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Academic activities have remained halted at Sheikhpara Government Primary School in Sailkupa upazila of the district since Saturday as the governing body members locked the school protesting at posting of a female teacher ignoring their demand.
   Sources said that there existed a long standing conflict between the managing committee members and officials of the Sailkupa upazila education office as their demand for a male teacher for the school remained unheeded for long.
   On Saturday, the agitated members of the managing committee locked the school rooms driving out the students and teachers from its premises as the newly appointed female teacher Shampa Khatun came to join the school.
   Earlier, some local people barred Shampa from joining the school after she was given posting here by the district primary education officer on March 24, 2009.
   There are six teachers in the school. Of them, five are female. But male teachers are very much required for various reasons. So the managing committee members had been raising
   a demand for long for a male teacher, said local sources.
   But the education office gave Shampa Khatun posting here ignoring their demand which made them angry.
   Locals alleged that upazila education officer Mostafizur Rahman managed posting of Shampa in exchange of some handsome amount.
   Headmistress of the school Lespati Khatun said the managing committee members had locked in conflict earlier several times over the issue.
   She along with other teachers was compelled to leave the institution during the incident as the protestors were mostly supported by Awami League leaders. She added that she had informed the upazila nirbahi officer of the matter.
   Contacted,UNO Mahmudul Hossain said, ‘They have breached the rule of an educational institituon by keeping the school under lock and key. Necessary action will be taken in this regard.’
   Upazila education officer Mostafizur Rahman could not be contacted for his comment despite repeated attempts.

People in different villages of Khagrachari are passing days in great anxiety as wild elephants have damaged dwelling houses and crops and killed a number of cattle there in the last few days.
   Local people said herds of wild elephants came down to Shiberaga, Chailyatali, Boiragibazar, Gulshakhali, Rangipara villages under Langadu upazila at dark night and damaged 60 dwelling houses, killed 15 cattle, uprooted hundreds of trees and damaged crops on vast tracts of land over the last couple of days.
   Many affected people fled from their homestead in fear of the devastation and took shelter at different places to save themselves from the attack by wild elephants, forest department sources said.
   One Rafique Talukdar who along with his family members has taken shelter at his relative’s house, urged the authority concerned to rebuild his house.
   ‘Villagers are trying to guard their crop fields at night lighting torches and beating drums to prevent the elephants from trampling on the fields,’ said upazila nirbahi officer of Langadu, Mohammad Khaibur Rahman.
   Langadu upazila chairman Tofazzal Hussain and the UNO visited the villages and distributed relief among some affected people.
   Crops, trees and dwelling houses are damaged by elephant frequently during this period every year, the villagers said.
   The affected people urged the authority to save them from the continued attack of the marauding wild elephants.

Agitated interns ransacked four rooms, including the rooms of emergency department and the
   director of Mymensingh Medical College Hospital Friday night over a brawl with an attendant of a patient.
   According to witnesses, Labbi, an eight-month-old daughter of Abdul Gani of village Kaltapara in Gouripur upazila of the
   district, was admitted to
   the MMCH at about 10:00pm
   But the on-duty doctors allegedly did not give the child any treatment even after two hours of her admission.
   Then, Rabbi, maternal uncle of Labbi, went to the room of the interns and requested them to take necessary steps for her treatment, leading to an altercation, triggering a brawl between Rabbi and the interns.
   Hearing the news, the interns took Rabbi to the Doctor’s Club and beat him mercilessly.
   Later, the situation came under control following intervention of the higher authority and the police.
   The police arrested Rabbi after the hospital authorities filed a case in connection with the incident. He was now undergoing treatment at MMCH.
   Deputy director of MMCH Dr Siddiqur Rahman claimed that the interns first came under attack by the patient’s attendant and then they beat up him.
   The interns joined their work following the initiatives taken by the authority, he added.

