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The night-time river communication on the southern region routes has become risky as most of the beacon light has gone out of order due to the stealing of parts.
   Most of the 115 beacon lights on the routes are out of order as the thieves have stolen the parts of the lights despite deployment of guards, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority sources said.
   They said the lights remain unprotected due to the inadequate number of guards.
   Besides, the existing guards remain mostly insincere for their ‘low payment and unofficial appointment’ (verbal appointment on the basis of no work no payment) creating scopes for the thieves to steal, they added.
   ‘Only four out of 36 beacon lights on the Barisal-Ramgoti and Barisal-Chandpur routes are now functioning,’ said an official of the BIWTA, Barisal.
   He said the thieves usually steal parts, including solar powered battery, light, mantel and steel structures.
   There are only 35 guards against the 115 posts of guards for the 115 beacon lights on the routes, the Department of Conservancy and Piloting of the BIWTA, Barisal office sources said.
   The department recently repaired all the lights spending Tk 8 lakh, but parts of the most of the lights had been stolen within two days of the their repairing, they said.
   A deputy director of the BIWTA, Barisal, Saiful Islam, said 29 guards had been dismissed after the incident for their negligence in duties.
   ‘As the guards were selected on verbal contact and no work no pay basis, there was no scope of tougher action,’ he said and added, ‘The guards also care little about their jobs for the low-pay and verbal appointment.’
   Another source said recruitment of the guards and repairing of the beacon lights exist only in paper and the amounts are misappropriated regularly.
   Habibullah, a master of triple-decked launch MV Suravi-7 which plies on the Dhaka-Barisal route, said plying of vessels on the route has become very risky due to non-functioning of the beacon lights.
   ‘The inoperative lights not only make navigations unsafe only at night but also in the daytime during the rainy season when it becomes really impossible to detect shoals due to the increase of water level,’ he said.

The pesky mosquitoes attacked 16 more villages at coastal Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali on Wednesday and Thursday.
   The newly affected villages are Latifpur, Puran Mohipur, Nizampur, Sirajpur, Yusufpur and Monoharpur under Khaprabhanga union, and Fashipara, Mombipara, Hosen-para, Kalaipara, Sangmoypara, Khazura, Naioripara, Kuakata, Pajupara and Sharifpur under Latachapli union.
   A team of Kalapara upazila administration led by Abdul Barik, the UNO, and Dr Jasimuddin Khan, upazila health assistant, visited the area.
   The physician said four medical teams are working in the affected area and treating the patients.
   ‘Blood samples of 70 patients have been collected for test and the people have been warned of the menace,’ he added.
   At present 11 spray machines, five collected from the Barisal city corporation, are spraying insecticides in the area. Sources said this spray cost Tk 12 thousand.
   But local people termed the spraying effort insufficient as it failed to kill the mosquitoes and control their spread.
   Local people demanded widespread aerial spray in the area immediately.
   Barek Molla, chairman of Latachapli union and Abdul Malek Akand, chairman of Khaprabhanga union, said due to extreme heat and shortage of rain, the leaves of trees fall in water. The rotten leaves contaminate stagnant water in marshes which act as breeding place for the mosquitoes.
   In the last one week hundreds of peoples of 16 villages under Kalapara fled their houses after life became intolerable by the attacks of swarms of unknown variety of mosquitoes, locally named ‘Jongli Masha’, flying from nearby marshes since June 9.
   At least 31 persons became seriously ill and a huge number of domestic and poultry animals were killed by the poisonous mosquito bites.

Two persons died and another got seriously ill after drinking rectified sprit at Mehendiganj upazila sadar under Barisal district Tuesday and Wednesday.
   Reports received from Mehendiganj said Abul Bashar Khan Bachchu, 55, a
   freedom fighter and former chairman of local union parishad, and his friends Ziaul Huq Matin and Abdul Khalek drank rectified sprit in the house of Abdul Khalek alias Bhoma Khalek on Tuesday noon.
   All of them were locally known as bad people in the locality.
   After drinking, all of three became seriously ill and Abul Bashar died in his residence at Hospital Road at about 8:00pm Tuesday and Matin died in his residence near Kazi office of Mehendiganj 12:30 pm Wednesday.
   Condition of Bhoma Khalek was still critical till this report and he was taking treatment privately.
   Miraj Hossain, assistant sub-inspector and duty officer of the Mehendiganj police station, acknowledged the facts of the deaths of the aforesaid two
   persons, but expressed his inability to disclose the cause of death.
   Nizamuddin, chairman of local union parishad said the victims were influential and connected with local Awami League politics.
   Local people said the dead bodies were hurriedly buried without any post mortem.

The divisional workshop on Wednesday on ‘Union Parishad Financial Management’ at the conference room of Hotel Royal urged to give the union council the ownership of local earning sources.
   The Khulna divisional committee of the Bangladesh Union Parishad Forum organised the workshop with the assistance of the Local Government Initiative and was financed by USAID to deepen understanding among local government leaders, central government and other actors regarding the causes and consequences of weak revenue mobilisation and poor management of the union councils.
   Representatives of the union council chairmen and members from all districts of Khulna division, top government officials, professional leaders, non-governmental personnel, political leaders and journalists took part in the workshop presided over by Gazi Tafsir Ahmed, president of Khulna divisional unit of the forum.
   Alimushan, the divisional commissioner of Khulna, inauguirated the workshop.
   The workshop urged to improve understanding of the roles and responsibilities of different actors related to local government.
   The council chairmen alleged that the jurisdiction and authority of the chairmen and members have been curtailed and that is why the development work, demanded by local people, is hindered.

Four persons of a family sustained bullet injuries when a group of suspected robbers shot at them after entering the house of a businessman at Naljani village under Sadar upazila in Gazipur on Wednesday.
   The victims are Abul Kashem, 50, his wife Jobeda, 45, his son Jahir, 24, and his daughter Tamanna, 13.
   Local sources said at about 3:00am 2025 robbers got into the house of Abul Kashem by jumping over the boundary wall.
   When they tried to break the lock on the gate of the veranda, Abul Kashem heard the noise and came out of his room.
   He started beating them with a stick. The robbers at once started shooting at him.
   Hearing the gunshots other members of the family woke up and they also sustained bullet injuries.
   Neighbours rushed to the house, rescued the injured and sent them to a local clinic. But as their condition deteriorated they were sent to Dhaka Padma General Hospital. Abul Kashem and his wife are in critical condition.

Flammable gas has been emitting from tube wells of Katenga Purba Para at Kawakola union, a river isle (locally known as Char) of the Jamuna, of sadar upazila in Sirajganj for last four to five days.
   The Union Parishad (UP) chairman TM Shahadat Hossain Thandu officially reported the incident to the deputy commissioner of Sirajganj on June 13.
   Sources and witnesses at Katenga Purba Para said a kind of gas was gushing out from the tube wells in the village instead of water for last few days.
   When they, out of curiosity, set fire on the mouth of the tube wells it was burning. Later they doused the fire for the fear of accident.
   The UP chairman deployed Chowkidars and Dafadars to guard the tube well. But the experts have not yet visited the spot officially till the filing of the report.