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The process of catching shrimp and lobster spawns indiscriminately from the rivers and their estuaries at the coastal areas in the southern districts has been destroying fish fry and different varieties of small fishes on a large scale.
   Local sources said about six lakh people living at the coastal areas in the coastal districts
   are directly or indirectly involved in catching shrimp and lobster spawns and their marketing.
   The spawn catchers use current and mosquito nets for catching shrimp and lobster spawns. In this process a huge quantity of fish fry and small fishes is caught in their nets. The spawn catchers either destroy the unwanted fish fry and small fishes or throw them away.
   A huge number of fish fry and small fishes are destroyed in this way.
   The dumped fishes include falisha, topse, ramsos, bhata and lata. Some spawn catchers said they kept the shrimp or lobster spawns and threw away other fishes.
   Though the use of current and mosquito nets was banned by the government, the fishermen and the people by and large have been ignoring it with impunity as there seems to be no authority for enforcing the ban strictly.
   A good number of markets have sprung up at Kalapara, Alipur, Mohipur,
   Mirzakalu, Patharghata, Taltali, Matthbaria and other places in the costal districts for the sale and purchase of shrimp and lobster spawns.
   One hundred pieces of shrimp or lobster spawn are sold at Tk 100 to 150 at the wholesale markets at the start of the season. Their prices come down gradually as the supply increases.
   The big fish traders invest lakhs of taka in this sector. They advance money to the spawn catchers to be sure of adequate supply of spawns.
   As the prices of shrimp and lobster spawns are remunerative, the people of all ages especially children of poor families embark on catching them from coastal waters.
   A family of four members can earn Tk 300 to 400 per day by catching and selling shrimp and lobster spawns.
   Local sources said coast guards and navy personnel launch drive from time to
   time to stop the catching of fish fry and small fishes by current and mosquito nets. But
   their drive remains confined to offshore and big rivers, they added.
   The sources further said the spawn catchers hide their engine and country boats at the narrow canals and branches of small rivers to escape the attention of the patrol squads.
   An official of the fishery department admitted that it
   was a really a very difficult task to rein in thousands of people of the coastal districts engaged in catching shrimp
   and lobster spawns with current and mosquito nets and causing destruction of fish fry as well as small fishes of different varieties.

Some vested interest groups have been grabbing the lands that have emerged from the river Mogra in and around the Netrakona district town.
   The river Mogra that divides the Netrakona town has silted up at places in and around the town due to low flow of water from the upper reaches.
   A pretty good number of shoals have emerged from the river bed.
   The breadth of the river around the town has been reduced to 200 feet at present from 500 feet following grabbing of lands from its both banks over the years.
   After taking over the lands illegally many of the grabbers have built residential houses, shops and other structures for making money.
   The Netrakona municipal sources said that about 1,000 shops, residential houses and other structures have been built unlawfully on the lands that accreted from the river during the last ten years. Most of these establishments are located at Nagra, Katli, Mukterpara, Chutabazar and Satpai areas in the town.
   Local source said that the district administration took no measure to stop the grabbing of lands by some vested interest groups.
   When contacted, Nazrul Islam Khan, Chairman of Netrakona Pourashaba, said the grabbing of lands and establishment of different structures unlawfully were destroying the beauty of the district town. He said he was unable to stop grabbing of the accreted lands from the river as it was under the jurisdiction of the district administration. He expressed his readiness to help the district administration if the latter sought it.
   Informed sources said that the land grabbers have been selling their lands and illegal structures through deeds under the knowledge of the officials of the land administration.
   The local people have urged the district administration to take action against the people indulging in grabbing the lands that belong to the state.

At least 37 workers of a textile mill fell sick after consuming self-cooked meal at Jamirdia, under Bhaluka upazila
   in Mymensingh on Sunday morning.
   Of the 37, 16 were admitted to the Bhaluka Upazila Health Complex, where condition of 14 was stated to be serious.
   According to local health officials, the victims cooked their own food and had it together, but they started vomiting, immediately after joining their duty.
   Those admitted for treatment are — Enamul, 22, Asaduzzaman, 25, Sharif, 22, Faruque, 20, Shafiqul, 16, Siraj, 18, Sultan, 15, Abul, 24, Fazlul Huq, 18, Hakim, 18, Nur-e-Alam, 20, Shanto, 19, Abu Baker, 20, and Jewel, 18.

The Scout movement to teach the young people to become disciplined and self-sufficient through training has been limping at all the five upazilas in Panchagarh for the lack of initiative and drive by the management of the educational institutions.
   Local sources said of the 603 schools in the district, only 282 of them have Scout organisations.
   But there is practically no programme for the scouts in these educational institutions, the sources added.
   No camporee, badge course, PL course and refreshers course was organised by any school in the district during the year 2004.
   However, ten Scout teams of the district participated at the national camporee and seven teams took part in the national jamboree last year.
   None of the five upazilas in the district has any annual programme and budget for the Scout movement. There is no office for the scouts in any of these upazilas.
   Though most of the educational institutions realise money from the students every month under the Scout fund they have no programme to promote the Scout movement.

The production of mangoes has not been satisfactory in Meherpur this year for the lack of rainfall during the budding period, pest attack and absence of proper care of the mango trees.
   The DAE sources said the production of mangoes would be around 10,860 tonnes this season as against 12,900 tonnes last year.
   The number of mango trees stands at 75,645 under sadar upazila and 22,630 under Gangni upazila.
   Langra, fazli, himsagar, Bombai, Khirsabhog and mohanbhog are some of the popular varieties which are produced in this district. Biswanathpur, Kedarpur and Mahajanpur are among the villages where high quality of mangoes are produced.
   Some farmers said there should be rainfall in the months of February and March for the healthy growth of mangoes. But there was almost no rainfall in the district during the two months.
   Pest attack here and there in the district also hampered the growth of mangoes during the budding and flowering stages.
   A DAE official said water, fertilisers and pesticides were needed to be applied on the mango trees in time.
   But most of our mango growers were ignorant of the proper application of inputs. As a result, the growers were of deprived of optimum production of mangoes in their orchards, he noted.
   Only 500 mango were imparted training on fertiliser management and maintenance of mango trees during the last three years.
   Hundreds of mango growers of this district have little or no knowledge about proper management of mango production.