Sushanta Ghosh

Some with bags in hand, others hands bare -- Barishal city dwellers were rushing to Port Road hilsa wholesale market on Tuesday midnight.

Following less than ample returns during this year’s guava season, farmers in the Barishal, Jhalakathi and Pirojpur districts wanted to make up their losses through hog plum cultivation.

Over half the hilsa eggs laid are likely to hatch this year due to favourable environment, researchers and officials said.

Idol artisans in Barishal are not getting expected price ahead of Durga Puja amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Over 60 per cent of the dockyards in Barishal division have been running for years with complete disregard to environment protection laws, not only damaging whole ecosystems and livelihoods but also depriving the government of revenue.

The investigation officer (IO) of three cases filed against a man on charges of killing his wife allegedly changed the autopsy report, in collusion with his in-laws, to make it look like he poisoned her to death and then submitted the charge sheets to the court.

The slope of Choupasha Bridge over a branch of the river Kalijira is yet to be repaired even one year after it got damaged following an accident in Barishal.

On Saturday afternoon, thousands of villagers gathered around the banks of the Arial Kha river with a resolve. Over the past few years, erosion caused by the river has intensified, submerging two mosques, a primary school, at least 50 houses, and hundreds of acres of agricultural land.

Cultural activists of Barishal yesterday organised a human chain and rally to protest irregularities in construction of the divisional Shilpakala Academy. They demanded immediate handover of the building.

In a move to rid the city of waterlogging, Barishal City Corporation (BCC) has started a drive to clean the 43 major canals flowing through the city, but are facing an all-too-familiar obstacle -- polythene -- by the tonnes.

Cynics say that to the authorities concerned sports development means making more infrastructure in the country, regardless of whether existing ones are properly used or not.

An acute shortage of water at the Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) has persisted for close to a month, putting several thousand people in severe woes.

In a blow to citizen morale, Barishal City Corporation has placed lowest in the evaluation of annual performance contracts under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD).

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, drinking from communal cups at traditional tea stalls and the like is considered as a potential risk of infection. However, a one-time use cup made of clay has opened the door to new possibilities.

Thanks to strict monitoring against jatka netting and government programmes to conserve hilsa, production of the fish has seen a steady increase in Barishal, and this year has been no different.

The only burn unit in Barishal division at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) has been closed for five months. Not only that, the only psychiatry ward of the hospital has been closed for around a year.

A woman who has been accused in her husband’s murder case has accused Barishal Metropolitan Police members of torture and molestation in custody, and forcing her to confess as an accomplice to the murder.

This was supposed to be a good year for hilsa traders and anglers of Barishal. Ever since the beginning of the season, a record number of the fish are being netted. Now that it’s time for the peak season, much to everyone’s delight, large sized hilsas are also flooding the local markets.

Barishal has been experiencing unprecedented waterlogging for over a week due to tidal surge from the river Kirtankhola, causing immense suffering to city-dwellers.

Despite being in the works for five years, the construction of Barishal’s divisional and district Shilpakala Academy has not been completed. This is drawing dissatisfaction from the area’s cultural activists as this delay is hampering the area’s progress in the arts.