Coastal areas of Khulna: Struggle for safe drinking water getting tougher
Waking up before dawn, Dipali Mondal takes a three-km walk every day to collect drinking water from a pond for her five-member family in Channirchak village of Khulna’s Dakop upazila.
5d ago
Mosquitoes invade Khulna
After winter ended, mosquitoes took control of Khulna, making life difficult for many city dwellers. Locals claim that the situation has been going on for a long time, with the authorities continuing to turn a blind eye.
4w ago
Tomato farmers face peak season plight
Tomato farmers, particularly those in the southwest division of Khulna, are facing steep losses as prices for the fruit have come down drastically due to oversupply, as is the case around this time each year.
In disrepair for a decade
Shipyard Road, one of the busiest entrances to Khulna city, is becoming unusable for vehicular movement, as it has remained unrepaired for the last 10 years.
Karikapara canal: anything but a waterbody now
Karikapara canal, a 3-kilometre-long waterbody running through Khulna city, is on the verge of extinction due to mindless waste dumping and encroachment.
Jujube cultivation gaining ground
Thousands of farmers in the southwestern region of Bangladesh are benefitting from cultivating jujube as the fruit offers better profits within a shorter period of time compared to other crops.
Nightmare on the Khulna streets
Waiting hours in gridlocks and treading carefully on footpaths have become the norm for Khulna city dwellers due to the haphazard work to improve drainage, which is showing no sign of completion since it started in 2019.
Too many patients, too few beds
Khadiza Begum, came to Khulna Medical College Hospital on December 30 from Satkhira’s Shyamnagar, with her six-year-old son Siam, who was suffering from high fever and shortness of breath.
Grabbing canals for fish cultivation
Farmers in Khulna’s Batiaghata upazila are facing a crisis of sweet water for irrigating their agricultural land as most of the local canals have been grabbed by influential people.
Closed for 4 years in name of renovation
For the last four years, Mujgunni Shishu Park in Khulna city has remained closed in the name of renovation. As a result, children are being deprived of a much needed recreational place.
Farmers suffer losses as shrimp prices slump
Black tiger shrimps, locally known as Bagda, have seen their prices slump, handing losses to thousands of farmers in the southwestern region, the main belt of export-oriented shrimp and prawns in Bangladesh.
Chui jhal farming spreads
Things that immediately come to mind when someone thinks of Khulna are the world’s one of the largest mangrove forests Sundarbans and delicious shrimps. But the southwestern city is also home to food dishes prepared with piper chaba, locally known as chui jhal, whose popularity is growing rapidly.
Khulna BSCIC in dire straits
An industrial estate of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) in Khulna is yet to be fully developed even though more than half a century has passed since its establishment.
Shoilmari: A river dead, livelihoods endangered
The once mighty Shoilmari river in Khulna’s Batiaghata upazila can now only be called a river on paper. In just three years, it has been filled with silt.
Aquaculture in Khulna: Pioneer of Pabda farming leads the way for locals
Md Alauddin Zoardar of Hasanpur village under Khulna’s Dumuria upazila has become a pioneer in fish farming by cultivating Pabdah catfish, locally known as Pabda, in a saline prone area of the region.
Beans of boons
Broad bean farmers in Kharnia village under Dumuria upazila of Khulna expect good profit from cultivating early varieties of the crop this year, given that the weather remains favourable.
Pollution puts Mayur in peril
Due to continuous encroachment and unchecked pollution, Mayur, one of the main freshwater rivers of Khulna, is at death’s throes.
Submerged for five days!
Rainwater hasn’t drained out of Khulna city’s Bastuhara colony yet, even after five days, causing immense suffering to 5,000 residents.
Agriculture insurance still elusive
Cyclone Sitrang is over and the weather is forecast to be sunny today. But for thousands of people in Bangladesh, including farmers, it is rather gloomy.
Cyclone Sitrang damages Aman crops, fish farms
Cyclone Sitrang has affected 33,000 hectares of transplanted Aman paddy crop and washed away fish and shrimps mainly in the southern coastal districts, officials said yesterday.
Sun shines in Khulna, "no major damage" to Aman paddy, fishes
Khulna region has been sunny since morning (October 25, 2022) with occasional clouds in the sky. However, many roads are still under water due to yesterday's heavy rain brought on by Cyclone Sitrang.
Cyclone Sitrang: Locals alarmed as Khulna dam damaged
Locals are in panic since the embankment in Khulna’s Koyra upazila was damaged due to high tide and rain since midnight ahead of cyclone Sitrang.
‘Don’t sleep through climate crisis’
Rising seas, floods, and intensifying cyclones are just a few of the calamities that threaten Bangladesh, one of the most climate change-vulnerable countries in the world, said speakers yesterday.
Obstacles defied, BNP rally peaceful
The BNP rally in Khulna was largely peaceful with some incidents of vandalism and activists of the BNP and ruling Awami League chasing each other.
BNP rally: Khulna now “sea of people”
One can hear slogans while crossing Shibbari intersection in Khulna this morning (October 22, 2022) as people in small groups are moving towards the rally venue marching and chanting. Meanwhile, many has already arrived at the rally venue last evening.
BNP’s Khulna rally: Owners take buses off the streets
Bus owners are suspending bus services in Khulna for two days from today ahead of the BNP’s protest rally in the city tomorrow.
Bhairab struggles for survival
Due to the mindless dumping of waste, rampant river-grabbing by influential persons and reluctance of authorities to take appropriate steps, Bhairab river -- one of the major waterbodies of the country -- continues to suffer.
When sluice gates don’t work
As many as eight sluice gates out of 23 have remained completely out of order in Khulna’s Koyra upazila for a long time, concerning the farmers about irrigation during the ongoing Aman season.
