Zakiganj in the district.
   Tipped-off, BDR personnel waited in ambush to detain the young men when they were trying to cross into India near the Atgram frontier outpost at about 1:30am.
   Lieutenant Colonel Monwar Reza, commandant officer of the 21 Rifles Battalion in Sylhet, said the boarder security in Sylhet region had been beefed up after detaining four suspected Indians in possession of firearms at the outpost on July 15.
   The detained, during interrogation, said they were going to India to buy materials, sources in the BDR said.
   The BDR personnel handed over the two to the Kanaighat police and deposited the money with the Zakiganj customs in the morning. A case was filed.

At least six persons were killed and seven injured in separate road accidents in Sirajganj and Pabna on Wednesday.
   Four persons were killed and seven others injured as a bus plunged into a ditch at Purba Delua in Ullapara upazila on the Sirajganj-Nagarbari Highway early Wednesday.
   The police said the Mitali Paribahan bus carrying newspapers alongside passengers skidded off the road killing four persons on the spot.
   Three of them were identified as Durga Saha, 40, and Swapan Saha, 35, of Bhurungamari in Kurigram, and Almas, 27, of Kashinathpur in Pabna.
   The police recovered Tk 50,000 from the pocket of the unidentified fourth victim aged about 30.
   The injured were admitted into Ullapara Health Complex. A case was filed with the Ullapara police.
   In Pabna, a Chatmahor bound microbus collided head on with a Dashura bound pickup van at Bilbariaq on Pabna-Chatmahor road killing the microbus driver Tabibur Rahman, 35, on the spot.
   The police seized the microbus and the pickup van. A case was filed.
   Tempo driver Abdul Qadir, 16, was killed as a Pabna bound bus hit the tempo at Aurundah Bazar under Pabna-Faridpur Road at noon.
   The bus driver managed to flee along with the vehicle. A case was filed.

Abductors on Wednesday demanded a ransom of Tk 6 lakh for the release of two businessmen who were kidnapped from Bandar in Narayanganj.
   Sources said one Monir, known for his criminal activities, kidnapped the businessmen, Polash and Liton, at Mahmudnagar on Tuesday.
   Monir demanded the ransom from Awlad, uncle of Polash, over mobile phone. The whereabouts of the businessmen could not be known immediately.
   A case was filed with the Bandar police in this connection.

The minister for posts and telecommunications, M Aminul Haque, on Tuesday opened the divisional office of the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board in Manikganj.
   The minister, addressing the opening ceremony, said the people of Manikganj would not need to go to the Savar divisional office for connections as the new office will look after all sorts of telecom services provided by the state-owned telephone board.
   Local lawmaker Harunar Rashid Khan Monno and BTTB chairman Abdul Malek Akand were present.

An old couple was killed on Tuesday night as their room collapsed during heavy rainfall.
   Relatives and neighbours of the victims recovered their bodies in the morning as none could notice this during the nightlong rainfall. The victims are Anisur Rahman, 60, and his wife Amena Begum, 55, of Durgapur under Chapainawabganj sadar.

A mobile court, led by Tungipara upazila administration, on Wednesday fined five sweetmeat and bakery shops at Patgati Bazar of the upazila in Gopalganj Tk 2,400.
   The police said the court, led by the Tungipara upazila nirbahi officer, Md Sawkat Akbar, fined sweetmeat shop owners Ratan Saha Tk 400, Amrita Saha Tk 200 and Jagannath Saha Tk 400.
   The court fined bakery owner Ranajit Saha Tk 600 and Parimal Saha Tk 800.

A fraud couple has fled with cash and ornaments after making 11 persons unconscious with narcotics at Dapa Graveyard Road at Fatulla in Narayanganj.
   Sources said Rakib and Sumi fed narcotics-mixed food to the imam of a local mosque, Hafez Md Yousuf, and his family members and fled with the valuables.
   The neighbours recovered them in an unconscious state.