Himu's Window

Growers to face Tk 300 crore loss from potato damage Anwar Ali, Rajshahi   Sacks of potato are piled up on the premises of Rahman Cold Storage at Nawhata Madhusudhanpur in Paba upazila while the authorities have hung a notice announcing closure of receiving potato. Photo: STAR   About 3.20 lakh tonnes of potatoes worth around Tk 300 crore is facing damage as growers in 16 districts of Rajshahi division are compelled to preserve the perishable winter crop in traditional way. The situation has arisen as growers have failed to preserve it in cold storages due to lack of accommodation. A prolonged winter this year helped yield around 58 lakh tonnes of potatoes from over 3.50 lakh hectares of land in northern districts and a total of 130 cold storages in the region could accommodate only 10 lakh tonnes. Of the remaining 48 lakh tonnes, about two-thirds 32 lakh tonnes are expected to be sold in local markets and other parts of country while the remaining amount will have

Published On: 2008-03-23 Business Bumper potato output puts Rajshahi growers in peril Anwar Ali, Rajshahi   Potato sacks are stockpiled on the premises of Rahman Cold Storage at Nawhata in Rajshahi as authorities put up a sign saying they have stopped receiving potatoes for storage.   Potato growers in 16 districts of Rajshahi division are in great trouble due to lack of storage facility following a bumper production of the crop. The farmers have harvested around 58 lakh metric tones of potato in the region but there have been only 130 cold storage, which can preserve only 10 lakh tonnes, agriculture department sources said. Of the remaining 48 lakh tones, some 32 lakh tonnes will be sold in local markets, the sources said. And the rest of 16 lakh tonnes will be preserved traditionally at houses due to lack of storage facility. But agricultural department officials fear some 20 percent of

Editorial Dealing with swindler NGOs   Firm action against them is a necessity News coming in from Natore about the vanishing acts resorted to by some NGOs does little to cheer us, naturally. But what surely leaves everyone perplexed is the extent to which the district administration there has failed to take action against such NGOs even after reports about their negative activities were circulated widely. It is a lax administration we are speaking of here, for the very simple reason that despite the detection of as many as 30 fraudulent NGOs in the district, no punitive measures appear to have been taken against the people behind them. Just how serious the problem is turning out to be is to be seen from the way in which a million people have been swindled out of an altogether Taka 500 crore in eight north-western districts by these fake NGOs. Not long ago, reports of the swindle committed by a so-called non-government organisation, Freedom Unnayan Sangstha, pointed

NGO Swindling Tk 22 lakh seized from house in Natore Staff Correspondent, Rajshahi Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) recovered Tk 22 lakh in cash and ornaments worth Tk 70,000 from the house of an NGO director's relative in Bharatmaria village in Puthia, Rajshahi yesterday. Meanwhile, NGO victims in Natore demanded arrest of the deputy commissioner and social welfare officials for "helping" the frauds in exchange of bribes. Acting on a tip off, a Rab team raided the house of Aroz Mollah, 55, father-in-law of Joynal Sheikh, director of Probhati Grameen Unnayan Sangstha, and found Tk 14.5 lakh in a trunk. Following Aroz's confession, the elite force dug out a polythene-sack full of money and gold ornaments worth Tk 70,000 at his cowshed, said Rab sources. Probhati officials in recent NGO scam in Natore disappeared with around Tk 100 crore from 2.5 lakh members. Several hundred NGO victims under the banner 'Protarok NGO Birodhi Sangram Committee' staged a demonstrat

Swindler NGOs Lax admin control, irregularities led to crisis Anwar Ali, back from Natore Taking advantage of lax administration and irregularities at social welfare office, 30 fraud NGOs swindled about 10 lakh people out of around Tk 500 crore in eight northwestern districts. Based in Natore, the NGOs stretched business web in the name of voluntary organisations for the poor quite openly over Rajshahi, Naogaon, Bogra, Pabna, Joypurhat, Kustia and Dinajpur since March last year. Even after leading swindler Freedom Unnayan Sangstha (FUS) disappeared with Tk 250 crore, the Natore district administration gave other NGOs green light at a meeting on March 3, ignoring general participants' opinions for arresting some officials. Following that meeting, two more NGOs having 3.5 lakh members -- Probhati Grameen Unnayan Sangstha, with around Tk 100 crore, and Palli Jagoroni Unnayan Sangstha with Tk 70 crore -- vanished. Two separate probes into NGO activities revealed a nu

