HAKALUKI HAOR
5 water bodies to be bird
sanctuaries by Dec
Hasanat Kamal . Moulvibazar
THE Department of Environment declared five water bodies in the Hakaluki Haor, the country’s biggest natural water body, as birds’ sanctuaries from this year.
The water bodies are Doho bil, Hala-zola, Haramdinga, Nogua-Lobiroi and Chatla bil. In the preliminary stage of the development of the sanctuaries, different aquatic trees have been planted in Chatla bil and Doho bil.
Bashir Ahmed, wildlife affairs officer of the environment department’s Kulaura office, told New Age that plantation
of these trees in rest three
water bodies — Hala-zola, Haramdinga and Nogua-Lobiroi — will be completed by December. Artificial nests will also be built in these water bodies, he added.
Anwar Hussain, eco-tourism development officer of the same office, said they had taken up an initiative to set up three bird observation centres in Hakaluki Haor to give blood watchers and tourists a pleasant rendezvous with guest birds.
Numerous guest birds have started flocking to the haor and other wetlands in Moulvibazar, as winter sets in.
Locals and bird watchers said the arrivals this year were a bit earlier. Quite a good number of winter birds have already flown hundreds of kilometres along migratory bird route to escape snowfalls in their natural habitats in the North.
Migratory birds might hope for safer stay this time as the Department of Environment has declared five water bodies in the Hakaluki Haor as ‘Birds’ Sanctuaries’ from this year. Implementation of these sanctuaries has already started.
Hakaluki Haor is spread over Sylhet and Moulvibazar. Of the total area of water body, 70 per cent falls in Moulvibazar and the rest in Sylhet.
The area sees tens of thousands of guest birds of about 150 species coming from Siberia and other cold regions. Many of them have local names — bali-hans, lenja, chity, sorali, boikal, nilshir-piyan, pantamukhi, pankouri, buti-hans, china-hans, rangamuri, kala-hans, peributhi, chokchoki, giria, khanjana, patari, dolpipi, dahuk and patibatan.
Flocks of flying birds were seen chirping and fluttering over the Kulaura portion of Hakaluki haor.
The haor hosts over 51,500 aquatic birds of 42 species, says a study conducted in February by a specialists’ team led by prominent bird expert Inam Al Haque.
Of them, 18,500 birds of 29 species are guests and 33,000 of 13 species are residents. The team also found four new species— falcated duck, grey
leg goose, northern lapwing
and common shell duck — in the haor in early 2007.
The number of birds was less in the previous year, but species were more than this year. Birds of three species like spot bill duck, comb duck and grey headed lapwing were not found in this year’s survey.
Spot bill duck and comb duck are local species, while grey headed lapwing is a species of Siberian guest birds, said Inam Al Haque. Lesser whistling ducks were the majority of birds found in the survey.
Other species included northern pintail, northern shoveller, graganey, blue-winged-teal, mallard, gadwall, pigeon, common teal, tuffed duck, ferruginous pochard, common pochard, ruddy shell duck, cotton pygmy goose, fulvous whistling duck, falcated duck, grey leg goose, common-shell duck, Indian pond-heron, grey heron, cattle egret, great egret, large egret, little egret, intermediate egret, purple Swamphen, pheasant-tailed jacana, little grebe, great-crested grebe, little cormorant, great cormorant, Asian openbill, common coot, pintail snip, marsh sandpiper, little ringed plover, golden plover, wood sandpiper, green shank, red shank, red lapwing, brown-headed gull and black-headed gull.
The 2007 bird survey in Hakaluki Haor was done under ‘Bio-diversity in Wetland Management Project’ of the Directorate of Environment.
Wild life specialists SMA Rashid Uddin and Abdul Aziz, project director Jafar Siddique, teachers and students of zoology departments of Chittagong and Khulna universities were included in the survey.
Local people and experts said many parts of Hakaluki Haor are silting up rapidly and becoming cropland, squeezing the temporary habits for migratory birds. Use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers in croplands also poses threat to them.
Hunting also remains a danger for them. Many of them end up on dining tables as they fall prey to hunters although law bans all sorts of poaching and hunting of animals and birds.
Road accidents claim lives of 10
Our Correspondents . Barisal, Sirajganj, Bogra and Comilla
AT LEAST ten persons were killed in separate road accidents in Barisal, Sirajganj, Comilla, Bogra, Gaibandha and Gopalganj in three days since Saturday night.
In Barisal, an SSC examinee, Miron Chokdar alias Rana, 16, was killed and another examinee Ibrahim, 15, was injured when a bus hit their bicycle at Gaurnadi at about 10:15am Monday.
