Chandpur
Chandpur road crash leaves two dead
Two people were killed and another was injured when a truck rammed a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on Chandpur-Cumilla regional highway at Khazuria in Kachua upazila on Saturday night.
The deceased were identified as auto-rickshaw driver Sohel Mia, 36 and Gokul Sarkar, 32, of Haziganj upazila.
The truck hit the CNG run auto-rickshaw around 10:30 pm, leaving two people dead on the spot and another injured, said Mohiuddin, officer-in-charge of Kachua Police Station.
Read: 4 killed in Kurigram road accident
Injured Ripon was taken to Cumilla Medical College and Hospital.
Vehicular movement on the highway remained suspended for an hour following the incident.
On information, police recovered the bodies.
22-yr-old electrocuted to death in Chandpur
A 22-year-old youth was electrocuted to death in Islampur village of Chandpur on Monday.
The deceased was identified as Tanvir Farazi, son of Shahjahan Farazi. He was a senior student of Islampur Shah Yasin Senior Madrasa.
Read: Youth dies from electrocution in Kushtia
Family sources said that Farazi went to a neighbour's house along with his uncle for some electrical work. Unfortunately, he came in contact with a live wire while trying to unplug an electric line.
Farazi was rushed to Chadpur Government General Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. "Legal process is underway for handing over the body to his family," said a sub-inspector of Chandpur Model Thana.
Read: Elephant carcass found along Sherpur border
Fire burns down cotton factory and warehouse in Chandpur
A devastating fire in Chanpur Sadar upazila’s Dakshin Tarpurchandi village burnt to ashes a cotton factory and its warehouse on Wednesday.
The factory made cotton from jute fibre.
Read: Child burnt to death, 5 hurt in Chattogram fire
No casualties have been immediately reported.
According to the locals, five peoplec working inside the factory managed to escape to safety soon after the fire broke out.
However, the owner of the factory, Billal Mizi fainted and was taken to the district Sadar hospital.
Firefighter Zakir Hossain said that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit and it spread quickly.
Three units of the fire services managed to bring the fire under control at around 3 pm after two and a half hours of effort, he said
The owner of the factory, Billal Mizi, and his brother claimed that the initial loss was around Tk 30 lakh.
But fire services Deputy Assistant Directors Sahidul Islam and Zakir Hossain said that the amount of loss will be Tk 5 lakh.
Read: Fire engulfs chemical warehouse in Chattogram
Further investigation would be made, they said.
They further said that no permission or approval was taken from the fire services before the construction of this factory and warehouse.
Kindergartens in Chandpur struggle to recover from Covid-19 shocks, many stay closed
Kindergarten schools in Chandpur district reopened amid enthusiasm on September 12 after a long Covid-induced lockdown. Yet, 41 of them located in seven upazilas of the district have remained closed because of shortage of teachers and staff.
According to the Bangladesh Kindergarten Association five Kindergarten schools in Chandpur Sadar, ten in Faridganj, six each in Matlab Uttar, Hajiganj and Shahrasti, four each in Matlab Dakshin and Kochua Upazilas have remained closed even after mass reopening. Locals said these KG schools are about to shut down completely.
READ: Coronavirus: Primary schools, kindergartens to remain shut until May 29
Being hit by financial crisis during Covid lockdown, many of the teachers and staff of these Kindergarten schools shifted their jobs elsewhere for survival. Meanwhile, the students of these schools are now attending local government primary schools while many are attending local madrasas.
Bangladesh Kindergarten Association’s District President Omar Faruque and General Secretary Sabuj Bhodro said there were a total of 897 Kindergarten schools in this district. About 12 thousand teachers and 13 hundred staff were working in these schools.
However, many are unlikely to come back to these KG schools to reopen.
In addition, in most closed schools, furniture and other instruments used for teaching were sold out to pay rents to the landlords.
Meanwhile, those KG schools that opened have only a few students. About 40-45 per cent of students are absent from these schools.
Principal of Modern KG School on Bank Colony Road in the town Omar Faruque, who is also Bangladesh Kindergarten Association’s District President, said they are visiting the houses of the absentees to bring them back to the schools.
The authority of Modern KG School also asked its students to pay half the tuition fees but most of the guardians are unable to pay the amount.
READ: Govt plans to raise number of classes in schools, colleges: Dipu Moni
“That’s why we cannot pay our teachers and staff members who are leading lives in hardship as they didn’t get any assistance from the government during the lockdown. Only about 400 teachers received Tk 1,000 each as financial assistance from DC’s relief fund,” said Omar Faruque.
When contacted, District Primary Education Officer Md Shahabuddin said, “We are not aware of how many Kg schools remain closed in this district but we can say about 80 per cent students of government primary schools are attending classes in the district.”
700 kgs of shrimp injected with jelly like substance seized in Chandpur
Members of Coast Guards in a drive seized 700 kgs of shrimps with jelly like substances in their bodies from the estuary of the Padma River in Chandpur on Saturday.
Tipped off, a team of coast guard led by Lieutenant Rohan Majur of Chandpur sub-station conducted a drive in a trawler and recovered the shrimps in the afternoon.
Read: Cox's Bazaar: Drugs worth Tk 2.7cr seized, 5 held
However, no one was arrested in this connection.
Later, the Coast Guard members destroyed the shrimps.
Some unscrupulous businessmen inject jelly like substances into shrimps to increase their weight to cheat consumers.
10 fishermen jailed in Chandpur for violating fishing ban
Ten fishermen were jailed by a mobile court for a year in Chandpur on Thursday for catching hilsa flouting the ongoing fishing ban.
The mobile court led by Chandpur Sadar Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Executive Magistrate Helal Uddin Chowdhury handed down the verdict.
