United News of Bangladesh

Indian police recovered the bodies of two minor siblings from Digla Kura of Zero Line at Kashiabari border in Phulbari of Kurigram around 1pm on Sunday.Police identified the victims as Parveen Khatun, 8 and Shakibul Hasan, 4.The victims were the children of Rahim Uddin of Poschim Shukati village in Newashi union of Nageshwari upazila.The two siblings went missing while crossing the Nilkumor River, after the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) chased them as they were in a group looking to cross the border at Phulbari in Kurigram to enter Bangladesh without any paperwork on Friday night.Local people spotted their floating bodies this morning and informed law enforcers, said Kabir Hossain, company commander of Lalmonihat's Kashipur."We informed the BSF about the matter", he said, adding that a flag meeting between Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Indian Security Forces (BSF) was held in this regard. Read: Flood: Bodies of mother, son recovered in SylhetBSF said the bodies of the victims in the morgue would remain for a week. They will take humanitarian consideration about the issue after getting their Bangladeshi documents, he added.Rahim Uddin, the father of the missing children, said that his children were born and brought up in India. They had never previously come to Bangladesh."I wanted to bring them along with their mother to Bangladesh and I contacted Indian brokers to bring them home safely, paying Tk 30,000," Rahim Uddin revealed.According to the contract, Rahim Uddin's wife and two children were taken to a house on the border on Friday night. There were 20-25 more people there including women and children.He further said that they tried to cross the Rdhampur border of Kashipur union of Phulbari upazila next to the main pillar No. 943 at midnight. At that time, BSF members of Shewti-1 camp in India gave chase after seeing them and they tried to cross the river hurriedly.At one stage, they went missing due to the strong current in the river. However, his wife managed to swim ashore, he added.Mecher, a UP member of Ward 4 of Newashi Union in Nageshwari Upazila, said he came to Kashipur BGB camp to bring back the bodies from India.

A college student was electrocuted and his paternal uncle injured at Bhati Langarpara Charband of Shribardi upazila in Sherpur on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Manjurul Islam Manju, 18, son of Monu Miah in the Bhati Langarpara Charband area. He was a second year student of Sherpur Government College while his uncle was Anwar Hussain. Police and family members said Manju and Anwar went to their seedbed to water it by water pump in the area at around 8:00am. Manju got electrocuted while repairing electrical wire of the pump, they said, adding that Anwar was also injured in the accident when he tried to save Manju. Read: 3 electrocuted to death in Chapainawabganj Later, locals rushed them to Shribardi upazila health complex where on-duty doctors pronounced Manju dead. Biplob Kumar Biswas, Officer-in-charge (OC) of Shribardi police station said the victim’s family pleaded for not conducting an autopsy.   The OC said they would take measures after discussing with high officials.

Police recovered the throat-slit body of an indigenous female school teacher from her  own house in Longdu upazila in Rangamati on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Pensy Chakma, 35, teacher of a school run by UNICEF and daughter of Debdash Chakma, said Ariful Amin, Officer-in-Charge of Longdu police station The body was recovered from her home at Ultachari hilly area at Atarakchara ward-8 in the upazila Babu Ajay Mitra Chakma, chairman of Atarakchara Union Parishad, said Pensy used to work as a local community worker for UNICEF and used to live alone. Read: Trader stabbed to death in Lalmonirhat “On Sunday morning some children went to get tuition in her house they found the body and locals later called police,” said the UP chairman.   “The matter is under investigation and the culprits will be identified soon,” said OC Ariful Amin.

