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Panic of bomb attack has gripped the people following the incident of nine bomb attacks and recovery of 29 powerful bombs from different parts in Meherpur during the current month.
   The failure of the law enforcing agencies to find out the clue of the bomb attack made the people all the more panicky.
   The police recovered a powerful bomb weighing about two kilograms from the premises of Gangni Upazila Health Complex on May 24.
   The patients and their relatives, doctors and staffs of the hospital ran out of the health complex in panic after hearing the news of bomb.
   On May 19, a group of robbers launched a grenade attack on Wares Ali, general secretary of Meherpur district unit of Krishak League. The attack has blown away one his legs and made the other one totally crippled.
   Kawsar and Faruk, the two robbers who launched the attack, were also injured in the incident. The local people caught them and gouged out the eyes of one of the robbers.
   The Bamundi police camp came under grenade attack on May 1. The police recovered five powerful bombs from the spot.
   Some smugglers attacked the BDR men with grenades on May 7 at village Dhankhola. Seven bombs were recovered from the spot.
   Three bombs were found at the Sujan Video shop in Meherpur town on May 8.
   Six bombs were found at village Doriapur-Biddadharpur on May 11.
   The members of the underground parties launched grenade attack at the mango orchard of Komorpur on May 14, at Mujibnagar on May 17, and at six mango orchards of village Mohazanpur on May 18 for the realisation of toll.
   The police recovered seven powerful bombs from the house of one Shachin Muchi at village Notun Dorvespur under sadar upazila on May 20.
   A powerful network is involved in smuggling live bombs and materials for making them from across the border, according to local sources.

Once a mighty river, the Old Brahmaputra is dying gradually as siltation and dumping of waste and garbage in the river go unabated.
   In Bangladesh rivers and lakes usually silt up during monsoon in the months of May and June as the river water that comes down from hills carries huge amount of fine soil and mud along with it. In other seasons, the process of silting up by river water is low.
   Many shoals have emerged from the riverbed of the Old Brahmaputra in the recent years.
   Of these, the shoals at Kushtia, Ashtadhar, Bidgaganj, Begunbari, Bororchar, Char Sirta and Char Iswardia areas under Sadar upazila are noticeable.
   A shoal in Khagdahar union is so large that the farmers are now cultivating groundnut, potato and other vegetables along with seasonal crops.
   Many people even built houses on the mammoth shoal in the Brahmaputra near Mymensingh town. There is also a playing ground on it. And cattle grazing on the shoals near the river is a not a rarity here.
   During the dry season, the river passing by the district headquarters assumes a sorry look.
   Navigation in the river is being hampered following emergence of shoals.
   In August-September water level in the river starts falling. And by December many parts of its sandy bed are exposed to the sun.
   Siltation in the Old Brahmaputra has also affected other small rivers. Navigation in different river routes is threatened and the plying of water vessels is on the verge of closure.
   Transport costs have increased over the years. Boatmen and many labourers at ferry points are now out of job.
   Many sewerage lines in the town end up in the river, causing slow death of the water body through massive pollution.
   Dumping of garbage along the bank apparently to reclaim land has been going on over the years.
   At the moment garbage is being dumped on the bank opposite to Raj Rejeswari Water Treatment Plant at Ishan Chakrabarti Road in the town, taking toll on the river.
   In the rainy season following heavy rainfall the waste materials find home in the riverbed.
   An engineer working with the local Water Development Board (WDB) said huge quantities of silt are being deposited in the riverbed because of geological characteristic of the country.
   He said that as most rivers in the country flow slowly, these leave silt, resulting in emergence of shoals. Silt have been depositing for years, he added.

Most women in the hill tracts give birth amid unsafe conditions and suffer from various pre-natal and post-natal complications.
   The UNICEF found that about 92.36 per cent women of the hills give delivery in their homes and this tendency is higher among tribal women.
   It was reported on Friday at a workshop on Social Support for the Development of Tribal Women and Children at the Rangamati District Council Auditorium.
   The deputy commissioner, Gazi Md Julhas, presided over the meeting while deputy minister for the Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs, Moni Swapan Dewan, was present as chief guest.
   The report presented by UNICEF district co-ordinator, Dr Obaisu Chowdhury, found that during pregnancy only 35 per cent get an opportunity for check up and 33 per cent get medication.
   The prevalence of anaemia is also high among hill women.
   According to the report 26.41 percent school going children do not complete schooling. About 16.25 percent of six to ten-year old children do not attend school.
   Currently 86.83 per cent children attend primary schools while the percentage of regular school-goers is 79.46.
   During the workshop, the deputy director, Ferdous Ahmed, presented visual information on the activities of the department of mass communication.

