Farmers in Narail district are seeing profits multiplied up to six times by growing off-season watermelons in Kalia upazila, thanks to the local agricultural department officials for introducing hybrid variants of watermelons in the area. Normally, February to April is the season of the mouth-watering summer fruit but officials of the local Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) introduced hybrid variants in Kalia upazila during monsoon. A total of eight hectares of land in Kalia upazila are being used to grow the off-season watermelons, with a target to produce 15 tonnes of the fruit per hectare. The DAE officials provided fertilizers, seeds and cash to the farmers and with their help, watermelons are being cultivated along the bank of the fish enclosures and waterbodies in Gobindanagar, Salamabad, and Bhaktadanga areas. On a remote char in country's poorest district, watermelon cultivation transforms lives Farmers are growing Asian-2, Tripti and Black Baby hybrid variants of watermelon. These variants taste sweet and delicious, they say. Farmers say they spent Tk 15,000-20,000 per hectare and sold watermelons worth Tk 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh per hectare. Sheikh Kamal Hossain, a resident of Bhaurir Char in the upazila and assistant professor at Nabadanga Degree College, said, “I took training from Dumuria upazila of Khulna district and after that, I have planted 1000 saplings of watermelon on seven acres of land along the fish enclosures on an experimental basis last year. I have earned Tk 2 lakh from this.” This year, he planted 2000 saplings on the same land after spending Tk 70,000. He expects to earn Tk 4 lakh from watermelon production this year. Rain, hailstorm worry Khulna watermelon growers Pradeep Kumar Barman, councilor of ward-6 under Kalia municipality, said this year he planted 12,000 saplings along the bank of 150 bigha of fish enclosures during monsoon. “So far I have spent Tk 10 lakh. Within 35 days, flowers started to bloom and I started harvesting watermelon within 60-65 days of planting. Each watermelon weighs almost 4 kg.” He also expected to produce 2 lakh kgs of watermelon this year and if the market prices remain favorable, he could be able to earn Tk 40 lakh. Low price dims the joy of watermelon growers in Khulna despite bumper harvest Depak Kumar Roy, deputy director of Narail DAE, said the farmers are earning profits up to six times considering their expenditure, within 60-65 days of cultivation. “We are providing all-out support through using smart technology and providing fertilizer and pesticides for good production of watermelon.” Eva Mallik, Kalia Upazila Agriculture Officer, said “Watermelon is no longer a seasonal fruit now, and it can be produced throughout the year. Flowers start to bloom within 40-50 days of planting saplings and 70-80 days are needed for harvesting.” Most of the farmers in the district are showing interest in cultivating the off-season hybrid watermelon on their lands as it has proven to be profitable, he said. Read more: Bangladesh can go for Chinese perennial rice farming to reduce cost and labour

Police have arrested a man allegedly for torturing his 8-month-old son hanging from a tree for not getting dowry from his wife at Raghunathpur village in Lohagara upazila of the district. The arrestee is Mamun Sheikh, 33, of the village. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Lohagara police station Nasir Uddin said victim Al Habib’s mother filed a case under the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act at the police station on Monday evening. The accused was produced before the court which sent him to jail on Tuesday, added the OC. According to the case statement, Mamun married Kulsum Begum 13 years ago. The couple has been blessed with three children. Mamun used to demand money as dowry from Kulsum since their marriage. Mamun married again without the permission of his first wife Kulsum one year ago. On Monday afternoon, he started torturing Kulsum again for money. As she refused to give money, Mamun hanged his 8-month-old son from a tree and tortured him inhumanly.  Later the photo of the torture went viral on social media Facebook.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (February 15, 2023) handed over the keys of ‘Bir Nibash’ to valiant freedom fighters, who are financially marginalized. The Prime Minister handed over keys to 5000 houses at a programme – held in Dhaka’s Osmani Memorial Auditorium – organized by the Liberation War Affairs Ministry with the Minister AKM Mozammel Huq in the chair. The PM joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban. The houses are being given away to freedom fighters as gifts from the Prime Minister, on the occasion of Mujib Borsho and 50 years of Bangladesh’s independence. Read more: President-elect, PM call on incumbent at Bangabhaban The project, ‘House construction for insolvent freedom fighters’ – approved by the ECNEC on March 21 last year – is being implemented at the cost of Tk 4,122 crore which will come from government funds. The main objective of the project is to construct 30,000 ‘Bir Nibash’ (houses) for insolvent freedom fighters, Birangana (women freedom fighters), widows and children of martyred and late freedom fighters. Named ‘Bir Nibash’ (Home for Heroes), each 635sqft house has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. This project is an initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to uplift the socio-economic status of financially marginalized freedom fighters, as well as widows and children of late freedom fighters. Read More: BALID honours six freedom fighters in the month of victory The cost of building each house is Tk 14,10,382, as per the official source. Deputy Commissioners of Narail, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Gazipur and Kishoreganj, on behalf of the Prime Minister handed over the keys in their respective areas.

