Mother Sugandha Das struggled to save 50 thousand taka for her daughter Arpita's surgery. But she had nothing to do but watching it go up in flames along with their belongings in a devastating fire at Tek Para in Firingibazar Ward of Chattogram city.

With her daughter in need of medical treatment, and the money lost, Sugandha was left in despair. The heartbreaking story was published in Barta24.com, prompting an outpouring of support from the community.

Upon learning of the situation, many individuals reached out to offer assistance to Arpita.

However, the Deputy Commissioner of Chattogram, Abul Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, intervened, personally delivering the burnt 50,000 taka to Sugandha. He assured her that he would take steps to ensure her daughter Arpita's treatment.

Explaining the decision to Barta24.com, the Deputy Commissioner shared, "Sugandha Das had saved 50,000 taka for her daughter's surgery, but it was lost in the fire. In response to the media coverage, we provided 50,000 taka on behalf of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for Arpita's treatment.

“Additionally, I will liaise with the Port Hospital authorities to arrange affordable treatment for Arpita,” said the Deputy Commissioner.

On Tuesday, the Deputy Commissioner visited the fire-affected areas of Tek Para and Ayakub Nagar in Firingibazar Ward, where he provided humanitarian aid to Sugandha and others affected by the fire.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, Sugandha Das couldn't hold back her tears as the District Commissioner presented her with financial aid. She tearfully expressed her thanks to the Prime Minister through the Commissioner, acknowledging the hardship she endured to save money for her daughter's surgery, only to see it vanish in the fire. With the Commissioner's assistance of 50 thousand taka, Sugandha expressed her profound appreciation to both the Prime Minister and the Commissioner. She also expressed her indebtedness to the journalists who shed light on her plight, recognizing that she could never fully repay them for their support.

13 people were killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a pickup van in the suburbs of Faridpur town. Two others were injured in this accident.

The accident took place on Tuesday (April 16) around 8:30 a.m. in the Deepnagar area of ​​Kanaipur, a suburb of the Dhaka-Khulna highway. However, the casualty was not immediately identified.

Eyewitnesses said that a Uttara Unique Paribahan bus was going to Magura with passengers from Dhaka in the morning. On the way, the bus collided head-on with a pickup van coming from the opposite direction when it reached Deepnagar area of ​​Kanaipur in Faridpur. The pickup van was twisted. 13 passengers including the driver of the pickup van were killed on the spot. Two people were injured at this time. They have been admitted to a local hospital.

They said that the pickup van was carrying passengers instead of goods. This information was confirmed by Highway Police Superintendent Mohammad Shahinul Alam.

He said that the passengers were going to Faridpur town from Alfadanga by renting the pickup van. On the way, the pickup van collided head-on with the Magura-bound bus. Thirteen people died on the spot. The police and fire service recovered the bodies of the victims after receiving information.

1431 Bangla new year started with good news. On the first morning of the Bengali year, the countrymen learned that 23 Bangladeshi sailors who were held hostage in the sea had been freed. The Somali pirates had to leave them behind. Bangladeshis will now travel by sea to the United Arab Emirates and return to the country by air from there.

A big milestone was cut in the release of these 23 Bangladeshi citizens. People's lives were saved; the honor of the country was saved. Diplomatic efforts, foresight have all won. Instead of resorting to the use of force through a third party, Bangladesh has chosen the path of bringing people's lives back to safety with utmost importance. Ransom was discussed here from the beginning. After the beautiful resolution of this incident, there is a discussion about whether anything ransom has happened at all, and if so, how much it is in terms of money, although I consider this discussion to be inconclusive. Because there is no question of national interest, there is nothing to increase honor. There is only a great interest of a large class of audience-viewers-readers; but this interest is not important in national interest or otherwise.

If the families of the affected sailors would have suffered financially in the process of releasing the Bangladeshis, then it would have been logical to discuss it. If public funding was involved, it would have been necessary to discuss that, but there is none of that in the process. So why this discussion, so much discussion?

It is a matter of common sense that insurance companies have various involvements in such transportation or journeys. There should be no exception here. If the insurance company is involved in the release, it is their business side. I don't see the need for fancy story trappings on this business side.

Bangladesh had to spend 50 lakh dollars to release 23 Bangladeshis. Several media outlets in the country have published reports citing the two pirates. The Reuters report claims that a pirate told them the ransom money arrived two days ago. Then they checked them for fakes. After confirming the original currency, they divided it among themselves. Some media reported that three sacks of money were thrown into the water by helicopter. The subject is very cinematic. In the report, the description of the scene of the movie is delusional! However, several movies have already been made about Somali pirates. Maybe some people are saying that in accordance with a scene of all those movies. Because the owner of the ship, KSRM, did not say on their own that they paid the ransom.

