Bagerhat
Cyclone Sitrang: Flood protection embankment is at risk in Bagerhat
Local authorities in Bagerhat district on Monday (October 24, 2022) said that vulnerable people would be evacuated to cyclone shelters to save lives as cyclone Sitrang was approaching towards Bangladeshi coast with a forecast to hit the country by early Tuesday (October 25, 2022).
The government has kept a total of 344 cyclone shelters ready in nine upazilas of the coastal district, which can accommodate around two lakh people along with their cattle.
Mohammad Azizur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bagerhat, said that they were working to ensure that the impact of the cyclone could have minimum damage.
Read: Cyclone Sitrang: Everything you need to know
“We’ve taken allout preparations to face Sitrang by keeping dry food, medical teams and rescue teams ready,” he said.
In the district’s Sharonkhola, Mongla, Rampal and Morelganj upazilas, the local administration has been asking people to go to the nearest cyclone shelters through loudspeakers.
Heavy rains have been reported in the district.
Read Cyclone Sitrang: Flood protection embankment is at risk in Bagerhat
Mongla Meteorological Department has recorded 29mm rain from 6:00am to 9:00am on Monday morning. Rising water has started to inundate the low-lying areas, while high tide was impacting the Sundarbans.
The Mongla Seaport is also bearing the brunt. All kinds of loading and unloading of goods at the port have been suspended, while vessels have been asked to stay close to the shore.
A 30km-long embankment that protects Bagerhat from high tide is currently at risk too.
Read Inland water transport suspended as Cyclone ‘Sitrang’ approaches
According to Bagerhat Water Development Board (WDB), at least 100km of areas could go under water if Sitrang damages the embankment.
“The wind is blowing at a speed of 62kph within 54km of the cyclone centre, which has the possibility of reaching 88kph. We’ve asked the Mongla Port authorities to hoist cautionary signal no 7,” said Amaresh Chandra Dhali, Officer (acting) of Mongla Met Office.
Read Sitrang: Loading, unloading suspended at Chattogram Port; Alert-3 issued
Mechanical engineer finds fortune in growing rock melons, becomes inspiration for local farmers
Sheikh Foysal Ahmed, a mechanical engineer of Garfa village in Mollahat upazila under Bagerhat district has achieved success by cultivating and selling rock melon, a fruit quite popular in Bangladesh and overseas.
After earning a degree in mechanical engineering, Foysal worked at two private companies in Dhaka for ten years. In 2021, he decided to leave his job and returned to his village — getting engaged in agriculture.
Read:Bagerhat fruit farmer eyes foreign markets to expand thriving business
Foysal started with watermelon cultivation in 2021 but did not see any profit from it, rather he counted a loss of Tk 10 lakh.
Later, he decided to switch to rock melon.
In January, this year, Foysal started rock melon cultivation by planting 3,000 seeds on 40 decimal of land commercially and after two and a half months, he earned Tk 4.5 lakh by selling the juicy fruits in the local market.
Currently, he is cultivating rock melons on six bigha of land, and has made Tk 15 lakh this season by selling those.
Seeing Foysal’s success, many farmers in the area have started growing rock melons.
Foysal now aims to export the juicy fruits.
During a recent visit to the village, this UNB correspondent saw Foysal busy at work, looking after his rock melon patch. The bright yellow colour of the fruit has become an attraction for locals.
Shrimp farmers in Bagerhat stare at starvation
Already hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, shrimp farmers in Bagerhat district have been dealt another severe blow this year -- incessant showers and consequent tidal surges.
This year, shrimps, crabs and different species of fish worth over Tk 6 crore have been swept away by tidal surges with more than 8,000 shrimp enclosures going under water across the southern district, pushing many farmers to the brink of starvation.
In Chanditola village of Bagerhat’s Rampal upazila, for instance, most of the farmers have lost their shrimp enclosures to the late-monsoon showers and tidal surges.
READ: Bagerhat fruit farmer eyes foreign markets to expand thriving business.
The scenario is the same in villages across other upazilas of the district, prompting the District Shrimp Farmers’ Association to demand from the government an insurance scheme for their members to protect them from such unexpected losses.
