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At least 30 people of 13 villages in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali have fallen sick due to mosquito bites since June 9.
   Scores of domestic animals and poultries also died in the bites of the unidentified species of mosquito, locally called ‘jongly masha’ (wild mosquito), that has made life difficult, the local people said.
   They said the mosquitoes started flocking to the villages — Khazura, South Khazura, West Khazura, Naioripara, Senapara, Khasipara, Sharifpara, Hosenpara, Kalaiapara, Sangjogpara, Pakupara, Lemurchar and Momipur — from marshlands in the last week.
   Ambia Khatun of Khazura, Afzal of Senpara, Riaz of Naioripara, Tayob of Sharifpara, Dilip of Pakupara, Wangchu of Sangjogpara said the mosquito bites resulted in rashes on their skins with heavy allergy and burning.
   It is not possible to stay inside houses even in daytime for the mosquito bites, local union parishad members Sohrab Hossain and Syed Fakir said.
   Use of insecticides, including repellent coil, and burning of repelling incense (dhup), coconut-coir fails to give us a respite from the mosquito bites, they added.
   Most of the educational institutions in the villages have either been declared closed or the authorities arranged classes outside the classrooms, the local people said.
   ‘We have sent letters to the upazila and district administrations seeking immediate steps,’ said the chairman of Latachapli union parishad, Barek Molla.
   The upazila nirbahi officer, Abdul Barek Mia, said he had received the letter and asked the upazila medical officer and the upazila livestock officer to go to the villages and take immediate step.
   A medical team will go to the villages in a day or two to treat the sick people and investigate into the matter, upazila medical officer, Dr Jasimuddin, said.

The Garos still cling to their age-old unique culture and lifestyle amidst the nature sustaining continuous aggression from the ethnic majorities in the mid-northern region of Bangladesh bordering the Garo hills of India.
   The Garos began to live at Durgapur, Haluaghat, Sherpur and Madhupur region in greater Mymensingh of Bangladesh originally from Yang Si Kiang and Hoang Ho basin of China via Assam, Meghalaya, and Coach Bihar of India.
   They like to introduce themselves in their language as Mandi, the daughter of nature. They worship nature and its objects.
   Their supreme God is ‘Tatra Rabusa’ who is also called ‘Debbe’ or ‘Meraded’ and sometimes ‘Daggika’, the creator of river port. Susimé, the goddess of Moon who they believe can cure blindness.
   They believe ‘Nor’ and ‘Mandé’ as their ancestral parents of the tribe.
   They name their children after ‘Mahari’ in the matriarchal and after ‘Manguri’ in the patriarchal families.
   Now most of the Garo families are following patriarchal system leaving the unique supremacy of mother in families.
   Usually the Garos wear traditional Gani, Gando, Bikmachu, Rikmach; but most of the others wear sari, blouse, chemise, trousers, shirt, pants, lungi, shoes etc.
   Now-a-days most of them, about 95 per cent, are converted Christians for which they enjoy economic and other social benefits despite the loss of their ancestral religion.
   In about 300 primary and 15 high schools operated by the Christian missionaries here, most of the students are Garo Christians.
   They used to live on agriculture and 90 to 95 per cent of them owned agricultural lands. But 70 per cent of them are landless now.
   Even the lands which were in their ownership are also decreasing for acquisition by the government and forcible occupation by some local influential people.
   Members of landless families work as wage labourers, collect and sell firewood, hunt crabs and tortoises, trade hand-made bamboo products etc.

Most of the hotels and restaurants in the district as well as upazila headquarters and at village markets in Pabna have been selling rotten and stale foodstuffs exposing consumers to many health hazards.
   A large number of hotels and restaurants have sprung up at different places under sadar, Ishwardi, Chatmahor, Faridpur, Bera, Bhangura, Sujanagar and Santhia upazilas.
   These eating houses prepare various food items with spurious raw materials. Consumers often fall sick after eating such foodstuffs.
   Even the tables, chairs, plates, bowls, tea cups, spoons and glasses in these restaurants and hotels remain filthy.
   Moreover, the bearers of these establishments clean the plates and glasses with the same napkins and towels which are used to remove dust and leftovers of meals from tables and chairs.
   The hotel and restaurant boys do not care to clean the glasses and plates with water after they are used by customers.
   After a customer takes food in a plate the hotel boy simply cleans it with his dirty napkin and serves food on it to another customer.
   Flies and ants are a common sight on the pans and utensils at the cooking rooms of these eating houses.
   Most of the eating houses at the upazila headquarters and village markets keep drinking water in filthy drums.
   The employees of these hotels and restaurants draw water from the drums by dipping their unclean hands into them.
   Customers fall prey to waterborne diseases by drinking polluted water of these drums.
   Several restaurants have sprouted around the general hospital in Pabna district town.
   They are selling unhygienic foodstuffs to the patients of the hospital and their attendants.
   The ice cream factories are also the breeding grounds for various waterborne diseases. These factories use date-expired powder milk, molasses, saccharin, biscuit dusts and harmful colours to earn more profit with less investment.
   They also use dirty water of ponds and canals for making ice cream.
   As the hot spell is sweeping the district, young boys and girls are buying the unhygienic ice cream in increasing number to quench their thirst unaware of their harmful impact on health.

