Sushanta Ghosh

“At 71, I spend my time sitting with the village youth and helping  them solve their financial issues. I take a dip in the pond every day,  to maintain discipline in my life,” said Ranajit Gharai, freedom fighter  turned agri-entrepreneur, summing up his lifestyle and personality.

Monowara Begum does not know her exact date of birth. All she can recall is that she was a seventh-grader during the Liberation War.

Although four years have passed since the inauguration of Sheikh Russel Memorial Children’s Park in Bakerganj upazila of Barishal, the site development work is yet to begin.

Established in 1910 with the donations of locals, six old buildings of the first public hospital of Barishal division are en route to being torn down.

A total of 51.7 percent of mother hilsa have laid eggs in rivers and estuaries of the country -- which is the highest ever.

A total of 51.7 percent mother hilsa have laid eggs in rivers and estuaries of the country - which is the highest ever.

Most people living in Maheshpur village in Bakerganj upazila of Barishal are involved in the pottery making business.

The long awaited Payra bridge, which will facilitate road transport between a seaport and popular tourist destinations nearby, is finally nearing completion a good five years after its original due date.

Hilsa has become pricier since export of the national fish to India commenced last week.

The local administration and the ruling Awami League men in Barishal appear to be at loggerheads following the violence in front of Barishal Sadar UNO’s office which left around 50 people injured on Wednesday night.

‘This is one of the bullets that came out of my body,” Lalit Das offered the rusty object for this correspondent to inspect. “I was hit with 11 bullets -- six on my left leg, two on the right, two on the right arm, while my abdomen took the other.”

Four killings in 10 days -- first two on April 11 and then again on April 20.

The Barishal District Coronavirus Prevention Committee and Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) authorities have called upon Barishal citizens to volunteer at SBMCH to help with the hospital’s Covid-19 efforts.

Taslima Begum was waiting in queue for an oxygen cylinder at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital’s (SBMCH) Covid-19 unit from 9am to 12pm on Monday. After struggling for three hours, she was finally able to get a cylinder.

Guava farmer Sunil Halder had travelled to Bhimruli village, a famous floating guava wholesale market in Barishal’s Jhalakathi Sadar upazila, to sell about 74 kilogrammes (kgs) of the fruit last Friday.

Several hundreds of people are allegedly rushing to construct concrete structures at a village in Barishal where the government plans to acquire land for a recreational park.

As the Covid-19 situation worsens in Barishal city, its residents as well as those from neighbouring districts are facing an acute crisis of ICUs, Covid beds, and oxygen cylinders.

Many fishers in Barishal are netting hilsa despite the ongoing ban on sea-fishing. They are catching the fish, particularly during the night to hide from the drives by authorities concerned.

Tried as an adult when she was just a fifth-grade student, Piara Akhter spent the last 24 years of her life in jail for a murder she says she did not commit.

Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital, the only large medical facility in Barishal division, is in derelict condition as the number of patients continue to swell amid rising Covid-19 infections.