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Realisation of excess fees from the SSC candidates by the authorities of the schools, both public and private, has created a grave concern among the examinees as well as their guardians in Barisal.
   This practice has pushed a good number of poor guardians into financial strain as they now will have to manage the excess fees for their wards either by selling property or borrowing money from the loan sharks.
   The Barisal Education Board has fixed highest Tk 1,050 examination fees for each candidate of humanities and commerce groups and Tk 1,200 fees for each examinee of science group, including fees for written and theoretical subjects, practical examinations, academic transcript, scout and girls guide etc.
   The deadline for submitting fees without fine is November 15, fees with fine November 22 and submitting forms November 26, sources said.
   Many guardians alleged that the private schools were realising fees ranging from Tk 2,500 to Tk 3,500 and the public schools Tk 1400 to Tk 1700 from each candidate. Even the girl examinees, whose tuition fees are exempted by the government, are also forced to pay the aforesaid amounts, they alleged.
   Sultana Begum, a domestic help in the city, said ‘I have borrowed Tk 2,600 from a money lender to pay the SSC examination fees of my daughter.’
   ‘I don’t know how I will repay the loan’, she added.
   Moslem Uddin of village Charbaria under sadar upazila said he had to sell his bullock to pay the examination fees of his son.
   But headmasters in many schools brushing aside the allegations said that they were realising extra money for coaching students, maintenance of schools, holding of milad mahfil and school development fund and other purposes.
   Actions would be taken if complaint about realising excess SSC examination fees is proved, said Barisal Education Board examination controller Muhammad Shah Alamgir.
   Failure to pay the excess examination fees even forced a few people to take the path of self-emulation at places, sources said.
   Sub-inspector Jahangir of Mehendiganj police station said such an incident had happened at village Kharki of the district where one Abdul Barek Kazi, 55, committed suicide on Wednesday by hanging himself from a tree after failing to pay the SSC examination fees of his son Riaz.

The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and Narayanganj district administration in a day-long drive pulled down a good number of illegal structures on both sides of the River Sitalakhya in the Kanchpur Bridge area on Thursday.
   According to officials in BIWTA, a total of 50 unauthorised makeshift structures were pulled down during the drive.
   They also called sand removal work for auction as part of the ongoing drive to free the Shitalakhya from encroachment by land grabbers.
   BIWTA ship MV Agrapathik and over 100 day labourers participated in the drive.
   BIWTA deputy director Alamgir Kabir, Narayanganj port officer Abu Zafar Hawlader, assistant deputy director Alamgir Hossain, class one M Shamusoddoha and a large number of police personnel conducted the drive.

Unabated plying of overweight vehicles has turned the Teesta Rail-cum-Road Bridge, the third biggest bridge in the country, extremely vulnerable.
   The 2001 feet long and ten feet wide bridge over the River Teesta might fall in at any moment resulting in immense sufferings to around 45 lakh people travelling over it daily.
   A gateway to Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts, the bridge was constructed over the Teesta in Lalmonirhat sadar upazila in 1901.
   The then president Ziaur Rahman had ordered fixing of wooden sleepers on the bridge in 1978 for movement of vehicles.
   Prior to this, only passenger trains used to ply the bridge.
   After fixing of the wooden sleepers, an agreement was signed between Bangladesh Railway and Roads and Highways Department to allow only light vehicles to use the bridge.
   But overweight vehicles, even trucks with ten wheels, later started plying the bridge at night managing the leaseholder's men, in gross violation of restriction of the railway department.
   The sustainability period of the bridge expired seven years ago and it gradually became extremely vulnerable for its users.
   A signboard was put up on the southern side of the bridge in 2007 banning movement of any overweight vehicles after 12:00 am.
   But the prohibition is being ignored as vehicles with excess weight are still crossing the bridge round the clock.
   Now 45 lakh people of the two districts are travelling through the bridge at the risk of their lives.
   Burdened with age, the bridge meets with accidents very often.
   Plying of heavy vehicles has caused damage to the wooden sleepers, turning the bridge unfit for vehicles.
   Local people alleged that the leaseholder with the support of the police and railway staff allowed the heavy vehicles to cross the bridge in exchange for extra toll.
   The leaseholder is supposed to get Tk 25 as toll from a truck with load below six tonnes and a bus, Tk 15 from a microbus, Tk 10 from a tempo and Tk 5 from a motorcycle.
   But the leaseholder allows crossing of the trucks with load more than six tonnes or the vehicles with ten wheels receiving Tk 500 to Tk 600 from each.
   Sources at Teesta Bridge said the extra toll money is distributed among the leaseholder, policemen and railway staff.
   However, leaseholder Lutfar Rahaman Bakshi denied the allegations of allowing heavily loaded vehicles to cross the bridge taking extra toll.
   The Lalmonirhat railway divisional engineer, Masudur Rahaman, terming the allegations true told New Age that crossing of the heavily loaded or ten wheeled vehicles has caused damage to the wooden sleepers of the bridge.
   The Lalmonirhat railway (west zone) divisional manager, Kazi Rafiqul Alam, said pressure on the Teesta railway- cum- road bridge might reduce after completion of the bridge on its eastern side.
   The construction work of the road bridge over Teesta River is going on, he added.

A 75-year-old woman was hacked to death allegedly by her rivals over a land dispute at village Gabtala under Morrelganj upazila in Bagerhat Thursday morning.
   The victim was identified as Joytun Bibi, wife of late Hatem Ali.
   The police quoting locals said there had been a dispute between Joytun and her two neighbours Ensar Ali and Bachchu Sheikh for long.
   Family members said their rivals had hacked her to death when she went to a nearby bamboo cluster and fled away from the scene.
   The police, informed by locals, recovered the body and sent it to Bagerhat General Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.
   A case was lodged with the Morelganj police in this connection.
   The police arrested Achhia Begum, wife of Ensar Ali and Parveen Begum, wife of Bachchu Sheikh.

The police seized at least 280 sacks of fertilisers from Khandarpar Bazar under Muksudpur upazila in Gopalganj on Thursday.
   The arrested are fertiliser dealer Kabir Munshi and his two employees.
   Acting on a tip-off, a team of the police from the Muksudpur police station went to the spot and seized the agri input while those were being unloaded to a dealer’s shop named Munshi Traders.
   The police said they had seized the fertilisers as owner of the shop Kabir failed to show documents in this regard.
   The seized fertilisers include 200 sacks of DAP, 30 sacks of TSP and 50 sacks of MOP .
   A case was filed with the Muksudpur police station in this connection.

At least 35 people were injured in two separate road accidents in Jhenaidah on Thursday.
   The police said the first incident had taken place at Bhatoi Bazar under Sailkupa upazila when a Khulna-bound bus collided head-on with an egg-laden truck coming from
   the opposite direction
   leaving at least 30 people injured.
   Critically injured Sabuj, Sirazul and Badsha were admitted to Jhenidah General Hospital.
   Hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on
   both sides of the Dhaka-Khulna Highway after the accident.
   In another accident, two trucks collided head-on at Garaganj Bazar under the same upazila, injuring five people.

The police recovered the body of an unidentified young man from village Marichbari under Lalmonirhat sadar upazila on Thursday.
   Local people at first saw the body and informed the police about the matter.
   The body was sent to Lalmonirhat General Hospital morgue for a post-mortem examination.
   The police suspect the young man might have been killed over previous enmity. A case was filed with the police.