Anwar Ali, Parbatipur
Misappropriation of relief materials by corrupt local administrations in collusion with union level ruling BNP leaders is seriously thwarting relief distribution efforts in the monga-hit areas of the north.
Even a weeklong effort by four ministers and five additional secretaries to institute a sound relief distribution has done little to check the pilferage of relief.
So far, at least 60 relief distributors including five government officials have been arrested or are facing action for misappropriation of relief, but the situation remains a far cry from being acceptable.
The starving population has often clashed with local administrators protesting the irregularities. Ministers have also been booed during their visit to monga-stricken areas.
Asadul Habib Dulu, deputy minister for disaster management and relief told newsmen in Nilphamari that 13.5 tonnes of rice has so far been distributed among the VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding) cardholders in eight affected districts.
"Tk 9.55 crore has been allocated for food for work programmes to be launched soon to provide jobs to the people of the north," he said.
"A sufficient relief was allocated to control the monga, but local people have alleged that irregularities and corruption by ruling BNP men are eating up a major portion of the allocated materials," said Jamshed Mian, a schoolteacher at Haragachha in Rangpur.
Villagers at Talukposhua of Kalyani union in Rangpur said union BNP president Aftab Hossain got a VGF rice card under his mother's name; Hossain said his mother is poor and needs the rice.
On Friday, Alamgir Kabir, state minister for housing and public works affairs, caught four people including sub-assistant engineer of upazila Pubic Health Department Illias Ali for misappropriation of relief materials at Boro Beel union council of Gangachhara in Rangpur.
A case was filed against six people including UP members for giving less than the allocated amount of rice to VGF cardholders in the union.
UP chairman and BNP leader Abdul Aziz Chowdhury were exempted from the charge and authorities were forced to call riot police when people protested their exclusion from the case.
In Peerganj upazila, a group of hungry people confined Parul UP chairman in protest against irregularities and accused Ramnathpur union parishad chairman Badsha Mia of distributing VGF cards among his own relatives.
Aleya Begum, a female UP member, alleged that Badsha Mia sold 55 VGF cards on black market. Badsha has denied the allegation.
In Kaunia upazila, two Gram Sarkar members belonging to BNP -- Abdus Subhan and Azizul Haq -- were caught while taking relief with six VGF cards.
On Thursday, four persons including a food department clerk were arrested and a case was filed accusing 15 people after 24 bags of VGF rice were sold on the black market in Bhurungamari of Kurigram.
In Roumari upazila, poor people clashed with UP members leaving 15 people injured over relief distribution.
In Gaddimari union of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat, fisheries officer Shamsul Alam and UP Chairman Bahar Uddin was sued for cheating while measuring out relief.
On Wednesday, Gaibandha Sadar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) ABM Nasirul Alam and Saghata UNO Nazrul Islam were removed for relief-related anomalies. Two separate cases were filed against Chandipur UP Chairman Khorshed Alam and Ghuridaha UP Chairman Ataur Rahman after VGF rice was seized from their secret godowns.
During a visit to Borokona village in Parbatipur yesterday, this correspondent found some 150 indigenous families living on a single meal a day for nearly a month.
Maidee Hembrom said her day-labourer husband Ruben bought some rice, getting a job after three days, for Tk 20 a day.
"We can't afford a single full meal a day," said 65-year-old Malati Murmu of the village.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Waiting for the end of monga spell
Roving Correspondent, from Rangpur
The grim shadow of near-famine, locally known as monga, is likely to lengthen in Rangpur and Gaibandha for another 15 days but might fade out of six other northern districts in a week or so, officials and experts forecast.
Agriculture experts blamed the crisis partly on standing floodwaters in Rangpur and Gaibandha, where thousands of people have been living next door to starvation since early September.
Floodwaters receded from the arable land of the Himalayan uplands of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur 10 days after the flood spell set in, but stayed as long as a month in Rangpur and Gaibandha, delaying the cultivation of aman rice, agriculture expert Mohiuddin Ahmed explained.
Ahmed, deputy director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said drought in September, twinned with delayed farming and harvest, resulted in scarcity of grains.
"The harvest will begin in mid-November, which will open up job opportunities for workers," State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman said at a recent press conference at Kurigram Circuit House.
He said the government initiated a Tk 300 crore project to roll back monga that sweeps farm-dependent eight districts in the north, forcing millions to live through scarcity every year.
Worse threatened as micro-credit disbursement decreased this year, said an NGO worker in Rangpur, preferring not to be named.
"Credit recipients can hardly afford payback for loans and the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) feel discouraged to dole out credit," he said.
A bleak scene unfolds in Kurigram and Rangpur every day: men, women and children living on the outermost edge of society are turning to inedible food in their frantic bid to survive.
In eight villages of Laxmitari union in Gangachhara upazila, Rangpur, many workers found themselves begging for survival, finding no alternative.
The Teesta river erosion hit seven of ten unions of Gangachhara upazila home to 2.5 lakh people, worsening the situation the destitute are living in.
Some 13,000 people on 27 shoals in and around the upazila were left with almost nothing to live on.
Gangachhara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fazlul Haq said 12,000 VGF (vulnerable group feeding) cards were distributed among monga-affected people.
The grim shadow of near-famine, locally known as monga, is likely to lengthen in Rangpur and Gaibandha for another 15 days but might fade out of six other northern districts in a week or so, officials and experts forecast.
Agriculture experts blamed the crisis partly on standing floodwaters in Rangpur and Gaibandha, where thousands of people have been living next door to starvation since early September.
Floodwaters receded from the arable land of the Himalayan uplands of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur 10 days after the flood spell set in, but stayed as long as a month in Rangpur and Gaibandha, delaying the cultivation of aman rice, agriculture expert Mohiuddin Ahmed explained.
Ahmed, deputy director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said drought in September, twinned with delayed farming and harvest, resulted in scarcity of grains.
"The harvest will begin in mid-November, which will open up job opportunities for workers," State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman said at a recent press conference at Kurigram Circuit House.
He said the government initiated a Tk 300 crore project to roll back monga that sweeps farm-dependent eight districts in the north, forcing millions to live through scarcity every year.
Worse threatened as micro-credit disbursement decreased this year, said an NGO worker in Rangpur, preferring not to be named.
"Credit recipients can hardly afford payback for loans and the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) feel discouraged to dole out credit," he said.
A bleak scene unfolds in Kurigram and Rangpur every day: men, women and children living on the outermost edge of society are turning to inedible food in their frantic bid to survive.
In eight villages of Laxmitari union in Gangachhara upazila, Rangpur, many workers found themselves begging for survival, finding no alternative.
The Teesta river erosion hit seven of ten unions of Gangachhara upazila home to 2.5 lakh people, worsening the situation the destitute are living in.
