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The erosion by the mighty river Jamuna has rendered 300 families homeless and landless at four unions under Dewanganj upazila in Jamalpur.
   The erosion has washed away homesteads and arable lands of these families at Shanandabari, Dangdara, Par Rampur and Char Amkhawa unions.
   The calamity has wiped out about 130 acres of land with standing crops.
   Local sources said the erosion has inflicted a severe blow on over 3,000 people of eight villages under the four unions. The affected villages are Chitolia Paschimpara, Khulabari, Mondalpara, Dangdara, Parrampur, Char Amkhawa and Chitolia.
   Losing their homesteads and cultivable lands many of the erosion hit people have taken shelter on nearby embankments and high lands.
   These poor people have been passing their days in great distress as they have no permanent source of income. Women and children of these distressed families eke out their existence on the daily income of the heads of family.
   All members of a family have to starve or remain half starved if the head of the family is unable to put in physical labour for various reasons including illness. Most of the male members of these families are day labourers. They live from hand to mouth.
   Talking to New Age, some of the erosion affected persons said they earned their living by working in the fields and houses of well off farmers of their areas. The livelihood of the women and the children of these families is entirely dependent on the daily wages of the adult male members. All members of a family suffer if the sole bread earner is unable to work, according to them.
   The people of the region have urged the government time and again to take steps to protect the low lying areas from the onrush of the flood water and erosion. But nothing has been done so far to save the people of the low lying areas from the whims of natural calamities.
   When contacted, the local officials of the water development board said the char areas could be saved from the menace of flood and erosion by building embankment and diverting the flow of water. This called for chalking out concrete programme and allocation of sufficient fund, they noted.

A remnant of a building, now better known as ‘Natakhana’ after the name of Nataraj, still bears the testimony of numerous oppressions and repressions of plunderer ‘Natabangsha’ (Nata Dynasty) in Nilphamari.
   These dreadful Natas appeared during the reign of Moghals. Before the arrival of the British they settled at Dogachhi, Alupara and Ramganj of Tupamari union, which is three kilometres north of the town.
   Folk sayings are there that they made their living on robbery and abduction. During their dominance people in those areas always lived in panic for their dreadful activities.
   It was not known which religion they belonged to but they were believed to be the worshippers of fire.
   Thousands of people in those localities were subject to their repression. Many people
   were rendered destitute, even killed. Their main target was the zemindars and their houses.
   Various legends have developed about them.
   As the degree of their repression was intensifying the then British government set up a police camp near the Nilphamari Leprosy Hospital. The police camp then rehabilitated the Natas. They were given arable lands for making their livelihoods.
   They were kept under strict vigilance; even they were not allowed to mix with the people of the area. They were taken to markets places under police escort.
   Some of them, in the British period, were punished for violating discipline. Even in some cases they were sentenced to death.
   The gallows on which they were hanged still can be seen beside the police camp.
   The Natakhana is a testimony of history, but no initiative has been taken so far to repair this 200-year old building.
   Local people have made a fervent appeal to the government to take suitable measures for the renovation of this historic building.

The telephone setup at Hatiya upazila of Noakhali is yet to be digitalised though two years have passed after the prime minister, Khaleda Zia, issued an order to this effect.
   The non-compliance of the PM’s order is depriving at least four lakh people from availing the modern telecommunications facilities.
   The Hatiya Telephone Exchange sources said that through the automated telecommunications set up an NWD telephone system was established for two hundred lines under the 89 Thana radio link programme in 1995, which was defective from the very beginning.
   The locals complained several times to the concerned authorities but it went in
   vain. In this situation, they have to communicate with the people outside the island using the OTD sets in the exchange.
   On the other hand, the load-shedding problems, the mechanical faults, discontinuity of telephone lines from 11:00pm to 8:00am and absence of dial-tone in the telephone sets has worsened the condition leaving almost all the telephone sets dead.
   Meanwhile, the faulty underground connection compelled the consumers to pay ghost bills.
   However, the priority order of PM in 2003 and a letter on May 4, 2003 singed by Dr Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, the principal secretary to the PM, had not succeeded in making the authorities active.
   Meanwhile, during her visit to Hatiya in 2003, the prime minister again gave an order to make the telephone line digital immediately and her fresh order also was not carried out.
   The in-charge of Hatiya Telephone Exchange informed that the telephone exchange building constructed in the 60s has been worn out which made the delay in the transformation into digital system.
   The low voltage of electricity and the occasional dysfunction of the telephone lines results in cross-connection, he added.

