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Some vested quarters have grabbed over 7,000 acres of khas land across Natore with the connivance of a section of dishonest government officials.
   The vested groups having strong clout with the government functionaries have occupied 45 per cent of agricultural lands and 30 per cent of non-agricultural lands of the government here and there in the district.
   These lands were grabbed either by force or by preparing false documents in collusion with some corrupt employees of the land department.
   Non-agricultural lands are located in the district and upazila headquarters as well as municipal areas.
   Of the 7,227 acres of khas land in the urban areas of the district, 2,234 acres have gone under illegal occupation.
   Out of about 9,007 acres of khas land in the agriculture sector, 4,799 acres have been occupied by the people wielding tremendous influence in their respective rural areas.
   Launching a joint drive, the district administration, Natore Municipality and the Roads and Highways Department recovered some lands from time to time by demolishing the roadside temporary shops, tea stalls and other small establishments in and outside the district town and upazila headquarters.
   But many permanent establishments and structures built by the influential people on the khas lands at different places in the district are yet to be demolished.
   The land department has prepared a list of the khas lands now under illegal occupation and identified the people possessing them.

A housewife filed a case on Wednesday against five persons including a lady doctor and demanded compensation of Tk 2 lakh for causing her immense physical and mental sufferings.
   In her submission to the court of an assistant judge in Natore, Ayesha Khatun, 22, said during a caesarean operation at the local Bandhan medical clinic on September 25, Dr Naznin Aktar left out a gauze and a piece of cotton in her womb out of sheer carelessness and callousness. Soon after her release from the clinic she started feeling severe pain as the gauze and the cotton piece remained lodged into her womb, she noted.
   She further pointed that searing pain in her womb compelled her to seek admission to the Rajshahi Medical College Hospital on November 7 and later to the Popular Clinic in Natore town on November 9. Dr Mahibul Hasan of the Popular Clinic re-opened her womb and finally brought out the gauze and the cotton piece, she added.
   After hearing the case, the assistant judge of the court ordered a judicial enquiry into the case within seven days.

Frustrated over loss of paddy and other crops by flood over the years, many farmers of the flood prone low lying areas in Lalmonirhat are gradually switching over to sugarcane cultivation.
   People living beside the rivers Teesta, Dharala, Ratnai and Saniyazan suffered heavy losses as their standing paddy crop on hundreds of acres of land was destroyed by flood almost every year. The poor farmers who have lands adjacent to these rivers under sadar, Hatibandah, Aditmari and Kaliganj upazilas bore the major brunt of the natural calamity.
   Many of these people have now taken to sugarcane cultivation as it is free from hazards of flood, storm and drought. They earned good profit by preparing molasses from sugarcane and selling it in local markets.
   The Department of Agriculture Extension sources in Lalmonirhat said about one thousand acres of land in the char areas under these four upazilas have so far been brought under sugarcane cultivation. More flood prone areas are expected to be brought under sugarcane cultivation in phases, the sources added.
   The sugarcane growers have urged the concerned authorities to take steps for the marketing of sugarcane and ensuring fair price for their produce.

Over two lakh families out of the total 3,22,916 in six upazilas and four municipalities of Narsingdi were brought under the government’s ‘Sanitation for All by 2010’ programme till September 31.
   Sources concerned said over 70 per cent families in the district and 100 per cent families in Shibpur upazila have already been brought under the sanitation coverage.
   Upazila administration and the Department of Public Health Engineering are jointly supervising the programme.
   DPHE sources said the programme was made successful with the help of local people, students and teachers. There is no uncovered or kutcha latrine in Shibpur upazila at present, the sources said.
   The progress of the programme in other upazilas is- 57.60 per cent in sadar upazila, 49.94 per cent in Raipura upazila, 81.06 per cent in Monohardi upazila, 86.65 per cent in Palash upazila, and 60.11 per cent in Belabo upazila.
   Executive engineer of the DPHE, Narsingdi, Nazim Uddin Hawlader, said Palash and Monohardi upazilas will be brought under 100 per cent sanitation coverage by the current year.
   The entire district will be brought under 100 per cent sanitation coverage by the year of 2007, the sources said.

After 40 hours of sinking of the sand-laden trawler in the river Meghna in Munshiganj, the salvage team of fire brigade recovered six bodies, including two siblings, on Thursday.
   The divers of fire fighters started salvage operation since the trawler, in which about 33 labourers were on board, was capsized early Tuesday after it had been hit by a cargo vessel.
   Fifteen passengers of the trawler could manage to swim ashore while the rest labourers believed to have died.

Over 100 ballot boxes in the Bauphal upazila election office were damaged over the years due to lack of care and maintenance.
   Local sources said more than 200 ballot boxes were kept unprotected in the UNO for a long time. As per instruction of the Election Commission Secretariat,
   the election officer of Bauphal upazila visited the place where the ballot boxes were kept and found that over 100 ballot boxes were badly damaged.

At least four persons were killed and 19 injured in separate road accidents in Sirajganj on Thursday.
   A speeding bus crushed a person, Jamaluddin, 50, under its wheels while he was crossing the road near Sirajganj-Hatikumrul crossing at about 10:00am Thursday.
   In a separate incident, two women were crushed under the wheels of a Dinajpur-bound bus from Dhaka near Baniagati no-2 Bridge on west link-road of the Jamuna Bridge at about 12:00pm.
   The deceased are Monija Begum, 42, and her grand daughter, Morzina, 12.
   In another incident, at least 20 people were injured as a Pabna-bound minibus from Dhaka overturned while trying to avoid collision with a bicycle near Sobdabad Check Post on west link-road of the Jamuna Bridge at about 4:00pm.
   Among the injured 15
   were admitted to Sirajganj Sadar Hospital where
   Motiar Rahman, 75, bicycle rider, died.