Some 13,000 people on 27 shoals in and around the upazila were left with almost nothing to live on.
Gangachhara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fazlul Haq said 12,000 VGF (vulnerable group feeding) cards were distributed among monga-affected people.
Playing upon monga plight
Anwar Ali, from Kurigram
Relief distributors and loan sharks are cashing in on the desperate plight of millions living close to starvation in eight northern districts reeling under near-famine, locally known as monga.
The spectre of starvation looms up ahead of Shatish Chandra Nandi of Chilmari upazila: once a schoolteacher, the 99-year-old man found himself begging for survival with his wife and adopted daughter.
"I have been going without food for days together. I had only some muri (parched rice) Tuesday morning. I did not get the fund for the elderly. Nor was any VGF (vulnerable group feeding) card available for me in the last six months," cried Nandi, too frail to move alone.
It is alleged that each government-allocated VGF card, meant for free distribution, is sold at up to Tk 50 in Kurigram, one of the monga-hit districts.
Locals accused the government relief distributors of preferring the ruling BNP supporters to the real needy in distributing grains and misappropriating a huge amount of relief.
But State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman denied the allegation in his address to a meeting in Kurigram on Tuesday.
"Relief distributors here are not involved in corruption unlike in Gaibandha," he told another meeting at Durgapur Union Council.
Relief and Disaster Management Deputy Minister Asadul Habib Dulu, visiting Kanchipara union in Fulchhari, Gaibandha, on Tuesday caught Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Akbar Hossain in the act of distributing VGF rice less than allocated 10kg a person.
"The UP members did not give me a VGF card, as I could not pay them Tk 30 they demanded," said 85-year-old Abbas Ali of Fakirpara village.
Sakhina Begum, a widowed mother of five, alleged the UP chairman and members prepared the relief distribution list favouring their party supporters and the poor who gave them money.
On the allegations by Nandi, Abbas and Sakhina at the relief distribution centre at Ramna Primary School, Tofazzal Haq, Ramna union BNP organising secretary, said: "They are rich. It's their business to make extra money through emotive words."
In seconds, about 100 destitute people surrounded Tofazzal and challenged him to show how Nandi, Abbas and Sakhina are rich. Tofazzal fled to escape public wrath.
Ramna UP Chairman Abul Kashem denied the allegations of taking money for VGF cards and said about 3,500 of the 5,000 families in his union are affected by monga and he provided 2,700 families with VGF wheat in the last one month.
Playing on the job and food crises during the spell of near-famine, the moneylenders in Kurigram are giving loans to borrowers and waiting for the aman harvest to get the money back with high interests.
Zahurul of Fulbari Char borrowed Tk 2,000 from Bachhu of Mongalgachha village when monga set in early September. Last week, Bachhu confined Zahurul to his home to collect the money he lent. Zahurul was released on relatives' promise of paying the loans back in a week.
Kobad Ali of Fakir village has a similar story to tell.
Dulu, Saiful, Doshman and Yakub are a few other victims of moneylenders at Buraburi in Ulipur upazila, who tag Tk 300 to Tk 450 in interest a month on every Tk 1,000, villagers said.
Buraburi UP Member Hasina Begum said the UP chairman asked her to prepare a list of 50 people for VGF cards, which put her in a dilemma as about 7,000 need such cards.
Last week, 20 UP members, five of them women, were sued for selling VGF cards and anomalies in card distribution in Alambiditor and Borobeel unions in Gangachhara, Rangpur.
On the five-mile bank of the Brahmaputra river in Chilmari, several hundred destitute people are passing days in plight that recalls the hardship of people in Roumari and Rajibpur upazilas of the district.
Relief distributors and loan sharks are cashing in on the desperate plight of millions living close to starvation in eight northern districts reeling under near-famine, locally known as monga.
The spectre of starvation looms up ahead of Shatish Chandra Nandi of Chilmari upazila: once a schoolteacher, the 99-year-old man found himself begging for survival with his wife and adopted daughter.
"I have been going without food for days together. I had only some muri (parched rice) Tuesday morning. I did not get the fund for the elderly. Nor was any VGF (vulnerable group feeding) card available for me in the last six months," cried Nandi, too frail to move alone.
It is alleged that each government-allocated VGF card, meant for free distribution, is sold at up to Tk 50 in Kurigram, one of the monga-hit districts.
Locals accused the government relief distributors of preferring the ruling BNP supporters to the real needy in distributing grains and misappropriating a huge amount of relief.
But State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman denied the allegation in his address to a meeting in Kurigram on Tuesday.
"Relief distributors here are not involved in corruption unlike in Gaibandha," he told another meeting at Durgapur Union Council.
Relief and Disaster Management Deputy Minister Asadul Habib Dulu, visiting Kanchipara union in Fulchhari, Gaibandha, on Tuesday caught Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Akbar Hossain in the act of distributing VGF rice less than allocated 10kg a person.
"The UP members did not give me a VGF card, as I could not pay them Tk 30 they demanded," said 85-year-old Abbas Ali of Fakirpara village.
Sakhina Begum, a widowed mother of five, alleged the UP chairman and members prepared the relief distribution list favouring their party supporters and the poor who gave them money.
On the allegations by Nandi, Abbas and Sakhina at the relief distribution centre at Ramna Primary School, Tofazzal Haq, Ramna union BNP organising secretary, said: "They are rich. It's their business to make extra money through emotive words."
In seconds, about 100 destitute people surrounded Tofazzal and challenged him to show how Nandi, Abbas and Sakhina are rich. Tofazzal fled to escape public wrath.
Ramna UP Chairman Abul Kashem denied the allegations of taking money for VGF cards and said about 3,500 of the 5,000 families in his union are affected by monga and he provided 2,700 families with VGF wheat in the last one month.
Playing on the job and food crises during the spell of near-famine, the moneylenders in Kurigram are giving loans to borrowers and waiting for the aman harvest to get the money back with high interests.
Zahurul of Fulbari Char borrowed Tk 2,000 from Bachhu of Mongalgachha village when monga set in early September. Last week, Bachhu confined Zahurul to his home to collect the money he lent. Zahurul was released on relatives' promise of paying the loans back in a week.
Kobad Ali of Fakir village has a similar story to tell.
Dulu, Saiful, Doshman and Yakub are a few other victims of moneylenders at Buraburi in Ulipur upazila, who tag Tk 300 to Tk 450 in interest a month on every Tk 1,000, villagers said.
Buraburi UP Member Hasina Begum said the UP chairman asked her to prepare a list of 50 people for VGF cards, which put her in a dilemma as about 7,000 need such cards.
Last week, 20 UP members, five of them women, were sued for selling VGF cards and anomalies in card distribution in Alambiditor and Borobeel unions in Gangachhara, Rangpur.
