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Growers to face Tk 300 crore loss from potato damage

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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

Bumper potato output puts Rajshahi growers in peril

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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

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

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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