The New Nation - Internet Edition

Our Correspondent, Chittagong

Speakers at a seminar on 'Tsunami Disaster & Its Impact on Bangladesh' on Wednesday emphasized need for creating greater awareness among the people of coastal belts and suggested coordinated efforts to reduce the havoc.

Earmarking Chittagong - Teknaf coast as high-risk zone for Tsunami, they said that people had no control on the calamities like tsunami therefore mass awareness and coordinated efforts would be only weapon to fight it successfully.

The experts urged the authority concerned to incorporate tsunami and five relevant sources of mass destruction - earthquake, landslide, meteorites, explosions and volcanic eruption - in the text books of secondary and higher secondary classes so that awareness building be paced further.

Bornaly, a Chittagong based development organization, hosted the seminar at Hotel Al Faisal International Limited where research officer of Barnaly Mohammad Abdur Rahman Rana presented the keynote paper. President of the Bornaly Soroj Kanti Das presided over the seminar.

Mohammad Najmul Haque, Director, Directorate of Environment, Chittagong joined the seminar as chief guest while Secretary of Chittagong District unit of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Mohammad Abdul Awal Chowdhury addressed it as special guest. Chairman of Geography Department of Chittagong University Abdul Haque, Professor Jahangir Alam, Professor Idris Ali and Dr. Sahid Ul Islam among other discussed it.

Mohammad Najmul Haque, chief guest in the seminar said that Meteorology Department of the government should be more active and accurate in giving cautionary signal so that necessary steps can be taken in perfect time.

He put emphasis on building of Tsunami shelters in right places across the country in coordination with local organizations and considering risk.

Research Officer of the Bornaly, Mohammad Abdur Rahman Rana in his keynote paper mentioned that the usual velocity of the tsunami waves had been more or less 550 miles per hour in the open ocean. The time span between successive waves varies from 5 to 90 minutes. He also said that tsunami wave might be as high as 12 meters.

The northern Bay of Bengal had long been out of danger zone for the large earthquakes that caused from clashing of tectonic plates pushing the seabed up, the keynote paper said.

Our Correspondent, Barisal

A three days training workshop for journalists about reporting on 'Bird Flu and Pandemic Flu Awareness and Preparedness' has been ended in the auditorium of local government and engineering department(LGED) at Barisal on Thursday.

Forty journalists from print and electronic media of Barisal and Jhalakati districts participated in this training workshop organized by Press Institute of Bangladesh in collaboration with UNICEF.

Parvin Sultana Rabbi, trainer and Shamima Chowdhury, senior trainer of PIB conducted workshop.

Dr. Sunil Chandra Gayen, principal scientific officer of Barisal regional animal disease research center and laboratory, Dr. Md.Jubayer, medical officer of Narshingdi Sadar upazila health complex, Joynuddin Molla, district livestock officer, addressed as resource persons in the workshop.

Ashen Habib, UNICEF program communication officer, presided over, Manjure Elahi, deputy commissioner and Hemayet Hossain, executive engineer of LGED, were chief and special guest of the workshop ending ceremony.

Parvin Sultana Rabbi, PIB trainer,on behalf of the organizers, Mamunur Rashid Nomani, Dulal Saha,Liton Bashar and Nasimul Alam, on behalf of the participants, addressed and Shamima Chowdhury, senior trainer conducted the concluding session .

Local journalists of Barisal expressed their resentments about the aims and objects of the workshop except misusing training funds as most of the selected participants of the workshop have not sufficient qualification and also have no access to report on this issue.

The participants also called the organizers that concerned authorities must create and clearly define the real terms and terminologies about this issue which could be easily understandable to mass people before training the media people.

M A Halim, director training and administration of PIB, presided over the inauguration ceremony and Manjure Elahi, commissioner of Barisal, inaugurated the program, as chief guest on last Tuesday.

Ahsan Habib, UNICEF program communication officer and Prof.Shah Sajeda, were special guests of the inauguration ceremony.

BSS, Rangpur

More than 6,000 poor families of 75 villages in 20 upazilas of greater Rangpur achieved economic self- reliance and eradicated their poverty through vegetables farming during the last few years.

Before taking up vegetables farming as the means of their subsistence, at least half of them were in abject miseries in the poverty and erosion-prone sandy chars on the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla and other river basins in Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts.

Now they are leading a completely changed life with three- time meals a day, sanitary facilities and their children going to schools, madrashaws and also the NGO-run informal educational institutions. Officials told BSS here today that Department of Agriculture Extension, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute, Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation, NGOs and awareness among the extreme poor helped them change their lot.

Local people said that those, who were extremely poor four years ago, are now leading, somewhat, an affluent life only because of the vegetable farming despite the seasonal Monga and damages caused by the floods.

They said, vegetables are being cultivated on more than 22,000 hectares of lands including the vast tracts of sandy-barren char areas since 2003, with the total acreage increasing every year and encouraging more people towards growing various vegetables.

With the help of several NGOs and other organizations, huge quantities of vegetables are being produced in 25 char villages of the Teesta basin under Gangachara upazila, changing the life of over 200 families in a short period. Farmers are selling around 10,000 tonnes of vegetables every year in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat district alone. "Our total income will be higher if we get proper marketing and preservation facilities," said Parvez of village Choritabari in the upazila.