On the five-mile bank of the Brahmaputra river in Chilmari, several hundred destitute people are passing days in plight that recalls the hardship of people in Roumari and Rajibpur upazilas of the district.
Starvation stalks 7m in northern districts
Anwar Ali, from Kurigram
Severe joblessness and food crunch twinned with skyrocketing prices of essentials during the monga (famine) period have threatened the lives of about seven million people in eight northern districts.
Women, children and men are either starving or living on a single meal a day, while workers are leaving home in their hundreds every day for jobs in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.
Of the eight districts, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur and Nilphamari have been hit the hardest by monga, admitted sources at the Rajshahi divisional commissioner's office. The other monga-stricken districts are Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon.
Labourers wearing a lifeless look spend all day at bazaars with no-one willing to hire them even at a price four times cheaper than usual.
"You can easily hire a labourer for a day's work at only Tk 20," said NGO worker Abdul Mannan in Kurigram.
"Our credit distribution in Ulipur upazila has dropped by Tk 1 lakh this year," said Mannan, a field supervisor of Chhinna Mukul Bangladesh, an NGO.
Monga, the period of extreme penury, torments the poor in the agro-based northern region during Bangla months of Bhadra and Kartik every year when peasants have no crop to harvest.
Unprecedented draught this year has only compounded their yearly woes, prolonging the spell over a month already.
Meanwhile, the five additional secretaries, tasked with monitoring the monga situation, left Dhaka yesterday for the five worst-affected districts -- Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Kurigram and Nilphamari.
Official sources said the additional secretaries have been asked to monitor the situation in person, supervise the relief operation and report to the Prime Minister's Office and the relief and disaster management ministry.
At the bus terminals in Kurigram, people are found deserting their home to try their luck in big towns like Bogra, Rajshahi and Dhaka.
But its even harder for women, children and elderly people, who have nowhere to go.
On the Dharla embankment of Buraburi village, Ulipur, three housewives --Selima, Aklima and Shakila, aged between 35 and 40 years -- said they do not know how long they can survive without food and work.
"My four daughters and I have been fasting day and night. We take only water during iftar and at night we eat kaun (millet) rice along with kachu (arum) curry," said Aklima, whose husband and the only son went to Dhaka a week ago.
"A villager gave me only Tk 1 on Monday to sell milk at a local market and I bought muri (puffed rice) for that day's iftar," she said.
Selima meanwhile said neither the members nor the chairman of Buraburi union visited their village and are yet to arrange relief goods for them.
Devastated by poverty, many people have also been selling their crops and labour in advance in Ulipur.
Meher Ali of Ugura village sold his green crops on his three bighas to one Abdul Kuddus of the area at a rate of only Tk 200 a mound.
Esar Ali, 45, a labourer of Shatbhita village, was lying on bed with his skin shrunk to the skeleton as he has been starving more or less for the last one month. His wife Yaban Banu, a mother of seven daughters and three sons, said her sons had gone to Dhaka a month ago and they were yet to return with money.
She now begs door to door to make a living for her ailing husband and daughters. "I have no money to take my husband to hospital," a sobbing Yaban said.
Severe joblessness and food crunch twinned with skyrocketing prices of essentials during the monga (famine) period have threatened the lives of about seven million people in eight northern districts.
Women, children and men are either starving or living on a single meal a day, while workers are leaving home in their hundreds every day for jobs in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country.
Of the eight districts, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Rangpur and Nilphamari have been hit the hardest by monga, admitted sources at the Rajshahi divisional commissioner's office. The other monga-stricken districts are Lalmonirhat, Dinajpur, Panchagarh and Thakurgaon.
Labourers wearing a lifeless look spend all day at bazaars with no-one willing to hire them even at a price four times cheaper than usual.
"You can easily hire a labourer for a day's work at only Tk 20," said NGO worker Abdul Mannan in Kurigram.
"Our credit distribution in Ulipur upazila has dropped by Tk 1 lakh this year," said Mannan, a field supervisor of Chhinna Mukul Bangladesh, an NGO.
Monga, the period of extreme penury, torments the poor in the agro-based northern region during Bangla months of Bhadra and Kartik every year when peasants have no crop to harvest.
Unprecedented draught this year has only compounded their yearly woes, prolonging the spell over a month already.
Meanwhile, the five additional secretaries, tasked with monitoring the monga situation, left Dhaka yesterday for the five worst-affected districts -- Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha, Kurigram and Nilphamari.
Official sources said the additional secretaries have been asked to monitor the situation in person, supervise the relief operation and report to the Prime Minister's Office and the relief and disaster management ministry.
At the bus terminals in Kurigram, people are found deserting their home to try their luck in big towns like Bogra, Rajshahi and Dhaka.
But its even harder for women, children and elderly people, who have nowhere to go.
On the Dharla embankment of Buraburi village, Ulipur, three housewives --Selima, Aklima and Shakila, aged between 35 and 40 years -- said they do not know how long they can survive without food and work.
"My four daughters and I have been fasting day and night. We take only water during iftar and at night we eat kaun (millet) rice along with kachu (arum) curry," said Aklima, whose husband and the only son went to Dhaka a week ago.
"A villager gave me only Tk 1 on Monday to sell milk at a local market and I bought muri (puffed rice) for that day's iftar," she said.
Selima meanwhile said neither the members nor the chairman of Buraburi union visited their village and are yet to arrange relief goods for them.
Devastated by poverty, many people have also been selling their crops and labour in advance in Ulipur.
Meher Ali of Ugura village sold his green crops on his three bighas to one Abdul Kuddus of the area at a rate of only Tk 200 a mound.
Esar Ali, 45, a labourer of Shatbhita village, was lying on bed with his skin shrunk to the skeleton as he has been starving more or less for the last one month. His wife Yaban Banu, a mother of seven daughters and three sons, said her sons had gone to Dhaka a month ago and they were yet to return with money.
She now begs door to door to make a living for her ailing husband and daughters. "I have no money to take my husband to hospital," a sobbing Yaban said.
Waiting for the end of monga spell
Roving Correspondent, from Rangpur
The grim shadow of near-famine, locally known as monga, is likely to lengthen in Rangpur and Gaibandha for another 15 days but might fade out of six other northern districts in a week or so, officials and experts forecast.
Agriculture experts blamed the crisis partly on standing floodwaters in Rangpur and Gaibandha, where thousands of people have been living next door to starvation since early September.
Floodwaters receded from the arable land of the Himalayan uplands of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur 10 days after the flood spell set in, but stayed as long as a month in Rangpur and Gaibandha, delaying the cultivation of aman rice, agriculture expert Mohiuddin Ahmed explained.
Ahmed, deputy director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said drought in September, twinned with delayed farming and harvest, resulted in scarcity of grains.
"The harvest will begin in mid-November, which will open up job opportunities for workers," State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman said at a recent press conference at Kurigram Circuit House.
