Bagerhat
School closure impact: over 3,000 girls married off in Bagerhat
As the schools in Bangladesh reopened after long Covid-induced shutdown last month, many girls in this coastal district were missing from classrooms with a majority of them lost to early marriages.
For the mostly poor families, hit hard by the pandemic, the 18-month shutdown has proved too long and unbearable to take care of their young girls.
In Bagerhat, around 3,178 girls, mostly school goers, were married off between March 2020 till September 20221, according to district Education Officer Md Kamruzzaman.Nilanjana (not her real name) was in class eight in March 2020 when the surging pandemic closed her Basabati Rahmania Secondary school in Bagerhat, along with education shutdown across the country.
Also read: Child marriage was an epidemic within the pandemic in Bangladesh
Two 8-year-olds drown in Bagerhat
Two children drowned in a pond in Bagerhat’s Sharankhola upazila on Friday afternoon
The incident occurred in Bara Rajapur Savarer Par village of the upazila while they were playing.
The deceased were identified as Mahim, 8, son of Enamul Hawladar of Argi village under Mathbaria upazila of Pirojpur district and Sohan, 8, son of Idris Ali of Paschim Baliapara village under Indurkani upazila of the same district.
Also read: 3 female students drowns in Turag, another missing
According to family members, the deceased were cousins who with their mothers had gone to visit their grandparents' house. It was learned they went to play by the side of a nearby pond. But their family members couldn’t find them.
Later, locals found the floating bodies of the children.
Sumi Akhter, a doctor at the emergency department at Sharankhola Upazila Health Complex, said that the children had died before reaching the hospital.
Also read: BRAC university student drowns in Cox’s Bazar
Sharankhola police officer in charge (OC) Saidur Rahman said the bodies of the two children have been recovered and sent to Bagerhat Sadar Hospital morgue for autopsy.
A UD case has been filed in this regard, he said
Woman killed in Bagerhat UP polls violence
A woman was killed in a clash centering the election to Chandpai Union Parishad in Mongla upazila on Sunday night.
The deceased was identified as Fatema Begum, 70.
Witnesses said supporters of Chandpai Union Parishad member candidate Matiar Rahman Moral and supporters of rival candidate Shafiqul Islam locked into a clash over the polls, leaving Fatema dead on the spot and four others injured.
The wounded are Matiar Rahman Moral, Borhan Sheikh (35), Israfil Sheikh (28) and Awal Moral (40).
Read:UP elections: Voting underway in 160 union parishads, 9 municipalities
Police detained two suspects from the spot.
Officer-in-charge of Mongla Police Station Mohammad Monirul Islam said ,” The matter is under investigation. How she died would be known after an autopsy. We have detained two for interrogation.”
Voting is underway in 65 UPs under nine upazilas in a peaceful environment.
Voters have gathered in the polling centers since Monday morning to exercise their voting rights. However, out of 65 union parishads in the district, 39 candidates of Awami League have been elected as chairman unopposed.
Read: 2 dead, dozens shot in Cox’s Bazar gun violence centring election
According to the Bagerhat District Election Office, polling is going on in 65 out of 75 unions of Bagerhat District. As many as 3,121 candidates are vying in the elections. Of them, 98 are for the post of chairman, 768 for the post of member in the reserved ward and 2,255 for the post of member in the general ward.
The total number of voters in these unions is 9,45,188. Voters are casting their votes in 599 polling centers. Besides, electronic voting machines (EVM) have been deployed for four unions of Fakirhat, Rampal and Mongla upazilas.
Bagerhat District Election Officer Faraji Benozir Ahmed said no untoward incident has been reported so far.
UP elections: Voting underway in 160 union parishads, 9 municipalities
Balloting at 160 union parishads spread across six districts began at 8am Monday and will continue till 4pm without any break.
In Bagerhat, voting is underway in 65 Union across nine upazilas in a peaceful environment. Voters gathered in the polling centers since morning to exercise their voting rights. However, out of 65 union parishads in the district, 39 candidates of Awami League have been elected as chairman unopposed.
According to the Bagerhat District Election Office, polling is going on in 65 out of 75 Unions of Bagerhat District. As many as 3,121 candidates are fighting in the elections. Of them, 98 are for the post of chairman, 768 for the post of member in the reserved ward and 2,255 for the post of member in the general ward.
The total number of voters in these unions is 9,45,188. Voters are casting their votes in 599 polling centers. Besides, electronic voting machines (EVM) have been deployed for four unions of Fakirhat, Rampal and Mongla upazilas.