The teachers of many primary schools in Lalmonirhat realise money from the students illegally under various pretexts.
   Allegations have it that these primary schools compel the students to pay examination, games, picnic and milad fees on different occasions.
   Many students dropped out as their extremely poor parents were unable to pay these fees because of their abject poverty.
   Abdul Aziz, a guardian of two students of Saptana Government Primary School, charged the teachers of the school with demanding money from time to time on various pretexts.
   ‘Sometimes they demand money as examination fees, sometimes as sports and milad fees and so on. It is beyond my financial capability to meet their demands,’ he said.
   Karim, a day labourer, whose one son reads in the same primary school, leveled similar charges against the teachers.
   Several guardians of the students of Maza Para Primary School also spoke in the same vein and blasted the teachers for realising various fees from the students on lame pleas.
   Reports coming from different places in the district highlighted the sorry state of primary education in the rural areas.
   The teachers of many primary school do not attend classes regularly. If they come, they spend time by doing their personal work.
   As a result, the students of most of the primary schools in the district are being deprived of proper education.
   Talking to New Age, the guardians blamed the education department at the upazila level for not taking suitable measures for monitoring the activities of primary school teachers strictly and properly.
   Some others accused the thana education officers and assistant thana education officers of neglecting their duties and said they did not visit the schools regularly.
   Most of the guardians were of the view that the lack of trained teachers was responsible for the gradual deterioration of the standard of education at the primary schools.

At least 1,900 small , cottage and agro-based industries have been closed down in the 16 northern districts due to the lack of capital, loan and government support.
   Moreover, production in one thousand industries has been reduced and they are facing the risk of complete shut down mainly because of uneven competition with similar Indian commodities, erratic power supply, hartal and political unrest.
   The closure of 1,900 industries has thrown thousands of workers out of employment and many more are now threatened with losing jobs.
   Sources from the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation at Lalmonirhat said very few of the jobless workers could find any job in the district towns, and even some of them were compelled to begging just to survive.
   Other BSCIC officials said that the government has been patronising the larger industries and extending huge amount of loans to the entrepreneurs for establishing export processing zones, but neglecting the small and cottage industries which were the sources of huge rural employment.
   At least 1,900 members of the Rajshahi branch of National Small and Cottage Industries Association of Bangladesh have shut down their industrial units. They include factories for producing electric fans, locks, keys , garments, medicines, engineering workshops and milk processing plants.
   At least 300 of the closed industries were run under BSCIC.
   The owners of several industrial units said erratic power supply and uneven competition from the smuggled Indian goods forced them to close down their enterprises The owner of Northern Tannery, Nurul Haque Chowdhury said they did not get enough attention of the banks.
   Many of them were not getting the help of working capital or further assistance even after establishing the units with their own money.

The prices of essential commodities have shot up in the local markets following the implementation of the new pay scales for the government officers and the employees from the current month.
   The prices of rice, wheat, onion, pulses, soyabean oil, garlic, spices and sugar have started rising since June 1.
   One litre of soyabean oil now costs Tk 52 as against Tk 42 late last month.
   The price of garlic has risen to Tk 40 per kilogram from Tk 25 to 28 about three weeks ago. Mustard oil is selling at Tk 90 per litre as against Tk 60 to 65 a few days ago.
   The prices of potato, aubergine, masur dal and papaya have gone up by at least Tk 4 per kilogram in the local markets.
   One kilogram of beef or mutton now costs Tk 25 more.
   The price hike of rice, wheat, flour and soyabean oil has particularly upset the people of fixed income groups, poor farmers and the daily wage earners.
   Nazrul Islam, a trader of Puranbazar in the district town, blamed a section of businessmen for pushing up the prices of essential commodities without any valid reason just after the implementation of the new pay scales for the government officers and the employees.
   Some employees of the government establishments in the district town have expressed their apprehension that the price hike of the commodities of daily consumption would definitely neutralise the benefits of the recent pay hike.

The poor farmers and the sharecroppers under six upazilas in Narsingdi are subjected to exploitation in various ways by the well-off land owners and irrigation service providers.
   Some sharecroppers of the sadar upazila said the land owners and the irrigation service providers have been taking away bulk of their produce.
   Citing an example, a sharecropper said if he produced 16 maunds of paddy by cultivating one bigha of land he would get only six maunds of the total produce.
   The balance 10 maunds of paddy would be shared by the land owner and the irrigation service provider, he added.
   In most cases, the share- croppers have to bear the cost of seed, fertilisers and pesticides.
   Talking to New Age, Abdul Jabbar of Narayanpur said the sharecroppers had to accept the terms and conditions laid down by the land owners for tilling their lands.
   The sharecroppers had little scope for bargaining with the land owners as the lands for leasing are limited while the number of sharecroppers far exceeds the available lands, he noted.