He said the government initiated a Tk 300 crore project to roll back monga that sweeps farm-dependent eight districts in the north, forcing millions to live through scarcity every year.
Worse threatened as micro-credit disbursement decreased this year, said an NGO worker in Rangpur, preferring not to be named.
"Credit recipients can hardly afford payback for loans and the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) feel discouraged to dole out credit," he said.
A bleak scene unfolds in Kurigram and Rangpur every day: men, women and children living on the outermost edge of society are turning to inedible food in their frantic bid to survive.
In eight villages of Laxmitari union in Gangachhara upazila, Rangpur, many workers found themselves begging for survival, finding no alternative.
The Teesta river erosion hit seven of ten unions of Gangachhara upazila home to 2.5 lakh people, worsening the situation the destitute are living in.
Some 13,000 people on 27 shoals in and around the upazila were left with almost nothing to live on.
Gangachhara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fazlul Haq said 12,000 VGF (vulnerable group feeding) cards were distributed among monga-affected people.
The grim shadow of near-famine, locally known as monga, is likely to lengthen in Rangpur and Gaibandha for another 15 days but might fade out of six other northern districts in a week or so, officials and experts forecast.
Agriculture experts blamed the crisis partly on standing floodwaters in Rangpur and Gaibandha, where thousands of people have been living next door to starvation since early September.
Floodwaters receded from the arable land of the Himalayan uplands of Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur 10 days after the flood spell set in, but stayed as long as a month in Rangpur and Gaibandha, delaying the cultivation of aman rice, agriculture expert Mohiuddin Ahmed explained.
Ahmed, deputy director of Kurigram Agricultural Extension Department, said drought in September, twinned with delayed farming and harvest, resulted in scarcity of grains.
"The harvest will begin in mid-November, which will open up job opportunities for workers," State Minister for Youth and Sports Fazlur Rahman said at a recent press conference at Kurigram Circuit House.
He said the government initiated a Tk 300 crore project to roll back monga that sweeps farm-dependent eight districts in the north, forcing millions to live through scarcity every year.
Worse threatened as micro-credit disbursement decreased this year, said an NGO worker in Rangpur, preferring not to be named.
"Credit recipients can hardly afford payback for loans and the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) feel discouraged to dole out credit," he said.
A bleak scene unfolds in Kurigram and Rangpur every day: men, women and children living on the outermost edge of society are turning to inedible food in their frantic bid to survive.
In eight villages of Laxmitari union in Gangachhara upazila, Rangpur, many workers found themselves begging for survival, finding no alternative.
The Teesta river erosion hit seven of ten unions of Gangachhara upazila home to 2.5 lakh people, worsening the situation the destitute are living in.
Some 13,000 people on 27 shoals in and around the upazila were left with almost nothing to live on.
Gangachhara Upazila Nirbahi Officer Fazlul Haq said 12,000 VGF (vulnerable group feeding) cards were distributed among monga-affected people.
Father takes life over girl's rape ordeal
Roving Correspondent, Natore
Humiliated and broken down by the rape of his 11-year-old daughter, a rickshaw-puller of Chalk Baiddyanath in Natore committed suicide, touching off a public outcry against the crime that came to light recently.
Abdul Hamid Molla, 60, took his own life drinking pesticide on September 3 on hearing the ordeal of his daughter who was raped by a local gangster.
Terrorist and Extortionist Resistance Action Committee (TERAC), a businessmen's organisation for curbing crime in the town, uncovered the crime through investigation.
The girl, a maid at the house of Lailee Begum for a few days, was led to a secluded room of the house allegedly by her employer on August 29 where she met her tormentor.
The TERAC says Polash, allegedly a local criminal, jumped on the poor girl as she entered the room. The girl tried to flee, but Lailee, armed with a sharp weapon, threatened her with death if she did not oblige him.
Polash, son of Nasir Uddin, raped the girl for days holding her hostage in the room with the connivance of Lailee, police said.
The girl was released by Polash on September 1 with the threat of death if she told her story to anybody.
But the girl broke her harrowing tale to her mother who later told her husband the incident.
On hearing the utter humiliation of his underage daughter on September 3, Hamid broke down in tears, went to a nearby bazaar, bought a bottle of pesticide and drank the poison to end his life.
TERAC President Abdus Salam and Secretary Saiful Alam Rogers at a press conference yesterday gave a 15-day ultimatum to the local administration for fulfilling a six-point demand that included treatment of the case as a sensational one and its trial by a speedy trial court.
The press conference, attended by the victim's mother and brother, also demanded exemplary punishment to the accused and security of the victim's family.
Noor Jahan, widow of Hamid, said a gang employed by Lailee and Nasir was threatening her and her daughter with death if they did not accept their offer.
"They wanted to give us Tk 40,000 for a settlement of the case. I've lost my husband and dignity of my daughter. I want nothing other than appropriate justice," an assertive Noor Jahan said.
The TERAC leaders alleged that their investigation found Lailee's links with an influential quarter that used her house as a base for trafficking in women and smuggling.
They also brought similar accusations against Nasir and his wives Kalmi and Kaitori.
Nazrul Islam, superintendent of police (SP) in Natore, said police were looking for some others after the arrest of key accused Polash and Lailee.
Shaken by the crime, a cross section of people formed a human chain at Chakbaidyanath in protest against the incident on Sunday and submitted a memorandum to local deputy commissioner and the SP, demanding immediate action to bring the accused to justice.
Humiliated and broken down by the rape of his 11-year-old daughter, a rickshaw-puller of Chalk Baiddyanath in Natore committed suicide, touching off a public outcry against the crime that came to light recently.
Abdul Hamid Molla, 60, took his own life drinking pesticide on September 3 on hearing the ordeal of his daughter who was raped by a local gangster.
Terrorist and Extortionist Resistance Action Committee (TERAC), a businessmen's organisation for curbing crime in the town, uncovered the crime through investigation.
The girl, a maid at the house of Lailee Begum for a few days, was led to a secluded room of the house allegedly by her employer on August 29 where she met her tormentor.
The TERAC says Polash, allegedly a local criminal, jumped on the poor girl as she entered the room. The girl tried to flee, but Lailee, armed with a sharp weapon, threatened her with death if she did not oblige him.
Polash, son of Nasir Uddin, raped the girl for days holding her hostage in the room with the connivance of Lailee, police said.
The girl was released by Polash on September 1 with the threat of death if she told her story to anybody.
But the girl broke her harrowing tale to her mother who later told her husband the incident.
On hearing the utter humiliation of his underage daughter on September 3, Hamid broke down in tears, went to a nearby bazaar, bought a bottle of pesticide and drank the poison to end his life.