An assistant teacher of a secondary high school in Sadar upazila of the district has been temporarily suspended for physically harassing a female student. Locals, guardians and civil society formed a human chain and staged a broom procession in front of the school on Tularam-Sheikhhati road demanding the suspension, as well as exemplary punishment for the accused teacher, forcing the authorities to act on Tuesday. Read more: Number of complaints over sexual harassment at workplaces very poor: Speakers Speakers included Assistant Prof Ramesh Chandra Adhikary, Awami League leaders Asim Kumar Pal and Biproda Proshanna Mallick, and former health officer Sudir Kumar Pal. They alleged that the accused teacher, Sukanta Kumar Goswami, had been physically harassing and teasing female students in the name of teaching. In the afternoon of January 18, the teacher called a female student to an isolated room on the first floor of the school and harassed her physically. Later, the victim shared the matter with her friends and mother. Goswami again harassed her on the pretext of dropping her home when she was returning after getting vaccinated for Covid-19.   The now disgraced teacher even threatened to make her fail in her exams when she raised her voice against the incidents. Rabindranath Mandal, headmaster of the school, said her mother filed a complaint in writing against the teacher on January 22. Later, the issue was informed to Upazila Nirbahi Officer and Upazila Education officer, he said. Headmaster Mandal said a five-member committee headed by the School Managing Committee’s Member Ratan Bhowmick was formed and asked to submit its report within seven working days. Read more: Ctg headmaster suspended over ‘sexual harassment’ of female students Necessary measures will be taken in this connection after getting the report, he said, adding that Goswami was temporarily suspended. UNB managed to reach Goswami, who defended himself by saying that his opponents had hatched a conspiracy to disgrace him socially. He denied any involvement in the alleged incidents.

A 60-year-old elderly man died as a three-wheeler rammed into him on the Kalia-Gopalganj road in Kalia upazila of the district on Tuesday. The deceased--Moslem Mollah, was son of late Kuti Miah of Parbasona village under the upazila. Sheikh Taslim Alam, officer-in-charge of Kalia police station, said the accident happened around 2pm when the three-wheeler easybike hit Moslemwhile he was crossing the road in Kalinagar area, leaving him critically injured. Read more: Bangladesh sees 9,951 road accident deaths in 2022, highest in 8yrs: Report Later, locals rushed him to Upazila health complex where physicians declared him dead upon arrival, he said. Apart from this details on the road mishap could not be known.

The death toll from the boat capsize in the Nabaganga River in Narail rose to five with the recovery of one body on Monday. Sheikh Tasmim Alam, officer-in-charge of Kalia Police Station, said the divers from local fire service fished out the body of Royel Par, son of Imamul Mandal of Bahirdanga village around 3:30 pm. Another victim identified as Mahmud Sheikh, 41, son of Khalek Sheikh of Kalia village and son-in-law of Enamul Mandal, still remained missing since the boat capsized. Efforts are on to find Mahmud, he added. Also Read: Narail boat capsize: Death toll rises to 4 Two people drowned and five others went missing after a boat capsized in the river off the coast of Kalia upazila on Friday night. The bodies of Labu, 32, son of Tuku Chowkidar of Babupur village, and Khanze Sheikh, 55, son of Matiar Sheikh of Jokar Char village, were recovered on Sunday. The boat with 17 people on board capsized around 8:30 pm while heading towards Bahirdanga from Baghbari of Kalia municipality. Ten of them managed to swim to ashore.      