The government will not build any more roads in haor region but flyovers will be constructed where necessary, said Planning Minister MA Mannan on Sunday.  The minister said this while distributing relief among flood-hit people of Patharia union in Shantiganj upazila in Sunamganj reiterating the Prime Minister’s stance against building roads in low-lying areas.  Read:Flood: Netrokona fish farm owners suffer losses of Tk 11.57 cr “The government has a mega plan for disaster response and rehabilitation of the flood-hit population has been given priority in it,” said MA Mannan.  Already the Prime Minister has visited the flood-hit region of Sunamganj and a big project will be taken for the devastated people here, he added.  “At first relief will be distributed and then will come the issue of rehabilitation. Those who have lost their houses will get assistance. The assistance is inadequate compared to the needs but humanitarian aid will continue and we will need to work jointly,” said the minister. Read: Flood waters receding again in Sylhet but food, water crises persist

A 65-year-old worker was killed and three others were injured in a wall collapse at Baghadite in Chandpur sadar  Sunday morning. The deceased was identified as Shahjahan Gazi while the injured were Hamid Gazi, 32, Lition Gazi, 50, and Kamal Befari, 45. All of them  were residents of the Baghadite. Read:Man goes missing as boat sinks in Chandpur Sources said a brick-made wall fell on them while they were digging mud for the renovation of Hajji Bari Jame Masjid in Baghadite area at around 10:00am. Locals rescued them and rushed to Chandpur sadar hospital where doctors declared Shahjahan Gazi dead, said Dr Sujauddola Rubel, resident medical officer of the hospital.

Four policemen have been arrested by Detective Branch (DB) police from two separate places in Khulna Sadar upazila, officials said on Sunday. DB police inspector Tapan Singh said cases were filed against the four under the Narcotics Control Act at Sonadanga and Daulatpur police stations. Nazrul Islam, officer-in-charge of Daulatpur police station, said that two policemen- Ashikur Rahman and Gias Uddin were suspended after their arrest. DB police recovered 40 Yaba pills from them near Daulatpur Rehana filling station around 7 pm on Friday when went there for selling the drugs, he said. READ: Man held with 2 firearms, ammunition  in Satkhira On Saturday, DB's SI Bidhanan Chandra Roy filed a case against the duo, he added. Meanwhile, two other policemen were arrested from Islamia College Road of Sonadanga on the same charge. However, Nahid Mridha, officer-in-charge of Sonadanga police station, didn’t provide detail information about them.

A 40-year-old woman and her son were hacked to death in Araihajar upazila of Narayanganj on Sunday, police said. The deceased were identified as Razia Sultana and her son Talha. On information, police recovered the bodies from their house  at Ujan Gobindi village of the upazila  in the morning where Razia used to live with her son after her husband’s death. READ: Four of family suffer burns in Narayanganj fire Azizul Haque Hawladar, officer-in-charge (OC) of Araihajar police station, said the duo might have been killed by someone they knew on Saturday night.  The bodies were sent to Sadar General Hospital morgue for post-mortem, he added. The motive behind the killing will be known after an investigation, said the OC. 

Two minor siblings went missing while crossing the Nilkumor River, after the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) chased them as they were in a group looking to cross the border at Phulbari in Kurigram to enter Bangladesh without any paperwork on Friday night.  The victims were identified as Parveen Khatun, 8 and Shakibul Hasan, 4. They were the children of Rahim Uddin of Poschim Shukati village in Newashi union of Nageshwari upazila. Kabir Hossain, company commander of Lalmonihat's Kashipur, said, "We have heard that two children went missing on their way to Bangladesh from India."  A patrol team has been sent to the relevant section of the border. Besides, the BSF has been informed about this, he added. Rahim Uddin, the father of the missing children, said that his children were born and brought up in India. They had never previously come to Bangladesh.  Read: Two held in Kurigram for illegal border crossing "I wanted to bring them along with their mother to Bangladesh and I contacted Indian brokers to bring them home safely, paying Tk 30,000," Rahim Uddin revealed. According to the contract, Rahim Uddin's wife and two children were taken to a house on the border on Friday night. There were 20-25 more people there including women and children. He further said that they tried to cross the Rdhampur border of Kashipur union of Phulbari upazila next to the main pillar No. 943 at midnight. At that time, BSF members of Shewti-1 camp in India gave chase after seeing them and they tried to cross the river hurriedly. At one stage, they went missing due to the strong current in the river. However, his wife managed to swim ashore, he added. Adam Ali Bakul, a former UP member of Fulbari Sadar Union, said many people gathered on the banks of the Nilkumar River to search for  the missing children.

