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Acute fuel crisis has been persisting in Nilphamari much to the frustration of the farmers in the rural areas.
    Farmers are unable to run their power pumps to their full capacity for supplying water to parched IRRI-boro lands because of scarcity and high prices of petrol and diesel.
   The owners of the filling stations in the district town have introduced self-imposed rationing system to sell petrol and diesel to customers.
   Long queue is a common sight in front of power pumps. Each customer is supplied with three to five litres of fuel.
   A number of customers have accused some pump owners and dealers of realising much higher price for fuel than the rates fixed by the government.
   The fuel pump owners and dealers said they were not getting adequate supply of fuel from the Baghabari depot of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation in Sirajganj.
   The district needed at least 7,450 litres of petrol l,930 litres of diesel and 6,100 litres of kerosene per day, but only 40 per cent of the demand of the fuel was now being met by the BPC, they maintained.
   But the BPC authorities at Baghabari claimed that the stock of fuel at their three depots was normal.
   The distribution process of fuel suffered some hindrances following its unusually high demand and difficulties in the movement of vessels and fuel tankers in the rivers due to narrow channel and siltation at different points, they added.

Load shedding at frequent intervals has been disturbing normal activities of people in different sectors and also hampering irrigation of lands for the cultivation of Irri-boro.
   A report from our Kurigram correspondent said power outage every now then has been disturbing education of students, causing losses to businessmen and affecting daily activities of the people in all spheres of life.
   Operation of power pumps and deep wells for the irrigation of boro lands has suffered a setback in the district for erratic supply of power.
   Low voltage is also adding to the miseries of the consumers. Fluctuation of power has damaged a TV and radio sets, refrigerators and electric fans at many houses p both in urban and rural areas in the district.
   Our Lalmonirhat correspondent adds: power breakdown has been hindering production in mills and factories and making the life of the people miserable.
   Some people of Lalmonirhat town complained that power tripped seven to eight times everyday halting production in mills and activities and resulting in the sufferings of the people.There are a good number of rice mills, bread factories, and candle factories in Lalmonirhat town.
   The television viewers, computer users and the people using various electrical gadgets as well as students of schools and colleges are the worst sufferers of the frequent power disruption.
   According to a report from Nilphamari correspondent : The owners of different enterprises at Saidpur town have suffered heavy losses as the production in their mills and factories has declined following frequent power failure. Some of them are even considering the option of closing down their ventures if the load shedding continues unabated.
   They said despite fall in production in their mills and factories they had to pay full wages to their workers and employees.
   ‘ It is better to close down mills than counting losses for power failure’, a local entrepreneur noted.
   Another industrialist of Saipur town said they needed uninterrupted supply of power for at least six hours a day to keep production normal in mills and factories ,but unfortunately power tripped after every two to three years.
   There are over 100 small and cottage industries including 40 in the BSCIC across Saidpur town. Production in all these industrial units suffers when the electricity goes off.
   Saidpur town is now getting about half of the supply of electricity it requires everyday.
   The cultivation of Irri-boro will be affected if the power pumps and deep tube wells can not be operated for the supply of water due to disruption of power.
   A report from our Moulvibazar correspondent said load shedding has become unbearable in all parts of Sylhet division.
   Highly annoyed with the irregular supply of power, the angry people held demonstration in front of the Palli Bidyut offices at different places in the division and demanded regular supply of electricity.
   On the night of Janaury 30, some irate electricity consumers gathered in front of the Palli Bidyut Office at Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibvazar and demanded uninterrupted supply of electricity.
   Another group of people demonstrated before the Pally Bidyut Office at Shamsernagar the same night to press home their demand for the supply of electricity regularly.
   On February 2, several hundred people of Rajnagr upazila in Moulvibazar held a protest rally in front of the local Pally Bidyut office against erratic supply of power.
   Local sources said the peak –hour demand of power in Habiganj,Moulvibazar,Sylhet and Sunamganj is 180 MW but they are getting 100 to 120 MW a day.