Many rural women of poor families are now supplementing the meagre income of their husbands by their extra income through small enterprises.
   The earnings of the female members have been helping substantially in improving the socio-economic condition of these families.
   Selina Khatun, an inhabitant of Haridaspur under sadar upazila, is now a toast of her village for her contribution to raising the standard of living of her poor family.
   Wife of a day labourer, Selina took to paddy husking business to supplement the income of her spouse.
   After accumulating some money, she switched over to making ‘chira’ (flattened rice). The chira business has changed the lot of five-member family of Selina for the better.
   From the sale proceeds of chira, Selina bought two cows, one rickshaw van and four decimals of land.
   Her husband no longer works as a day labourer. He plies his own rickshaw van and helps his wife by purchasing paddy from the markets and selling chira.
   Her three children now go to school regularly. Their pangs of poverty are now matter of the past.
   The family is grateful to Bongio Gona Unnayan Samity, a local NGO, for its micro-credit to run their business activities.
   Anowara Khatun and Sabiron Begum of village Golabaria under sadar upazila have also conquered poverty by starting small enterprises with micro-credit from the BGS.
   But for the contribution of these two enterprising women, their families would have remained mired in abject poverty.
   Hundreds of poor women of this district have now come out from the four walls of their houses to involve themselves in income generating activities for winning the struggle against wants and hunger.

The supply of electricity to Haragachh area under Kaunia upazila in Rangpur has become irregular and uncertain following the rule issued by the high court on the activities of the Rural Electrification Board there.
   Local sources said the trouble started when the Power Development Board handed over its responsibility of supplying power to Haragacch area to the REB in June,2002.
   The people of the area strongly protested the decision of the PDB to hand over its responsibility to the REB.
   When all efforts failed to stop the PWB from handing over the responsibility of the power supply to the REB, some consumers filed a writ petition with the high court to restrain the PDB from doing it. The high court in its rule called for maintaining status quo.
   After the injunction of the high court, all activities of the REB at the area virtually came to a standstill except supplying power to the area.
   It can neither collect electricity bills from its about 5,000 consumers at Haragacch nor stop the supply of electricity.
   Nearly a dozen transformers have already burnt out disrupting the supply of power.
   The REB has not taken any step to repair or to replace the burnt out transformers.
   A large of number of small industrial units have been closed down after the transformers were burnt out.

Nearly 11,000 rickshaw van pullers under five upazilas in Panchagarh have virtually become hostage at the hands of their trade union leaders who often force them to pay money on different pretexts.
   Some 129 unions control the activities of the rickshaw van pullers across the district and subject them to all sorts of harassment.
   Each rickshaw puller has to pay Tk 250 to 300 every year to their respective unions for getting permanent registration card for their emergency medical service.
   Most of the rickshaw van pullers said maximum Tk 30 was needed for a health card.
   But the union leaders have been realising about eight times more money from them for this purpose, they alleged.
   Moreover, each puller has
   to pay Tk 5 to their unions each month. Refusal to pay this subscription invites intimidation and harassment, they said.
   Jamal Hossain, a rickshaw van puller, said every year the union leaders realised Tk 10 from each of them on the plea of giving them sumptuous dinner on the occasion of the historic May Day.
   ‘But instead of giving us good meals on the day, the union leaders warned us not to bring out rickshaw vans on the roads till 12 noon on May 1,’ he complained.
   A good number of rickshaw van pullers have stopped plying van in protest against the harassment and intimidation of the union leaders.

Harvesting of wheat has started throughout the Jamalpur district indicating a bumper production of the second staple food of the people in the country.
   The farmers of Jamalpur are now busy with harvesting wheat in full swing.
   The farmers and the agriculture officials said, prolonged winter, frequent rainfall, proper use of fertiliser and the provision of requisite irrigation to the wheat fields have brightened the prospect of a bumper production this season.