A tribunal in Khulna on Tuesday sentenced six men to death for raping a teenage girl in Sonadanga upazila in 2019. The death-row convicts are Morshedul Islam Shanto alias Shanto Biswas, Sheikh Shahadat Hossain, Md Rabbi Hasan Parash, Md Mahmud Hasan Akash, Kazi Ariful Islam Pritam and Md Mim Hossain. Among them, Shanto, Shahadat and Pritam were tried in absentia. Khulna Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-3 Judge Abdus Salam Khan delivered the judgment. Read more: Unspeakable: Parents tied up before daughter gang-raped by vandals in Subarnachar The court fined the convicts Tk 20,000 each. The court also sentenced four adolescents to eight years imprisonment each. One of them was sentenced to three more years more jail under the Anti-Pornography Act. According to the case, Shanto raped the sixth grader girl after taking her to a rented house of another convict on June 29 in 2019. The others convicts videoed the crime and raped the girl in terms. Read more: Sunamganj: 5 get life in prison in attempted rape, rape cases On the following day, a case was filed against nine people at Sonadanga police station. On November 13 of the same year, the investigation officer of the case and Sonadanga police station officer-in-charge (OC) Momtazul Hoque submitted a chargesheet against 10 convicts.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members arrested two people for illegally hoarding 14,000kg rice meant for poor people under the government’s Open Market Sale (OMS) programme in Khulna on Tuesday morning. The arrestees are Nadim Ahmed, son of Hashem Sheikh from the district’s Sonadanga area and Rabiul Islam, son of Abul Khaleque from West Baniakhamar area. Read more:Whole-wheat flour packets under OMS to be available from Oct 1 Among the arrestees, Nadim is the owner of the warehouse where the rice was kept. According to Rab, the elite force had kept some rice warehouses in the city’s Barmashil road area under their watch after receiving the information that some unscrupulous traders were selling the government’s OMS rice in the black market at high rates instead of selling to the poor at low rates. “Nadim and Robiul were unloading the rice from government-sealed sacks and putting it inside some unmarked sacks when Rab caught them red-handed. During the drive, we recovered 100 sacks of 50kg rice and 390 sacks of 25kg rice from them. We’ve also lodged a complaint against them in this regard,” said Tahan Chakma, Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (Senior ASP) of Rab-6 (Khulna). Read more:OMS will continue till rice market is stable: Food Minister Lt. Colonel Mohammad Moshtaque Ahmed, Director of Rab-6, said an investigation has started to find out how some rice traders are getting OMS rice and who are assisting them in this practice.

Khulna's Paikgacha upazila has faced the maximum brunt of cyclone Sitrang, with local farmers notching up huge losses in the natural calamity. Cyclone Sitrang made landfall in the coastal districts on October 24. Though there were no casualties in Paikgacha, crops spread over several hectares and a number of fish enclosures were damaged in incessant rains triggered by the cyclone. Read more:300 sheltered at WildTeam’s Conservation Biology Centre during Sitrang According to various government and private sources, around 112 fishing enclosures, 207 mud houses and crops spread over 187 hectares have been damaged. Paikgacha upazila senior fisheries officer Md Tipu Sultan said that about 6.1 metric tonnes of fish across 112 enclosures, belonging to 83 farmers, have been washed away. In Garuikhali union, fish farmers suffered losses to the tune of Tk 30.71 lakh. "Due to the rains from Sunday night till Tuesday morning, most of the fish enclosures were washed away. Besides, the fish enclosures along the Garh-Ikhali river suffered damages," Tipu said. Md Amirul Azad, senior meteorologist of Khulna Meteorological Office, said the district recorded a total of 229 mm rainfall in 48 hours to Tuesday morning. Read more:Sitrang: Thousands marooned in Barishal city Meanwhile, Paikgacha upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Mumtaz Begum said the local administration was adequately prepared ahead of Sitrang.  "So, the impact of the disaster was less and no specific loss of life and property was reported," she said. "Besides, there were no reports of any embankment collapse in the upazila."

A 40-year-old man was killed and two people were injured in a clash between two groups over previous enmity in Dighalia upazila of Khulna on Thursday. The deceased was identified as Md Asabur Sheikh, son of Ikhtiar Sheikh of the upazila. Witnesses said  Nur Islam Sheikh’s sons Tutul Sheikh, Kamal Sheikh and Shahjalal Sheikh stabbed Asabur with lethal weapons at their yard around 8.45am, leaving him critically injured. He was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital where physicians pronounced him dead, they said. Kamal Sheikh and Shahjala Sheikh, who were injured in the clash, were undergoing treatment at the upazila health complex. Ripon Kumar Sarkar, inspector of Dighlia police station, said they detained six people in connection with the murder.  Additional law enforcers were deployed to fend off any untoward incident, he said adding that no case was filed.  

