Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu

Some 596 operatives of different outlawed parties yesterday surrendered to Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan by handing over their firearms in Pabna.

It was during breakfast time when Nasiman Bewa, a resident of Dogachhi village in Pabna sadar upazila, heard the sound of gunfire invading the usual tranquillity in the air.

The once spacious corridor that the members of about 200 impoverished Hindu families used to get access to the nearby road has been shrunken so much so that it is impossible to carry a person on wheelchair now.

Legendary classical musician Barin Mazumder seems to be a forgotten hero in his hometown while his two sons are now engaged in a legal battle to get back their ancestral property that were lost to illegal occupier long ago.

Construction of a railway line in front of two schools along the Ishwardi-Rooppur road in Pabna has made teachers and parents of more than 800 students worried.

People of Chatmohar upazila have been spending sleepless nights patrolling different villages in the upazila with law enforcers for the last one week due to a rise in theft and robberies from the beginning of this month.

People visiting the ancestral house of Suchitra Sen in Pabna return disappointed due to the very small collection of memorabilia and lack of maintenance of the house.

Fish farmers of Pabna, Sirajganj and Natore districts in Chalanbeel region are busy producing dried fish (shutki), but they are quite depressed this year as they are not getting adequate supply of local varieties of fish from the biggest waterbody in north Bengal.

Taherul Islam, a retired primary teacher of Shara-Gopalpur village in Pabna's Ishwardi upazila, set up a free school for underprivileged children seven years ago.

Navigability crisis in the Jamuna river badly hampers movement of vessels, much to the inconvenience of cargo boats heading for Baghabari river port in Sirajganj from early November.

“Coffee houser shei addata aaj aar nei”, “Maago, bhabna keno, amra tomar shantipriyo shanto chhele” and many other songs by lyricist Gauri Prasanna Mazumder ring through the hearts of Bangalees across the world.

Some 21 years after the Pabna Mental Hospital (PMH) -- the country's first specialised hospital for patients with mental disorders -- was upgraded to a 500-bed facility in 1997, it is still operating with the manpower of a 200-bed hospital.

“Oh Dada, bring your boat, I have to go home.” It's the call of villagers that will forever live in the sentiments of fifty-year-old Bimal Kumar, though he won't hear it anymore.

Mentoo, who was formerly known as Mintoo, reached into his pocket and drew out a sepia-toned photograph. “I have a childhood photograph and can recall the name of Nagarbari ghat in Pabna's Bera upazila. Nothing else,” he said in crisp English.

Installation of “core catcher”, the device for catching molten core (active part of the reactor that contains nuclear fuel) material began at unit no. 1 of Roopur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) on Saturday.

In Ishwardi upazila these days, the farm workers out in the field might look a little young. In a programme run with the cooperation of local farmers, 84 educational institutions are sending students into the sunshine, even at the weekend, to gain practical farming knowledge.

Last month, Ranjita Roy, an eighth grader of Chatmohar Pilot Girls' High School, faced an unavoidable challenge during her half-yearly examinations. Her period began while in the exam hall and she did not have the option to go home and get a sanitary pad.

Eight people were killed and three others critically injured after they were electrocuted by a live wire of the Power Development Board (PDB) at Kadai village in Sirajganj Sadar upazila yesterday noon.

The construction of the second reactor unit of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant starts today.

Failing to pay employees' salaries and wages because of cash crunch, the authorities of Pabna Sugar Mills gave them sugar against their last three-month dues.