Mostafa Shabuj

“Around one and a half years ago, my sister-in-law, Taslima, died after suffering from post-pregnancy complications. She gave birth to a baby while still on the boat, heading towards the hospital. Unfortunately, she passed away before we made it,” shares 27-year-old Shahida Begum, a local of Kochkhali char.

A homeless freedom fighter and eight others, who have been blessed with a cluster of houses in Shajahanpur, Bogura, have found that even moderate rains can leave their new houses completely flooded.

The long wait of the char people for electricity in Gaibandha’s four upazilas has just prolonged as many electric poles set up by the district palli bidyut samity (rural electrification board) have been engulfed by furious Brahmaputra. The river erosion has taken a serious turn in the district since last month.

The hearsay of young Islamic preacher Abu Taw Haa Muhammad Adnan hiding in one of his friend’s house in Gaibandha created confusion.

Family members of the man, whose body was found at now-suspended Awami League leader’s house in Gaibandha, alleged that police dillydallied recording a murder case for hours, saying that the complaint should make no mention of the role of two police officers.

Gaibandha police has allegedly handed over a trader to a ruling party leader for his failure to pay debt. The leader allegedly kept him confined to his house, and almost a month later, the man was found dead there.

Around 300 women in Modonerpara village of Gaibandha’s sadar upazila have been using water hyacinths from a nearby water-body to craft flower vases for the past month.

The explosion that took three lives in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj upazila on Wednesday was of an abandoned mortar shell of 1971, and no militancy link or sabotage plan was behind it, said police.

Twenty years ago, Abdul Gafur Sheikh was a poor day-labourer and debt-ridden and found it difficult to feed a family of six.

Around 150 students in Sherpur, Bogura, are making profits by rearing deshi (local breed) chickens at their own rooftops or backyards.

Due to the sharp fall in the number of theatre audience for commercial movies, curtains are being drawn on a 28-year-old cinema hall in Bogura’s Dhunat upazila.

Farmers in various areas of the country are gradually shifting away from legumes in favour of other crops as lentils and pulses have become less profitable now.

SR Group has set up a chemical manufacturing plant in Bogura, the largest of its kind in the northern region of the country, at an investment of Tk 850 crore. The project went into operation last month.

Farmers of Bogura’s char areas alongside the Jamuna and Bangali rivers enjoyed good profit amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic by cultivating different varieties of pumpkins on the abandoned lands with little investment.

“I have been playing cricket at the Bogura Shaheed Chandu Stadium since I was eight. My father’s only dream is to see me in the women’s national team. And he tries his best to help me carry on my studies alongside cricket,” said Sraboni Rani Shil, a 14-year-old from the northern district.

The authorities of Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital recently cut off the branches of some trees that were home to a huge number of different species of birds. Amid protests from local environmental activists and conservationists, the director of RMCH admitted to the mistake and said he will refrain from such acts of environmental destruction in the future.

The Department of Archaeology continues to struggle to save one of the country’s and region’s most significant archaeological sites, Mahasthangarh in Bogura, due to the delay in acquiring 393 acres of land in the fort city.

Jackpot Cashew Nuts Industries started producing an assortment of cashew-nut based foods earlier this year in a bid to cash in on the growing demand for heart-healthy snacks.

A 13-year-old girl from a village in Bogura’s Dhunat upazila was abducted, gang raped for more than a month, and then left unconscious by a road on August 24. Her sufferings, however, were still not over.

While nearly every business sector in Bangladesh has been hit by the fallouts of the coronavirus pandemic, handicrafts have continued faring well in the global market.