Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

High price of non-iodised salt, non-payment of their dues by the Dhaka-based tanners and lack of capital are some of the problems gripping the families dealing in raw hides in Nilphamari.
   Addressing a press conference at the local press club recently, Hekmat Uddin Fakir and Abdur Rahim president and secretary of the district raw hides small traders association respectively, highlighted the problems of small hide traders.
   As many as 300 small hide traders of the district have been facing financial problems as the big tanners of 10 Dhaka-based tanneries were not clearing their dues. The big tanners of Dhaka owe Tk 17 crore and 87 lakh to the small hide traders of Nilphamari. Non-payment of their dues for the last couples of years has put the small hide traders of the district into manifold troubles, they noted.
   Most of the raw hide traders would not be able to purchase hides of the sacrificial animals this time because of fund constraint. The agents of the Indian business houses would take full advantage of this situation and purchase hides of the sacrificial animals of the Eid-ul-Azha to smuggle them out of the country, they maintained.
   Local sources said the price of one kilogram of non-idolised salt has shot up to Tk 12 from 6 much to the concern of the small hide traders.
   Nearly 700 families at 200 villages across the district are involved in raw hide trade from time immemorial.
   They purchase hides from village markets and households round the year and process them with salt and other materials before selling them to big raw hide traders with little margin of profit.
   They are now finding it extremely difficult to carry on the trade age-old hide of their ancestors due to financial crisis, the sources added.
   The small traders called upon the government to arrange loan on easy terms and end the domination of non –bona fide raw hide traders who are damaging their trade with their money power.
   They also pleaded for establishing a tannery in the district for the preservation and best utilisation of raw hides. Raw hides can be preserved for maximum four months under the present traditional process.
   Establishment of a tannery will save huge quantity of raw hides from decomposition and total damage, according to the sources.

Abdur Rauf Mollah of Chapatala under Magura sadar was executed in Jessore Central Jail at 12:01am on Friday for killing his wife, Khodeza Begum, of the same upazila on September 6, 1998.
   He murdered her at Banyatala Government Primary School and kept the body there.
   A Magura court sentenced Rauf and two others to death.
   The two others were acquitted following an appeal to the High Court. The president declined to accord Abdur Rauf any clemency either. The law ministry issued a directive December 11, 2005 to execute the verdict.
   First class magistrate Mina Masudur Rahman, civil surgeon ABM Khashru, jail superintendent Azizul Haq, jailer
   Shah Alam and others officials concerned were present at the time of execution.
   The body of Rauf was handed over to his relatives on Friday morning after post-mortem examination.

A suspected underground party man was beaten to death by a mob while he with his associates was making an attempt on a police informant’s life in front of Kushtia Polytechnic Institute on Thursday.
   The deceased was identified as Abdur Rahim, 30, a member of Gana Mukti Fouz of the Purba Banglar Communist Party.
   The police and witnesses said three members of the underground party came to the place in a motorbike and shot at Mohammad Shaheen, 30, of Harinarayanpur, in the chest following an altercation.
   As they were trying to flee, the local people managed to catch one of them, Rahim, red handed and beat him up mercilessly.
   The police rescued him and recovered two guns and nine rounds of bullet from his possession. Later he was taken to Kushtia Sadar Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
   Shaheen was admitted to Kushtia Sadar Hospital and later shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Dashmina press club president Md Mizanur Rahman, also the local correspondent of the Bangla daily Ittefaq, was beaten up allegedly by hired musclemen of the UNO in the Dashmina upazila headquarters on Thursday.
   Mizan told journalists that three criminals — Jamal, Shakhawat and Abul Kalam — also took away Tk 10,000 and a gold chain from Mizan when he had gone there to perform his professional duty at about 11:00am.
   Mizan claimed that the Dashmina UNO, AKM Masudur Rahman, had hired the criminals for writing against his corrupt practices.
   ‘The UNO earlier threatened that he would give the local journalists, who wrote against him, a good lesson,’ said Mizan adding that the local people also formed a nagarik committee (citizens’ body) to prevent corruption of the upazila administration.
   ‘Write against me anything you like,’ the UNO said when asked about his position about the allegations.

Coast Guard team arrested four pirates from the Natun Bazar area under Patharghata upazila in Barguna on Friday night.
   The arrested pirates were identified as Idris, 26, Salam, 44, Nur Alam, 35, and Mannan, 29, — all of them hailed from village Ruhin under the same upazila.
   Tipped off, the Coast Guard caught the pirates while they tried to sale looted nets at a shop in that market.
   The arrestees were handed over to the Patharghata police station.
   In the recent days, more than 50 fishing boats and trawlers were looted by the armed pirate gangs from the bay and estuary area under Patharghata.

A gang of robbers attacked North Bengal Sugar Mills and exchanged gunshots with security forces of the mill. But nobody was injured.
   Locals said when the robbers entered the mill area the security forces challenged them and gun battle started.
   After exchanging few gunshots the robbers fled the scene. The security force recovered a shutter gun from the spot.
   Later some people caught hold of an employee of the mill, Tahajul Islam, 32, of village Kesabpur under Lalpur upazila and handed over him to the police.
   But some people claimed that Tahajul is the victim of a conspiracy.

Armed robbers looted valuables worth about Tk 12 lakh from a house at village Diarbamun under Bera upazila of Pabna on Thursday night.
   The police and villagers said a gang of 10 to 12 robbers entered the house of businessman Abul Hossain Uzzwal
   of the village. They confined all the family members at gun point and looted valuables including 80 tolas of gold
   ornaments.
   Uzzwal filed a case with the police who arrested one Akram Hossain Ranju of the same village in this connection.

Jhenaidah district Ulema League convenor Arif Billah sustained severe injuries when some BNP men allegedly attacked on its
   procession after a meeting on the Jhenaidah Wazir Ali High School ground on Friday evening.
   The injured was taken to Jhenaidah Sadar Hospital in a critical state.
   The Awami League claimed that the BNP men attacked Arif without any instigation.
   District AL president Abdul Hye MP and secretary Advocate Azizur Rahman condemned the attack.

One person died from taking alcohol in Kushtia town on early Friday.
   Locals said Abdul Manna Sheikh, 40, of the Kamlapur area of the town took alcohol on Thursday night and fell ill.
   His family members took him to Kushtia General Hospital where he died at about 5:00am on Friday.