Rangamati Hill District

Rangamati(Bengali: রাঙ্গামাটি) is the Administrative Headquarter of Rangamati Hill District in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The town is located at 22°37'60N 92°12'0E and has an altitude of 14 metres (49 feet).^[1]
It's a travel destination of Bangladesh which is known as "Lake City". From Chittagong a 77 km road amidst green fields and winding hills leads to Rangamati; which is a wonderful repository of scenic splendours with flora and fauna of varied descriptions. The township is located on the western bank of the Kaptai lake. Rangamati is a favourite holiday destination because of its beautiful landscape, scenic beauty, lake, colourful tribes (Chakma, Marma etc), its flora and fauna, tribal museum, hanging bridge, homespun textile products, ivory jewellery and the tribal men and women who fashion them. For tourists, the attractions of Rangamati are numerous. Tribal life, fishing, speed boat cruising, hiking, bathing or merely enjoying .

Hanging Bridge: Hanging Bridge(Jhulonto Bridge in Bengali)is the landmark icon of Rangamati. It's a popular tourist spot and a must go destination

Kaptai Lake : Kaptai lake is a wonderful spot for boating and cruising. Parjatan and private tour
operators offer a number of cruises by mechanical boats. One can go to various scenic spots in Shuvalong, Barkal, Longadu, Mainimukh and other areas by boat from Rangamati.

Tribal Museum : The only Tribal Cultural Museum in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region was established at Rangamati town in 1978 and run by the Tribal Cultural Institute. It preserves valuable objects and articles of different tribes depicting their socio-economic, cultural and historical tradition. These include typical tribal dresses, ornaments, arms and ammunitions, coins, statues made of wood, bronze and other metals, musical instruments, ivory products, handicrafts, paintings on tribal life etc.

Barapukuria land subsidence victims continue fast-unto-death strike

Hundreds of affected people of Barapukuria coal-mining area spent their second day of fast unto-death strike on Thursday .

The fast-unto-death strike that began Wednesday by hundreds of people affected by land subsidence for Barapukuria coal-mining demanding compensation and their permanent rehabilitation entered its second day Thursday.
Local sources said about 5,000 inhabitants of several affected villages under the banner of Committee to Save Life and Property began their strike in front of the main gate of the Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd (BCMCL) on Wednesday noon.
Meanwhile, some 25 strikers fell sick today and they were given first aid.
Affected landowners said about 2,600 families of the area have been living under the risk of land collapse since production started at the coalmine in 2004.
"About three-fourths of 11 villages in the area have developed cracks and some 100 acres of land have sunk since then," said the committee of the affected people.
The Committee to Save Life and Property had earlier given an ultimatum to the state-owned Petrobangla to meet their demands by February 20.
Petrobangla Chairman Dr Hossain Mansur had also two meetings with the affected villagers on February 19. However, the meetings ended fruitlessly as the Petrobangla Chairman sought three and a half months time to solve their problems.
Ibrahim Khalil, convener of the Committee to Save Life and Property, said they would continue their fast-unto-death strike until their demands are met.
Meanwhile, BSS adds: The government has decided that the affected people of Barapukuria coal mine will get compensation as per the country's land acquisition law.
"They will get replacement value along with this package," the energy adviser told an inter- ministerial meeting on Thursday at the energy ministry presided over by State Minister for Power and Energy Brig Gen (retd) Muhammad Enamul Huq.
State minister for land, representatives of the ministries of the communication and law and top officials of the BCMCL, and energy ministry were present.
The meeting also decided to promulgate an ordinance to implement the idea of establishing a coal mine city in the country's northern zone in future. However, the affected people will get the compensation from July to August of this current fiscal.
To extract one million tonnes of coal per year to feed three (unit three is under consideration) coal fired power plants in Barapukuria through open pit mining, the government needs to acquire 300 acres of land at Barapukuria immediately, according to the energy ministry.
Since December last the government has started negotiating with 1,300 affected families of Barapukuria to acquire 646 acres of lands of seven villages in Dinajpur in four phases between 2010 and 2013.

Diarrhoea takes epidemic form

The number of diarrhoea patients at ICDDR,B in the
city is increasing with every passing day. This picture of a
nurse preparing a patient for IV fluid drip was taken on
Tuesday.

Several hundred children with diarrhea reported to the Sadar Hospital during the last two days showing the disease has taken an epidemic form.

Over the last few days, children afflicted with diarrhea, respiratory problem and other diseases in the district thronged mostly at Sadar Hospital despite its insufficient capacity.

On Monday and Tuesday, some 120 children got admited at the Sadar Hospital with only 18 beds for children, which forced most of the child patients to stay on the floor, at the

corridor and veranda of the hospital.

On Tuesday, some 45 children were released after medication while another 38 children got new admission. Besides, child patients from the nearby Panchagarh district and Birganj, Khansama and Kaharol upazilas of Dinajpur district also started to crowd the Sadar Hospital here, hampering medication and proper atention to the patients.

Some 350 patients were given medication at the outdoors while the rest of the patients went to local clinics.

Civil Surgeon Lokman Ali said most of the children are suffering from diarrhoea and pneumonia, but proper atention could not be given to them due to shortage of manpower.

"The major problem of the hospital is manpower. The 100-bed hospital is being run with the manpower of 50-bed," he added.

The civil surgeon admited the shortage of physicians and nurses in the hospital as there are only two child consultants and two nurses.

Child Specialist Dr. Ruhul Amin said the children are being affected by diarrhoea due to rotavirus.

