United News of Bangladesh

Train operations between Khulna and other parts of the country resumed late on Saturday morning, five hours after services were stopped in the wake of incidents of tree falling over a railway track on the Alamdanga-Halsar route. Nazmul Hossain, station master of Alamdanga Railway Station, said a number of trees fell across Alamdanga upazila during a nor’wester that lashed the district around 5.30am. READ: 5 Khulna Railways officials transferred for selling tickets in black On information, a team from the local fire service and civil defense department rushed to the spot and removed the trees from the rail track. Rail communication was restored around 11am, said Nazmul. The nor’wester lashed the district in the early hours of Saturday, uprooting a number of trees and damaging crops and betel nut trees.

A 48-year-old police officer was killed in a road accident in the Cement Crossing area under the EPZ Police Station in Chattogram on Friday. The deceased is Benuram Nath, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of police of Dampara Police Lines. Hailing from Fatikchhari upazila of the district, Benuram was on duty at Eastern Refinery Limited. Also Read: Four bikers killed in separate road accidents Kabirul Islam, officer-in-charge of EPZ Police Station, said a covered van ran over ASI Benuram Nath in front of the TSP complex of Cement Crossing area at noon, leaving him dead on the spot. The body was handed over to his elder brother and brother-in-law. Police are trying to nab the killer vehicle and its driver by collecting CCTV footage, he added.    

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) on Thursday confiscated two metric tonnes of shrimps injected with a jelly-like substance to artificially increase their weight from Bahadurpur in Jashore city. Acting on a tip-off, Rab conducted the drive at night and seized three trucks with shrimps worth Tk 15 lakhs through the mobile court with the help of the Department of Fisheries, Khulna. The mobile court also fined Tk 2.5 lakhs to the owners of the tainted shrimps. Eyewitness Habibur Rahman, who is also a local resident, said, “For the first time in my life, I have seen such an incident. We are having poison provided by dishonest businessmen. The government should take stern action against these unscrupulous traders.”   Also Read: Coast Guard seizes over 6MT shrimps inflated with jelly M Naziur Rahman, company commander of RAB-6, Jashore, said, “We had information that a shipment of shrimp loaded on the three trucks injected with a jelly-like substance, is going to Dhaka’s Abdullahpur and Kawranbazar wholesale markets from Phultola Shahapur under Dumuria upazila of Khulna. When the trucks reached Bahadurpur of Jashore-Magura road, we informed the Department of Fisheries and confiscated the shrimps.”  Liptan Sardar, fisheries inspection and quality control officer of the Department of Fisheries, said some dishonest traders have been using jelly-like substances to artificially increase the weight of shrimps. It is a crime. We are working to stop this misdeed.” Confiscated shrimps have been destroyed in presence of the law enforcers, he said.   Liptan said a section of traders is pushing silicone gel into the body of shrimps which is harmful to the human body. Silicone gel damages the kidneys and eyes of the human body. In a word, it is a poison and kills people silently.   Dishonest traders use 250gm silicone gel in one Kg shrimp, added the official.   

Gas supplies will remain suspended in different parts of the capital for 12 hours – from 9am to 9pm – Saturday for maintenance and replacement of supply lines. The areas are Mirpur 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 and 13, Eastern Housing, Roopnagar, Arambagh, Alubadi, and Mirpur DOHS, according to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company. Read: Gas supply to national grid from Kailashtila’s well-7 begins The distribution company said the consumers in nearby areas may experience low pressure in their gas supplies as well.

The overall flood situation in Sylhet district has not improved, despite eight days having passed since flash floods hit this region. The Surma and Kushiarar rivers continue to flow above the danger level due to the onrush of hilly waters from India as 2,200 mm of rainfall has been recorded in Cherrapunji of Meghalaya state in the last eight days. The dyke, a long wall built to prevent flooding, collapsed at the Barak river along the border with India, due to the onrush of hilly waters in the small hours of Friday, inundating several areas of Zakiganj upazila, including Fillakandi, Amalshid, Barthakuri, Khasirchak, Khairchak, Baroghatta and Sonasar. At the same time, the road communication between Zakiganj and Sadar upazilas was snapped due to flooding, said acting upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Zakiganj, Pallab Hom Das. Also read:Sylhet schools shut due to flooding Following this dyke collapse, flooding may intensify in other upazilas of Sylhet as well, he added. New areas of the district have been inundated since early Friday. The flood situation remained the same in 13 upazilas of the district -- Companiganj, Gowainghat, Kanaighat, Zakiganj, Jaintapur and Sylhet Sadar upazilas to name a few. Several agricultural fields have been inundated due to the floods.

Five officials of Khulna Railways have been shunted out over allegations of selling train tickets in black. Khulna railway station Train Examiner (TXR) Baitul Islam, Md Zafar Mia and Tota Mia of the Inspector of Works (IW) office, and assistant station masters -- Md Asheque Ahmed and Md Zakir Hossain -- were transferred to different parts of the country. Also read: TTE suspension: Railway minister embarrassed by his wife’s involvement Divisional railway manager of Pakshi, Md Shahedul Islam, issued the transfer orders on Thursday afternoon. Besides, he also slapped a show-cause notice on station master Manik Chandra Sarker for lodging a police complaint against the five officials without informing the higher authorities. Manik Chandra has been asked to respond to the notice within seven working days. “We are investigating the allegations made by him. I have also ordered the transfers of those, against whom allegations were made, to different stations,” said divisional railway manager Md Shahedul. Also read:Probe body finds TTE Shafiqul innocent Earlier on Monday, Manik Chandra lodged a complaint at the Khulna railway police station alleging blackmarketing of tickets. According to the complaint, around four or five unknown people, along with the five accused officials, were directly involved in the act.  The matter was reported to the higher authorities and this complaint was made to maintain law and order in the station, as per the complaint.