Battery-run vehicles add to Khulna’s power woes
Despite the energy crisis, hundreds of battery-powered vehicles, easy-bikes and vans are plying Khulna roads consuming huge amounts of electricity everyday.
Not abducted, she went into hiding
Rahima Begum was not abducted; she willingly went into hiding, said Police Bureau of Investigation yesterday.
“Missing” Rahima went into hiding willingly: PBI
Rahima Begum, the mother of Moriom Mannan, who was rescued after remaining missing for nearly a month, had not been abducted. She had gone into hiding willingly, said Police Bureau of Investigation.
Sorry state of a chest clinic
Nur Alom stood in front of the squalid tin-roof building and wondered if he had made a mistake, travelling all the way from his village in Bagerhat to the Chest Disease Clinic in Khulna city.
Incomplete bridge, immeasurable suffering
Thousands have been suffering for years as the construction of Kalia bridge over the Nabaganga river in Narail is yet to be completed.
Turning into a ghost town
As soon as one enters the first gate of Platinum Jute Mill Workers Colony next to Khulna’s BIDC road, they can see rows of empty two-storey buildings, overgrown with careless neglect.
Dilapidated for 11 years
About 5.5 kilometres of Sonadanga-Mujgunni highway, one of the busiest roads in Khulna city, is increasingly becoming unusable for commuters, as it has remained unrepaired for the last 11 years.
‘We want our land, not compensation’
In the pretext of increasing navigability and capacity, the Mongla Port authorities are dredging the Pashur River.
Khulna, Jashore: Over half of level crossings unprotected
Over half of the level crossings at different regions of Khulna and Jashore don’t have a gateman. Some of these crossings are registered under the ministry, while others remain unregistered.
Padma Bridge opens door to opportunities
The dream of establishing road connectivity between the southwestern part of Bangladesh and the capital city came true after the opening of long-waited Padma Bridge in June.
Khulna footpaths for vendors, not pedestrians
It seems footpaths are not meant for pedestrians to use, rather it’s a place for hawkers and vendors to conduct their business in the Khulna city lately.
No rides in a children’s park?
Golakmoni Shishu Park, one of Khulna city’s entertainment centres, hardly lives up to its name. Although it’s called a “Shishu Park”, there are no facilities for children to play. However, this park, established on 64 decimals of land in 1984 at the heart of Khulna city, could’ve served as a great entertainment hub for children as well as residents of the city.
An understatement of damages?
Victims of the Narail mayhem alleged that the actual picture of the damage to Hindu households, shops and properties was not reflected in police’s case statement as they deem it to be much higher.
Cops dilly-dallying with arrests
Many attackers of the Narail mayhem have already been identified through video footage. They are still roaming around the village but police did not arrest them, alleged the victims.
A story of scarcity and negligence
Due to scarcity of trained professionals, unavailability of equipment and overwhelming treatment costs, cancer care is still inaccessible to hundreds of patients in Khulna and surrounding southern districts.
Narail mayhem: Police backup came a little too late
Though a mob of several hundred people thronged the Sahapara village in Narail’s Lohagara upazila around 4:00pm on July 15, police reinforcement was nowhere to be seen until 11:00pm.
Narail mayhem: Sahapara still stalked by fear
Shibnath Saha’s life utterly changed on Friday evening.
‘They attacked us because we are Hindus’
Deepali Rani Saha can never forget this Friday night when she watched her house burn down.
Fish, vegetable prices go up in Khulna after Eid
The wholesale and retail prices of vegetables and fish have shot up in Khulna right after Eid celebrations, due to inadequate supply -- creating a burden for those belonging to the lower-income group.
July 9, 2022
In a dire state for 50 years
Khulna Infectious Disease Hospital has been facing multiple problems for over the last fifty years. This, in turn, has made it almost impossible to offer quality treatment to patients.
July 1, 2022
Only 1.5hrs rain drowns Khulna
Moderate rain inundated around two-thirds of Khulna city yesterday, causing immense sufferings to residents.
June 23, 2022
Khulna city chokes on dust
Khulna city dwellers have been facing intense dust pollution for the last couple of years, as long stretches of roads and drains are being reconstructed under different development projects.
June 11, 2022
Money spent on dredging gone to waste
Only two years after the Tk 46.25 crore re-excavation project was taken for Bhadra river in Khulna’s Dumuria upazila, it has once again been filled with silt. According to Water Development Board (WDB) officials, the amount of silt deposited on the riverbed is higher in the southwestern region, Dumuria being one.
June 2, 2022
The vulgar disparity of life
Nur Alom (47) was a substitute worker at a Khulna jute mill that shut down on July 1, 2020.
May 21, 2022
Neglected for 12yrs, bypass road being renovated by locals in Khulna
A major road of the city, unfit due to lack of maintenance for 12 years. Multiple complaints were made to the authorities but to no avail.
May 20, 2022
Chuknagar: A sea of blood
The massacre began at 11:00am and ended at 5:00pm. More than 10,000 people were killed by a platoon of Pakistani army, according to local historians.
April 23, 2022
Pages turning to dust: Khulna Public Library overlooked, ignored
A library of almost six decades, with a collection of 1,27,000 books. An average of 150 readers every day, intently studying with pin-drop silence in the spacious reading room.
April 18, 2022
The death of a river
The road on the west of Dumuria’s Baliakhali bridge had to be crossed through the mighty Hamkura on ferries. The road is still there. The river, however, is not.
April 16, 2022
Nana Halim, a 30-yr-old Khulna delicacy
Around 3:00pm, South Central Road of Khulna city remains almost empty due to the scorching heat. However, an opposite scenario can be noticed on the footpath in front of Government Pioneer Women’s College. With a canopy overhead, vendors have set up iftar stalls. Of these stalls, “Nana Special Halim” continues to gather a large crowd.
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