S Dilip Roy

Beaten and threatened, freelancer seeks help

“What was my fault?” Lying on a hospital bed, Mahmudul Hasan, a 33-year-old, was asking this to his relatives and everyone who came to see him, but got no response

14h ago

The last of the roving barbers

Roving barbers refer to barbers who don’t have a fixed salon, but instead, move around different markets or villages to provide grooming services to their customers. They set up temporary workstations wherever they find customers, often working under the open sky.

6d ago

Fraudster flees with depositors’ money

With the hope of getting huge profit, speech and hearing-impaired Kamol Chandra Saha started depositing money in a scheme of an insurance company in 2010.

1w ago

Hindu family faces eviction threat

A family from the minority community in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila is now living in fear of eviction from their ancestral home by an influential land grabber.

1w ago

Zahir’s love for medicinal plants

The story of Language movement hero Zahir Uddin Ahmed, who died at his home at Naodabash village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Friday evening, is quite encouraging, especially when people have been cutting trees for personal interest and financial gain.

1w ago

Sand lifting from Teesta bank rampant

Sand is being extracted illegally from the Teesta river in some places of Mahishkhocha union in Lalmonirhat’s Aditmari upazila, making the river bank vulnerable to erosion.

2w ago

Maize making its mark on farmers’ lives

In 1991, when Abul Kasem, a farmer of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat, a northwest bordering district, decided to cultivate maize, he was one of the few growers in his area.

2w ago

Permanent structures on govt land

Two local influential men have continued building separate permanent structures on leased out government khas land at Balarhat Bazar in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila, thanks to the negligence of the authorities concerned.

3w ago

Heavy vehicles putting 2nd Teesta Bridge in danger

The Sheikh Hasina Teesta Bridge, also known as the second Teesta Bridge, over the Teesta in Mahipur area on the Kakina-Mahipur route in Kaliganj is in a vulnerable condition due to heavy vehicles, especially stone-laden trucks, plying over it every day.

3w ago

A govt pry school that has no students

It is hard to believe that a government primary school, built in the middle of croplands, in Kurigram Sadar upazila is running without students.

Betel nut providing added benefit to farmers

Betel nut, also called the areca nut, has become a great source of additional income for farmers in Bangladesh as the fruit native to South Asia and parts of east Africa is widely consumed in the country.

Day labourer sets up library, helps spread knowledge in Kurigram

To promote the book reading culture and develop a nag for reading among villagers, Jaynal Abedin, a day labourer, established his library “Satvita Gronthonir” in his village Satvita of Kurigram’s Ulipur upazila in 2016.

Gold Smuggling: Syndicates at Indo-Bangla border remain unidentified

Gold smuggling continues to be a persistent issue at the Bangladesh-India border, particularly through the routes of Chawratari in Moghalhat union of Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila and Baniatari in Durgapur union of Aditmari Upazila.

Historical Sindurmoti Mela held in Lalmonirhat

Traditional Sindurmoti Mela was held at surrounding the historical Sindurmoti pond at Sindurmati village of Panchagram union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Thursday and Friday. Thousands of devotees from different areas of greater Rangpur and other parts of the country, along with people from India took part in the fair.

3 trucks with Indian goods worth Tk 3cr seized at port

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members have seized three Indian trucks with Indian goods worth Tk 3 crore, including sarees, three pieces, chemical products, and spectacles, which were illegally coming through the Burimari land port in Lalmonirhat’s Patgram upazila.

Dried-up Teesta snatches away income

The livelihood of over one lakh people, living in the Teesta river basin areas, has been hit hard as the mighty river has dried up due to a lack of water flow from the upstream.

Carrot cultivation brings cheers for char farmers

For the first time, carrots are being grown commercially in char areas of Teesta river, where farmers previously grew the vegetable only for personal consumption.

'Teestar Kanna' brings Teesta shoal residents to tears

Poet and writer Ishor Dulon Roy, author of Teestar Kanna, told The Daily Star that many of his relatives live on the Teesta shoal. Once they were all rich, all now lost to the river erosion.

Heartbreaks as 'Kannakatir Mela' not allowed

On the occasion of Ganga Puja, thousands of people from both Bangladesh and India gathered at the border near Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat today to meet their near and dear ones like every year

Bringing education to a remote char

The light of education hardly ever reached Char Kalikapur, an inaccessible area on the Teesta riverbed. For the children of 400 families of this area, going to school remained a distant dream amid other harsh realities.

For the love of books, in remote chars

Sixty-seven-year-old Idris Ali is a farmer living at a remote char in Rolakata area on the Brahmaputra bed. He has to travel to Jatrapur market of Kurigram Sadar upazila every day because of his work and to buy essentials for his family.

