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Litchi farming changes lot
of Narail farmers
Sultan Mahmood . Narail

Litchi cultivation has brought smile on the face of a large number of farmers in 15 villages in Narail with a bumper production this year .
   ‘We are very happy with this year’s yield of litchi and farming of this seasonal juicy fruit has changed our lot,’ some growers said.
   The farmers in different villages of the district are now getting interested to make litchi orchards instead of cultivating jute and paddy, they said.
   ‘We earn Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000 by growing litchi on one only bigha of land (one bigha equivalent to 0.13 hectare) while the earning we made earlier from paddy or jute on the same area of land was Tk 10,000 to 12,000, a farmer said.
   Better yield and profit with less investment are encouraging farmers to cultivate litchi, the sadar upazila agriculture officer, Fifatul Hossain, said.
   Around 75 per cent of
   litchi has so far been collected from 500 orchards on 650 acres of land and they have been sold at about Tk 5 crore, he added.
   The poor farmers, who earlier passed hard times, have improved their livelihood by cultivating litchi, an official at horticulture department said.
   The farmers in the 15 villages, including Pankabila, Uzirpur, Simakhali, Laskarpur, Bizoypur, Kurigram, Masumdia, Singasholpur, Kashipur, Basgram, Kamalapur, South-Narail, Agenda, Per Mollikpur and Maizpara, are now busy collecting litchi.
   Officials of the district agriculture and horticulture department are visiting the litchi orchards in different villages everyday, some farmers said.
   Litchi farming started in the district in 1995. Some 25 farmers at Pankabila village under sadar upazila planted litchi trees on about 35 bighas of land under the supervision of the agriculture and horticulture department.
   ‘We could not imagine that one day litchi farming will change our lot, Kamaruzzaman Khan Tuhin, one of the 25 growers said.
   ‘This year, I earned around Tk 1.50 lakh by spending only about Tk 30,000’, Tuhin said.
   Traders from Dhaka, Manikganj, Barishal, Gopalgonj come to the area everyday. Lichee are supplied from the orchards in the area everyday, he said.

CPB demands lifting ban
on trade unionism
Staff Correspondent . Khulna

The Communist Party of Bangladesh president, Monjurul Ahsan Khan, has demanded lifting of ban on trade union activities in mills and factories.
   He made the demand while addressing as chief guest the Khulna City and district CPB activists’ convention at Khulna Lawyers Association auditorium Monday afternoon.
   The convention was chaired by Khulna district committee president Sheikh Moniruzzaman.
   Khulna city CPB president advocate Firoz Ahmed, district general secretary SA Rashid, city general secretary Monoj Das, HM Shahadot, advocate Ruhul Amin and Rasu Akhter, among others, addresed the meeting.
   The CPB president demanded stoppage of foreign countries’ interference in the internal politics of Bangladesh and take legal action against the war criminals.
   He also called on the government to distribute essential goods to low-income group peopleat at fair prices.
   The CPB chief also demanded reopening of all the closed jute mills in the country.
   He said that the present crisis can not be overcome through any ‘imposed reforms’ or through ‘controlled democracy’.

Five killed in road mishaps
Home Desk

At least five persons were killed in separate road accidents in Narayanganj and Moulvibazar on Sunday and Monday.
   Our Narayanganj correspondent reports a housewife was killed and three others injured when a passenger bus crushed them in the Chashara area on Sunday morning. The deceased was Topy, 25.
   The injured are victim’s husband Rezaul Karim Reza, her son Tagar, 2, and an unidentified rickshaw puller. The police said Topy died on the spot when a bus coming from Narsingdi hit their rickshaw at about 10:00am.
   According to a UNB report, three persons died and six others were injured in two accidents in the district Monday morning.
   Witnesses said a Dhaka-bound bus from Kantchpur collided with another bus from Daudkandi on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at Sonargaon at about 6:00am.
   Kamal, helper of the bus from Daudkandi, died on the spot and six others were critically injured.
   The injured were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
   In another accident, a bus rammed a CNG-run auto rickshaw at Aliganj in Fatulla upazila at around 7:30pm, killing its two passengers Afroza and Firoza on the spot. Moulvibazar correspondent said a minor boy Ferdous Miah, 9, was crushed under the wheels of a truck in Islampur area on Monday.

Fake DB man, associate
held in Barisal
Our Correspondent . Barisal

A fake DB policeman and his associate were arrested in the Barisal city on Sunday.
   The arrested are Monir Hossain and his associate Jasim.
   The police said Monir along with Jasim identifying themselves as DB policemen had seized a motorcycle from one Palash Chandra Saha on Barisal-Pirojpur Highway in the Rajapur College crossing area on Saturday.
   Palash later contacted deferent police stations and got confirmed that the two were involved in robbery in the name of DB men.
   The following day, Palash chased Monir after seeing him riding a motorbike on a city road and managed to catch him and his associate. The two were handed over him to the police after mass beating.

SI dies of cardiac arrest
while chasing robbers
One beaten to death
Our Correspondent . Narayanganj

A police official died of cardiac arrest while chasing a robbers gang on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Mograpara area in Narayanganj Sunday night.
   The deceased were Abdul Hakim, 50, sub-inspector of Sonargaon police station.
   The police said a gang of about eight robbers, who were travelling in a Companiganj-bound bus in the guise of passengers, took control of the bus at Kanchpur point.
   The robbers looted cash, gold and other valuables from the passengers after keeping them hostage at gun point, the sources said.
   Hearing screams, local people came to the spot and managed to catch two of them when they were getting down from the bus with the booties.
   The angry people severely beat up the two robbers leaving one of them dead on the spot and injuring another.
   On information, a police team led by Abdul Hakim came to the spot and chased the robbers. At one stage, Hakim fell down on the road and died.

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