Disappointment in Bagerhat as Shikdar Bari avoids large-scale Durga Puja celebration for third year running
Preparations for celebrating Durga Puja, the largest religious festival of the Hindu community, are going on in Bagerhat with the famous ‘Shikdar Bari Durgotsob’ in limited scale like the last two years following Covid pandemic.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the elaborate puja celebrations organised by the Shikdar family will be on a limited scale for the third consecutive year to protect the rituals, said Shishir Shikdar, member of the family's Shikdar Bari Durga Puja organising committee.
Like the visitors and Hindu devotees, the organisers are also upset because the grand celebration of Durga Puja is not being organised on a large scale. But provided that the pandemic tapers off, from next year Durga Puja will be organised on a large scale like before, Shishir added.
Read: Durga puja: A festival that unites Bangladesh!
The Tradition of Shikdar Bari’s Durga Puja
In 2011, Dr Dulal Krishna Shikdar introduced the grand celebration of Durga Puja with 251 idols at his ancestral home Hakimpur village of the Bagerhat Sadar upazila.
He wanted to raise society's awareness of the value of practicing sanatana dharma (traditional religion, or Hinduism) through the grand puja.
Since then, the number of idols of gods and goddesses has been increasing there every year.
In 2019, Durga Puja was organised with 801 idols of gods and goddesses on the Shikdar Bari Puja mandap.
The celebration became more vibrant and different every year to spread the festival among people of all religions.
Around autumn with the fragrance of Shiuli in the air, millions of visitors and devotees from all over the country, regardless of caste and religion, flock to the spectacular Shikdar Bari’s puja mandap.
The preparations for the celebration of Shikadar Bari Durga Puja ran almost throughout the year. The artisans started making idols six to seven months in advance with straw and clay. Idols were decorated with different colors and different types of ornaments, both local and foreign.
Three months before the puja, the workers would be busy with decoration and lighting work.
Various gods and goddesses of Satya, Treta, Dwapara and Kali Yuga were arranged in this puja mandap as companions of Mahamaya Goddess Durga.
Eminent industrialist Liton Shikdar, son of Dr Dulal Krishna Shikdar, was organising the festival with his own initiative.
Unfortunately, this traditional Durga Puja is being organised in that puja mandap to protect the religious rituals in a limited scale.
Bagerhat fruit farmer eyes foreign markets to expand thriving business
Kamrul Hasan, a farmer from Bagerhat, has found massive success in recent years in cultivating foreign fruits. After racking up revenues of Tk 2.7 million annually selling the yield from his 21-bigha orchard, Kamrul is now thinking of expanding his business by exporting the fruits abroad.
Visiting Kamrul’s orchard in Shiyalkathi village under Bagerhat’s Kochua upazila, UNB found the place filled with numerous varieties of local and foreign fruits, including Dragon Fruit, Malta Fruit, Mango, Guava, Lime, Orange, Pineapple, Wood Apple, Sugar Apple, Custard Apple etc.
Inspired by Kamrul’s work, many people from the area are joining the fruit farming business. Customers are also coming to the orchard on a regular basis to buy fruits directly from the grower.
Read: Drought hampering Aman production in Bagerhat
Even the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has dubbed Kamrul a "successful fruit farmer".
Tidal surges: 8,000 fish enclosures washed away in Bagerhat
More than 8,000 fish enclosures in Bagerhat have been washed away by tidal surges triggered by the depression over the Bay, said the district fisheries department on Wednesday.
Among them, 500 fish enclosures washed away in Sadar upazila, 2,000 each in Mongla, Rampal and Morelganj, while 500 in Kachua and 1000 in Sarankhola upazila.
Different species of fish, including shrimp, worth Tk 3 crore have been washed away causing losses to around 7,000 fish farmers, said Bagerhat District Fisheries Officer ASM Russell.
Upazila fisheries officers were asked to prepare a complete list of damages, he added.
Read: Low-lying areas of 5 dists flooded due to tidal surge caused by depression
However, according to the fish farmers, the amount of the losses is more. They demanded incentives and loans on easy terms to save the shrimp industry.
The low-lying areas of the coastal district have been inundated by tidal surges due incessant rains for the last five days triggered by the low pressure formed in the Bay.
The weather department here has recorded 33 mm rainfall in the district in 24 hours till 6 am Wednesday.
Dilip Majumdar, in-charge of Dublarchar Forest Outpost of Sundarban East Division, said water did not enter the Sundarbans today.
The fishermen started to go back to sea with their trawlers, he added.
