Bogura district correspondent
A long queue of cargo trucks. One truck behind another. Some drivers have been waiting for a day, some for two days at the port entrance. Some trucks carry garment factory waste, some carry husk, while others carry fibreglass and various other goods. Their destinations are Nepal, India or Bhutan. However, before reaching their destinations, the cargo trucks have to wait for hours at the border.
Before dawn, the chilli market is set up — piles of good-quality dry chillies on one side and stacks of rotten ones on the other. As light breaks, the Kaliganj market in Panchagarh's Boda upazila bustles with buyers and sellers. Traders from various districts buy dry chillies, and by 9am, most of the business is done. The concern is that rotten dry chillies are openly sold here with significant demand, putting consumers at risk.
Dawn had not yet fully broken. After offering the Fajr prayer, they walked toward the Erulia labour market—some with a towel draped over their shoulders, others carrying a small bag with the few belongings they owned.
Two years after 15 policemen were bludgeoned to death by anti-government protesters at Enayetpur Police Station, the screams of that afternoon still echo for those who witnessed it. An elderly woman living directly behind the station in Sirajganj says she still hears the cries of dying officers in her sleep. Her seven- and eight-year-old granddaughters wake up screaming "save me, save me, I'm dying" in the middle of the night, unable to shake the trauma of what they saw.
A legal conflict has emerged between the local court and the administration in Shahjadpur, Sirajganj, over the ownership of land acquired for the Thana Complex in 1983. As a result of this conflict, a violation case was filed against Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Sabrina Sharmin. Not only that, an application was also made to keep the UNO in detention for six months in the same case.
Farmers in Bogura's Shajahanpur upazila have alleged that their agricultural land is being severely damaged due to unplanned canal excavation using excavators. They claim that farmland is collapsing into the canal as a result of the digging, causing loss of crops and soil erosion.