A court in Chattogram has remanded in judicial custody a man and his son in a case filed over the killing of a wild elephant in Rangunia upazila in 2019. A senior judicial magistrate passed the order after Md Abul Hashem and his son Sahab Uddin surrendered before the court and sought bail on Thursday. Also read: Elephant trapped in Rangunia canal rescued after 7 hours Chattogram divisional forest officer (South) Shafiqul Islam said the wild elephant was electrocuted when it came in contact with an illegal power line installed by the two at Narishcha Bit in Rangunia range of the southern forest division in November 2019. At the time, a case was filed in the court against the father-son duo. Earlier on December 14 last year, the court sent a man and his son to jail for killing an elephant in Banshkhali upazila. Also read:Two more land in jail over elephant death in Sherpur In the first such case in the country, Mohammad Kamal, 50, and his son Nezam, 22, of Banshkhali upazila were found guilty of electrocuting the elephant on November 30 last year.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) has detained the notorious history-sheeter who was allegedly behind Sunday's brutal attack on Chattogram cops. Kabir Ahmed was detained along with one of his associates by Rab members after a brief exchange of fire on Thursday night from the hilly area of Lohagarh upazila, Rab-7 senior assistant director (media) Md Nurul Abshar told UNB. Also read:Severed wrist of Ctg cop successfully transplanted "Legal processes are underway. Details will be revealed later,” he said. Earlier, police had arrested Kabir's wife Ranu Begum from the Bandarban border area. On Sunday morning, three people, including two police constables, were attacked by Kabir in the Adharmanik Lalarkhil area of Lohagara when the cops went to arrest him. During the attack, 30-year-old constable Jony Khan’s wrist was severed while another constable, Shahadat Hossain, 27, and complainant Abul Kashem, 40, also suffered injuries. Also read:2 cops injured in attack by accused in Chattogram On Monday, doctors successfully transplanted the wrist of Jony at a private hospital in Dhaka after he was taken there by a helicopter from Chattogram on Sunday evening, said Bhakta Chanda Dutta, sub-inspector at Lohagara police station.

Hundreds of flood-affected people in Chhatak upazila of Sunamganj district have been waiting for relief materials from the administration. Many victim families have taken shelter at the three temporary flood shelters in the upazila as onrush of water from the upstream and heavy rains inundated their houses and marooned tens of thousands of people. Chhatak upazila administration has distributed dry food among the flood victims. However, these are not sufficient and many people did not get food, alleged some flood-affected people.  Farmers are also facing a shortage of fodder at the shelters and there is also an acute crisis of pure drinking water  at the shelters, they said.  Read: Sylhet schools shut due to flooding  Only flood victims, who have taken shelter at the educational institutions are getting relief, they alleged. People who have taken shelter in other places and marooned people are not getting food and cash assistance from the administration, they said. Setara Begum, wife of fisherman Abdul Matin, who has taken shelter at Takipur Govt Primary School, said, she didn’t have food for the last three days. She didn’t received any kind of relief from anyone. Meanwhile, classes at around 180 government primary schools in Berajpur, Tajpur, Gobindganj, Noapara, Alampur, Krishnanagar, Anandanagar, Banglabazar, Lakseshwar, Bagin, Khidura, Dashgarh, Khagamura, Kathalpur, Goaspur, Raoli, Jahirpur, Mondolpur, Bhatgaon, Jhamak, Lakhansum, Kaleswari, Khidrakapan, Kaitkona, Shibnagar, Bilpar, Mollaata, Gobindanagar, Abdul Jabbar, Tajpur, Ujirpur, Rampur, Sikandarpur, and Madhabpur of the upazila have been suspended as the school premises went under floodwater. Read: No improvement in Sylhet's flood situation Mamunur Rahman, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Chhatak upazila, said they have already completed all necessary preparations to face the natural disaster. A control room has been opened to monitor the overall flood situation, he said. “I have visited flood-affected areas in Islampur and Nuarai in the morning,” he added.    

A 17-year-old college student has been  stabbed to death allegedly by some miscreants in Chandnaish upazila in Chattogram. The deceased was identified as Zahed Hossain Awal, a resident of Chandnaish municipality area. He was a class XI student of Gachbaria Government College in the upazila. Police said some miscreants stabbed Awal and two others- Raihan Hossain Tanel, 22, and Yeasin Arafat Sagar, 16- over previous enmity in Joara Fakirpara area on Wednesday night.  Later, they were rushed to Chattogram Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) where doctors declared Awal dead. Also Read: College student raped by PBI official in Khulna Anwar Hossain, officer-in-charge (OC) of Chandnaish police station, said the motive behind the killings will be known after an investigation. “Efforts are on to arrest the killers,” the OC added.