Govt to introduce gene technology based crops for raising production: Matia

Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury Tuesday said the government would cautiously introduce gene technology based crops varieties in the country in order to increase food production for attaining food security.
She urged the private sector entrepreneurs for coming up with big investments in gene technology based seeds business for benefiting them side by side helping the farmers increase farm output. The minister was addressing as the chief guest while inaugurating Bangladesh Seed Conference and Seed Fair 2010 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center in the city. Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni addressed the seminar as special guest. Agriculture Ministry organized the seminar with Agriculture Secretary CQK Mustak Ahmed in the chair.
Director of SAARC Agriculture Center Dr Rafiqul Islam Mandal, Divisional Chief of Seed Science and Technology, Indian Agriculture Research Institute Dr Malavika Dadlani spoke at the function.
Additional Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture Anwar Faruque presented keynote paper. Convener of Bangladesh Seed Association delivered welcome address.
The Agriculture Minister said the government would ensure the interests of the farmers and protect them from any distress situation. She urged the seed traders for doing their seed business with the mind of serving the farmers besides making profits. She warned that if any one has ill motive of depriving farmers by supplying bad quality seeds, then stern actions would be taken against them and people would be alerted for not buying seeds from those traders. Laying importance for establishing regional cooperation in innovation and transfer of seeds, she said innovation of higher yield varieties of crops should be taken ahead through regional cooperation.
Referring to timely and bold decision of Awami League government for the interests of the people, she said AL government during its previous regime introduced high-yield crops in the country, which have actually helped the farmers in raising production.
"Since our decision was correct, people did not have to pay, rather they were benefited," she asserted.
Dr Dipu Moni said SAARC Agriculture Center contributed in attaining food security in the past and SAARC countries are contributing a lot for raising crops output in the region for this purpose. The present government has been providing supports to the farmers for increasing food output and as part of it subsidies were given to reduce prices of fertilizer and costs of irrigation, she said. FAO Representative to Bangladesh Ad Spijkers in his speech said the growing population pressure on land and water resources means that Bangladesh has to adopt modern, efficient technology in order to maintain growth in agriculture production to achieve and sustain self-sufficiency in food production. Provision of high-quality seed of improved crop varieties is a vital component of the government's strategy, he said adding that FAO, as part of its strong supports to Bangladesh, has recently distributed 65 million tons of BR-47 rice variety in the northern districts.

Indefinite bus strike in Dhaka city and suburbs

Around 50 bus companies running more than 2,500 buses in Dhaka City and its suburbs went on wildcat strike for an indefinite period Tuesday causing serious problems to the commuters.
The owners stopped plying their buses at 1pm demanding action against illegal toll collectors at different points in the city.
The trouble began when two buses of Satabdi Paribahan were damaged by activists of Dhaka Swarak Paribahan Samity for reusing tolls at Mirpur-2 at about 11am. Sharifuddin Khandaker, owner of the Satabdi Paribahan, rushed to the spot. He and some of his fellows were badly beaten by the activists for declining to pay the tolls, witnesses said.
Sharifuddin who was treated in a clinic for his head injury told UNB tonight that activists of the Paribahan Samity has been demanding tolls for the last few days with threat of dire consequences. They demanded Tk 70 for each bus daily.
"The private bus companies are not members of the Dhaka Swarak Paribahan Samity and hence were are not obliged to pay tolls to it. We look after the welfare of our workers and pay higher wages and fringe benefits," said Sharifuddin.
He said they took the matter to chairman of parliamentary standing committee on Communication Ministry Mujibur Rahman Sheikh in the evening. "He asked us to resume bus services with an assurance of looking into the matter," said Sharifuddin. The insipid attitude of Mujibur Rahman has angered the bus company owners who met him in Sangsad Bhavan. They immediately held a meeting in the office of Sakalpa Paribahan Limited and decided to continue the bus strike for an indefinite period.
The meeting, attended by 36 bus owners or their representatives, decided not to pay tolls to Dhaka Swarak Paribahan Samity as they are not members of it. It decided to continue the strike until arrest and punishment to those who damaged the buses and inflicted injuries to Sharifuddin and others.
Mansur, joint secretary of Dhaka Swarak Paribahan Samity, said the toll of Tk 70 for each bus was fixed by the government. The fund is raise for welfare of the transport owners and workers. The wildcat bus strike has created serious problem to the commuters.
Thousands of people at the close of government and private offices were seen standing at bus stoppages. In the absence of buses, rickshaw pullers demanded double fare. Some buses who are plying without ticket counters in the city however continued services.

Diarrhoea takes epidemic form

The number of diarrhoea patients at ICDDR,B in the city is increasing with every passing day. This picture of a nurse preparing a patient for IV fluid drip was taken on Tuesday.











Several hundred children with diarrhea reported to the Sadar Hospital during the last two days showing the disease has taken an epidemic form.

Over the last few days, children afflicted with diarrhea, respiratory problem and other diseases in the district thronged mostly at Sadar Hospital despite its insufficient capacity.

On Monday and Tuesday, some 120 children got admited at the Sadar Hospital with only 18 beds for children, which forced most of the child patients to stay on the floor, at the

corridor and veranda of the hospital.

On Tuesday, some 45 children were released after medication while another 38 children got new admission. Besides, child patients from the nearby Panchagarh district and Birganj, Khansama and Kaharol upazilas of Dinajpur district also started to crowd the Sadar Hospital here, hampering medication and proper atention to the patients.

Some 350 patients were given medication at the outdoors while the rest of the patients went to local clinics.

Civil Surgeon Lokman Ali said most of the children are suffering from diarrhoea and pneumonia, but proper atention could not be given to them due to shortage of manpower.

"The major problem of the hospital is manpower. The 100-bed hospital is being run with the manpower of 50-bed," he added.

The civil surgeon admited the shortage of physicians and nurses in the hospital as there are only two child consultants and two nurses.

Child Specialist Dr. Ruhul Amin said the children are being affected by diarrhoea due to rotavirus.