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Gas supply to Bogra town is likely to start from June this year, official sources said.
   The installation work of the pipeline is expected to be completed by April under the Bogra Town Gas Supply Project of the state-owned Petrobangla.
   The Tk 184-crore gas supply project was inaugurated on January 5 this year.
   Sources in the Petrobangla said about 60 per cent installation work of the 250-kilometre pipeline has already been completed.
   Project manager Ferdous Ali told New Age that the project would be completed within April and the supply of gas in the town area would start by June.
   He said the monthly bill for two burners has been fixed at Tk 400.
   Each subscriber will have to pay Tk 1,200 as deposit for domestic connection.
   One of the contractors, Abdur Razzaque, said that his firm has already done 60 per cent of the allotted work and would finish the remaining portion by March as per the contract.
   A Petrobangla official informed newsmen that no meter would be used for domestic connections.

All the seven unions at Phulbari upazila will come under full sanitation coverage by next month.
   Of the total, three unions have already achieved cent per cent sanitation. Naodanga and Bhangamore unions were brought under full sanitation coverage last month while Baravita union achieved this distinction in December last year.
   There is no uncovered or hanging latrine anywhere in these three unions. The people of these unions now use latrine to respond to the call of nature.
   They no longer go to the open fields or bushes near their houses to defecate. They are also conscious about personal and family hygiene.
   Motivated by Mahmud Hasan, nirbahi officer of Phulbari upazila and Alhaj Gafur Ali, Abdul Mannan Bepari and Nazir Hossain, chairmen of Naodanga, Bhangamore and Baravita union parishads respectively, the people of these unions came forward to construct sanitary latrines.
   Many of them even sold their cattle and other belongings to buy materials for this purpose. The members of the three union parishads also encouraged the people to construct sanitary latrine.
   Deputy commissioner Azizur Rahman Mollah formally declared the names of the three unions for achieving cent per cent sanitation coverage at a function held here on February 13.
   Speaking on the occasion, he appreciated the efforts of the public representatives to motivate the people to use sanitary latrine. He lauded the response of the people in this regard.
   The deputy commissioner also thanked the NGOs, teachers, students and village leaders of the seven unions of this upazila having a total population one lakh and sixty four thousand for their contribution to make the sanitation programme a success.

Application of low quality pesticides indiscriminately on croplands to combat the pest menace has been destroying the productivity and fertility of soil in Natore.
   Destruction of the soil fertility at different places in the district has deprived the farmers of optimum return from their lands.
   Local sources said different brands of low quality pesticides such as thiodin, holidin, vikranta and quick are being smuggled into the country from across the border.
   Many farmers have been using the smuggled pesticides because they are cheap. Some of the farmers apply the smuggled pesticides harbouring the belief that they have better efficacy in controlling the pest menace than those available in our country.
   According to some local people, the officials and employees of the department of the agriculture extension are supposed to visit different rural areas and instruct the farmers about proper use of fertilisers and pesticides.
   It is also their responsibility to warn people against the use of substandard pesticides, fertilisers and other agricultural inputs. But they hardly move outside the district and upazila headquarters to monitor the activities of the poor and illiterate peasants, they complained.