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Incessant rain and flash flood early this month caused severe damage to crops and vegetables at eight upazilas in Rangpur pushing up their prices in the markets.
   Sources in the Department Agriculture Extension in Rangpur said the natural calamities destroyed about 38,210 tonnes of crops worth Tk 42 crore and 60 lakh and 14,960 tonnes of vegetables valued at about Tk 9 crore. The vagaries of nature have affected 59,870 farmers at eight upazilas in the district.
   A total of 1,53,885 hectares of land were brought under paddy cultivation in the district this year. Of them, 28,100 hectares were submerged damaging crop on 12,705 hectares fully.
   Vegetables such as lalsak, pui sak, potol, korla, lau, chilli, ada and maskalai were cultivated on 3,895 hectares this season. Nearly two thirds of the vegetable fields went under rain and flood water, according to the sources.
   Green chilli worth Tk 8 crore was totally damaged on about 1,000 hectares of land across the district. Pulses suffered damage to the tune of Tk 2 lakh and 56 thousand while banana to the extent of Tk 25 in the district.

Despite vigil by the BDR and other law enforcing agencies, Phensidyl, firearms, saris and many other commodities are being smuggled into the country through different border points in Rajshahi, Natore and Chapainawabganj.
   Local sources said the smugglers are bringing in contraband goods through Arbabghat, Bilmaria, Yousufpur and Kolonyghat border points under Lalpur upazila in Natore, Mirganj under Charghat upazila, Sarakghat under Bagha upazila, Alaipur and Laxmipur in Rajshahi and Sonamasjid in Chapainawabganj.
   Conducting drive from time to time the BDR, police and RAB arrested some criminals and recovered smuggled goods from their possession. But the godfathers running the smuggling business from behind the scene are yet to be caught. These people have nexus with some members of the law enforcing agencies and have managed to remain out of the police dragnet.
   Cows are being smuggled into the country from across the border with the connivance of the people guarding the borders, it is alleged.
   The smuggled goods are transported to various destinations including the capital by trains, buses and trucks.
   Ramzan Ali, assistant sub-inspector of the Walia Police Camp, was suspended on October 1 on the charge of taking bribe from two Phensidyl smugglers.
   On October 16, the RAB arrested one youth from an inter-city train at Natore station and recovered over three kilograms of heroin worth about Tk three crore.
   On October 25, the Natore police arrested two persons from Belghoria and recovered 92 bottles of Phensidyl.
   On September 12, a youth was arrested by the police with a pistol at village Kadam Saturia under Barigram upazila in Natore.
   Over a dozen people were nabbed by the law enforcing agencies from different border points of the three districts between June and August this year. Smuggled saris, Phensidyl and firearms were recovered from their possession.
   These arrests are tips of the iceberg as hundreds of people have been carrying out smuggling business at many border points either evading the police vigil or with the collaboration of the law enforcing agencies, local sources said.

A Manikganj court on Thursday sentenced six persons to death in sensational Biplob murder case.
   Manikganj additional district and sessions judge Md Motahar Hossain found Shahin, 25, Alamin, 24, Masud, 25, Swapan, 22, Apel, 21, and Lebu, 20, guilty and sentenced them to death.
   According to the case proceedings, Biplob of Manikganj sadar upazila gave Tk 1 lakh to Shahin of village Bhabanipur to go abroad.
   When Shahin failed to send him abroad, Biplob created pressure on Shahin to give the money back.
   Being angry, Shahin and his accomplices hacked Biplob to death on the bank of the river Dhaleswari calling him out of the house on June 3, 2003.
   Chunnu Mia, brother of the deceased, filed a case with the police in this regard.

Failing to manage job and other means of income, a good number of youths in Madaripur have ventured into poultry farming for their livelihood.
   At least 500 poultry farms have been set up across the district at the initiative of young men. There are 200 to 500 birds in each farm.
   Two hundred poultry farms are raising broiler variety of birds for meat while the rest 300 are engaged in producing layer variety for eggs.
   Talking to New Age, some poultry farm owners said smuggling of eggs from across the border was blocking the prospect of poultry farming in the country. The firms producing eggs were unable to compete with the smuggled eggs as the latter are cheaper, they noted.
   They pointed out that cost of Indian eggs was low compared to that in our country as poultry feeds ,medicines and other inputs in the neighbouring country were cheap because of subsidy given by the government.
   Maize and soyabean ,which are the principal ingredients for preparing poultry feeds, have to be imported from India. Production of maize on a wide scale should be encouraged for boosting the poultry farming within the country, they stressed.
   They further said the broiler variety of poultry birds was sensitive to heat and cold. They, therefore, called for ensuring smooth supply of electricity to poultry farms to avoid heat-stress during the summer and cold-stress during the winter.
   The high prices of medicines for the treatment of birds are also hindering growth of poultry farming. The government should see to it that medicines for the treatment of poultry birds are easily available and people can get them at low prices when needed. The import duty on medicines for poultry birds should be reduced substantially and the government should make them available to the people at subsidised price, they suggested.

A fake magistrate — Abdus Sattar Sonju, 35, of village Jamutiapara under Shahajadpur upazila of Sirajganj — from a business centre in Pabna town Thursday.
   Later, he was handed over to the Rapid Action Battalion.
   RAB sources said he had been collecting money from businessmen identifying himself as a magistrate.

Assailants shot dead man at Jhatkamari under Jibannagar upazila in Chuadanga Wednesday night.
   According to locals, the miscreants kidnapped Jamir Uddin on his way home at about 8:00pm on the night.
   The underground Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Janajuddho) claimed the responsibility of the killing.
   BDNEWS, a private news agency, adds: The police said Jamir was killed as a sequel to a dispute over lands. The police arrested three persons including BNP village committee president Rezaul Haq in this connection.

Two persons have been killed and over 50 injured in separate road accidents in Comilla and Netrakona.
   One person was killed and 30 were injured at Borodoshiya on Comilla-Brahmanpara-Mirpur Road under Brahmanpara upazila in Comilla on Thursday night.
   The deceased is Hosne Ara, 45, of village Borodoshiya.
   The police said the accident took place when a bus skidded off the road into a ditch. Of the injured, 15 were admitted to Comilla Sadar Hospital. A case was filed with the police.
   One man died and 25 others injured when a bus fell into a canal breaking railing of a bridge at Nasibpur in Netrakona on Wednesday.
   The dead is Subhan Mia, 40, of village Mohasinkhila under sadar upazila.
   Serious injured Beauty, 28, and Johura Khatun, 45, were taken to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital and 15 others to Netrakona Sadar Hospital.

The temporary staffs of the Roads and Highways Depart-ment, Gopalganj, have urged the government to withdraw the retrenchment order served on them and appoint them on regular basis immediately.
    They held a rally in Gopalganj town on Thursday to press home their demand. They also held a protest meeting in front of office of the deputy commissioner and submitted a memorandum to the prime minister through the deputy commissioner.
   The protest meeting was jointly organised by Bangladesh RHD Workers Union, Bangladesh RHD Labour Workers Union, and Bangladesh RHD Labour Workers Union, Gopalganj. It was chaired by Md Enamul Hoque Khan, president of the Bangladesh RHD Workers Union.