Three persons including a woman died in road accidents in Moulvibazar, Bagerhat and Lakshmipur on Saturday.
   A report from our Moulvibazar correspondent said, a woman was killed in a road mishap at Gumra area on the Dhaka–Sylhet Highway in Moulvibazar sadar on Saturday.
   Eye witnesses said a Moulvibazar bound chair-couch of the Hanif Paribahan from Dhaka lost its control over the steering and hit Kamola Khatun, 36.
   Kamola was taken to Moulvibazar Sadar Hospital where the duty doctors declared her dead.
   A case was filed in this connection.
   A UNB report from Bagerhat adds: A man was killed and three of his family members were injured criti- cally when a private car in which they were travelling crashed on the Khulna-Mongla Highway at Bhattey under Mongla upazila in Bagerhat Saturday.
   The deceased were identified as Kalipada Pal, 84, of village Saguna in Rampal upazila in Bagerhat.
   The injured were taken to a clinic where condition of Kalipada’s wife Rupa Bala, 70, her two sons Tushar Kanti Pal, 40, and Shekhor Kanti Pal, 38 was stated to be critical.
   Another UNB report from Lakshmipur adds: A middle aged man, who was injured in a road accident in Lakshmipur on Friday, died at Sadar Hospital on Saturday morning.
   The dead was identified as Mujibul Haq, 50.
   Locals said the fatal accident occurred when a speeding bus plunged into a roadside ditch near Natunbazar under Raypur upazila Friday leaving 20 passengers including Mujibul, injured.
   The injured were rushed to the sadar and Raypur hospitals where Mujibul died at 8:00am on Saturday.

About 70,000 criminal cases have remained pending with the courts in 10 districts of Khulna division causing immense sufferings of justice seekers.
   Sources said prolonged investigation and delay in submission of charge-sheets are the main reason for blocking disposal of the cases. Currently, the number of people seeking justice stands at about 3.5 lakh in the division. They are suffering from huge financial loss due to delay in disposal of their cases.
   Of the pending cases, there are about 10,500 cases in Khulna, 13,000 in Jessore, 5,400 in Kushtia, 7,450 in Jhenaidah, 2,100 in Meherpur, 2,700 in Magura, 2,150 in Narail, 11,500 in Satkhira, 3,800 in Chuadanga and 11,400 cases in Bagerhat.
   The cases have remained pending despite formation of monitoring cell under the home ministry as the cell prefers to dispose only sensational cases, sources said.
   One of justice seekers told the news agency said their sufferings have intensified due to huge jam of cases with different criminal courts of the division.
   A lawyer seeking anonymity said absence of plaintiffs and defenders in courts on day scheduled for hearing cases has become a regular phenomenon, which is hampering the procedure of the cases leading to congestion of cases.

A nine-year old school girl was allegdly raped by a JCD activist in a graveyard at village Gerakul under Gournadi upazila in Barisal on Friday at 8:00pm.
   The police and the victim’s family sources said a local JCD activist Manir Sardar, 22, son of Rahman Akon, abducted the girl on her way home from a nearby grocery shop.
   Manir took her to a graveyard and raped her.
   Hearing her screaming, the villagers and members of her family came to the spot and rescued her from the graveyard.As the rape victim was bleeding profusely, she was rushed to the local Upazila Health Complex for treatment.
   The victim was given treatment at the health complex with out registering her name and address under the pressure of the ruling party activists, it was alleged.
   A case was later lodged with the police in this connection by the uncle of the victim defying the pressure of the local BNP leaders .
   The police sent the girl to Barisal Shere-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital for medical examination.
   The police raided house of the rapist but failed to arrest him immediately.

A totured housewife committed suicide by taking poison at village Maskhola under sadar upazila in Satkhira on Thursday.
   The police said Khodeza Khatun, 22, was married to Sher Ali six years ago and the couple has a son of four years.
   Khodaza’s family alleged that Sher Ali had been demanding dowry for a long time and used to torture her both mentally and physically.

The police arrested three members of a gang of motorcycle lifters and seized two stolen motorcycles from Mandartala and Ghonapara bus-stand area on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway in Gopalganj on Saturday night.
   The arrested were identified as Jalal Sheikh, 35, son of Al-Amin Sheikh of village Raghunathpur under Nazirpur upazila, Nasir Sheikh, 28, son of Sultan Sheikh of village under the same upazila and Abdul Kader, 32, son of Nesar Uddin of village Baruikhola under Morolganj upazila in Pirojpur.
   According to the police, the motorcycle lifters stole one Hero-Honda motor- cycle and another Xingfu motorcycle from a resi- dence of Abu Sayeed Sikder at Natun School Road in Gopalganj town on Saturday night. The motorcycle lifters are stated to be active throughout the district.