TERAC President Abdus Salam and Secretary Saiful Alam Rogers at a press conference yesterday gave a 15-day ultimatum to the local administration for fulfilling a six-point demand that included treatment of the case as a sensational one and its trial by a speedy trial court.
The press conference, attended by the victim's mother and brother, also demanded exemplary punishment to the accused and security of the victim's family.
Noor Jahan, widow of Hamid, said a gang employed by Lailee and Nasir was threatening her and her daughter with death if they did not accept their offer.
"They wanted to give us Tk 40,000 for a settlement of the case. I've lost my husband and dignity of my daughter. I want nothing other than appropriate justice," an assertive Noor Jahan said.
The TERAC leaders alleged that their investigation found Lailee's links with an influential quarter that used her house as a base for trafficking in women and smuggling.
They also brought similar accusations against Nasir and his wives Kalmi and Kaitori.
Nazrul Islam, superintendent of police (SP) in Natore, said police were looking for some others after the arrest of key accused Polash and Lailee.
Shaken by the crime, a cross section of people formed a human chain at Chakbaidyanath in protest against the incident on Sunday and submitted a memorandum to local deputy commissioner and the SP, demanding immediate action to bring the accused to justice.
Jamuna devours 2 unions, more under threat
Roving Correspondent, Sirajganj
Jamuna erosion has left a trail of devastation in Rajapur and Soydabad unions in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj while some other unions south of the affected ones are under threat.
Some 500 houses were washed away rendering 20,000 people homeless in the unions and two educational institutions and 25 kilometres of road have been damaged by flood.
The erosion, that began reportedly due to the formation of a canal during the Jamuna bridge construction, caused almost 80 per cent of Randhunibari village in Rajapur union to go under water during the past seven days, said the villagers.
Victims, shifted on to a newly emerged shoal on the western side of Jamuna naming it 'Char Randhunibari Village'.
"We were told the canal would be closed after completion of the bridge construction. But it was not done, pushing us to the disaster," said Bashar Mollah, a villager.
"A power station will soon be constructed in the area causing the canal to be automatically closed," said Deputy Commi-ssioner of Sirajganj Ibadat Ali to The Daily Star on Wednesday.
Abdul Quader, a villager, said he had a house and a handloom factory with nine machines and 13 employees on the northern side of Randhunibari-Belkuchi road. But three days ago his land went under water.
"I sold the machines to buy a piece of land and now work under another handloom industrialist at a rate of Tk 70 per day," said a sobbing Quader.
The Randhunibari Government Primary School is also close to succumbing to erosion. Despite repeated appeals by the school authorities for the past two years, no action has been taken, said Abdul Kuddus, a teacher of the school.
Meanwhile, fresh areas in 48 unions of Kajipur, Chowhali, Belkuchi, Shahjadpur and Ullapara upazila were inundated in past 24 hours as the Jamuna flowed 20 centimetres above danger level.
Fifty tons of rice and Tk 50,000 were allocated for nearly one lakh affected people of the district. The district administration has so far distributed 40 tonnes of rice.
Jamuna erosion has left a trail of devastation in Rajapur and Soydabad unions in Belkuchi upazila of Sirajganj while some other unions south of the affected ones are under threat.
Some 500 houses were washed away rendering 20,000 people homeless in the unions and two educational institutions and 25 kilometres of road have been damaged by flood.
The erosion, that began reportedly due to the formation of a canal during the Jamuna bridge construction, caused almost 80 per cent of Randhunibari village in Rajapur union to go under water during the past seven days, said the villagers.
Victims, shifted on to a newly emerged shoal on the western side of Jamuna naming it 'Char Randhunibari Village'.
"We were told the canal would be closed after completion of the bridge construction. But it was not done, pushing us to the disaster," said Bashar Mollah, a villager.
"A power station will soon be constructed in the area causing the canal to be automatically closed," said Deputy Commi-ssioner of Sirajganj Ibadat Ali to The Daily Star on Wednesday.
Abdul Quader, a villager, said he had a house and a handloom factory with nine machines and 13 employees on the northern side of Randhunibari-Belkuchi road. But three days ago his land went under water.
"I sold the machines to buy a piece of land and now work under another handloom industrialist at a rate of Tk 70 per day," said a sobbing Quader.
The Randhunibari Government Primary School is also close to succumbing to erosion. Despite repeated appeals by the school authorities for the past two years, no action has been taken, said Abdul Kuddus, a teacher of the school.
Meanwhile, fresh areas in 48 unions of Kajipur, Chowhali, Belkuchi, Shahjadpur and Ullapara upazila were inundated in past 24 hours as the Jamuna flowed 20 centimetres above danger level.
Fifty tons of rice and Tk 50,000 were allocated for nearly one lakh affected people of the district. The district administration has so far distributed 40 tonnes of rice.
Caught in cycle of poverty, Unemployment, river erosion haunt hundreds of thousands in Gaibandha
Roving Correspondent, Gaibandha
Most people in Gaibandha are caught in persistent misery, brought about by lack of investment and recurring erosion by four rivers.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the char areas face starvation in the ongoing lean period, a familiar phenomenon over the last 30 years, say officials and local.
Between October and December every year, thousands face utmost poverty and starvation in rural and char areas of the district.
Public representatives, government officials and NGO workers say the recent Zakat tragedy, in which 37 women and children were stampeded to death, serves as an indication of the prevailing misery.
Local public leaders, officials and development workers say no industrial unit has been set up in the district since independence.
According to official statistics, more than 50 per cent of some 2.2 million people in Gaibandha is landless peasants living below the poverty level.
Erosions by the Khagot, Koratoa, Teesta and Brahmaputra render landless and homeless over 20 per cent of the population at any given time.
Rickshaw pulling is the lone employment option but even the three-wheelers are so abundant that one cannot really make a living out of it. Thousands migrate to the capital or elsewhere for manual jobs.
Four of the seven thanas in the district are 'extremely flood-prone', said Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture in Gaibandha Mohiuddin Ahmed said. "Severe flood and erosion bring in fresh misery each year."
However, he said, the situation has improved a lot from what it used to be ten years back "when the bulk of the population simply starved during the period".
"Since introduction of the high yielding variety of paddy such as the IRRI and Boro, the situation has improved as harvesting begins when the worst time hits.
"Our official figure says the district produces about 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of surplus rice every year. But this does not go a long way towards eradicating poverty because most people are landless peasants," Ahmed said.
None of the 89 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area have any micro-credit scheme for what they call "the ultra-poor" of Gaibandha.
Their micro-credit schemes are for those who have the means to pay back. Only one NGO called the Gano Unnayan Kendra has some activities for the impoverished of the char areas.
Many complain that a group of usurers take advantage of the situation, lending money at an extremely high rate.
Every individual this correspondent has talked to claimed they had borrowed money at an interest rate of 20 per cent.
