The New Nation - Internet Edition

Abul Kalam Azad, Pabna

Fish farmers in Pabna are facing a possible financial doom as the recent flood inllicted a massive damage on their ponds and fishes in seven upazilas of the district At least 2,731 of ponds in the district were inundated during the flood, which washed away cultivated fishes of different species, fry, and fish eggs worth about Tk 490.82 crores.

Most of the affected farmers cultivated fishes in ponds with loans taken from banks and NGOs, sources said. Fish farmer Ismail Hossain of Sadirajpur under Sadar Upazila told The New Nation that he cultivated fishes of can varieties in his pond with a loan of Tk 1.5 lakh from different local NGOs, only to see his product get washed away by the flood. "Now I don't know how I will repay the loan," he said. Fish farmer Anwarul Islam of Balarampur village under Sujanagar Upazila said his cultivated fishes worth about several lakhs of Taka were washed away. "I could not save my fishes despite taking advance preparations," he said. The District Fisheries Department of Pabna estimated the total damage inflicted on the fish farming industry of the district by the flood at Tk 490.82 crore. At least 2.220 acres of breeding grounds of fish were washed away in seven upazilas here. The affected Upazilas are Pabna Sadar, Ishwardi, Chatmohar, Bera, Sujanager, Faridpur and Bhangura, said fisheries office sources. Pabna district fisheries office sources said, fish and fry of 852 ponds worth Tk 1.78 crore were washed away in Chatmohar Upazila while in Bhangura Upazila fish of 562 ponds worth Tk 81 lakh, in Faridpur upazila fish of 386 ponds worth Tk 88 lakh, in Bera Upazila, fish of 156 ponds worth Tk 46 lakh, in Sujanager upazila fish of 313 ponds worth Tk 31.31 lakh, in Ishwardi Upazila fish of 298 ponds worth Tk 42 lakh and in Pabna Sadar upazila fish of 150 ponds worth Tk 15 lakh were washed away by floodwaters. During a visit to the flood affected areas, this correspondent found that many fish farmers have become pauper after the deluge. Gopal Barman, a hatchery owner of Chatmohar Upazila, Gobinda Halder of Patulipara village in Bhangura Upazila and Abdul' Razzak in the same upazila lamented for the loss they incurred due to flood. They wanted chemical fertiliser in large quantity on subsidy to restart fish cultivation. The district fisheries office has urged the authorities concerned for a grant of Tk 2.80 lakh for rehabilitation of about 1,700 marginal fish farmers. But the authorities concerned are yet to allocate the fund, sources said. Meanwhile, fish farmers are not geting fertiliser for fish cultivation causing sufferings to fish farmers, related sources said.

At least, 2,714.78 metric tones of urea, 1,334.86 metric tones of TSP and 275 metric tones of MP fertiliser are needed for fish cultivation in the entire district, official sources informed.

But there is no official allocation for fertiliser till now, said the suffers. District fisheries office sources said when fish farmers go to collect fertiliser, they do not get it

On contact, Pabna Distl:ict fisheris officer Jawarder Mohammad Anwarul Haque told that there is no allocation for fertiliser for fish cultivation in the district till now.

'We have already sent a demand for fertiliser to the higher authorites but they are yet to reply to sanction it,' he said. The district fisheris office has sent a demand for Tk 2.80 crore for post flood rehabilitation of fish farmers, he disclosed to this correspondent

A Correspondent Magura

Dues of Tk above 4 crore of the local jute traders to 12 jute mills created a serious setback and financial crisis all over the jute markets.

As a result, esteemed jute traders are reluctant to purchase jute from the farmers and mainly middlemen are controlling the local jute markets.

On the other hand, local jute growers in 4 upazilas of the district are being deprived of fair prices and also being compelled to sell jute below production cost

According to sources, In 2002 the jute-purchasing centre of Adamjee Jute Mills (closed in 2003) here brought 2,500 tons of jute worth Tk 3 crore from the local traders. During the last five ears, BJMC paid Tk 2.5 crore of the total dues and Tk 50 lakh is yet to be paid.