Rajshahi poultry farm owner, family safe from bird flu danger Staff Correspondent, Rajshahi The poultry farm owner and his wife and son, who were quarantined on suspicion of avian influenza infection, were released from Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) yesterday after pathological tests in the capital produced negative results. The tests of throat and nasal swabs of Ashraf Hossain, 42, and his wife and 14-year-old son were carried out at the virology departments of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) and the ICDDR,B. "We recommended releasing the three after extensive tests. We first performed a rapid test for influenza at the virology department of IEDCR and the results were negative for all three," said Prof Mahmudur Rahman, director of IEDCR. "Usually, we do not proceed for further tests after the rapid

NGO victims seek justice Submit memo to Natore DC for CA, army chief   NGO victims yesterday marched towards Natore district headquarters defying police interception and demanded justice in what they said was a swindle committed in cooperation with local administration. A procession of around 500 swindled people submitted a memorandum to the Natore deputy commissioner and sent its copies to the chief adviser, army chief and some other government high-ups. The victims made a six-point demand including a judicial probe into the fraudulent activities by some suddenly sprouted NGOs, which have vanished with around Tk 500 crore. Their other demands include immediate arrest and punishment to swindler NGO owners and those among local administration and people's representatives who assisted them, and arrangements for returning the swindled money. The victims from greater Rajshahi districts started gathering in front of the Sadar upazila nirbahi officer's office in the

Probe finds anomalies in NGO registration Now Sylhet NGO vanishes with money from 500 depositors The Social Welfare Directorate (SWD) yesterday stand-released two officials of Natore office as primary investigation revealed irregularities in registering fraud NGOs that disappeared with members' about Tk 500 crore. Meanwhile, the tendency of disappearing with public money spreads elsewhere, as another NGO vanished, this time in Sylhet, with Tk 50 lakh from over 500 depositors, report UNB. Sources said, Social Welfare Deputy Director Mir Bux has been transferred to Bhola and registration officer Ismail Hossain to Bandarban, reports our Roving Correspondent from Natore. The steps were taken after the three-member SWD team from Dhaka probed discrepancies in Natore office in the last three days. Headed by SWD Additional Director Sailendranath Paik, the team also comprises Deputy Director (HQ) Badiuzzaman and Assistant Director Nasir Uddin. "Now they [two officials]

Tk 7cr more gone with 2 other Natore NGOs Registration of 2 NGOs cancelled Roving Correspondent, Natore The Social Welfare Directorate yesterday cancelled registration of two fraud NGOs in Natore while officials of two more NGOs disappeared with around Tk 7 crore in Natore and Rajshahi. Registrations of Freedom Unnayan Sangstha and Probhati Grameen Unnayan Sangstha that disappeared on February 28 and March 4 with huge amount of money were cancelled. Bank authorities said they have been asked by the district administration to freeze accounts, if any, of the two NGOs. Victims of these NGOs held a protest meeting in Nasratpur from where they announced to besiege Natore Deputy Commissioner's Office on Sunday. Meanwhile, Jibon Dhara, an unregistered NGO in Dhamongram village in Naldanga, and Doel Bahumukhi Atma-Karmasangsthan Sangstha in Durgapur, Rajshahi have disappeared. Jibon Dhara staffs Shahidul Islam and Moazzem Hossain told reporters the NGO had collected about Tk 4 crore from 6

Yet another NGO vanishes with Tk 2cr Probe body arrives in Natore Roving Correspondent, Natore A three-member probe committee from Social Welfare Directorate (SWD) in Dhaka arrived in Natore yesterday as another NGO disappeared from Mirjapur Diarpara in Naldanga with about Tk 2 crore. Headed by Sailendranath Paik, SWD additional director, the committee will look for discrepancies in registering NGOs that sprang up in Natore and surrounding districts and engaged in swindling people. Natore Social Welfare office registered 59 NGOs since January last year and most of them locked into illegal businesses, which the office also grossly ignored, said sources. Three officials of unregistered NGO Ashar Alo fled from the head office in Mirjapur Diarpara in Natore with around Tk 2 crore collected from around 5,000 members through 58 branches. About 100 people gathered in front of the head office with hopes of refunding. They said director Rejaul Karim, Selim and Rejaul Amin fle