Amaresh Chandra Dhali, in-charge of the Mongla Meteorological Observatory, said the well-marked low over northwest Madhya Pradesh and adjoining area is likely to weaken gradually. “Weather may turn normal from Thursday.”
Drought hampering Aman production in Bagerhat
A debacle in Aman paddy production is raising fears of an upcoming food crisis in Bagerhat.
This year, rainfall in Bagerhat was 489mm less than last year. As a result, although the Aman season is nearing its end, around 40 percent of agricultural land in the district is lying uncultivated due to a drought-like situation.
Lack of water is making it hard for farmers to plant Aman seedlings, and those who’ve already planted the seedlings are watching their crops becoming yellow and drying up.
Read: Drought-like situation frustrates Aman growers in Naogaon
Amid such a situation, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) is thinking of bringing changes to the paddy growing process and artificially inducing rainfall.
According to the DAE, there are a total of 2,44,328 farming families in Bagerhat. The season for planting Aman seedlings runs between July 1 and September 15. This year, the government had set a target to cultivate 2,66,980 metric tons of Aman paddy in 74,425 hectares of land, among which only 41,000 hectares of land has been cultivated till now.
Besides, Bagerhat has witnessed 2538mm rain from May to August this year, which was 3027mm during the same period in the previous year. This means that there has been 489mm less rain in the district this season, which has affected the production of Aman paddy to a great extent.
While visiting Bagerhat’s Kochua and Fakirhat upazilas, UNB found that cracks and weeds have emerged in all the paddy fields there. Farmers, worried about food shortage, were trying to save their seedlings through irrigation. The same scenario prevailed in the district’s Sadar, Sharankhola and Mollarhat upazilas too.
Sheikh Asadur Rahman, a local farmer, plants paddy in five acres of land every year. He runs his family by consuming and selling the rice grown on his land. This year, Asad is facing dual crises. While the seedbed that he had prepared for the first time got wasted due to the water crisis, the seedbed that he prepared the second time is being eaten up by domestic animals.
“Seedlings can’t be implanted on dry land. I couldn’t implant any seedlings this season due to a lack of water. The Aman farming season is nearing its end, which means I won’t be able to cultivate any paddy this year. I don’t know how I will survive,” Asad said.
Swapan Das, Chairman of Fakirhat Upazila Parishad, has seen the farming methods of many countries. While talking to UNB, he provided some ideas to mitigate the farming crisis that is going on in the district.
Read: Scanty rains worry Aman, Jute growers in Thakurgaon
“New variants of paddy have to be invented through conducting research on water and soil. Solar energy has to be used in ensuring water supply through irrigation. Besides, subsidies in the current method of irrigation have to be increased and the price of electricity has to be lowered,” said Swapan.
Md Azizur Rahman, Deputy Director of Bagerhat’s Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), suggested water pumps to be used in paddy farming to deal with the water crisis.
“To mitigate the losses, we’ve advised the farmers to cultivate the BR-23 variant of paddy and irrigate their lands using water pumps. Currently, a total of 4,500 water pumps are running in the district,” Azizur said.
Azizur added that the period for implanting seedlings has been extended to September 30.
“We have to wait till the harvesting period to know whether the government will miss its target for Aman production this year or not,” added Azizur.
Hasina, Modi jointly unveil Rampal Power Plant’s unit 1
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today (September 6, 2022) jointly unveiled unit 1 of Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Bagerhat’s Rampal.
Constructed under India’s concessional financing scheme, the project will add 1320 MW to Bangladesh’s national grid.
Earlier, Hasina and Modi witnessed signing of seven bilateral instruments after holding talks at Hyderabad House in India’s capital city.
Read Chinese-Bangladeshi consortium, BPDB to sign deal for Mongla wind power plant
The first unit of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant will go into commercial operation early October, in a major stride in growing Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation, an official told UNB.
Unit 1 of the 1320 (2x660) MW coal-fired power plant in Rampal was successfully synchronized with the national grid on August 15.
Once both units are commissioned, Rampal power plant will be one of the largest in Bangladesh, Subhash Chandra Pandey, project director of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt.) Limited, told UNB.
Read Deal signed to set up waste-based power plant in Narayanganj
Unit 2 of the power plant, also known as Rampal coal-fired power project, is expected to be commissioned early next year, he said.
Rampal power plant is being set up at a cost of approximately US$ 2 billion and is located in the Bagerhat district of Khulna division, said an official describing the project features in detail.
