Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu

A three-day festival, marking the 39th National Assembly for Rabindra Sangeet, concluded in Sirajganj recently, with discussions, cultural programmes and a rally. Jatiya Rabindra Sangeet Shammilon Parishad (JRSSP) organised the event at the Sirajganj Government College.

In 1948, when Dhirendranath Dutta’s proposal to recognise Bangla as one of the state languages of the then Pakistan was rejected in the parliament, protest raged like fire all over the erstwhile East Pakistan.

Illegal sand lifting from the major rivers in the district, especially the Padma and the Jamuna, has continued for years, although the district administration officially stopped leasing the sand fields in 2010 following an injunction by the curt.

A marketplace established in Pabna’s Satbaria Bazar to promote rural women entrepreneurs is about to be closed allegedly for lack of fund and patronisation.

The Women’s Corner at Satbaria Bazar in Pabna’s Sujanagar upazila, aiming at encouraging rural women traders, is about to be closed amid lack of sufficient backing.

Students of 548 educational institutions, including 313 high schools and 235 madrasas, recently joined the Student Cabinet elections to elect their leaders.

Freedom fighter Vanu Nesa, now bedridden at her Tetulia village home in Pabna’s Santhia upazila due to old age complications, is in dire need of quality medical treatment.

Today marks the 7th death anniversary of legendary actor Suchitra Sen. The actor breathed her last on January 17 in 2013 in Kolkata. The star orginally hailed from Pabna.

Marking the 15th founding anniversary of Sirajganj Baul Shilpigoshthi, a leading cultural organisation based in the northern districts of Bangladesh, a two-day Pala Gaan session was recently organised by its artistes at the Shahid Monsur Ali Auditorium.

State-Owned Pabna Sugar Mill, which has yet to see profits since its establishment in the mid-90s, started this season’s production last month with a debt of Tk 575 crore.

Pabna farmers are cultivating more land for the second season of onion eyeing the high price of the spice in the market, forgetting the loss they had suffered from their flood-hit crops in the September-October season.

“Please give me a pillow, I want to sleep with my parents,” 12-year-old Arafat moaned in pain when police rescued him from a sugarcane field in Pabna’s Ishwardi upazila early Monday. He had been lying there with a severe head injury for about 12 hours.

Encroachers, backed by former lawmaker of Pabna-2 constituency, grabbed a portion of Jamuna river land along with riverbank properties owned by various government departments in Pabna’s Bera upazila to set up a market.

Locals on a char of the Padma in Pabna’s Sagarkand claim that they own the land the government allocated for a solar power plant and are demanding compensation for their loss of land and livelihood.

A week after the rail accident in Sirajganj’s Ullapara upazila on November 14, the district administration and railway (west zone) in their probe reports have identified separate reasons behind the incident.

The Ichhamati, the once vibrant river that features prominently in several Bangla literary works, has turned into a narrow channel filled with garbage, thanks to rampant encroachment and indiscriminate dumping of waste.

Rail connection between Dhaka and Ishwardi was resumed yesterday, 30 hours after it was disrupted due to a rail accident in Sirajganj’s Ullapara upazila.

Three days after the tragic rail accident in Brahmanbaria, a Rangpur-bound passenger train derailed in Ullapara of Sirajganj yesterday noon.

A municipality mayor has established what appears to be a small port on the Hurasagor river at Brishalikha in Pabna’s Bera upazila.

Rampant use of closely knitted mesh nets, popularly known as current nets, poses threat to fish stock in Gaznar Beel in Pabna’s Sujanagar upazila.