Editorial Bogus NGOs' vanishing act How could they operate at all? ANOTHER form of organised extortion is increasingly in evidence going by two front-page stories run in a row by our newspaper in the last couple of days. In villages of Natore and Rajshahi, gullible people were registering with so-called NGOs on payment of money as investment promising weekly dividends. For some time impressive returns were given to members winning their confidence and thereafter the NGOs suddenly disappeared from the scene. Such vanishing acts have been performed by a number of NGOs with catchy high sounding names in Rajshahi and Natore areas cheating unsuspecting rural people of Taka 260crore in total. Deeper down, the tales are pathetic and one tends to grit one's teeth in rage when confronted with the full detail. Many sold everything they had or mortgaged their only piece of land or borrowed money from Karitas, Grameen Bank and Padakkhep and deposited it with the NGOs to

Another NGO disappears with Tk 18 lakh in Natore Victims torch office, assault UP chairman   Roving Correspondent, Natore Thousands of victims of Probhati Grameen Unnayan Sangstha went on the rampage yesterday, assaulting a woman Union Parishad chairman and torching office and chief's house in Naldanga as the NGO disappeared with about Tk 18 crore. The NGO officials went into hiding hours after being in the charge of Mahua Parvin Lipi, chairman of Biprobelgharia UP, at Monday night's meeting at the deputy commissioner's office, Natore. A huge number of police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and members of joint forces rushed to bring the situation under control. A contingent of armed police has been on hand as the furious members of the swindling NGO might explode anytime. It could not be immediately estimated how much money the NGO swindled out of its members. Police suspect the NGO collected over Tk 150 crore from around 60,000 members in the last one yea

3 more NGOs vanish with Tk 10 crore Mob ransacks 10 NGO offices   Angry mobs ransacked 10 NGO offices and beat up officials as three more NGOs disappeared with Tk 10 crore seizing the opportunity of Natore district administration's lax management. Meanwhile, a meeting held at the district administration office yesterday decided to stop activities of all NGOs and recommend cancellation of their registration. Anarchy was prevailing in the villages of Naldanga in Natore and Puthia in Rajshahi yesterday as cheated people were desperately looking for the NGO officials concerned to get their money back. Tofazzal Hossain, Chhatni Union Parishad chairman, said: "We informed the district administration several times about the illegal monetary dealings by the NGOs. But they didn't take any action." Sajjad Hossain Mukul, chairman of Shilmaria Union Parishad, said local administration has failed to establish control over NGOs even after Freedom Unnayan Sangstha

Swindler NGO men flee with Tk 250cr 2 lakh cheated of their last penny   Anwar Ali, Rajshahi Mozahar Hossain was enthusiastic about being a member of local NGO Freedom Unnayan Sangstha in Natore depositing only Tk 6,400, as the return seemed very promising. Initially he was asked to bring two more members to start getting Tk 570 a week until Tk 29,540 in 57 weeks. Mozahar, a rickshaw-puller from Mominpur, Naldanga borrowed Tk 70,000 mortgaging his only piece of land and put down the money. He was planning to deposit more when he got back Tk 16,000 in weekly payments. Housewife Sabiha Begum of Mollapara in Puthia, Rajshahi borrowed Tk 38,000 from Karitas, Grameen Bank and Padakkhep and credited those with the NGO. She was getting Tk 3,990 per week. Like Mozahar and Sabiha, thousands of ignorant people from remote villages in Natore, Rajshahi and neighbouring districts were enthusiastic about making quick money, even by selling everything they had and taking loa

Sugar prices up in Rajshahi as govt mills stop sales   Sugar prices increased by Tk 7 a kg in retail markets in one week in Rajshahi region after the government on Monday stopped selling sugar from eight mills in northern region. Sugar was selling at Tk 36 a kg yesterday in Rajshahi, Natore and Naogaon districts against Tk 29 a week ago. Earlier on February 17 the sugar mills under Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) stopped sales, but a day later the mills resumed selling at Tk 28,000 per metric ton against the previous price of Tk 25,000 per metric ton. Industry people said the BSFIC took the move to increase the prices of sugar. When contacted, managing directors of Rajshahi, Natore and North Bengal sugar mills confirmed that the mills have stopped selling sugar. Asked about reasons behind the price hike of sugar, M Yahia Mia, managing director of Rajshahi Sugar Mills, said production cost of per ton of sugar is around Tk 41,500 but the mills sell