As the sun came out Saturday in Sylhet after four more days of heavy rain, the water level in all rivers and flood-hit areas started receding but that hardly eased the non-stop struggle life has been for its residents, many of them in areas cut off by waterlogging, since mid-June with food and fresh water crises still persisting. Until Friday morning total fatalities from the devastating flood rose to 95 with three more deaths from drowning and lightning strikes in the country, said the Directorate General of Health Services DGHS). According to the Water Development Board (WDB) in Sylhet, from Friday 6 am to Saturday 9 am water level decreased 11 cm at Sylhet point and 10 cm at Kanaighat point of the Surma river. Meanwhile the Kushiara river’s water level lowered 16 cm at Amalsid point, 5 cm at Sheola point, and 2 cm at Fenchuganj point. Lobha, Sari, and Dhalai rivers were also showing a receding trend. Also read: Floods wash away crops and hopes in Kurigram Asif Ahmed, executive engineer of Sylhet WDB, said, “The water is receding slowly but the flood situation is not expected to deteriorate in the next few days.” Due to heavy rains from June 15, and upstream water running down from India, Sylhet and other north-eastern districts of the country faced the most devastating flood in living memory. For almost 17 days 80 per cent of the district remained under water and normal life there came to a complete standstill. As tube wells of the flood-hit region also submerged, an extreme crisis of drinkable water and food became imminent in Sylhet. “Total 99 unions of 13 upazilas in the district were flooded. Of the 35,000 government tube wells in the district 27,000 were submerged along with 2,000 more private ones,” told Alamgir Hossain, executive engineer of district Department of Public Health Engineering. He said, “Eight mobile water treatment plants with capacity to supply 5,000 liters of water each have been received from the government. Of them six has been distributed to flood hit Sylhet city, COmpaniganj, Gowainghat, Kanaighat, Bishwanath, Fenchuganj and another two have been kept in reserve”. “We are campaigning to teach the steps to purify tube well water after flood water recedes,” he added. Ismail Ali, from Tererton area in the city said, “For eight days my house was under water and we just started cleaning the house today.” He mentioned another problem that came up with receding water - an all-encompassing, unbearable stench from rotten wastes. Nur Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of Sylhet City Corporation said “The city corporation is conducting a cleaning drive of the garbage from the canal and other water bodies. The whole city will be cleaned with bleaching powder.” Also read: More rain forecast, but flood situation likely to improve in 6 districts Saturday Meanwhile, Mukul Ahmed, a trader from Bangabir road said, “Though water went down from my shop the roads remained submerged for the 17 th day. My business has completely gone down and I don't know how many days the situation will remain like this.”

Haji Yunus Ali School and College authorities have suspended Taslima Akter Rima, a class-XI student of the college and ‘lover’ of Ashraful Ahsan Jitu,  prime accused in teacher Utpal Kumar Sarkar murder case. Saiful Hasan, principal of the college, confirmed the matter to UNB on Saturday. “Taslima Akter has been suspended as the killing occurred centering the girl. If the primary investigation finds her involvement in the killing, she will also be expelled,” said Saiful. Also read: College teacher killing in Savar: Prime accused Jitu put on 5-day remand Earlier on June 30, prime accused Jitu was expelled from the same college. Utpal Kumar Sarkar, a teacher of Haji Yunus Ali School and College died at Enam Medical College and Hospital on Monday as Jitu, a 10th grader of the same educational institution, beat him up with a cricket stump in Savar. Jitu was detained from Sripur of Gazipur on Wednesday evening by the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab). Later, Rab handed over Jitu to Ashulia police Thursday afternoon. On the same day, a Dhaka court placed Jitu  on a 5-day remand.  Also read: Savar College teacher murder: Teachers, students demand justice Earlier on Tuesday, police arrested Jitu’s father Ujjal from Kushtia’s Kumarkhali. A Dhaka court on Wednesday put also him on a 5-day remand.