He earns Taka two lakh every year by cultivating 'Borboti' on his small land of 30 decimals only. "Farming of this variety of vegetable has brought happiness in my family and the people now call me Borboti Parvez," he said with a sense of pride.

Abdullah, Solaiman Ali, Abul, Malek, Kosir, Altaf and many others like Parvez of the same village narrated similar stories about their success they achieved through vegetables farming during the past few years. Kuddus of Kamlabari is now well known as 'Chichinga Kuddus' and Matin as 'Korola Matin' as both the farmers brought about a tremendous change in their life by producing these two varieties of vegetables.

Similarly, 'Papaya Yunus' of village Hajiganj said his net profit is Taka three lakh every year from papaya farming on an area of 40 decimals only. "I do not feel bad when people call me Papaya Yunus," he said. Many others of Madhupur and Gilabari villages have been growing vegetables as well as fruits and spices like Korola, Chichinga, Borboti, Choi, Baro Patol, Choto Patol, Kakrol, Jhinga, Shosha, Pani Kumra, Misti Kumra, Lomba Lau, brinjal, cauliflower, lemon, chilly, onion, garlic, water melon, guava, boroi and banana.

Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture Extension, Rangpur Kamal Shariful Alam told BSS that vegetables and fruits farming have brought about a revolutionary change in the rural economy in these areas.

"The growers do not always get better prices of their produces as the middlemen vegetable traders are the main beneficiaries due to the lack of adequate marketing and preservation facilities here," he said.

UNB, Gazipur

Four people were killed and 30 others injured in separate road accidents on Dhaka-Tangail highway in Sadar upazila onWednesday. Witnesses said a bus carrying workers of Renaissance Apparels Factory from Chanda in Kaliakoir uapzila to their workplace at Islampur overturned at Kadda at about 7:45 AM, killing two workers on the spot and injuring 30 others.

One of the deceased was identified as Aminul. Identity of another dead could not be known immediately.

A pedestrian named, Ripon, also died instantly as the bus hit him while he was crossing the road.

The injured were admitted to the Sadar hospital and Hospitals in Dhaka.

In another accident, an unidentified man died on the spot when a speeding truck ran over him at Nawjor on the same highway this Wednesday morning.

Joypurhat Sugar Mill likely to achieve sugar production target

JOYPURHAT, Dec 29: Joypurhat Sugar Mill may achieve the target of sugar production this season due to sufficient supply of sugarcane. The mill, which has started sugarcane crushing on November 23, has set a target to produce 12,950 mts of sugar crushing 1.75 lakh mts of sugarcane during the current 2007-08 crushing season. The recovery rate has been fixed at 7.40 percent. Some 2,984 mts sugar was produced in the mill from 46,770 mts sugarcane in 31 working days till December 24. Sugarcane was cultivated on 16,000 acres under the Joypurhat Sugar Mill zone area and its production was satisfactory. Though heavy rainfall damaged sugarcane field on 100 acres in the district but could not damage the fields cultivated in mill Zone area. The contract growers of the mill are expecting to produce three lakh metric tons of sugarcane. In this situation, the mill authority said they wouldn't have to face any sugarcane crisis for sugar production. But the authority could not say anything about the profit as the mill incurred a huge loss even after producing 3,000 mts sugar more than the target last season as the government reduced the price of sugar to Tk 25 per kg, reports UNB.

Woman killed in road mishap

JHALAKATI, Dec 29: An unidentified woman was crushed under the wheels of bus at Shitepakia in Nalchhiti Upazila on Jhalakati-Barisal road Wednesday. Local people said the speedy bus ran over the woman early in the morning, killing her on the spot. The bus driver, however, managed to escape. Police recovered the body and said the woman was mentally handicapped. A case was filed, reports UNB.

One killed in road mishap

NARSINGDI, Dec 29: A man was killed and 19 others were injured when a minibus plunged into a roadside ditch at Baroitola in Shibpur upazila on Dhaka-Sylhet highway early on Thursday morning. Police said 20 passengers were injured when the minibus fell into the ditch after being hit by a bus at about 7AM. The injured were admitted to Shibpur upazila health complex where Kawser Bhuiyan, 28, died later, reports UNB.

Farmers expect good harvest of mustard seeds in Jhalakati

JHALAKATI, Dec 29: Farmers are expecting a good harvest of mustard seeds this season even after the cyclone Sidr extensively damaged vast croplands of the district. Officials of Department of Agricultural Extension said farmers of the district have cultivated the crop on 800 hectares this season and are expecting to produce 800 mts mustard seeds. Farmers said they have sowed seeds on the land before the Sidr hit the district but the cyclone could not damage the fields, as the mustard was cultivated on high lands. Nurul Islam Talukder of Ramchandrapur village in Sadar upazila has cultivated mustard seeds on his 60 decimals of land. He said, "I have cultivated mustard seeds for earning a handsome profit." Salam Biswas of the same village, who has cultivated lentil as second crop with mustard seeds on one acre of land, said he has spent Tk 1500 to cultivate his land and is expecting to earn a net profit of Tk 5,000, reports UNB.