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The Atrai, one of the biggest rivers in the northern region, has now become a mere canal for heavy siltation creating problems for navigation and irrigation.
   In the past hundreds of people of Natore exploited water of the river for irrigation of land during the dry season and used to manage their livelihood by fishing and carrying people and merchandise on boats.
   Local people said, the goods were carried from Natore to Dhaka, Calcutta and other places.
   Hundreds of villages were situated on the banks of the river. The river was wide enough and it had strong current even one decade ago.
   Ensuing from the Padma River in Naogaon on the western side, the river has crossed the Natore district before falling into another river Nandakuja at Chancekoir village on the eastern part of the district.
   The flow of the river has greatly reduced due to negligence of the authorities and peoples’ indifference, it is alleged.
   The unilateral withdrawal of water by the neighboring country has also contributed to the drying up of the river, people alleged.
   Besides, grabbing of the river stretches and reckless dumping of waste affected its depth and width over this years.
   A number of illegal structures such as houses and shops have been built on the river banks at different places in Singra and Gurudaspur upazila. Waste is constantly being dumped into the river from these structures.
   People who live by the river always suffer due to shortage of water needed for irrigation in every dry season.
   Production of fish fry has already declined in the river due to massive pollution and shortage of water.
   Singra Poura Chairman Samim-Al-Razi said, river erosion is the main cause of siltation the river. In rainy season the river becomes full of water and overflows its banks washing away houses and crops every year.
   People have submitted a number of applications to the authorities in this regard but nothing had happened and people’s sufferings continue.
   Locals said, despite repeated demands and demonstrations the Water Development Board did not take any step to keep the river alive and save it from the grabbers.
   The Water Development Board, however, claimed that they could not do anything due to fund constraint.
   Local people demanded degrading the river Atrai immediately to increase water flow.

Three girls who were abducted from Lalmonirhat on their way back home from school in a month are yet to be rescued by the police.
   Kakoli Rani, 13, a brilliant student of class nine of Bala Pukur High School, was abducted allegedly by a group of local criminals led by Babul, son of Abul Kalam, while she was returning home from school on April 16.
   Abductors demanded one lakh taka from Kakoli’s father Kamol Sarkar at Douljor village, they said.
   Kakoli is now detained in Harichandi Char village under Phulchhari upazila in Gaibandha district, claimed victim’s family.
   About 30 people of Douljor village of Admitmari upazila
   met Lalmonirhat SP and requested him to take proper steps to rescue Kakoli from the abductors.
   Anupama Roy, 12, daughter Nirmal Roy, and Swapna Roy, 12, daughter of Ganesh Roy, at Nawdabash village of Hatibandha upazila, were abducted allegedly by a local criminal gang led by Jamal Uddin, 35, while they were returning home from school on April 5.
   Swapna and Anupoma at Nawdabash village are both class eight students of Nawdabash High School.
   The Aditmari police arrested an accused Bablu Mia on April 18, but they could not arrest the main accused Babul and his associates.

About 200 SSC candidates under the Open University agitated in front of the local tutorial office in Nilphamari town Sunday demanding text books on the eve of ensuing SSC examinations of that institution.
   The SSC examination is scheduled to start from May 6 throughout the country and the examinations routine has already also been announced.
   A source of the Rangpur regional office of the Open University said, about ten thousand SSC examinees of eight districts are going to take part in the examination in the Rangpur region.
   Sources added, about eight hundred examinees would sit for SSC examinations in eight tutorial centres of Nilphamari.
   The university authorities said that they had received sufficient SSC textbooks recently which were being distributed among the examinees.
   But hundreds of examinees in Nilphamari have not yet got any textbook even at the eleventh hour.
   Arif Hossain, an SSC candidate, told newsmen that they had no idea about the subjects as they had not got any textbook.
   The regional director of Rangpur could not give any satisfactory answer regarding the problem.
   Fazle Ali, director (PPD) of Open University at Dhaka office, denied the allegation of text book crisis, over telephone.
   He claimed, there were sufficient books for the SSC students under the Open University.

The Rangamati Hill District Council (RHDC) has undertaken a special scheme to rear asses in Rangamati.
   For the purpose an ‘Ass Reproductive Centre’ would be established on the premises of district livestock office in the town’s Asambosti area soon, official sources said.
   Asses have been rare in Bangladesh at present. Recently some asses were imported from neighbouring India to carry goods in the hilly areas.
   ‘The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) affairs ministry imported 20 asses to carry goods to inaccessible areas of this hilly terrain, as a test case,’ said the District Livestock Officer Pryanath Barua.
   ‘The district council will provide fund for the scheme,’ he said.
   He said the construction of sheds for 15 female and 5 male asses are going on and would be complete in a few days.
   ‘Preparation for necessary health care is must for the asses because five of them are pregnant and we are thinking of reproduction from the pregnant ones,’ the DLO said.    
   A total of 480 asses would be brought under a special ‘Ass procurement scheme’ and of them 50 would be sent to Bandarban.
   Sources said that imported asses would be used to carry the sacks of food grains and other relief materials, especially for distribution among the rural hilly people during disaster.
   Poor people also will be given one or two asses for income generation, which they would use to carry agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables to market places.
   The asses were imported at the cost of 1,440 dollars (about Tk l lakh) and the livestock department was given the caring charge under the direct supervision of the RHDC.
   On a preliminary estimate, Tk 10 lakh will be spent yearly to rear the animals that none of here saw earlier.
   Town dwellers, especially children, gathered at the firm of livestock department in Asambosti to quench their curiosity.