Pandit Boi Mela enriches the Brahmaputra river bank

"It is not just a book fair; it is a gathering of the people of this region."

Kurigram’s Bhawaiya Bhaskar’s biography taught in Indian university

Barma told The Daily Star that he is a folk music artist listed by Bangladesh Radio and Bangladesh Television. He has sung more than a thousand Bhawaiya songs on radio and television.

Mustard farmers pleased with yields, prices

Farmers in the greater Rangpur region are so far pleased with their mustard yields amid the ongoing harvesting period while prices for the major oilseed are higher compared to what they were last season.

A ray of hope for char children

Char Bhagabatipur is a remote shoal village along the Brahmaputra river basin area under Jatrapur union in Kurigram Sadar upazila where nearly 500 families reside.

Part of Brahmaputra in Kurigram being dredged for Ganga Vilas's arrival

MV Ganga Vilas, the world's longest river cruise, which started its journey from India, will arrive at Chilmari port on February 15, said Mahbubur Rahman, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority chief pilotat Chilmari port.

YouTube tutorial on fish farming brings him success

Abdul Momin, a resident of Rajarhat union in Kurigram, has succeeded in applying biofloc technology to raise native breeds of fish in his very own backyard.

Still no replacement for risky rail bridge

It has been two decades since the longevity of Teesta Railway Bridge in Lalmonirhat’s Sadar upazila expired. But till this day, hundreds of people cross the bridge daily, risking their lives.

Vermicompost production, sale grow in Rangpur

About 10,000 farmers across five districts, namely Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari and Rangpur, are benefitting from the production, use and sale of vermicompost, which is a natural fertiliser produced by decomposing organic material using earthworms.

Families left with no roof over their head

On the bank of the Brahmaputra, 60-year-old Sekendar Ali had sown seeds of hope for his family, with just his own hands and a spade. But little did he know, the tides of the river had a different fate in store for him.

Keeping the tradition alive

Once upon a time, flowers were cultivated in acres and acres of fields in a Lalmonirhat village, so much so that the place was named Fulgachh, which literally means a flower tree.

12 years later, justice still eludes Felani’s family

It has been 12 years since Felani, a Bangladeshi teenager, was shot dead by a member of India’s Border Security Force and left hanging from the barbed fence of the border along Kurigram, but her family is still waiting for justice.

Orange orchard in Lalmonirhat sees great success

Ekramul Haque, a farmer of Lalmonirhat sadar upazila, had leased four acres of land in Harati union back in 2018 to try his hand at growing oranges.

Rangpur Mayoral Election: JP’s Mostafa wins, AL polls only 8pc

Jatiya Party’s Mostafizar Rahman Mostafa was reelected Rangpur mayor while the ruling Awami League candidate, in the fourth position, managed to bag only 8 percent of the vote in the city corporation polls yesterday.

Rangpur City Helm: AL, JP battling it out today

Both the ruling Awami League and opposition Jatiya Party said they would win the Rangpur City Corporation election today.

Leased for fish farming, now a makeshift market

Ghoshal Sarobar, a pond on the premises of the 400-year-old Tushbhander Zamindar Bari in Lalmonirhat’s Kaliganj upazila, was leased to a local resident for fish farming. He has, however, constructed over a hundred shops illegally by filling the pond’s bank with earth.

Seasonal business flourishes as demand for date molasses soars

While date molasses is being sold at Tk 160 per kilogramme (kg) in local markets, the same product made by seasonal producers is going for up to Tk 200 per kg from the factory floor, according to traders.

Temple-based education: Teachers not getting salary for 18 months

Teachers and officials engaged in temple-based pre-primary education programmes in Lalmonirhat are in trouble as they are not getting salaries for 18 months.

Emerging Teesta-Dharla shoals hamper communication

When almost all the 26 small rivers in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram have already been dried up, the two major rivers--Teesta and Dharla -- have turned into narrow channels due to lack of water flow from the upstream, creating hindrance to the livelihood of thousands of people living in different shoal areas of the two districts.

Process of reopening Mogalhat land port underway

The process of reopening a defunct customs station and immigration checkpost on the Bangladesh-India border in Lalmonirhat has been underway since September this year, said Shahriar Alam, state minister for foreign affairs, yesterday.

Call gets louder to reopen Mogalhat land port

The reopening of Mogalhat, a decommissioned land port on the Bangladesh-India border in Lalmonirhat, has been stalled for a long time now even though resuming trade and immigration activities would be of great benefit to local businesspeople, according to officials.