The body was handed over to the victim’s relatives after carrying out a post-mortem examination. The injured was admitted to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital.
In protest against the incident, the agitated people blocked the Barisal-Dhaka Highway, holding up the traffic for about two hours. The police went to the spot and brought the situation under control.
In Sirajganj, four persons were killed and three others injured in a head-on collision between a bus and a human hauler near Bhuiyanganti Bazar under Raiganj upazila on Dhaka-Bogra Highway at about 10:00pm Saturday.
Two passengers died on the spot while two others in Bogra Mohammad Ali General Hospital.
The dead were Shamsu, 30, Ponir, 29, Abdul Aziz, 40, and Harez Ali, 25, of village Choriashika under Salanga police station of the district.
In Comilla, one Liton, 34, was killed and 10 others were injured when a Comilla-bound bus collided head-on with a Brahmanbaria-bound bus on the Comilla-Sylhet Highway in the CNB area under Debidwar upazila at about 7:00am Sunday.
The injured were sent to different hospitals in Comilla.
In Bogra, two persons were killed and 30 injured when a Bogra-bound bus from Naogaon overturned after hitting a roadside tree at Shaharpukur under Dupchanchia upazila at about 10:00am Sunday.
The dead were Abu Bakkar Siddiq, 42, of Dupchanchia and Mobarak Hossain, 50, of Shibganj.
In another incident, a van-driver Shah Alam, 30, was killed when a bus hit his van at Gobindaganj in Gaibandha at about 8:15pm Saturday.
In Gopalganj, a schoolboy, Arman Sheikh, 7, was killed when a Khulna-bound bus from Dhaka ran him over on the Dhaka-Khulna Highway at Chandradighalia under the district headquarters on Monday.
Two killed in mass beating
Our Correspondent . Rangpur
TWO persons, including a suspected robber, were killed in mass beating in different places under Badarganj and Gangachara upazilas in Rangpur Sunday night and early Monday.
The police and the locals said locals caught a youth, Idris Ali, when he allegedly went to lift ginger from one Mojibur Rahman’s field at village Bangtari under Badarganj early Monday.
The mob beat him severely and he died instantly.
In another incident, a
suspected robber was killed in a mob beating on Sunday night at Ganjipur under Gangachara.
A group of robbers held some cattle traders and tried to snatch the cash from them. Hearing hue and cry, locals came to the spot and managed to hold one suspected robber identified as Laiju.
The mob beat him severely, killing him on the spot.
Martyrs’ families honoured
Our Correspondent . Pabna
NILMONI Gallery, a sports and cultural organisation, has accorded a reception to the martyrs’ families in Pabna.
The organisation arranged the reception programme on the premises of Pabna Bonomali Institute on Friday evening. Rokeya Khatun and Kutizan Nesa, mothers of martyrs, were given the reception in the function.
Former player and adviser of the Nilmoni Gallery Md Abdul Wahab chaired the programme while Professor Md Nurunnabi was the chief
guest. Professor Md Kamruzzaman, Professor Shibojit Nag, managing director of Universal Food Limited Sohani Hossain and deputy director (examination) of National University Md Abu Kausar were the special guests.
Among others, journalist Sifat Rahman Sanam, and cultural activists Gopal Sannal and Sadhin Majumder addressed on the occasion.
After getting the reception Rokeya Khatun, mother of five martyrs, said she felt proud of her sons and relatives who sacrificed their lives for the motherland. She, however, lamented for no such recognition for the last 36 years. She urged all to recognise others like her.
Rokeya’s four sons and a son-in-law sacrificed their lives in the liberation war. They are Mosharaf Hossain Ranju, Mostak Hossain Anju, Mokaram Hossain Mukul, Mansur Hossain Manju and Eusuf Ali (son-in-law).
Kutizan Nesa also said she felt proud of her son, Abul Hashem, who sacrificed his life in the liberation war.
The speakers on the occasion urged all to fulfil the dreams of the freedom fighters and the martyrs. The martyrs had sacrificed their lives for Bangladesh. But their dreams are yet to be fulfilled 36 years after the liberation war, they said.
UP chairman held
Our Correspondent . Patuakhali
THE Rapid Action Battalion arrested four persons including a union council chairman on various charges in Patuakhali on Sunday night.
The arrested are Md Mozibar Fakir, chairman of Chakamoya union parishad, Manik Fakir, Bazin Fakir and Md Quddus of village Anipara at the union under Kalapara upazila.
Major Saidur Rahman Osman, in-charge of Patuakhali RAB camp, told New Age that the four were arrested as several criminal cases had been registered against them.
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