The potters at different places in Lalmonirhat have been passing their days in great hardships as their products are not selling well in the markets nowadays because of the invasion of plastic and aluminium goods.
   Buyers prefer plastic and aluminium kitchenware simply because they are cheaper, attractive and durable.
   As the clay made pitchers, glasses, pots, flower vases, plates and other products have failed to compete with the
   Plastic and aluminium goods in the markets, a large number of potters have already quit their ancestral profession.
   Those still sticking to the profession of their forefathers are faced with many problems for their survival.
   The district had over 10,000 potters a couple of years ago. Their number has now come down to almost half over the years.
   In the yester years, the Mogholhat Kumarpara, Vatibari Kumarpara, Kanika Kumarpara and Panchagram Kumarpara were full of life.
   The artisans everywhere were found busy in making various kinds of earthen products.
   These places now look dull and empty as most of the artisan families have migrated to other places in quest of alternative source of income for their survival.
   A potter of Mogholhat Kumarpara said in the past they did not have to spend money for clay for making potteries. But now they have to buy clay as it has become scarce in the region.
   Many potters of this district are facing fund constraint for making earthen products.
   They have appealed to the government and the NGOs to offer them collateral free loans so that they can cling to their
   ancestral profession by weathering all odds.

A police constable was slaughtered at Dinnathpur village under the Sadar upazila in Chuadanga district Monday night.
   The body of the victim, Ishaq Ali, 45, was recovered from a paddy field Tuesday morning.
   He hailed from Shangra village in Magura district and had been living with his family at Shantipara in Chuadanga.
   The family members said he returned home on April 24 to spend a 10-day leave.
   Monday night, he was on his way to his father-in-law’s house about three kilometres away from Shantipara when the assailants attacked him. Local farmers found his body and informed the police who sent the body to the morgue for autopsy.
   Officer-in-charge of the Chuadanga police station, Nazrul Islam Mollah, told New Age that Ishaq had served as a police constable for 17 years in Chuadanga and then transferred to the Koyra police station in Khulna last year.

A farmer was slaughtered by miscreants at village Suranpur of Bholahat union under Bholahat upazila in Chapainawabganj on Sunday at around 11:30pm.
   The dead was identified as Shariful Islam, 23. According to the police, when Momtaj Begum, wife of the Shariful, went out at night to respond to the call of nature, the miscreants entered the room.
   They slaughtered Shariful, who was sleeping and fled away. A case was filed with the police station. The motive of the murder could not be known.

Traffic on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Highway remained disrupted for more than an hour, when students blocked the highway following the death of two schoolgirls in a road accident under the Fatullah police station in Narayanganj Tuesday.
   The police said a Dhaka-bound minibus crushed the girls, Sonia, 13, and Shyamoli, 14, after hitting two rickshaws near Shibu Market on the Dhaka-Narayanganj Link Road at about 8:30am.
   The girls, class IX students of Haji Kamar Ali High School of Sastapur, died on the spot, while at least 15 others sustained injuries in the accident.
   The injured were sent to different hospitals and clinics, and condition of a rickshaw-puller, Abdur Rashid, was stated to be critical.
   As the death news of the girls spread in the area, students of different schools took to the streets and blocked the highway. The police, later on, cleared the road.

A tense situation is prevailing in Patuakhali town after the police arrested a municipal commissioner and BNP leader of the district committee Tuesday.
   The police and related sources said Towfiq Ali Khan Kabir lodged a case with the Patuakhali Sadar police alleging that Riazul Hassan Panna, his brother Dulal and some other associates of them demanded Tk 50 thousand as toll from him.
   After that allegation the police arrested Panna, a commissioner of Patuakhali municipality and leader of town BNP, from his house Tuesday afternoon.
   Following the arrest, activists of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal staged demonstration in the town allegedly brandishing weapons.

The Rapid Action Battalion arrested Ashraful Islam, organising secretary of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, Khulna district unit, from his village Paipara under Phultala upazila of Khulna district early Tuesday.
   Officials of the Khulna RAB said they arrested Ashraful, 23, with a fire arm and two rounds of bullets acting on a tipoff.
   Ashraful is an accused in 2 murder cases and many allegations against him are in files with the police.