Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Timeout «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Poultry farming has given a significant boost to the rural economy with more than 2000 big, medium and small sized poultry farms creating jobs for hundreds of unemployed people in Netrakona.
   Officials of the district livestock department said that Bangladesh Krishi Bank and other such financial institutions were providing loans under the government’s poverty alleviation programme to establish income-generating project like poultry farms.
   The field level officials of the district livestock department have been extending due cooperation to the poultry farm owners while the veterinary doctors in mobile teams are rendering medicare service to improve the health of poultry birds.
   Talking to the news agency, Aftab Ahmed, owner of a big poultry farm at Mukterpara, said Tk 550 to Tk 600 was needed for rearing a hybrid chicken, which laid 300 to 330 eggs a year. ‘I can easily earn a substantial amount of profit from my farm,’ he said.
   Aftab also said he had received loan from a state-run bank to set up poultry farm, which ultimately brought about a positive change in his life, enabling him also to contribute in the economy through creating employment opportunities for a number of people in the area.
   Khaleda Begum, a housewife and a small poultry farm owner in the remote village Shyampur under Mohnganj upazila of the district, said that Tk 1.50 was needed for feeding a chicken
   everyday.
   She was inspired by other housewives in her area and also poultry farm owners as well as field-level workers of the livestock department to set up a poultry farm, which has already started becoming a profitable venture.
   Big entrepreneurs said that many unemployed young men and women and marginal farmers in the district had started achieving tremendous success after setting up poultry farms.
   According to them, poultry farming will further flourish if a big cold storage is established in the district by the government or under private initiative to preserve the eggs prior to marketing.

A woman sustained severe burn injuries as her in-laws allegedly hurled acid at her Thursday night in Barguna.
   The victim Nilufar Yasmin, 28, mother of two sons, is wife of Saudi expatriate Abdur Razzak of village Dhalua under sadar upazila.
   The police, quoting Abdul Huq Mridha, father of the victim, said Razzak, who had a son from his divorced first wife, married Nilufar in 1998 and went to Saudi Arabia for job.
   Nilufar had been living at Razzak’s home with two sons from him. Feuds with her in-laws developed over properties gained from the money remitted by the expatriate husband.
   Abdur Rashid Mridha, father-in-law of Nilufar, claimed Razzak had sent divorce letter to Nilufar from abroad last month and he was not aware who had thrown acid on her.
   Nilufar, denying the legality of her divorce, in her statement to the police, alleged that while she was writing a letter to Razzak, Panna Mia, husband of her sister-in-law, and his associate Delwar had thrown acid on her at about 10:00pm on Thursday.
   Nilufar sustained severe burns and she was taken to Barguna General Hospital on the same night. Babul Akhter, officer-in-charge of sadar police, said process for lodging a case was underway.

At least four people were killed and seven others injured in a road accident in Panchagarh and Habiganj on Friday.
   Ibrahim, 10, a resident of Pradhan Para, and Ashraful Islam, 25, of Diabari were killed in the Panchagarh district headquarters. Amina Begum, 26, and Abdul Gafur, 35, of Debidwar in Comilla, were killed in Habiganj.
   In Panchagarh, the police and witnesses said the accident had taken place at about 10:00am when the motorcycle Ashraful Islam was riding collided head-on with the bicycle Ibrahim, along with his friend Ahsan Habib, was riding.
   Ibrahim died on the spot and Ashraful died from his injuries on his way to Rangpur Medical College Hospital.
   Two other motorcycle riders were injured in the accident and they were given first aid treatment. Ahsan Habib was being treated in the hospital.
   Local people blocked the Panchagarh–Ratnipur Road in protest at the incident. The police later controlled the situation.
   In Habiganj, the police said a microbus headed for Comilla skidded off the road into a ditch after it had collided head-on with a bus at Aushkandi of Nabiganj at about 1:30pm.
   Amina and Gafur died and four were injure in the incident. The injured were admitted to Osmani Medical College Hospital in Sylhet.

A prisoner died in Khulna Medical College Hospital prison cell early Friday.
   He was identified as Hujur Ali, 50, son of Nazar Ali of village Borobag under Daulatpur upazila in Kustia district. Sources said Hujur had been admitted to KMCH after he suffered nasal bleeding on September 27 and died at the prison cell at 5:05 am.

Two children of a family drowned in a pond at Boyra in Khulna Saturday morning.
   The deceased were Mamun, 8, son of Obaidul Huq and Bristy, 7, daughter of Badshah Mia. They were cousin.
   Hospital sources said the two children drowned at about 10:00am while they went to take bath in the pond.
   Later, local people rescued them and sent them to Khulna Medical College Hospital where the attending doctors declared them dead.
   In another incident, a young man was chopped to death by miscreants in the city’s Nayabari Rail Crossing Saturday morning.
   The police said some miscreants chopped Sheikh Azizul Islam, 35, grievously at about 8:30am while he locked into an altercation with them.
   On information, the police rescued and took him to Khulna Medical College Hospital where he died at about 2:00pm.
   A case was filed.

The Bangladesh Rifles in a drive Friday morning recovered huge gold and Indian imitation ornaments at Dalar Dargah of Nawabganj in Dinajpur.
   Acting on secret information, a team of 40 Rifles Battalion conducted the drive at about 9:00am and recovered the ornaments. None was arrested in this connection.
   BDR estimated value of the seized ornaments at about Tk 15 lakh. A case was filed.
   Another report from Sylhet adds: The Rapid Action Battalion, in separate drives Thursday night, recovered Indian Phensidyl, liquor and Nasir bidi from Sadar, Jakiganj and Kanaighat.
   Acting on secret information, RAB recovered 25 bottles of Phensidyl syrup from near Dalurpar government primary school in Jakiganj, 63,000 pieces of Indian Nasir bidi from Baurbag 4th Khanda area in Kanaighat and 100 bottles of liquor from Badhaghat Bridge area in Sadar upazila in abandoned condition.

A pregnant woman died from snakebite at Gabbari of Kasba early Friday.
   The victim was Lipi Begum, 30, of the village.
   Family sources said a poisonous snake bit expecting Lipi Thursday evening.
   She was first taken to Sadar hospital and later shifted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where she died early Friday.
   Lipi was supposed to give birth to a child on Friday. A pall of gloom descended over the village after the tragic incident.