Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

A bumper production of litchi, a popular summer fruit, is likely in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj this year.
   The trees abound with litchis and they have already started coming to the local markets.
   Four districts - Rajshahi, Natore, Chapainawabganj and Dinajpur - are famous for quality litchi production in the country.
   In Rajshahi, there are several thousand litchi trees, most of which are of local variety.
   In recent years, people of the district have planted hybrid varieties of litchi provided by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, but farmers said those are not as palatable and sweet as the local ones.
   According to sources, the local varieties of litchi have started to ripen from the last week of April, but the high yielding variety popularly known as Bombay Litchi, would ripen in the middle of May.
   The price of local varieties of litchi is comparatively low this year. In various hats and markets of the district, a bunch of one hundred litchis is being sold at Tk 70 to 90. The price may go up to Tk 120-170 per hundred.
   Sources in the Department of Agricultural Extension said, there are some 19,200 litchi trees on 165 hectares of land in Chapainawabganj.
   Besides local varieties, there are litchi trees of Madrasi, China-3, Bombay varieties and one released by BARI named ‘Mozaffar’.
   The expected production is about eight crore pieces in Chapainawabganj. Usually a mature tree bears three to five thousand litchis. The market price of the total produce is Tk 5 to 6 crore.
   Unlike other summer fruits, the season of litchi is very short .
    Horticulturist Abdul Mannan, who also a Rajshahi University teacher of botany department said, about 10 per cent of litchis get damaged because of worm attack every year.
    Frequent storm and worm attack often downsize the production by over 30 per cent, he added.
   The deputy director of the DAE said, growers in Rajshahi, Natore, Chapainawabganj and Pabna are now cultivating the sweet summer fruit on commercial basis.
   According to sources, they are showing more interest in growing China-3 variety alongside BARI-1.
   Litchi growers and middlemen earn Tk 1-3 lakh from each acre every year, according to concerned sources.

Incidents of robbery have increased in Moulvibazar in recent times. At least five robbery incidents took place in the last week.
   According to local people and the police, a gang of robbers numbering about 20 to 25 broke into the residence of the assistant manager of Bhurbhuria Tea Garden under Srimangal police station on May 10 night.
   Assistant manager Shamim Ahmed rang the siren of his house and informed the police over telephone. The robbers fled the spot hearing the siren.
   Another robbery was committed on the night of May 9 at the house of one NGO officer Mujibul Haque Bhuiyan at Uttara Residential Area of Srimangal town.
   The robbers entered the house by cutting grills and decamped with cash and valuables worth Tk 2 lakh.
   In another incident at the same area robbers looted cash and valuables worth Tk 2 lakh from the house of Mujibur Rahman on the night of May 7.
   In the same night a gang of robbers entered the house of Abul Hussain Bhuiyan at the Housing Estate. As people of the locality rushed hearing hue and cry, the robbers fled.
   Robbery incidents also took places at the residence of a physician of Bharaura Tea Garden of Srimangal and two houses at Akatona union of Sadar upazila in last one month.
   A duty officer of Srimangal police station said, cases were filed in different robbery incidents. No robber was arrested.

Most of the hotels and restaurants of 16 upazilas in Comilla are selling unhygienic food items ignoring public health concern.
   Allegations have it that these hotels and restaurants do not prepare food items in hygienic manner in the kitchen.
   Hotels and restaurants at many places of urban and rural areas in the district have been set up in unhealthy environment. At some places hotels were constructed with bamboo near drains.
   Food items are kept open all the times and various insects and dust contaminate these. Utensils are also not cleaned properly.
   As a result, people eating in these places contract various diseases like diarrhea, cholera and jaundice.
   The municipality and the health department seldom take action against the owners of these hotels.
   Local people alleged that officials and employees of the concerned departments take bribe regularly from the owners of these hotels and restaurants.
   People have urged the authorities to look into the matter and take necessary measures in this regard.

About 400 potters of Malipara and Kazipara under Panchagarh sadar upazila have been living a sub-human life as their income from the sale of earthen kitchenware is grossly inadequate to sustain them.
   In the past, the potters had brisk business with the pottery. Dishes, pots, flower vases, pitchers, dolls and many other kitchenware made from clay had great demand to all classes of people.
   The income of all the potters from the sale of different earthen products was good enough for the livelihood of their families.
   With the appearance of plastic and aluminium products in the markets, the heyday of the people associated with the pottery industry started fading.
   Even the people of low income bracket of this district as elsewhere in the country now prefer to buy plastic and aluminium products because of their durability, cheap prices and attractive design.
   A potter of village Malipara under Dhakkamara union said the prices of all kinds of inputs such as clay, dyes, mould and other materials for making kitchenware have soared and as a result, they have lost their competitive edge over the plastic and aluminium products.
   He pointed out that it has now become very difficult to realise production cost by selling earthenware.
   Talking to New Age, Gonesh Pal of village Malipara said as many as 250 potters belonging to 50 families have been struggling for existence following drastic fall in the demand of their products.
   Many of them have to remain half-fed almost everyday due to their acute financial crisis, he added.
   Kurmar Sri Biswanath of village Kazipara spoke in the same frustrating tone about the plight of the plotters of his village.
   Most of the potters of the two villages said they needed loan on easy terms to stay afloat in this industry.

Two persons including a minor girl were killed in separate road accidents in Comilla Thursday.
   A minor girl was killed on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at Kairbazar under Chouddagram upazila when a Noakhali-bound bus ran over her.
   The deceased was identified as Safiya Akther, 16, of village Bhiuyan Bari under Feni Sadar Upazila.
   Local people rushed to the spot and immediately took her to Chouddagram Health Complex where the attending doctors declared her dead.
   In another accident, Abdul Latif, 45, son of Fazlu Mia of Boro Goyali village under Daudkandi upazila died at Shahidnagar on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.
   The police said a speeding Chittagong-bound bus hit Latif in the afternoon just after he got down from a vehicle on the road, leaving him dead on the spot.
   Two other persons Md Dulal and Syed Monir were injured. Angry local people put barricade on the road disrupting the vehicular movement for two hours.
   On information, the police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control.