Read:Bagerhat UP polls a microcosm for the nation
Bagerhat District Election Officer Faraji Benozir Ahmed said no untoward incident has been reported so far. Each polling center has five full-time policemen and 15 Ansar members and two PCs with a total of 22 members.
Similarly in Cox’s Bazar, voting started in the 1st phase of elections in Chakaria and Maheshkhali municipalities of Cox's Bazar and 14 union parishads of four upazilas.
Voters have alleged that the balloting is moving at a snail’s pace. After a visit at the Saborong High School polling center in Teknaf, the UNB correspondent found there is some truth behind the allegation.
Till 11am, 3 hours into voting, just 150 out of nearly 3,000 voters registered to vote at the centre had cast their vote. Both men and women were seen standing in long queues waiting impatiently to exercise their right to franchise.
Read:BNP senior leaders seek party’s pre-election roadmap
If the status quo continues, the voting scenario at the district might turn chaotic real soon, observed the correspondent.
According to the Cox's Bazar District Election Office, the number of voters in Maheshkhali municipality of the district is 19,484 and in Chakaria municipality 48,724. There are 59 booths in 10 polling stations in Maheshkhali and 139 booths in 16 polling stations in Chakaria municipality. Eight candidates are contesting for the post of mayor in 2 municipalities.
The total number of voters in 14 unions of Pekua, Kutubdia, Maheshkhali and Teknaf upazilas of the district is 3,11,234 people. There are 780 permanent and 113 temporary polling booths in 140 polling stations of four upazilas.
Meanwhile, 8 platoons of BGB with 4 platoons for each municipality and 24 platoons BGB for 14 unions have been deployed in Cox’s Bazar.
Read:By-election to Cumilla-7 on Oct 7
RAB, police, and Ansar members have also been deployed. Coastguards have been deployed for coastal areas. Besides, executive and judicial magistrates have been appointed in the constituencies, sources said.
In Satkhira, voter turnout has been a bit low in the morning due to heavy rainfall.
Polling is being held in 21 unions of Kalaroa and Tala upazilas at 195 centers in 189 wards. Electronic Voting machines are being used in one union of Kalaroa and 3 unions of Tala.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) decided to not take part in the polls this time around, which significantly took the excitement away from the UP polls. In early June, the commission decided to postpone elections to 167 union parishads in Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Noakhali, Chattogram, and Cox's Bazar due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.
13 more Indian fishermen jailed in Bagerhat
A Bagerhat court on Saturday sent 13 Indian fishermen to jail in a case filed against them for intruding into Bangladeshi waters that are part of its Exclusive Economic Zone, and carrying on for commercial fishing.
The court of Bagerhat Judicial Magistrate Shawon Hossain gave the order after the accused were produced before it on Saturday afternoon.
Bagerhat court inspector Dilip Kumar Sarkar confirmed the development to UNB.
Read: 13 more Indian fishermen held from Bay of Bengal
Earlier on Thursday, a patrol vessel of Coast Guard spotted foreign trawler 'Pita Matar Ashirbad': illegally fishing within Bangladesh's maritime boundary.
Sensing their presence, the fishermen tried to flee but the CG detained them along with the trawler, just 17 nautical miles southwest of Mongla Fairway Buoy.
The seized trawler and the detainees were handed over to Mongla Police Station, said Bangladesh Coast Guard Media Officer Lt Commander Amirul Haque.
When contacted, the OC of Mongla (OC) police station Monirul Islam said a case was filed against the 13 Indian fishermen on behalf of the Coast Guard.
Read: 13 Indian fishermen detained from Bay
An almost identical incident occurred last month, when the Coast Guard's inshore patrol vessel 'Sonar Bangla' spotted a foreign trawler, this time the 'Shornotara' illegally fishing in Bangladeshi waters and detained 13 Indian fishermen.
A case was filed against them and the court of Bagerhat Chief Judicial Magistrate sent 11 of them to jail, while two were sent to Jessore Juvenile Correctional Institution as they were minors.
4 ‘deer poachers’ held in Sundarbans
Forest Department officials on Saturday night detained four suspected deer poachers from Kochikhali Shukpara area in Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat district under Sundarbans East Department.
The arrestees are- Julhas Hawlader, 32, from Kathaltali village in Patharghata upazila of Barguna district, Rimon Hawlader, 19, from the same village, Jewel Hawlader, 25, and Sohag Hawlader, 24, from Badurtala village.
Mohammad Belayet Hossain, divisional forest officer (DFO), said that a patrol team detained the four deer poachers.