Besides, this, 11 others Jute Mills-Latif Bawani, Bangladesh Jute Mills, Gul Ahmed Jute Mills, Karim Jute Mills, Eastern Jute Mills, Platinum Jute Mills, UMC Jute Mills Peoples Jute Mills, Creasant Jute Mills, Dawlatpur Jute Mills, Alim Jute Mills have brought Jute Tk 20 crore to 25 crore during the period of which Tk 4.12 crore still remains outstanding.

Of the total outstanding, Lafif Bawani Jute Mills owe Tk 1 crore 75 lakh, Bangladesh Jute Mills owe Tk 18 lakh, Gul Ahmed Jute Mills owe Tk 40 lakh, Karim Jute Mills owe Tk 35 lakh, astern Jute Mills owe Tk 45 lakh, UMC owe Tk 12 lakh, Peoples Jute Mills owe Tk 15 lakh, Creasant owe Tk 2 lakh, Dawlatpur owe Tk 65 lakh, Alim Jute Mills owe Tk 30 lakh and Amin Jute Mills owe Tk 4 lakh to the traders.

Most of the jute traders are stated to be in a very tight position financial because of non payment of their dues.

Meanwhile, this is alleged that taking advantage of the situation the middlemen now are controlling the trade and facing the growers to sell jute to them at throwaway prices.

In the local markets, now each maund jute is being sold between Tk 700 and 800 only instead of previous rate of Tk 1000 to Tk 1100.

Narrating the woes of the local jute traders, Fazlur Rahman, himself a jute merchant, said that non-payment of their dues by the twelve jute mills has placed them in a very awkward position.

In order to end the financial crisis they urged the authorities concerned to pay their dues immediately.

BSS, Sylhet

Adviser for Foreign Affairs Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury visited different flood hit areas of Golapganj, Biani Bazar and Sadar Upazilas in the district here on Tuesday morning.

The Adviser inquired about the well being of the affected people and distributed relief goods among them, said a Foreign Ministry release.

The Adviser distributed relief goods among 300 families at the Bhadeshwar Union Parishad complex, 100 families of Sharifganj Union and 200 families at Golapganj Khan Market square and 200 families of Biani Bazar Charkhai Union. Each packet of relief materials included 10 KG rice, wheat and potato and some cash.

Later, addressing the flood affected people, Dr Chowdhury said he rushed to the flood victims at the instruction of Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed. He said the government is beside the flood-affected people at this hour of calamity.

The foreign adviser assured them that there are adequate relief materials in the hands of the government and it's relief fund. He urged the well to do section of society to come forward with helping hands for the flood victims.

He said relief goods are being sent to different parts of the country as per requirements.

A coordination meeting to face the over all flood situation in Sylhet was held at the Circuit House with foreign adviser Dr Iftekhar Chowdhury in the chair last evening, the Foreign Ministry release said today. The meeting discussed the flood situation and relief and rehabilitation work in four flood hit districts under Sylhet Division.

The adviser asked the officials to start rehabilitation work in full swing with recession of flood waters. He instructed them to ensure that all flood victims get relief goods.

The foreign adviser was briefed about the extent of damage in floods and rehabilitation program from relevant officials.

Chitagong Correspondent

Detectives and the people of the secret services are learnt to have sniffed political maneuverings behind the violence at Chitagong University campus on Wednesday last

Some of the detectives claimed that they had received confirm information about the political instigation for destabilizing the congenial academic atmosphere in the name of student protest

The secret service people are currently working to figure out the sources of money and the designers of the action plan. They reportedly have become sure of involvement of outsiders at the campus fury.

According to the investigators, a good number of students from two public colleges - Chitagong College and Haji Mohammad Mohsin College - strong hold of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, student wing of the anti-liberation Jamaat-e-Islami, reportedly have materialized the centrally engineered plot of violence.