The death toll from the boat capsize in the Nabaganga River in Narail rose to four with the recovery of two bodies Sunday noon. Two people drowned and five others went missing after their boat capsized in the river off the coast of Kalia upazila on Friday night. The bodies of Labu, 32, son of Tuku Chowkidar of Babupur village, and Khanze Sheikh, 55, son of Matiar Sheikh of Jokar Char village, were recovered today. Fire service divers fished out the bodies from the Nabaganga River in Kalia upazila, said Sheikh Tasmeem Alam, office-in-charge (OC) of Kalia police station. Also Read: Mother, son drown as boat capsizes in Narail “The bodies were handed over to the Naval Police. They will take necessary legal steps,” said OC Tasmeem. Efforts are on to find the others who went missing after the accident, he added. The boat with 17 people on board capsized around 8:30 pm while heading towards Bahirdanga from Baghbari of Kalia municipality. Ten of them managed to swim to ashore.  

Two suspected thieves were killed in a lynch-mob attack at Birgram in Sadar upazila of Narail district early Monday. Among them, one was identified as Asadul Sheikh, 36, of Bagerhat. Read more: Laxmipur man lynched to death in Keraniganj for snatching A gang of cattle lifters entered the cowshed of Rebo Biswas in Birgram around 3.30am, said Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Narail Sadar Police Station Md Mahmudur Rahman. Sensing the presence of the thieves, local people surrounded them and caught two of them while the others managed to flee. The villagers beat up the two suspected thieves, leaving them dead, said the OC. Read more: ‘Robber’ lynched in Gazipur Later, police recovered the bodies from Narail-Gobra road and sent those to Narail Sadar Hospital morgue. Besides, a case was filed in this regard, he added.

Swapan Kumar Biswas,  acting principal of Mirzapur United College in Narail, returned to work on Wednesday, 45 days after he was humiliated following a rumor over a Facebook post by a student. The teachers and students welcomed Swapan Kumar at the college campus at 12 pm with floral garlands, said Advocate Achin Chakraborty, president of Mirzapur College Board of Directors. Meanwhile, the students have started coming to the college after reopening of the college of July 24. But police are still deployed on the college campus to avoid any untoward incidents. The college remained closed for 36 days after the incident At first classes of 12the grade resumed and then classes of 11th grade and degree level resumed gradually. On July 17, the High Court ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. The National University and the Directorate of Secondary & Higher Education have already completed two separate investigations. After the investigation, the National University issued a show-cause notice on the governing body of the college and Akhtar Hossain, a lecturer of the political science department of the college. On June 18, a Hindu student of Mirzapur United Degree College made a post on Facebook supporting suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. There was day-long unrest in the college over the post and rumors that acting principal Swapan Kumar Biswas had sided with the student, following which police escorted him out of the campus but not before he was garlanded with shoes. Read: Narail teacher's humiliation: 4 put on 3-day remand The college was announced closed on that day. A video of the incident also went viral on social media that sparked huge criticism. Different organisations, including Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, lodged protests over the incident and demanded exemplary punishment of those involved in it. Later, the accused, who made the Facebook post, was arrested and a case was filed against him under the Digital Security Act. On June 27, three more were arrested in another case filed at the Sadar Police Station police for setting teachers’ vehicles on fire and obstructing police duty. Police also arrested Rahmat Ullah Roni, the prime accused in this case, from Khulna on June 29. The day before reopening of the college, police arrested Ripon Sheikh Ripu,16, a student of class eleven of the college, for being involved in setting fire to motorcycles of the teachers after identifying him from the video footage. So far nine people, including four students of the college, have been arrested over the incident, said Md Mahamudur Rahman, officer-in-charge (OC) of Narail Sadar police station and also investigation officer of the case.

One person was killed and another succumbed to his injuries Monday after being critically injured in road accidents in Narail Sadar upazila, police said. The deceased were identified as Milon Biswas, 24, and Turjo, 35. Milon was hit by a motorcycle when he was collecting money for the truck workers' union at a bus terminal around 9am. Also read: Army man killed in Rangamati road crash Locals rushed the critically injured man to Jashore Medical College where he was declared dead upon arrival. In another accident, Turjo sustained injuries after falling off his motorbike a few days back and was undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedic Rehabilitation. He died this morning, Mahmudur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Narail Sadar Police Station, said. Also read: 2 killed as truck hits bike on Dhaka-Tangail highway