Cultivation of winter crops, including various kinds of vegetables, has begun in all the five upazilas of Lalmonirhat district on a massive range.
   Farmers have already planted seedlings of cauliflower, gourd, cabbage, bean, brinjal, radish, potato, tomato, pumpkin, chilli and other crops.
   Vast tracts of land have been brought under vegetable cultivation this year. The amount of land brought under cultivation has exceeded the target. The government has launched massive post agriculture rehabilitation activities through its various departments on a priority basis.
   The government has allocated Tk one crore to the Agriculture Extension Department to provide assistance to the flood affected small and marginal farmers of the district to recoup their losses.
   This correspondent visited some rural areas in the district, including Sadar and Hatibandha upazilas, and saw that farmers were working in their fields with great enthusiasm.
   They are expecting bumper yield of winter vegetables this year. According to a source in the AED, about 6030 hectares of land have been brought under the cultivation programme this year with an estimated yield of 55,305 metric tons of vegetables.

Several hundred people have been attacked with arsenic-related diseases in four upazilas in Satkhira.
   Sources said most of the tube wells have been contaminated by arsenic in Kolaroa, Tala, Debhata and the district headquarters of the district.
   Different non-government organisations are working relentlessly to provide safe water in the affected areas and giving all possible assistance to help treat the patients. They are also providing interest-free loans to the villagers and helping install deep tube-wells in many areas.
   Conducting a survey the working NGOs said Monday that six unions of Kolaroa and Debhata upazilas are worst affected.
   According to the survey, arsenic beyond permissible limit was detected in some 4,961 tube-wells out of 5,141 in four unions of Kolaroa upazila, while some 6,261 out of 6,580 tube-wells in two unions of Debhata upazila.
   The survey report also said that some 229 people of those six unions of the two upazilas have been admitted to the hospitals being affected by various arsenic-related diseases.

A minor girl was rapped at village Charbhangura under Bhangura upazila in Pabna on Wednesday.
   Quoting the family members, the police said one Shahidul Islam, 22, of the village rapped the victim at a nearby sugarcane fileld at about 2:30pm.
   She was admitted to Pabna General Hospital in a critical condition. The victim’s father lodged a case against Shahid with the police. But he went into hiding after the incident.
   Meanwhile, the police recovered the body of a young man at a field at village Pearpur under Ishwardi upazila.
   The police said his hands and legs were tied with clothes. The identity of the victim could not be known. The body was sent to the Pabna General Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.

Two persons were killed in separate road accidents in Netrakona and Jessore on Tuesday.
   In Netrakona, a woman was killed and nine others were injured on the Netrakona-Mymensingh Road at Sham-ganj Bazar under Purbadhala upazila.
   The deceased was Banecha Begum, 35, wife of one Nazim Uddin of village Shaldiga of the upazila.
   The police said the accident took place when a Mymensingh-bound bus dashed a road-side shop at about 10:00pm, killing the woman on the spot and injuring nine others.
   Of the injured — two were admitted to the Mymensingh Medical College Hospital.
   The others were admitted to the Netrakona General Hospital.
   In Jessore, a minor boy was killed when a truck ran over him on Jessore- Khulna Highway.
   The deceased is Ibrahim Hossain, 10, a student of the Club House Kindergarten School and son of one Nazimuddin of Murali in district town.
   The police arrested truck driver.

A man was killed by a gang of assailants at vsillage Jugdia under Nagarkanda upazila in Faridpur Tuesday night.
   The deceased was Amal, 35, a hardware shop owner of Jugdia Bazar.
   The police said the assailants attacked him with sharp weapons while he was returning to his house at about 10:00pm.
   He died soon after he was taken to Nagarkanda Hospital.
   The police arrested three persons — Montu, 28, Mona, 25 and Ripon, 26— on Wednesday in connection with the killing.
   Meanwhile, the police seized 29 rounds of bullets at the house of one Amzad Hossen, a retired police constable, on Wednesday.
   On information from Amzad, the police went to his house and seized the ammunition.