Traditional handloom industry is on the verge of extinction in Noakhali for lack of patronisation.
   Members of the families traditionally engaged in the profession are now pulling carts and rickshaws or working at other industries.
   Some others are selling cloths of different textile mills as hawkers or even some begging after becoming bankrupt for their loan also.
   Once Newazpur, Sondalpur, Ghoshbagh, Khalifar Haat, Odar Haat, Binodpur, Daulatpur, Dharmapur, Karambaksh, Horambi and Joyag of the district were famous for their traditional cloths.
   The places were resonant with the clattering of looms. At least 30 thousand people in the region used to earn their livelihood on weaving.
   Field visit found that despite hardship and under development of the traditional handloom industry, some weavers still stick to their age-old occupation in Binodpur, Horambi and Joyag villages.
   Weavers of Binodpur village Nityananda Devnath and Kanai Biswas said that people prefer cloths of textile mills to those of traditional handlooms for better splendour, advertisement and cost-effectiveness.
   Still there is much prospect of the traditionally woven cloths in the international as well as local markets.
   Some said the market is ever increasing locally among the upper-middle and higher classes for its uniqueness and decorated traditional designs.
   Some non-government organisations patronise the weavers only to attract foreign donation and to earn foreign exchange, though in a limited scale.
   Its bright prospect is still ignored and overlooked both by the government and private entrepreneurs leaving the traditional weavers in utter destitution.
   Some of the weavers and others still related to this industry said that the industry could be rejuvenated if the weavers were trained and provided with soft loans.

Thousands of villagers are being deprived of electricity, as the load shedding has now become an everyday affair especially during evening when areas plunge into darkness for hours.
   Villagers alleged, they have been suffering from power outage days after days. Raw materials of lakhs of taka are being spoilt in cold storage, agro-production is being hampered, production in mill-industries have almost come to a halt and what more is the education of learners are in the peril.
   It was learnt, of 63 unions of six upazilas in Kushtia 62 have electricity lines. In 905 villages the number of subscribers is 10,760.
   The number of subscribers in Kushtia is one lakh. About 40 per cent people of the district enjoy the electricity opportunity. Village areas are mainly under the management of Rural Electrification Board (REB).
   Kushtia Palli Bidyut Samity covers up 11 lakh people and it is those people who are deprived of power service.
   Power Division sources said, the district under the Kushtia Grid Sub Station has the demand of 50 MW electricity everyday. The demand in Kushtia town is 18 MW. But under no circumstances more than 10 to 24 MW electricity can be supplied.
   Business establishments dependent on power had to count huge loss over the past two months. Despite persistent power crisis the concerned office charges electricity bill including service charges every month.
   Palli Bidyut Samity general manager Yuvaraj Chandra Pal said, the Samity requires 30 MW electricity everyday to meet the demand of power but the supply is limited to only 8 to 9 MW. As a result, the demand for power in the locality cannot be met.

Electricity consumers in Jamalpur and Sherpur are facing problems as the court for settling disputes of electricity bills is located in Tangail, far away from the districts.
   There is no separate court either in Jamalpur or Sherpur for quick disposal of the cases causing inconveniences to the people of the two districts.
   About 4,000 cases relating to disputes over bills from Jamalpur and Sherpur have so far been lodged with the court in Tangail.
   Local electricity office sources said most of the cases were filed to realise the outstanding bills.
   In many cases the consumers remain unaware about the court order. They only come to know about the order through the respective police stations.
   As the whole process of filing cases is done from outside the districts, the consumers are often harassed by the police, local people alleged.
   Added to this, unusual delay in disposing of the cases causes suffering to people of the two districts.
   The Jamalpur Ainjibi Samity has appealed to the authorities concerned to set up a court in the district to help mitigate the sufferings of the electricity consumers.
   Local people have also urged the Power Development Board to take necessary steps in this regard without any delay.

Jute production is likely to miss the target in Jhenaidah this season as the growers could not cultivate it to the desired level due to scarcity and high prices of seed and use of low quality seed.
   Production of the golden fibre fell in some areas following sowing of sub-standard seed smuggled from across the border and outbreak of disease.
   The department of agriculture extension sources said about 96,000 bales of jute are expected to be produced in the district this time as against the target of 1,32,360 bales.
   Earlier jute was to be cultivated on 9,910 hectares but finally it was cultivated on 7,987 hectares mainly because of scarcity and abnormally high prices of seed.
   The DAE sources said outbreak of disease also severely damaged jute plants in some pockets across the district.
   Scarcity and price hike of jute seeds forced many farmers to sow low quality smuggled seeds on their lands.
   Jute production suffered a setback due to application of such sub-standard seed, the sources added.

Farmers of the district may face a setback in Aman paddy cultivation in the current season due to high price and scarcity of seed.
   According to Department of Agricultural Extension, an extensive scheme has been taken up to bring 1.15 lakh hectares under Aman cultivation with an output target of 2.19 tonnes.
   DAE said that some 4,270 mts seeds are necessary
   in the district to achieve the target but Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation failed to
   supply even half of the total demand.
   BADC has only supplied 263 mts high yielding ‘Ufsi’ variety of seeds in the district through its 25 dealers.