The residents in Lalmonirhat town have been suffering severe mosquito menace for over a month for absence of any anti-mosquito drive.
   The people have become annoyed with the municipality authorities as they are not taking any steps to fight mosquito.
   Soon after the night falls, people suffer mosquitoe bites in their residences, offices, business centres and other places, some locals said.
   The residents in many areas of the district town including Saptana Bazar, Jumma Para, Driver Para, Khocha Bari, BDR Hat and Ware Less colony expressed their dissatisfaction over inaction of the municipality to check the mosquito menace.
   The poor people are the major sufferers as they have no ability to buy coils or insect killers. Security guards and floating people are also easy victims.
   Afzal Hossain, 42, a resident in Ware Less Colony area in the town said they can hardly sleep at night due to mosquito bites.
   ‘Everyday three coils are needed to get some respite from the mosquito.We have to buy them at Tk 8 which is an extra burden for us’, he said.
   Polash Chandra, 8, a student of Class III of Khocha Bari Government Primary School in BDR Hat area, said her mother buy a coil for her reading room but the mosquito trouble remains almost the same, so it is difficult for for him to read at his table.
   Prokash Chandra Saha, 28, a shop owner in Puran Bazar Kalibari area of the town, said this year he was selling more coils than the previous years.
   Some residents said conditions in sub-urban areas were worse as all the drains have remained clogged due to their faulty construction.
   More than 30 dustbins in the municipality area have not been cleaned for several years, they said. When contacted, Lalmonirhat municipality chairman Mosharof Hossain Rana, said they can not take anti-mosquito drive due to manpower crisis.
   ‘We have only one person to spray insecticide in the town’, he said. But he mentioned that they had no immediate plan of any recruitment due to fund crisis.

The police arrested two snatchers while they were trying to take away money from a patient at a clinic on Rajbari road in Gazipur sadar on Friday.
   The police also recovered a knife, heroin and a fake Tk 500 note from them. They are Redoy Hossain Kanchan, 22, and Roman alias Rubel, 25.
   Locals said three snatchers entered a cabin of Gazipur Clinic and tried to snatch Tk 1,000 from a patient, Sazzad Hossain, frightening him by knife.
   Hearing his cry and hue, neighbouring people came in aid and managed to catch two of them.
   Later, they were handed over to the Joydebpur police station.
   A case was filed.

A new milk-cooling centre of Milk Vita was inaugurated at Putia in Shahzadpur upazila of Sirajganj on Friday.
   This is the third cooling centre in the district where the milk-farmers of char areas will get an opportunity to supply at least 10,000 litres of milk to the centre a day. The LGRD and co-operatives adviser, Md Anwarul Iqbal, inaugurated the centre at about 4:00pm.
   Later, he joined the concluding function of Milk Vita Shebamash Baishakh-1415 at Baghabari Milk Vita auditorium.
   A good number of milk-farmers were present in the meeting chaired by the Milk Vita chairman, Md Hashibur Rahman. Md Masud Elahi, the join-registrar of the co-operative directorate, Kamal Ahmed, vice-president, Md Altaf Hossain, acting general manager, Md Ashraf Ali, deputy commissioner, and Md Alamgir Rahman, police super were also present.

The police recovered bodies of two housewives in Rangamati. A housewife was found dead at her residence in Betbunia Chairman Para under Kaukhali upazila on Tuesday.
   The deceased was Bathuma Marma, 22, wife of Uchomong Marma.
   Locals said she might have killed herself over family feud.
   Meanwhile, the police recovered the body of Shapna Moni, 35, at Nannerchar Bazaar under Nannerchar upazila on Wednesday.
   The police also arrested her husband Uttam Kumar Paul on charge of killing her.
   Both bodies were sent to the Rangamati General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations. Separate cases were filed with the police.

A taskforce, comprising a magistrate, joint forces and police, fined 15 hotel and restaurants Tk 60,000 at sadar, Gomastapur and Nachol upazilas in Chapainawabganj in anti-adulteration drives on Friday.
   The team led by executive magistrate Abhijit Roy.
   During the drive, the taskforce fined the business establishments for selling sub-standard food items in unhygienic condition.

The government has set up 275 mini soil test laboratories, so far, in 67 upazilas of 11 southern districts to increase agricultural output under Barisal Agriculture Extension Zone.
   But due to lack of necessary chemicals and reagents, most of these mini laboratories remained almost idle since long, it is alleged.
   Various components of soil fertility are being tested in these mini laboratories in order to cultivate various crops as per nature of the soil.
   This helped farmers of this region to increase agri out put with bumper paddy productions this year.