AT LEAST nine persons were killed and nine injured in separate road accidents in four districts on Friday.
   The Natore correspondent of New age reports that five persons were killed and seven injured when a microbus carrying a bridal party fell into a roadside ditch on the Natore-Rajshahi Highway in the Teberia area in the district on Friday afternoon.
   The deceased were Dudu Mia 45, Lipi, 15, Rabbi 12, Wahid, 25, and Osman, 40.
   The police said engineer Alim Talukder Titon, who works in a training centre at Savar in Dhaka, was going to Rajshahi from Pallabi in the capital with his relatives and friends by a microbus for his marriage. But the bus fell into the ditch at Teberia bypass point at about 1:30pm.
   Natore Fire Brigade later rescued the injured.
   Three of the injured Aklima Begum, Jalal Ahmed, and Swapan were admitted to Natore General Hospital.
   A case was lodged with the Natore police station.
   The Madaripur correspondent said two persons were killed and two injured in an accident at Pathuriapuar under Kalkini upazila in Madaripur on Friday evening.
   Two dead were Abul Kalam, 34, of village Maizpara and Mosharaf Hossain, 36, of
   village Duashar under the upazila.
   Witnesses said the accident took place when a Barisal-bound truck hit a roadside passenger van killing Kalam and Mosharaf on the spot.
   The injured were admitted to Kalkini Upazila Health Complex.
   A case was registered with Kalkini police station in this connection.
   In Comilla, a motorcyclist was crushed to death under the wheels of a lorry on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway
   at Kamalapur under Sadar Dakshin upazila on Friday morning.
   The dead was Kausar Ahmed, 23, of viilage Majhigaccha.
   The police said the lorry ran over Kausar when he was going to Suaganj from Paduar Bazar at about 10:00am.
   The police recovered the body and sent it to Comilla Medical College Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination. An unnatural death case was recorded with the local police station.
   In Pabna, according to the United News of Bangladesh, a schoolgirl was crushed under the wheels of a truck on the Pabna-Kushtia Highway at Mirkamari under Ishwardi upazila.
   The police said a speeding truck of the Roads and Highway Department knocked down Laboni, 10, a Class V student of Mirakumari Primary School, when she was going to her private tutor at about 10:00am. She died on the spot.
   The body was sent to hospital morgue. A case was recorded with the police.

THE cultivation of sugarcane in ‘ropa’ (transplanted) system for the 2007-08 season in the areas of Thakurgaon Sugar Mills was inaugurated on Thursday.
   Commander of the joint forces of the district Lieutenant Colonel Belayet Hossain Khan inaugurated the system by planting sugarcane saplings in the land of a farmer at village Hariharpur.
   As many as 2,000 farmers were given practical training by the mill authorities so that they can cultivate sugarcane under the system with much enthusiasm and zeal.
   The mill fixed a target of cultivating sugarcane on 14 acres of land during the current season.
   Mill officials said over 21 tonnes of sugarcane could be produced from one acre of land, which is almost a double compared to the traditional cultivation system.
   Moreover, it needs only 35 kilograms of seeds for one acre of land, while 80 kilograms of seeds are required for cultivating sugarcane through traditional method.
   The mill authorities, however, are providing subsidy of Tk 3,500 to each farmer for cultivating sugarcane on one acre of land.
   Former principal of Dinajpur Agriculture Collage late Dr Yeasin was the innovator of the system. He invented it in 1995.

A man was beaten to death at village Debinagar under the Chapainawabganj district headquarters on Thursday night.
   The deceased was Atabur, 35.
   Quoting locals, the police said Razzaq and Shamsher, residents of the same village, detained him when he was walking along the village road suspecting him as a thief. They beat Atabur mercilessly leaving him critically injured.
   He was admitted to Chapainawabganj General Hospital where he died.
   The police also arrested Razzaq and Shamsher as the victim’s wife, Tanjila Begum, filed a case with the police station accusing them.