There are instances when borrowers were forced to pledge their labour days in advance to repay the loans with interest.
Imtaj Ali, an erosion victim with five children, a wife and his mother to feed, said that in his lifetime he had shifted homes more than seventeen times. Having lost all of his twelve bighas of land to the Brahmaputra, he now lives in a makeshift hut on the embankment of the river. Imtaj said when he had borrowed Tk 2,000 from a loan shark, he could not even cope with the payment of Tk 400 per month as interest. Eventually he and his family were half-starving in the current harvesting season because he had to agree to work in the fields for a nominal fee to repay the loan.
The Gaibandha Sadar lawmaker and veteran Awami League leader Lutfur Rahman told The Daily Star that all his efforts to attract investment for industries had gone in vain.
Gaibandha has been gripped by 'chronic poverty' that cannot be overthrown unless investments are made, he said.
In this regard, he blamed successive governments for their indifference to development of the western part of the country.
"This area has prospects for potatoes, jute and many other items. But even my personal efforts to set up a cold storage in the region have failed. There is simply no investor," the MP said.
The common people are unanimous that lack of proper leadership is behind the failure to attract investors.
Gaibandha have had successive MPs belonging to opposition parties. They said it is well known that MPs from the opposition benches have little or no say in policymaking.
An official of a leading NGO that has some programmes for the poor in the district said the four rivers were a curse for the people.
He said during last flood season, they counted 12,000 displaced families, desperately in need of help. "We requested help from Dhaka but nobody showed any interest," he said requesting anonymity.
Many people believe Gaibandha could be a centre for industrialisation although it is situated about 20 kilometres off the Dhaka-Dinajpur highway.
They said investors could benefit from cheap labour. After the building of the Bangabandhu Bridge, it is about five hours away from the capital.
Most people in Gaibandha are caught in persistent misery, brought about by lack of investment and recurring erosion by four rivers.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the char areas face starvation in the ongoing lean period, a familiar phenomenon over the last 30 years, say officials and local.
Between October and December every year, thousands face utmost poverty and starvation in rural and char areas of the district.
Public representatives, government officials and NGO workers say the recent Zakat tragedy, in which 37 women and children were stampeded to death, serves as an indication of the prevailing misery.
Local public leaders, officials and development workers say no industrial unit has been set up in the district since independence.
According to official statistics, more than 50 per cent of some 2.2 million people in Gaibandha is landless peasants living below the poverty level.
Erosions by the Khagot, Koratoa, Teesta and Brahmaputra render landless and homeless over 20 per cent of the population at any given time.
Rickshaw pulling is the lone employment option but even the three-wheelers are so abundant that one cannot really make a living out of it. Thousands migrate to the capital or elsewhere for manual jobs.
Four of the seven thanas in the district are 'extremely flood-prone', said Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture in Gaibandha Mohiuddin Ahmed said. "Severe flood and erosion bring in fresh misery each year."
However, he said, the situation has improved a lot from what it used to be ten years back "when the bulk of the population simply starved during the period".
"Since introduction of the high yielding variety of paddy such as the IRRI and Boro, the situation has improved as harvesting begins when the worst time hits.
"Our official figure says the district produces about 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of surplus rice every year. But this does not go a long way towards eradicating poverty because most people are landless peasants," Ahmed said.
None of the 89 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in the area have any micro-credit scheme for what they call "the ultra-poor" of Gaibandha.
Their micro-credit schemes are for those who have the means to pay back. Only one NGO called the Gano Unnayan Kendra has some activities for the impoverished of the char areas.
Many complain that a group of usurers take advantage of the situation, lending money at an extremely high rate.
Every individual this correspondent has talked to claimed they had borrowed money at an interest rate of 20 per cent.
There are instances when borrowers were forced to pledge their labour days in advance to repay the loans with interest.
Imtaj Ali, an erosion victim with five children, a wife and his mother to feed, said that in his lifetime he had shifted homes more than seventeen times. Having lost all of his twelve bighas of land to the Brahmaputra, he now lives in a makeshift hut on the embankment of the river. Imtaj said when he had borrowed Tk 2,000 from a loan shark, he could not even cope with the payment of Tk 400 per month as interest. Eventually he and his family were half-starving in the current harvesting season because he had to agree to work in the fields for a nominal fee to repay the loan.
The Gaibandha Sadar lawmaker and veteran Awami League leader Lutfur Rahman told The Daily Star that all his efforts to attract investment for industries had gone in vain.
Gaibandha has been gripped by 'chronic poverty' that cannot be overthrown unless investments are made, he said.
In this regard, he blamed successive governments for their indifference to development of the western part of the country.
"This area has prospects for potatoes, jute and many other items. But even my personal efforts to set up a cold storage in the region have failed. There is simply no investor," the MP said.
The common people are unanimous that lack of proper leadership is behind the failure to attract investors.
Gaibandha have had successive MPs belonging to opposition parties. They said it is well known that MPs from the opposition benches have little or no say in policymaking.
An official of a leading NGO that has some programmes for the poor in the district said the four rivers were a curse for the people.
He said during last flood season, they counted 12,000 displaced families, desperately in need of help. "We requested help from Dhaka but nobody showed any interest," he said requesting anonymity.
Many people believe Gaibandha could be a centre for industrialisation although it is situated about 20 kilometres off the Dhaka-Dinajpur highway.
They said investors could benefit from cheap labour. After the building of the Bangabandhu Bridge, it is about five hours away from the capital.
'Devastation by Teesta is yet to start'
Roving Correspondent, Nilphamari
"It is just the beginning of flooding by Teesta", said 65 year-old boatman Nurul Islam।
"The seasonal rainfall in the hill region (in India) will aggravate the situation in coming days", he said.
On board the boat, Abdul Bashar, said the river fell slightly in the morning but started swelling again at noon.
Bashar of Safitari village in Dimla upazila in Nilphamari district, a truck driver by profession, was moving to safety with his family.
On Saturday, this correspondent moved from place to place on boats to see the havoc by the Teesta and talked to people and officials.
"Flooding by Teesta depends on Gajandoba Barrage in India", said a Water Development Board official.
Teesta rages when India opens the barrage gates. While receding, it erodes villages, he said.
"Devastation (erosion) by Teesta is yet to start", he said.
The river has devoured many villages along its banks in Gaib-andha, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur districts in the last ten days.
In Lalmonirhat, official reports said, over 100 square kilometre area in Borokhata, Guddimari, Shin-gimari, Shindurna, Patik-apara, Dauabari, Dahagram, Shreerampur, Jongra, Jagotber and Baura unions have gone under water, affecting over one lakh people, damaging about 3000 houses and crops on over 1000 hectares.
Some 500 people left homes in Deuabari and Patikapara unions where at least 30 families become homeless on Wednesday as Teesta devoured their homesteads, local people said.