Local administration in Khulna has prepared 409 cyclone shelters to evacuate people as cyclone ‘Sitrang’ is expected to make landfall in southern Bangladeshi coast by early Tuesday. Cyclone 'Sitrang' is likely to hit 19 coastal districts including Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat, according to a weather bulletin. Maritime ports of Mongla and Payra have been advised to hoist danger signal No 7, warned Bangladesh Meteorological Department in their latest bulletin on Monday morning. Read: Cyclone Sitrang: Heavy rains continue to batter Bangladesh amid flood warning across coastal region  

Thousands of leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies joined the party's divisional rally in Khulna city today (October 22, 2022), defying various obstacles and transport strike. The rally, organised by Khulna city unit of BNP, formally began on the Sonali Bank premises around 11:30 am, two and half hours earlier than the scheduled time, with recitation from the Holy Quran. Police and other security officials have been deployed around the rally venue and at different points in the city to prevent any untoward incident. Read BNP vows to stage the biggest rally in recent memory in Khulna The organisers said the rally was meant to denounce the price hike of daily essentials and fuel, the death of five party men in previous police action in Bhola, Narayanganj, Munshiganj and Jashore, and to ensure the release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. BNP has long been demanding that the next general election be held under a caretaker government, not under any political government — a demand rejected by the ruling Awami League as the constitution does not allow it. Read BNP set to defy all obstacles as supporters start gathering for Khulna Rally BNP senior leaders, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and some standing committee members, are expected to address the rally.

Commuters faced a harrowing time on Saturday (October 22, 2022) morning as the 48-hour bus and launch strike in Khulna entered its second day. However, defying all odds, thousands of opposition BNP leaders and activists have been gathering in front of Sonali Bank in the district town since morning ahead of the party's mass rally. A reality check by UNB at Sonadanga Bus Terminal and near the Royal Intersection revealed that hundreds of commuters were waiting to hail public transport to reach their respective destinations. Also read: BNP set to defy all obstacles as supporters start gathering for Khulna rally Manira Sultana, a commuter, said that she had earlier bought a bus ticket for Dhaka. "I have been waiting at Sonadanga terminal for public transport since 8 am." Mahmud Kamal, another person, said, “I have no idea what to do now. I would have purchased a train ticket for my destination had I known about the strike 4-5 days back." Besides, a large number of job seekers in Khulna failed to appear in their examination under the Department of Social Welfare on Friday. Due to the lack of public transport, most of them failed to reach their exam centres on time. Read Now, Khulna launch workers embark on 48-hour strike Riad Hassan, a job aspirant, said, “I could not reach my exam hall due to lack of public transport. My dreams have been shattered." On October 19, Khulna Bus-Minibus Owners' Association, in the presence of the Motor Workers’ Union leaders, announced their decision to go on a two-day strike on October 21 and 22. The union leaders had said that the strike would be to protest against the movement of unauthorised three-wheelers, locally known as Nasiman, Kariman, and Bhatbhati.  Read Commuters hit as 2-day bus strike begins in Khulna Their other demands included the shutting of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) bus counters at every nook and corner of the district.

Khulna has virtually turned into a city of processions since this morning, as BNP is set to hold its scheduled divisional rally in the afternoon. Leaders and activists of the party and BNP’s associate bodies were seen coming to the Sonali Bank premises rally venue in the city — in small processions — from adjacent areas since early morning. Though vehicle movement, except trains, practically remained halted between Khulna and the rest of the country since Friday morning, BNP activists from 10 districts reached the venue overcoming obstacles. As part of its divisional program, BNP will hold the rally in protest against price hike of fuel and daily essentials and the killing of five BNP leaders and activists during the recent movement, and demanding the unconditional release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. The rally is scheduled to formally begin at 2pm where party’s senior leaders, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will deliver speeches. Meanwhile, some activists of the ruling party Awami League were seen taking position at the entry points of the city. They were also seen staging a motorcycle showdown in different parts of the city. Law enforcers were seen checking people and vehicles, coming from different parts of the district, at the entry points of Khulna city. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and a number of senior leaders reached in the city and they visited the rally venue on Friday night. BNP activists started gathering at the Sonali Bank premises from Friday night. They also placed mats and pillows on KD Ghosh Road and stayed overnight. Some were seen having meals after placing mats on the road while some were seen talking in groups at city points. Also read: BNP set to defy all obstacles as supporters start gathering for Khulna rally