It is being built by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Private Ltd. (BIFPCL), a 50:50 joint venture company between India's National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) Ltd and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), said the officials.
Read Inner containment construction of Nuke power plant (Unit-2) starts
The project director said the Rampal power plant is being set up with super critical technology to actively mitigate environmental impact.
Construction of an advanced ship un-loader for coal as well as a fully covered coal stock yard, along with use of high grade imported coal with low Ash and Sulphur content, among other measures, are in place, he said.
On April 6, the 400 kV GIS switchyard and interconnecting transformer of the Rampal power plant was energized.
Read A private producer to set up a 3 MW hybrid power plant at Monpura
Two siblings drown in Bagerhat
Two siblings drowned in a pond in Sarankhola upazila of Bagerhat on Friday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Ruby Akhtar,7, and Rafia Akhtar,4, daughters of Abdur Rahim Talukdar of Nalbunia village in the upazila, said M Ekram Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sarankhola police station.
The two kids went missing when they were taking bath in the pond, said the OC.
Read:Over 14,000 children die in Bangladesh due to drowning every year
Later their family members, along with local people, searched for them. Around 2:30 pm, they rescued the girls and took them to Upazila Health Complex where doctors pronounced them dead.
“Two cases of unnatural death have been filed in this regard,” said the officer.
According to WHO and UNICEF, each year, over 14,000 children in Bangladesh die due to drowning.
Although largely unrecognised, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children under the age of five in the country.
Rice price hike adds to plight of low-income people in Bagerhat
The prices of all varieties of rice have gone up in the wholesale and retail markets of Bagerhat, creating a suffocating condition for the low-income group people who are already plagued by price hikes of daily essentials.
Wholesale and retail rice markets in the district are witnessing an increase in rice prices by Tk 10 per kilogram and Tk 150 per 25kg sack.
Both the buyers and rice traders are finding it hard to procure rice as per their demands. Traders alleged that rice prices have soared due to syndication by rice mill owners.
While visiting Chaupatti and Nagerbazar wholesale rice markets, the UNB correspondent found that both the buyers and sellers were engaging in altercations over rice price hike.
The rice traders were blaming rise in fuel prices for increases in rice prices. On the contrary, consumers were returning home with rice less than the amount bought by them previously.
In wholesale markets, the staple is being sold at rates between Tk 50 to Tk 85 per kg. Even price of coarse rice has also seen an increase by Tk 5 per kg. Rice traders are asking for prices according to their wish, while rice are being sold in the village markets at higher prices due to multiple handovers.
Read: OMS: Rice to be available at Tk 15 per kg from Sep 1
Pradeep Kumar Saha, a wholesaler of Nagerbazar area, said that they are receiving less rice than they’ve ordered.
“If we order 100 sacks of rice, we only get 20 of them which is creating a crisis. So rice prices have gone up by Tk 6 to Tk 10 per kg. Fuel price hike and syndication by the rice millers are behind this situation,” Pradeep said.
Prabir Saha, a retailer from Falpatti area, also blamed syndication by the rice millers behind rice price hike.
“Prices of rice have increased by Tk 150 to Tk 200 per sack (25 kg) within just one week. We’re regularly facing customers’ wrath for selling rice at a high prices. The situation is such that we may have to stop doing business altogether,” Prabir said.
Gopal Saha, a wholesaler of Nagerbazar, said that people from the lower income bracket is feeling the real punch as the rice variant that they buy is out of stock most of the time.
Taposh Saha, a rice trader from Chaulpatti, said that they can’t even buy rice in the evening at the rate at which they had bought rice in the morning.
“We’ve nothing to do except selling rice at the rate of purchase,” said Taposh.
Md Belal Sheikh, a consumer, said that he had bought a 25 kg sack of rice at Tk 1,300 15 days ago, which he now has to buy at Tk 1,450.
Nasima Begum, another buyer, said that she came to buy a 25kg sack of rice but instead bought only 10kg due to exorbitant prices.
“Rice prices are varying from shop to shop. Traders are asking for prices as they wish. I’m confused about what to do but as prices of almost every essential item is on the rise,” said Nasima.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bagerhat Mohammad Azizur Rahman said that he is aware of the rice price hike in local markets.
“We’re monitoring the market regularly. We’ll conduct drives by mobile court so that no one can sell rice at exorbitant prices,” said the DC.