The official also said that the poachers entered the forest illegally.
The team also seized a trawler, traps used for catching deer and four sharp weapons.
A case was filed against them, the official said.
32 penalised in Bagerhat for not wearing masks
A mobile court has fined 32 people in the district for not wearing masks amid an alarming surge of Covid-19 cases in Bangladesh.
The dawn-to-dusk drive was conducted in nine upazilas of the district on Friday.
The mobile court led by additional district magistrate Mohammad Shahinuzzaman collected Tk 5,200 in fines from the 32 violators of Covid-safety protocols.
The government has asked all people to abide by the health guidelines to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
Bangladesh confirmed its first cases on March 8 and the first death on March 18, but it has been seeing a sharp rise in both new cases and deaths in recent months.
Bangladesh added 197 fatalities to its national tally on Friday as horrific Covid hospitalisations and deaths continue to soar.
READ: Bagerhat residents benefit from door-to-door sale of essentials
The country is averaging 200-plus single-day fatalities for the past three weeks. After weathering the first wave of the pandemic, Bangladesh is now yet to see any tangible signs of improvement in the situation.
However, the country is now reporting 10,602 new cases on an average each day – 73% of the peak.
Bangladesh also recorded 8,465 new cases on Friday after testing 40,641 samples, down from 12,606 logged a week earlier on August 6.
The country reported the highest daily Covid-19 fatalities – 264 – on August 5 and 10, and 16,230 infections on July 28.
READ: 7 die in separate accidents in Bagerhat
Bangladesh has been experiencing a surge of Covid-related cases and deaths since June 2021.
1 lakh people stranded in Bagerhat as flooding worsens
Heavy downpours and high tide, caused by depression over the Bay of Bengal, for the last three days have left at least 1 lakh people marooned in Bagerhat.
Loy-lying areas of the coastal district's Mongla, Rampal, Morrelganj, Sharankhola, Bagerhat Sadar and Kachua have been inundated.
Also, the flooding damaged crops and forced people to leave their homes.
Read: Floods, landslides hit Rohingya camps hard: UNHCR
Around 287 hectares of Aman paddy seedbed, 950 hectares of hectares Aus paddy fields, and 209 hectares of vegetable fields have been inundated as the water is slow to recede, Shafiqul Islam, deputy director of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) of Bagerhat, said.
Nearly 20,000 families have become marooned, Bagerhat Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Azizur Rahman told UNB.
Read: Flash flood inundate low-lying areas in Kurigram, Shepur and Sirajganj
"The upazila nirbahi officers have been instructed to prepare a list of affected families. The district administration has also stepped forward to support them," he added.
The DAE recorded 86.22mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours in the district.
Bagerhat residents benefit from door-to-door sale of essentials
Door to door sale of essentials is gaining popularity in Bagerhat Sadar Upazila.
People are happy that the vans (traditional three wheelers) are carrying fish, meat, local fruits, vegetables, grocery items and all everyday-goods right to their doorsteps amid pandemic.
Read: 7 die in separate accidents in Bagerhat
This initiative was the idea of Bagerhat-2 (Sadar-Kachua) constituency Member of Parliament (MP), Sheikh Sarhan Naser Tanmoy, so that people don’t have to go to the markets which would eventually decrease the chances of Covid-19 virus spreading among the people.
Implemented by the district Juba League, 100 vans are serving the 10 unions of the Sadar upazila.
Juba League leaders believe it would be possible to keep people from the markets and at the same time, the van pullers would have a regular source of income.
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7 die in separate accidents in Bagerhat
At least seven people were killed in two separate road accidents on the Khulna-Mawa highway in Bagerhat district on Friday, police said.
The first accident occurred early this morning in the Boiltoli area of the district's Fakirhat upazila when a pickup van collided head-on with a battery-operated rickshaw. Both the vehicles were plying on the roads defying the Covid-induced lockdown restrictions.
While six occupants of the e-rickshaw, popularly known as easy bike, died on the spot in the impact of the crash, another severely injured passenger was rushed to a nearby hospital by cops and firefighters.
Five of the deceased have been identified so far -- Utpal Raha, 36, and Nayan Dutta, 28, both residents of Nalda village, Abdul Hai, 55, of Shatshi village, Goura Chandra Dey, 50, of Town Naoapara area, and Najrul Sheikh, 50, of Dakkhin Khanpur village of Sadar upazila.
Police is trying to identify another deceased in the accident.
Also read: 7 killed, 22 injured in three road accidents in Chattogram, Rangamati