Producers and exporters in Khulna are worried about falling production of shrimps, affecting exports from the region, for hurdles mainly stemmed from climate-induced changes in temperature. In FY2021-22, only 33,271 tonnes of shrimp were exported from Khulna, a sharp fall from 42,489 tonnes in FY2011-12. Industry operators say water bodies are losing their navigability, salinity level is fluctuating because of weaker force of natural high tides caused by moon’s gravitational pull, affecting the shrimp cultivation in the region. Read: Shrimp farmers in Bagerhat stare at starvation Humayun Kabir, Vice President of Bangladesh Frozen Food Exporters’ Association (BFFEA), told UNB that it seemed good days are gone for the shrimp industry. He said shrimp farming in Bangladesh began in the 1960s, and by the 1980s it grew up to an industry as commercial shrimp production led to the export of this fish species. “But it seems like the heyday of the shrimp business is coming to an end. Production is getting lowered, while demand and prices are also falling. All in all, the situation is really dire for those associated with the shrimp industry,” he said. Humayun also pointed out some reasons behind the decline in shrimp production including a shortage of shrimp minnows in the market. “The few minnows that farmers can manage die due to high temperature of water. Minnows are very sensitive. They can’t survive without proper water, food and environment,” he said. “Besides there are regular outbreaks of various diseases. That’s why the mortality of shrimps has increased manifold,” he added. Read: Chandpur: Coast Guard seizes 1MT shrimps inflated with jelly Golam Kibria Ripon, General Secretary of Khulna Division (Shrimp) Fry Trading Association, also said that salinity in the rivers in Khulna has become a major headache. “Usually the water in the rivers of Khulna region becomes saline in January. Last year, salinity of the rivers was delayed to February. Lack of saline water during the harvesting period is affecting shrimp farming badly,” he said. “Although the rate of salinity used to be 16-18 ppt in May-June period, it has come down to 8-10 ppt nowadays.” He said previously 60 to 70 percent of minnows survived after releasing them in hatcheries, but now protecting even 15-20 percent minnows has become a big challenge. Ripon said that dredging of the rivers is a must to keep them navigable. “As the water bodies are drying up due to climate change, finding water for shrimp farming is getting tough. Various species of shrimp minnows used to enter the enclosures during tidal surges in the past, which isn’t the case anymore,” he said. He said the quality of soil beneath the rivers may have degraded too. “All of these issues are making it hard for us to continue shrimp production,” Ripon added. Joydeb Kumar, Fisheries Officer of Khulna District, highlighted various measures that the government has taken to protect shrimp farming. Read:Vannamei Shrimp pilot project shows commercial potential “We’ve advised the farmers to increase the depth of their enclosures to keep water temperature normal. We’re also conducting drives to prevent the injection of harmful substances into the shrimps. Besides, we’re also conducting awareness-raising campaigns with cooperation from the shrimp farmers and manufacturers,” Joydeb said. Dr Mostafa Sarwar, a noted climate expert and Head of Urban and Regional Planning department of Khulna University of Science and Technology (KUET), provided a scientific explanation behind the death of shrimp minnows. “There is a difference between mature shrimps and their minnows regarding heat enduring capacity. Minnows can’t grow naturally in high water temperatures. Farmers release minnows to their enclosures in January-February when water temperature remains around 25 degrees Celsius. In March, water temperature rises to 27 degrees Celsius, which kills a large portion of the minnows,” Mostafa said. Mostafa added that rising water temperature is also responsible for viral infections. “The life cycle of viruses depends on temperature. Viruses present in the air are making hot water their new home, thus infecting minnows and killing them in droves”, Mostafa said.

At least 16 shops were gutted in a fire at Boro Bazar in Khulna Sadar upazila on Wednesday noon. Locals said the fire broke out at a shop in the market near Bhairab bus stand around 1pm and it soon engulfed the adjoining shops. On information, six fire tenders were pressed into service and it took them nearly an hour to douse the flames, said Md SalahUddin, divisional deputy director of Khulna fire service. No casualties were reported as most shops were closed today due to Durga Puja holiday. "The exact amount of losses and source of the fire could not be ascertained immediately," he said.