Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu

The 11th death anniversary of Professor Zia Hyder, an icon of modern theater in Bangladesh, will be observed today at his ancestral hometown in Pabna today. Two schools, both named Zia Hyder Progoti Biddaloy, were built there in his honour.

The flood waters of Pachil village in Sirajganj’s Shahzadpur upazila have started to recede. But that does not matter to Ahed Ali. The furious Jamuna has devoured his home, even the land on which his humble abode stood.

River grabbing, untreated human waste, heavy metals and indiscriminately dumped toxic chemicals are some of the words now one can use to describe the once famous Ichamati River of Pabna.

People of Narashinghapara, Shukolhaat and Shuklai villages of Boropangashi union in Ullapara upazila of Sirajganj offered the Eid-ul-Azha prayer on a large artistic concrete platform, built through their own initiative for using as eidgah, at Shuklai village on Sunday.

When highways are swamped with heavy traffic ahead of Eid, the authorities usually start repairing those.

Eid no longer means joy for the residents of five upazilas in Sirajganj, as they have lost everything in the recent flood.

Alhaz Hossain, a dairy farmer from Pabna’s Chatmohar, yesterday brought 30 litters of milk at the Pran Chilling Center (a unit of Pran Group for milk collection) at Sharatnagar Bazar in Bhangura, but to no avail.

While locals observe the 154th birth anniversary of legendary poet, lyricist and singer Rajanikanta Sen, his ancestral house at Bhangabari village in Sirajganj’s Belkuchi upazila lies in utter neglect.

Milk producers find themselves in a tight spot as the processing companies have slashed purchase due to a slump in demand over health concerns, say farmers and processors.

The railway built a temporary gate yesterday at the level crossing of Sirajganj where 11 people of a bridal party were killed in a train-microbus crash the day before.

A newly-married couple and at least eight others of the bridal party were killed when a Dhaka-bound train rammed their microbus at an unmanned level crossing in Sirajganj’s Ullapara upazila yesterday evening.

Many traditional sari weavers are switching to other professions as handloom owners in Sirajganj -- renowned for its affordable handwoven saris, known as ‘tanter sari’ -- are being forced to put a significant number of handlooms out of operation.

Abdul Momin used to work at a garment factory in Dhaka a couple of years ago. Now he runs a small factory at his Banglabazar village home and produces T-shirts that are exported to a neighbouring country. Starting with Tk 10,000, his factory is now valued at Tk 5 lakh.

The 158th birth anniversary of noble laurate Rabindranath Tagore was observed with a two-day long festival at the Tagore’s establishment Shahzadpur Kuthibari in Sirajganj, which concluded yesterday.

Archaeologists in Sirajganj have unearthed a brick structure which they claimed could be more than 1,000 years old.

Nuclear energy is the only medium of reducing carbon contamination in order to tackle the greenhouse effect and therefore the developing countries must prioritise clean energy sources, experts said at ATOMEXPO 2019.

Eleven visually impaired youths hailing from different districts are appearing in the ongoing Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations at two centres of Pabna this year, thanks to the initiative of Manob Kollan Trust, a humanitarian organization.

Some 596 operatives of different outlawed parties yesterday surrendered to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan by handing over their firearms in Pabna.

It was during breakfast time when Nasiman Bewa, a resident of Dogachhi village in Pabna sadar upazila, heard the sound of gunfire invading the usual tranquillity in the air.

The once spacious corridor that the members of about 200 impoverished Hindu families used to get access to the nearby road has been shrunken so much so that it is impossible to carry a person on wheelchair now.