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The people in Dimla upazila of Nilphamari are voluntarily constructing a one kilometre-long dam to protect their life and property from erosion by the River Teesta.
   Bangladesh Water Development Board was supposed to build a dam behind the silt trap, a part of Teesta Irrigation Project, to check the river erosion.
   As the authority concerned did not build it even after years, the affected people were compelled to build an alternative earth dam by themselves.
   About 90 per cent work of the dam has already been completed till Sunday. People hope they will be able to finish the work within a few days.
   Locals said three shoals of Teesta, Baishpukur, Chhatunama and Vendabari under Dimla upazila are situated in the downstream of Teesta barrage.
   About 20,000 people live in these shoals.
   According to sources in BWDB, they had build a silt trap near the Teesta barrage at Dalia to divert the silt coming from upstream to maintain smooth flow of water through irrigation canals.
   There was also a plan to construct a dam behind the silt trap as part of controlling the Teesta, said the sources in condition of anonymity.
   But the authority is yet to construct the dam.
   A vast tract of cultivable land and some homesteads and educational institutions went down the river over the last few years.
   Affected people at the shoals have been demanding for years to BWDB, upazila administration and politicians to build the dam but the authority did not pay heed to it.
   Finding no alternative, affected people themselves began to construct the dam from April 24 after collecting fund from door to door.
   While visiting the area, the New Age correspondent found that thousands of people were engaged in the work.
   ‘About 90 per cent
   construction has been completed and the rest 10 per cent would be completed within a week’, said Ataur Rahman, chairman of Khalisha Chapani union.
   Moynul Islam, a former chairman of the union, said the dam would help to revive the lost land devoured by Teesta erosion in previous years.
   Lawmaker Jafar Siddiki and upazila nirbahi officer of Dimla Mizanur Rahman visited the area recently.

Participants in a workshop underscored the need to create awareness among farmers about the advantage of using guti urea in their fields.
   They also urged the government to moti-
   vate farmers about use of the fertiliser at grassroots level so that they can produce more crops at less cost.
   Agricultural production will increase if use of guti urea gains a massive form across the country, they also said while addressing the workshop ‘Motivational Meeting and Media Campaign’ held at the conference room of Department of Agricultural Extension in Mymensingh on Sunday.
   International Fertiliser Development Centre and DAE jointly organised the workshop.
   Director of Cash Crops of Khamarbari in Dhaka, Md Fazlul Karim was present at the programme as chief guest while Deputy Commissioner of Mymensingh AN Shamsuddin Azad Chowdhury was in the chair.
   Guti urea project director MA Muyeed delivered welcome speech while DAE horticulture officer Sadeq Ibne Shams moderated it.
   Among others, deputy director of DAE in Mymensingh Md Mozammel Haque, additional director of DAE Md Abdul Jabber Miah, district training officer Nur-ul-Islam, resident representative of IFDC in Asia division office Israt Jahan and IFDC senior agriculture specialist Md Mofizul Islam also spoke on the occasion.
   Guti urea is cheaper than any other chemical fertiliser, the speakers said.
   If the farmers could be aware of using guti urea, an economically viable technology, the agriculture production will increase to meet the growing demand of food for the increasing number of people, they suggested.
   Journalists from print and electronic media, farmers, dealers and DAE officials took part in the workshop.

A freedom fighter was stabbed to death in a clash between two groups of villagers over a football match at Rajarhat in Kurigram on Saturday.
   The deceased is Shamsul Haq, 55, a retired policeman and resident of Ratigram of Rajarhat.
   According to local residents and the police, a football match was going on in the Ramratan High School ground between two villages, Ratigram and Ramsingh. A clash took place between two groups of supporters during the match. Two young men were held at Ramsing Bazar after the incident.
   The villagers informed the Rajarhat police of it, but assistant subinspector Md Anwarul released them.
   As the news spread, two groups of villagers were about to clash with sharp weapons. Shamsul Haq tried to negotiate the matter. One Ershadul, 25, of Ratigram, stabbed Shamsul Haq indiscriminately and got away.
   The villagers had him admitted to Rajarhat Health Complex in a critical condition. He died when he was moved to Kurigram General Hospital.
   The police arrested three persons in this connection.

The Bhandaria police seized about 200 packets of smuggled clothes worth an estimated Tk 1.5 crore and a trawler in the River Kachikhali in Barisal Sunday morning.
   The police also arrested four in this connection.
   The arrested are trawler’s owner Moslem, 55, Ishaq, 38, Jahangir, 35, and Mujibur, 45.
   The police said the four admitted being involved in smuggling during interrogation. They said the goods were loaded in an area between Patharghata in Barguna and Tushkhali of Mathbaria Saturday night and they were headed for Pirojpur.
   The police officer-in-charge, Matiur Rahman, said a case would be lodged after the preparation of the seizure list.

A young man allegedly killed his younger sister at village Bhangnahati of Sripur in Gazipur on Sunday.
   The deceased was Hiramoti, 12, a Class VIII student of Sripur Girls Pilot School.
   Quoting locals, the police said Badal, brother of Hiramoti, beat up her as she refused to abide
   by his order. She died on the spot. Hiramoti’s family members said Badal was mentally deranged. The police arrested
   Badal, 19.
   A case was filed.

At least 20 shops were burnt in a fire at Kakchira Bazar of Patharghata in Barguna, damaging property worth an estimated Tk 1 crore early Sunday, officials said.
   Local people said the had originated from the kitchen of a restaurant at about 1:30am and soon engulfed the adjorning shops.
   Fire engines from Mathbaria and Barguna controlled the fire in efforts for two hours.
   The Patharghata upazila nirbahi officer, Anwar Pasha, and the police
   officer-in-charge, Sultan Ahmed, visited the spot.

The police found an elderly woman dead with her throat slit at Jainta- pur in Sylhet Sunday morning.
   The deceased is Halima Begum, 78, a mother of four and resident of remote Darbast at Jaintapur, who lived in the house with her 110-year-old husband Abdul Majid.
   According to the police, local residents first spotted the body and informed them of the matter.
   The police sent the body to Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital in the afternoon for a post-mortem examination.
   A case was filed, the police said.