Part of the Parulia Government Primary High School has gone into water and the rest will vanish in a day or two, they said.
In Nilphamari, most areas of Chhotokhata and Shafitari villages in Dimla upazila have been eroded by the Teesta, making over 1000 people homeless, Yasin Ali said.
Ali of Chhotokatha village, who along with others took shelter on bank of Teesta Barrage, said none came to see their miseries and provide relief.
Labourer Noimuddin, who is among hundreds on the bank, said he heard that four kilogram rice per head was allotted for a few of them but nothing reached so far.
In charlands, thousands of people are marooned, with no supply of food and water.
A boatload of rice for them, allocated by the district administration, sank while being taken across the river, claimed Aynal Haque, Dauabari Union Parishad Mamber.
"The people there are suffering as they do not dare to cross the river ", said Patikapara Union Parishad Mojibor Rahman.
At Patgram, nearly 80 percent of the municipal area has gone under water as the Teesta started rising again, relief official Osman Khondokar said.
A portion of the North Parulia Government Primary School in Nilphamari has been washed away and the rest is threatened by flood। Photo: Anwar Ali
"It is just the beginning of flooding by Teesta", said 65 year-old boatman Nurul Islam।
"The seasonal rainfall in the hill region (in India) will aggravate the situation in coming days", he said.
On board the boat, Abdul Bashar, said the river fell slightly in the morning but started swelling again at noon.
Bashar of Safitari village in Dimla upazila in Nilphamari district, a truck driver by profession, was moving to safety with his family.
On Saturday, this correspondent moved from place to place on boats to see the havoc by the Teesta and talked to people and officials.
"Flooding by Teesta depends on Gajandoba Barrage in India", said a Water Development Board official.
Teesta rages when India opens the barrage gates. While receding, it erodes villages, he said.
"Devastation (erosion) by Teesta is yet to start", he said.
The river has devoured many villages along its banks in Gaib-andha, Nilphamari, Lalmonirhat and Rangpur districts in the last ten days.
In Lalmonirhat, official reports said, over 100 square kilometre area in Borokhata, Guddimari, Shin-gimari, Shindurna, Patik-apara, Dauabari, Dahagram, Shreerampur, Jongra, Jagotber and Baura unions have gone under water, affecting over one lakh people, damaging about 3000 houses and crops on over 1000 hectares.
Some 500 people left homes in Deuabari and Patikapara unions where at least 30 families become homeless on Wednesday as Teesta devoured their homesteads, local people said.
Part of the Parulia Government Primary High School has gone into water and the rest will vanish in a day or two, they said.
In Nilphamari, most areas of Chhotokhata and Shafitari villages in Dimla upazila have been eroded by the Teesta, making over 1000 people homeless, Yasin Ali said.
Ali of Chhotokatha village, who along with others took shelter on bank of Teesta Barrage, said none came to see their miseries and provide relief.
Labourer Noimuddin, who is among hundreds on the bank, said he heard that four kilogram rice per head was allotted for a few of them but nothing reached so far.
In charlands, thousands of people are marooned, with no supply of food and water.
A boatload of rice for them, allocated by the district administration, sank while being taken across the river, claimed Aynal Haque, Dauabari Union Parishad Mamber.
"The people there are suffering as they do not dare to cross the river ", said Patikapara Union Parishad Mojibor Rahman.
At Patgram, nearly 80 percent of the municipal area has gone under water as the Teesta started rising again, relief official Osman Khondokar said.
A portion of the North Parulia Government Primary School in Nilphamari has been washed away and the rest is threatened by flood। Photo: Anwar Ali
Teesta dam may vanish, WDB official says
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/15/d30715070561.तम
Roving Correspondent, Rangpur
The entire Teesta flood control embankment will be washed away if the current spate of flooding continues for some days, an official of the Water Development Board said on Sunday।
The breach in the southern bank of Teesta that developed in Mornea area on July 11 has stretched up to about three kilimetres, he told this correspondent.
Breaches have also developed at many points of the embankment at Bijoy, Mohipur and Mohisasur villages.
WDB dumped sandbags to protect the dam.
Crores of taka were spent for maintaining the dam in the last several years but the repair works were not done properly, the WDB official said seeking anonymity.
A former Union Council member, Mofazzal Hossain, said about 1100 families have become homeless in Alalchar, Mohisasur, Almas Bazar, Uchhagram and Bagdohra villages in Gangachhara and Gajaghanta areas as their homesteads have been eroded by the river. About 3000 people are marooned in the areas, he said.
This correspondent saw at least 1000 families marooned in Kalagachhi, Islichar, Iswarkul, Joyramaja Mohipur and Laxmitari areas, with no supply of food and drinking water. Most of the tube wells there have go under water.
Many of them are on rooftops and boats.
"Flood water has washed away everything. We could not go to the bazaar on the southern bank of the river in last three days to purchase food", said Azizar Rahman from a rooftop at Islichar.
No official came to see their plight, he said.
When contacted, a relief official in the district said that 16 tonnes of rice and Tk 10,000 were distributed among the affected people in Gangachhara.
The local administration erected a flood shelter at a high land in Islichar and dug a ditch for drinking water।
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/17/d30717070256.htm
Feasting on फ्लड
Roving Correspondent, सिराज्गंज
The flood is a bane for all but can be a boost for a few।A section of contractors are feasting on the current flood, allegedly in connivance with some dishonest Water Development Board (WDB) officials.
The contractors are drawing hefty amounts by submitting 'vague bills' for dumping stones and sandbags to 'repair' breaches in riverbanks, it is alleged.
"Who counts how many stones are dumped into water?" said a contractor at Kajipur while talking to this correspondent.
And, breaches are not lacking.
The 76-km main flood control embankment in Sirajganj breached at Baoikhola and Shubhagachha in Kajipur last year.
This year, flood washed away about one kilometre of the embankment and damaged about and 25 kilometers, said sources.
Breach in embankments by the mighty Jamuna is almost a regular phenomenon because renovation is not done properly in right time, they said. The Jamuna can be blamed for all the evils.
But WDB officials have a ready answer for this. The dams could not be repaired timely for 'want of funds', said Anwar Hossain, sub divisional engineer of WDB.
However, Ratankandi Union Parishad Chairman Golam Mustafa blamed the BNP-led alliance government for not initiating repair of the dam in time.
The dam was built at the initiative of Awami League lawmaker and former home minister Mohammad Nasim MP, elected from Kajipur constituency, he claimed.
Roving Correspondent, Rangpur
The entire Teesta flood control embankment will be washed away if the current spate of flooding continues for some days, an official of the Water Development Board said on Sunday।
The breach in the southern bank of Teesta that developed in Mornea area on July 11 has stretched up to about three kilimetres, he told this correspondent.