Top officials of the Rapid Action Batalion (RAB) and the police believed that the university students had not solely sponsored the violence especially during the state of emergency.

The investigators said that many of the wounded youths went to seek medication at Chitagong Medical College Hospital had no atachment with Chitagong University. "They were outsiders," the source said.

Sources hinted that a number of teachers of Chitagong University went into hiding after the hunt for the mentors of campus violence was launched couple of days ago and five teachers of two public universities were taken into custody for questioning.

The security people will soon start questioning some of the outsiders wounded in the campus violence on August 22. "We hope to detect the root of the trouble and its sponsors soon," a senior detective commented preferring anonymity.

Meanwhile, police recorded a number of rioting cases accusing 1500 university students and outsiders of the violence.

Adulterated buter oil trader jailed

A mobile court recently raided an apartment and seized nearly 200 kilograms of adulterated buter oil from Khatiberhat area under Chandgaon police station.

Authorized officer of Chitagong Port Authority (CPA) and Magistrate of Class-I Mohammad Munir Chowdhury led the court The court found a huge store of adulterated buter oil at the residence of Mohammad Sekandar, an alleged trader of the adulterated buter oil.

Laboratory examinations revealed that the buter oil had been nothing but a clever blending of low-quality palm oil, vegetable oil and flavor chemical. The buter oil would be extremely harmful for the consumers.

The court realized Taka 50,000 in cash from the owner of the adulterated buter oil as penalty and ordered him to serve rigorous imprisonment for two months. [The End]

Lead: Shamsuddin joins CSSTEAP training Chitagong Correspondent Shamsuddin Ahmed, a Deputy Director of Bangladesh Meteorological Department here in the port city, left Chitagong recently for joining an international training course in India.

He is scheduled to undergo an advance course on "Application of space technology for disaster management and flood risk reduction." Center for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP) is hosting the course.

The month-long course will take place at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (NRSA) at Dehra Dun.

A scholar of Physics department of Chitagong University Shamsuddin Ahmed was conferred Post Graduation Diploma in meteorology and oceanography from the University of Philippines.

Apart from taking up foundation course at the Government Meteorological Training Institute in Dhaka, he also joined several international seminars and workshops in Thailand and Japan.

CCH seizes goods imported on false declaration

Officials here at Chitagong Customs House (CCH) yesterday foiled a wity bid of clearing steel products worth more than Taka 15 million reportedly brought upon false declaration.

The CCH officials seized the consignment after physical examination and asked the importer to comply the rules of penal tax on the total consignment

Informed sources said that a private steel recycling plant - Jiri Subedar Steel Mills at Bara Kumira - imported the consignment from Canada. A Mexican flag vessel MV Ex-e-Makalo brought the consignment to Chitagong maritime port

The company in connivance with the exporter prepared two export documents stating the materials as 'recyclable steel scrap for making steel bar'.

Commissioner of Customs (Import) Lutfur Rahman after examining papers asked his men to carry out physical examination of the materials. The officials at this stage detected finished steel products inside the containers worth not less than Taka 15 millions.

CCC&I proposes monitoring board to arrest price hike

President of Chitagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCC&I) Saifuzzaman Chowdhury Zabed yesterday placed a set of proposals before the interim government including formation of a 'price monitoring board' for making essentials affordable to consumers during holy month of Ramadan.

He suggested slashing the borrowing rate of interest to single digit, engaging the BDR-men in importing essentials and distribution of essentials all over the country.

The CCC&I President placed a 19-point proposal at a meeting of the merchants for easing essential supply to the markets and arresting the price hike. He hoped that implementation of his proposals would help people to well combat the situation.

Senior Vice President of the CCC&I MA Latif said that price hike of essentials had not only become a common phenomenon in Bangladesh but also a global trend.

"So it will not be wise if the businessmen are lonely blamed for the price hike," he added. He sought coordinated efforts from all to tackle the prevailing crisis.