Urea crisis hits farming of
rabi crops in north
Our Correspondent . Nilphamari
The persisting crisis of urea during the current peak season of rabi crops is likely to have a disastrous impact on the production of Irri-boro, wheat, maize, mustard seeds, potato and vegetables in eight northern districts this year.
Suspension of urea production in Ashuganj Fertilser Factory, lengthy import process of the government to make up the urea deficit in time, hoarding by traders, high transport cost and the recent blockade programme of some political parties are blamed for the present crisis of this important input.
The sources in the regional office of the Department of Agriculture Extension at Rangpur said the demand for urea in Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Rangpur, Pancha-gargh, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur and Nilphamari for the month of November was 29,914 tonnes. But its allotment for this month was only 15,032 tonnes.
There is a scramble for urea among the growers in these districts, dealers said, Nearly 6,40,319 hectares of land have been targeted for Irri-boro cultivation, 1,05,195 hectares for potato, 1,59,347 hectares for wheat, 38,000 hectares for maize, 26,249 hectares for mustard seeds and 45,550 hectares for vegetables in these eight district this season.
One 50-kg bag of urea is now selling at Tk 360 to 380 as against the government rate of Tk 265.
The fertiliser sellers of Sakoa market in Panchagargh, Taraganj in Rangpur, Pakerekerhat in Dinajpur, Patgram in Lalmonirhat and Ruhia in Thakurgaon said they were forced to sell urea to the growers at at a high rate as the dealers realised Tk 330 to 350 from them for one bag.
Pijush Roy, a fertiiser dealer of Nilphamari, said he could not carry his allotted urea for November from the mill gate in time due to blockade programme of some political parties.
He pointed out that increased transport cost also pushed up the price of urea.' I had to pay Tk 12,000 to carry a truck-load of urea from Tarakandi Fertiser Factory in Jamalpur very recently whereas the truck fare was only Tk 6,000 three to four months ago.' he noted.
Abdul Wahed, President of Bangladesh Fertiliser Association, Nilphamari district, was of the view that production of rabi crops would suffer a serious setback if the crisis of urea could not be tackled on an emergency basis.
He, however, denied the allegation that the dealers were hoarding urea for making windfall profit.
10 hurt in JCD-BCL clash in Manikganj
Our Correspondent . Manikganj
AT LEAST 10 students were injured in a clash between activists of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal and Bangladesh Chhatra League at the Government Debendra University College in Manikganj on Saturday 11:00 am.
The police said the clash erupted when both the groups brought out separate processions on the college campus and chanted slogans against their rival groups at about 10:30am.
They chased each others during the clash. Later the police brought the situation under control.
Of the injured, BCL activist Sumon Mia was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and his condition was stated to be critical. The rest were taken to local hospital.
The students wings of the two major political parties — Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Awami League — blamed each others for the clash.
Four killed in road crashes
Our Correspondents . Pabna and Manikganj
AT LEAST four persons were killed in separate road accidents in Pabna and Manikganj on Saturday.
The police said three persons were killed and 12 injured when a bus rammed into a three-wheeler on Pabna-Faridpur Road at Nasrapara in Pabna at about 11:00am.
Two of the dead were identified as Ranu Pramanik, 30, of village Chhata Nagra under Santhia upazila and Rama Rani Das, 36, of village Hatpangsha under Faridpur upazila.
In Manikganj, one person was killed and 20 were injured on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway.
The accident took place at the crossing when a Dhaka-bound bus from Barisal collided head-on with a Chuadanga-bound truck and fell into the roadside ditch, leaving one killed on the spot and injuring others.
The deceased was truck driver Kawsar Mia, 22, of village Satghri under Chuadanga sadar.
The critically injured were sent to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. The others were admitted in the Manikganj Sadar Hospital.
Separate cases were filed.
One killed by elephant
Our Correspondent . Cox’s Bazar
A PERSON was killed by a wild elephant at a village under Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar early Friday.
The victim was Nurul Kabir, 39, of village North Damdamiha under Nilha union of the upazila.
Victim’s family members and locals said Nurul went out of his house to respond to call of the nature and the elephant attacked him and gored him to death at Damdamiha hill under the Teknaf forest area.
Valuables looted by robbers
Staff Correspondent . Khulna
A BAND of robbers took away goods and cash worth about Tk 3 lakh from a house at village Mirzapur under Tala upazila in Satkhira early Saturday.
The police and locals said the robbers entered the residence of Paresh Chandra Ghosh of village Mirzapur at about 3:45am and took away Tk 30,000 in cash, 15 tolas of gold ornaments and five cell phone sets at gun-point.
The robbers left the spot with the booty, exploding three bombs one after another.
The police said they visited the spot and recovered a bomb left by the robbers. A case was registered. But the police could neither arrest any of the robbers nor could they recover the looted goods.
MAIN PAGE | TOP
|
|
