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The 85-kilometer long Lalmonirhat-Burimari rail track has of late become quite unsafe for the movement of trains because of absence of boulders and decaying wooden slippers at many points on it.
   The boulders on the track were removed by the people over the years and the wooden slippers laid out long long years ago started decaying due to overuse.
   The track has become vulnerable to accident as neither boulders were placed nor the old slippers were replaced by the new ones. At least 12 incidents of train derailment took place on the track during the last six months.
   The derailment of bogies not caused disruption to the movement of trains for hours together much to the sufferings of the passengers but also put heavy financial strain on the government.
   Local people expressed their apprehension that there was every possibility of major train accident on this section because of dilapidated condition of the track. They called upon the railway authorities to place new boulders and replace the decaying wooden slippers without wasting any time.
   Senior officials of the railway department said fund crisis was standing in the way of repairing the track. Repair work would be undertaken as soon as the fund was made available, they added.
   According to another report from the same district, there is much bungling in revamping the Lalmonirhat Railway Station for which the government has sanctioned Tk 1 crore and twenty-two lakh. The amount was allotted for the beautification of the railway station and improvement of the electrification and sanitation system and water supply.
   There were allegations that used bricks, rejected iron rods and electric cables and poor quality cement and sand are being used in the renovation work of the railway station.
   Besides, cement and sand were not being used in the RCC and the plastering work according to prescribed proportion. The railway engineers assigned to supervise the beautification of the station were overlooking these lapses and irregularities. These railway engineers were behaving in way as if they were appointed by the contractor of the project, it was alleged.
   The high officials of the railway department declined to make any comment when their attention was drawn to the low standard work of the station.

The ferry terminal at Paturia is likely to be shifted to Aricha as ferry service on the Paturia-Daulatdia water route has become risky following emergence of hidden shoals and silting up of the channel at some points.
   The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority sources said a three-kilometre long shoal has emerged in front of the terminal making plying of ferries and other water transports most difficult and dangerous.
   Two ferries ran aground near terminal last week because of low depth of water. Sometimes, the propellers of the moving ferries hit the hidden shoals exposing the passengers to the risk of major accident.
   Besides, low water level in the River Padma has been posing immense problems to the movement of ferries on the Paturia-Daulatdia and Paturia-Nagarbari water routes, the sources added. The officials of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation visited the Paturia and Aricha ferry terminals a few days ago.
   After visiting the two terminals, the officials expressed themselves in favour of shifting the Paturia ferry terminal to Aricha. The Aricha ferry terminal was shifted to Paturia in the year 2002. There would be no navigational problem on the Aricha-Daulatdia route as the depth of water on this route is varies from 30 to 35 feet, according to officials.

At least five persons died and 15 were missing as a bus fell into the River Kobadak while getting on a ferry at Chand Ali jetty under Koyra upazila in Khulna on Monday.
   The Koyra-bound bus fell into the river while it was getting on the ferry at a high speed at about 3:30pm.
   During the ebb tide at about 7:30pm, divers and local people dragged the bus to the shore and found the bodies of a child, two women and two men in the bus, local sources said.
   Mainul Islam, the district superintendent of police, on Monday said divers and boats were looking for the missing bodies.

Seven local journalists in Bagerhat on Monday received letters bearing death threats.
   The journalists threatened are Bagerhat Press Club general secretary Babul Sardar, Prothom Alo correspondent Ahad Uddin Haider, Manabjamin staff correspondent Ahsanul Haque, Sangbad correspondent Azadul Haque, Amar Desh correspondent Zakaria Mahmud, Janmabhumi correspondent Rob Mollah and NNB correspondent Nihar Ranjan Saha.
   The journalists said they received the letters at the Bagerhat Press Club Monday afternoon.
   The unidentified senders threatened them that they would be bombed to death if they filed any kind of news against a local lawmaker.
   The sender, however, did not disclose the identity of the lawmaker. The letter also threatened to blow out the press club
   and offices of two local news-papers — Janmabhumi and Sundarban.
   A general diary was lodged with the Bagerhat sadar police in this connection.

Sixteen students were injured during a football match between two schools at Kanaighat upazila in Sylhet Sunday afternoon.
   Critically injured Mahtab Ahmed and Fazlur Rahman were admitted to Upazila Health Complex, while the rest were discharged after primary treatment.
   Locals said the football match was held between Kanaighat Government High School and Birdal MA Academy.

Two died in separate road accidents on Monday.
   The police said Kabir Sikder, 36, a mentally challenged person of village Sonasur of Paikkandi union under Gopalganj sadar, died when a truck run over him on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway early Monday.
   In Tangail, a bus hit a youth, Shahidul Islam, 20, of Dashirkhair under Deldoar upazila, on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway.

A Gopalganj court sentenced one person to life-term rigorous imprisonment for murdering his wife.
   Md Akbar Hossain Mridha, additional district and session judge, also fined him Tk 1,500, in default, to suffer three months more in jail.
   According to the prosecution, the convict, Abdur Rob alias Thanda Mollah, 34, of village Goshgati under Gopalganj sadar beat his wife Rina Begum, 27, seriously and at one stage strangulated her to death on May 27, 2003. Later he threw off the dead body into a canal.
   After the incident the convict filed himself an UD case with the Gopalganj police. But a police probe found that it was a killing.

Six policemen were suspended after an accused in a forgery and theft case had escaped from the Sherpur sadar court area Monday evening.
   Hafizur Rahman, 22, of Tupakura village of Nalitabari upazila, who was arresterd Sunday night, produced before the court the next day. But he managed to escape while being boarded on the prison van.