Read: Kitchen markets in Dhaka take the heat from 22-day Hilsa ban
Chandpur Sadar Upazila Senior Fisheries Officer Sudip Bhattacharya said they detained the fishermen conducting a drive in the Meghna River in the early hours of Thursday.
They also seized two trawlers and one lakh meters of banned current nets.
The seized nets were destroyed by setting fire and the two trawlers were kept under the custody of the Coast Guard and the Fisheries Department, the officer said.
Read: Hilsa ban: 5 injured in attack during drive in Bhola
The 22-day Hilsa ban took effect on Sunday midnight aimed at ensuring the safe spawning of the popular fish during its peak breeding period. The ban will remain in place till October 25.
Fisheries Department, upazila and district administrations, police and coast guard personnel will carry out regular drives to make sure that the ban is implemented strictly.
10-hour ordeal for girl trapped in school loo
A speech-impaired student remained trapped in the washroom of her school for over 10 hours in Shahrasti upazila of Chandpur district.
Police said Sharmin Akter, a SSC examinee and daughter of Anwar Hossain of Dakkhin Asrafpur of the upazila, went to Hossainpur Girls School on Thursday morning.
Around 12.30, after the school hours, Sharmin went to the toilet. However, office assistant Shahanara Begum Shanu locked the loo from outside without checking if anyone was inside.
As the girl was speech-impaired, she failed to raise an alarm, police said.
Around 10pm that day, Al Amin, a resident of the area, heard the groaning sound of the girl. He immediately broke open the door of the school toilet with the help of local people and rescued the girl.
READ: Trapped in a building with no fire exit and gates locked, workers were burned to a pulp
Amir Hossain, headmaster of the school, said, "He left the school around 4.30 pm but had not spotted anyone on the premises then.'
Shahrasti Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Shirin Akter, said, “A probe has been ordered to find out if there was any negligence on the part of the school authorities. Action will follow, after the probe report."
The headmaster and the president of the school managing committee met the girl's family on Friday and offered their apologies.
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Bus services in Chandpur halt amid transport workers’ protest
Transport workers in Chandpur went on a wildcat strike on Monday morning halting bus services in the district in protest of a driver's death allegedly due to negligence.
The sudden stoppage caused huge sufferings to the commuters and long-distance travellers.
As many as 400 bus services on Dhaka, Cumilla, Lakshmipur, Sylhet, and Chattogram routes from the district remained suspended while workers vandalized a part of the municipal bus terminal during a demonstration.
Also read: Protest in Chattogram over construction of elevated expressway
Later police took control of the situation but the buses stood still at the terminal till writing this report, said police sources.
Due to the sudden suspension, the office and daily commuters had to pay double fare to reach their destinations by auto rickshaws or some other means.
Officer-in-Charge of Sadar model police station Md Abdur Rashid said, on Sunday a bus named Padma lost control and hit a roadside tree in Chandpur sadar leaving a child dead and 10 injured including the bus driver Mizan Molla, 30.
Severely injured Mizan was referred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after giving primary treatment in district hospital but he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night.
Also read: Student protest causes traffic disruption in Barishal
Angered by Mizan’s death the transport workers in Chandpur started demonstrating Monday claiming that the driver died due to lack of treatment. They also demanded solution for infrastructure problems in the terminal and resignation of transport leaders.
Police held a meeting with the bus owners and workers association to solve the issue. Municipal mayor will also hold a meeting with the transport workers’ representatives, said leaders of the workers Kamal Patwary and Faruque Dewan.
Vaccine crisis in Chandpur, inoculation halted
The Chandpur Civil Surgeon's Office has temporarily suspended the Covid vaccination drive at District Sadar Hospital due to an acute shortage of jabs.
There is a vaccine crisis in the entire district as the number of registrations is more than the available stock, the chief medical officers of various upazila health complexes told UNB.
Read: Dhaka receives 56 lakh Sinopharm vaccine doses
People from different parts of Chandpur Sadar who came to the vaccination centre of the state-run hospital Tuesday, returned disappointed after a long wait.
Among them were 70-year-old Afia Khatun, who came from the Laxmipur area of Sadar, Hasina Begum, 45, of the Mahamaya area of Sadar upazila, and Biplob Saha of Puran Bazar and his wife.
Besides, the stock of vaccines has run out in Kachua, Faridganj, Hajiganj, Matlab South and Matlab North. And so the registration for jabs has been suspended at the upazila health complexes in these areas.
Dr Belayet Hossain of Haimchar Upazila Health Complex, said that their stock of vaccines is also running out. The situation is the same in Shahrashti.
He told UNB that due to the shortage of jabs, vaccination has been halted in the entire district. "Of course, it is temporary," the doctor added.
Read:EPI staff suspended for pushing Covid vaccine at home
Civil Surgeon Dr M Sakhawatullah said there is more registration for vaccines than the available stock of the Covid jabs, "and hence the shortage".
"Hopefully we'll receive more vaccine doses by Saturday. Then the inoculation of the first and second doses will start again."
EPI staff suspended for pushing Covid vaccine at home
Health authorities have suspended a staff (vaccine carrier) of Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in North Matlab upazila in Chandpur district for pushing Covid-19 jabs at receivers’ homes.
The suspended staff is Mohammad Jakir Mia, 40, upazila health and family planning officer Nusrat Jahan Mithen told UNB.
READ: Sirajganj UP chairman suspended on graft charge
The staff was accused of pushing Covid jabs to people at their homes in Moradon and Thakurchar villages on August 19 and 22 respectively in exchange of money defying the rules of the health department, she said.
As per the directive of Civil Surgeon Dr M Shakawatullah a 3-member probe committee was formed with medical officer of the upazila health complex Dr Mainul Islam Monas as the convener. The committee found his involvement in the irregularities in its investigation.
READ: BIWTC officer suspended for not wearing mask