Three members of a family were electrocuted at village Baishbunia under Kanthalia upazila in Jhalakati on Saturday.
   The deceased were Rajib, 13, his father Ruhul Amin, 40, and his aunt Khadiza, 31.
   The police and local people said Rajib first died as he came in contact with a live electric wire snapped by cyclone Aila when he was fishing in a nearby water body at about 10:00am. His father
   Ruhul Amin and aunt Khadiza also met the same fate as they tried to save Rajib.
   The police recovered the bodies and sent those to Jhalakati General Hospital morgue for post-mortem examinations.
   BH Harun, local AL lawmaker, deputy commissioner, upazila nirbahi officer and officer-in-charge of Kanthalia police station, visited the spot.
   Family members of the deceased complained to New Age that they requested Rural Electrification Board authority several times to check the line as it was torn after cyclone Aila hit the region on 25 May.
   But the REB authority remained indifferent to their request, they alleged.
   They demanded punishment of the REB officials responsible.
   Our Jhenaidah correspondent reports, A woman was electrocuted and three others of her family were injured at Kotchandpur Adarshaapara in the district on Thursday.
   The deceased was identified as Jahura Khatun, 43, wife of Ghani Pathan.
   The police and witnesses said Jahura died on the spot as she came in contact with a live electric wire when she went to dry clothes on the rooftop of their house at about 12:00 pm.
   Her two daughters Nasima, 15, and Asma, 18, and one of her sisters-in-law received injuries as they tried to rescue her.

Three people were killed and five others injured in separate road accidents on Dhaka-Sylhet highway on Saturday.
   UNB Brahmanbaria correspondent said a microbus rammed into a three-wheeler coming from opposite direction at Ashuganj Chowrasta crossing, killing two of its passengers on the spot and injuring five others.
   The deceased are Arun Biswas, 30, and Motaleb, 22.
   In Moulvibazar, private car drive Sabur Mia 35, died on the spot when his Dhaka-bound vehicle hit the railings of a bridge at Kodalipool in the town in the morning.

The Islamic University authority on Saturday appointed new provosts to five residential halls. The three male and two female hall provosts are appointed for next one year.
   The vice-chancellor office said associate professor Mahabubur Rahaman of applied physics, electronics and communication engineering department was appointed provost at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman hall, associate professor Gias Uddin of politics and public administration at Shahid Ziaur Rahaman hall, Anwar Hossen of Islamic history at Saddam Hossen hall, Sabir Hossen of applied nutrition and food technology at Begum Fazilatunnesa hall and Mamunur Rahman of English department at Khaleda Zia hall.

A youth was killed and two others were injured when a gang of robbers fired on them in a pre-wedding ceremony at village Roshangri of Fatikchari in Chittagong on Saturday.
   The deceased is Mohammad Jasim Uddin, 24.
   A band of robbers swooped on the pre-wedding ceremony and started robbing. They shot Jashim Uddin when he was
   trying to resist them. He died on the spot. Two others also sustained bullet injuries.

The Asia Pacific Youth Network on Saturday urged the government to immediately stop all kinds of extra judicial killings.
   Members of the network made the demand during a campaign on ‘demand dignity’ in Rajshahi.
   The organisers said the campaign with the same slogan was launched in Bangladesh, Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Philippines and Thailand at a time to ensure human rights in the world.
   The network started the campaign at Talaimari Crossing in the Rajshahi city at 11:00am.

Two students of Government Rajendra College were arrested Friday night on charge of felling trees from the college campus.
   The arrested are Mahfuzur Rahaman Shobuj, 2nd year student of Social Science Department and Anisuzzaman, 4th year student of Bangla department.
   Being informed by campus sources, the police arrested them when they were cutting tress at about 10:30pm.
   According to college sources, they were the activists of Bangladesh Chatra League, student front of the Awami League.
   College principal Shamsunnahar filed a case in this connection.

A female SSC examinee failing to pass in the examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in Adarshapara area in Pirojpur town on Friday.
   The police said Banani Rani Shill, 16, daughter of late Rabindranath Shill, appeared at this year’s SSC examination from Govt Girls School, but she could not come out successful.
   The frustrated girl took her own life hanging herself from the ceiling of her room with a scarf in the evening, police said quoting her family members.