Breaches have also developed at many points of the embankment at Bijoy, Mohipur and Mohisasur villages.
WDB dumped sandbags to protect the dam.
Crores of taka were spent for maintaining the dam in the last several years but the repair works were not done properly, the WDB official said seeking anonymity.
A former Union Council member, Mofazzal Hossain, said about 1100 families have become homeless in Alalchar, Mohisasur, Almas Bazar, Uchhagram and Bagdohra villages in Gangachhara and Gajaghanta areas as their homesteads have been eroded by the river. About 3000 people are marooned in the areas, he said.
This correspondent saw at least 1000 families marooned in Kalagachhi, Islichar, Iswarkul, Joyramaja Mohipur and Laxmitari areas, with no supply of food and drinking water. Most of the tube wells there have go under water.
Many of them are on rooftops and boats.
"Flood water has washed away everything. We could not go to the bazaar on the southern bank of the river in last three days to purchase food", said Azizar Rahman from a rooftop at Islichar.
No official came to see their plight, he said.
When contacted, a relief official in the district said that 16 tonnes of rice and Tk 10,000 were distributed among the affected people in Gangachhara.
The local administration erected a flood shelter at a high land in Islichar and dug a ditch for drinking water।
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/17/d30717070256.htm
Feasting on फ्लड
Roving Correspondent, सिराज्गंज
The flood is a bane for all but can be a boost for a few।A section of contractors are feasting on the current flood, allegedly in connivance with some dishonest Water Development Board (WDB) officials.
The contractors are drawing hefty amounts by submitting 'vague bills' for dumping stones and sandbags to 'repair' breaches in riverbanks, it is alleged.
"Who counts how many stones are dumped into water?" said a contractor at Kajipur while talking to this correspondent.
And, breaches are not lacking.
The 76-km main flood control embankment in Sirajganj breached at Baoikhola and Shubhagachha in Kajipur last year.
This year, flood washed away about one kilometre of the embankment and damaged about and 25 kilometers, said sources.
Breach in embankments by the mighty Jamuna is almost a regular phenomenon because renovation is not done properly in right time, they said. The Jamuna can be blamed for all the evils.
But WDB officials have a ready answer for this. The dams could not be repaired timely for 'want of funds', said Anwar Hossain, sub divisional engineer of WDB.
However, Ratankandi Union Parishad Chairman Golam Mustafa blamed the BNP-led alliance government for not initiating repair of the dam in time.
The dam was built at the initiative of Awami League lawmaker and former home minister Mohammad Nasim MP, elected from Kajipur constituency, he claimed.
Floods
National
Flood claims 5 in Gaibandha, worsens in Sirajganj, Netrakona, Natoreस्त
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/17/d30717070155.htm
Our Roving Correspondent Anwar Ali reported from Sirajganj that floodwater was approaching Sirajganj town as more areas of the Sadar upazila went under water following breach in the main flood control dam at Meghai on Friday।
Sixty-four out of 83 unions in the district have been inundated, 11 in Kajipur upazila being the worst hit.
This year flooding started early due to rain in Bangladesh and melting of Himalayan ice, Mojibur Rahman, executive engineer of Sirajganj Water Development Board (WDB) told this correspondent on Tuesday.
Flood usually starts in the northern region from mid-July, he said.
About ten kilometers of the Kajipur-Sirajganj highway, built during late 90s at a cost of about Tk 500 crore, is now under water.
The WDB is dumping sandbags to protect the highway. But their 'untimely work' will be a futile effort, local people said. An amount of Tk 25 was spent to protect the highway but it was simply wastage because work is not done in proper time, sources said.
The authorities stopped plying of heavy vehicles on the road.
In Kazipur, nearly two lakh people have been affected, 50,000 of them marooned. About 2000 families have become homeless due to erosion by river.
This correspondent visited the worst affected Shubhagachha, Ratankandi and Gandhail unions in an engine boat.
People have moved to safer places.
Hundreds of people who took shelter at the three storied Shubhagachha College are facing acute crisis of food and drinking water.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/18/d3071801088.htm
NAOGAON
The flood situation in Naogaon deteriorated. The Water Development Board explained that the fresh floods came as waters of the main rivers entered some tributaries in Naogaon in a downstream recession, said our roving correspondent.
The flood control embankment of Pachupur in Atrai upazila in Naogaon broke at Ujanpara point on Wednesday, inundating eight villages and affecting 300 families।
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/16/d3071601044.htm
Our roving correspondent from Sirajganj adds: Sixty-four of 83 unions in Sirajganj were submerged and all the 11 unions in Kazipur upazila were the worst affected।
Swirling floodwaters affected about two lakh people, making 2,000 families homeless.
Flood claims 5 in Gaibandha, worsens in Sirajganj, Netrakona, Natoreस्त
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/17/d30717070155.htm
Our Roving Correspondent Anwar Ali reported from Sirajganj that floodwater was approaching Sirajganj town as more areas of the Sadar upazila went under water following breach in the main flood control dam at Meghai on Friday।
Sixty-four out of 83 unions in the district have been inundated, 11 in Kajipur upazila being the worst hit.
This year flooding started early due to rain in Bangladesh and melting of Himalayan ice, Mojibur Rahman, executive engineer of Sirajganj Water Development Board (WDB) told this correspondent on Tuesday.
Flood usually starts in the northern region from mid-July, he said.
About ten kilometers of the Kajipur-Sirajganj highway, built during late 90s at a cost of about Tk 500 crore, is now under water.
The WDB is dumping sandbags to protect the highway. But their 'untimely work' will be a futile effort, local people said. An amount of Tk 25 was spent to protect the highway but it was simply wastage because work is not done in proper time, sources said.
The authorities stopped plying of heavy vehicles on the road.
In Kazipur, nearly two lakh people have been affected, 50,000 of them marooned. About 2000 families have become homeless due to erosion by river.
This correspondent visited the worst affected Shubhagachha, Ratankandi and Gandhail unions in an engine boat.
People have moved to safer places.
Hundreds of people who took shelter at the three storied Shubhagachha College are facing acute crisis of food and drinking water.
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/18/d3071801088.htm
NAOGAON
The flood situation in Naogaon deteriorated. The Water Development Board explained that the fresh floods came as waters of the main rivers entered some tributaries in Naogaon in a downstream recession, said our roving correspondent.
The flood control embankment of Pachupur in Atrai upazila in Naogaon broke at Ujanpara point on Wednesday, inundating eight villages and affecting 300 families।
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/07/16/d3071601044.htm
Our roving correspondent from Sirajganj adds: Sixty-four of 83 unions in Sirajganj were submerged and all the 11 unions in Kazipur upazila were the worst affected।
Swirling floodwaters affected about two lakh people, making 2,000 families homeless.
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