Bangladesh State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury denied the ransom payment. The state minister's position is logical. From his position, the issue of ransom cannot be accepted or denied. He said, "The government has no information about paying ransom for the rescue of ships and sailors."

After the release of the sailors in a press conference on Sunday, Chief Executive Officer of KSRM Group Mehrul Karim said, 'Somalia, Kenya, United Kingdom and the United States have agreed to release the sailors according to the rules of these four countries. Everything has ended legally. But according to the terms of the agreement, we cannot disclose many things. There is nothing to disclose all the terms of the agreement. There may be things here that may affect future trades. It is also unreasonable to argue about it.

The state minister did not say that the KSRM authorities did not say that they paid a ransom of 50 lakh dollars. So we should refrain from trying to establish this amount of the alleged ransom because if the issue of ransom is established, the cost of such a sum by sea will be established. Being attacked by pirates in the deep sea and being rescued with money will become the norm. In the future, someone here will want to take a new opportunity. Can we not get out of here?

To give an example, a few years ago another ship of the same company was hijacked by Somali pirates. After one hundred days, the ship and sailors were rescued. There was still such a ransom issue. This hostage incident has been followed by an over-discussion of the previous incident, and it is doubtful whether that over-discussion was influential here.

A state minister, the officials of an organization cannot say that they freed the Bangladeshi hostages with ransom. The position they are in is a responsible position, their speech is institutionally responsible speech; If we understand that, if they were to accept the issue of ransom, what would be the effect, if we understand that, then we should also understand that it is improper to establish ransom. Attempting this is undesirable. Let us try to practice the same responsibility that we expect from others without dragging the matter unnecessarily.

Eight pirates have been arrested after leaving the Bangladeshi hostages - just try to understand this news, Bangladesh did not talk about it. It continued maximum diplomatic efforts to ensure the safety of its citizens. These diplomatic efforts resulted in the arrest of the pirates. This successful attempt of Bangladesh to call the life and injustice of the Bangladeshi hostage is commendable.

It took 100 days to rescue Jahanmani; it took only 32 days to free MV Abdullah. Congratulations to the free Bangladeshis, thanks to all parties including the government.

Mongla-Ghoshiakhali canal banks and floodplains occupying thousands of acres of government land, the fish farming festival is going on.

Many have started living by taking possession of these lands and building houses along with large farms and fish farming. There is a fear that the government's land worth thousands of takas will become vacant.

The channel is under new threat as the water flow of the channel banks and floodplains is obstructed. Experts fear that the world heritage the Sundarbans and Mongla port will also be threatened.

Bagerhat District Administration, Bagerhat Water Development Board and BIWTAs are concerned with indifference and lack of monitoring, environmentalist organizations and conscious circles have raised allegations that such a large amount of valuable land or bank land is going to be left bare.

It is known that the Mongla-Ghoshiakhali channel is 27 km long. It loses its navigability due to climate change and man-made obstructions. Later, with the intervention of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the channel was excavated and opened at a cost of about Tk. 500 crores.

To protect the navigability of the channel, a 5 km area of the main channel is separated by a loop cut at Romjaipur point. 5 km long and about 300 meters wide main part of the river is not excavated, it has now turned into a narrow canal, which extends across the Kaliganj area of Mujibnagar and Romjaipur points, Baradia, Chotadia, Kumarkhali Mauza.

A section of the five kilometer channel has caused river erosion since the 1960s due to changes in river course. About a thousand acres of land is supposed to be included in the government Khas Khatians, but there are questions about it.

It has been alleged for a long time that there are various inconsistencies in the government's land management even in its maintenance. After the erosion of the river, Char surfaced land was taken by a class of alleged landless and land robbers by 'managing' some corrupt officials of the Rampal Settlement Office and the Rampal Assistant Commissioner Land’s office and prepared and recorded the fake documents. Even some of them have grabbed the land by submitting fake documents in the court. If the land of private ownership is broken and lost in the river and falls on the other side, the land robbers take ownership of it by preparing documents, which is believed to be revealed by investigation.

Again at Mujibnagar Point the land grabbers have once again encroached on the river banks and flood plains and started embankment.

It was alleged that Sheikh Belal, son of Sheikh Ilyas of Mujibnagar village, Sheikh Mukul, son of Rustum Sheikh, Sheikh Shariful, Sheikh Saiful, Sheikh Arif, son of Sheikh Saiful and Sheikh Solaiman, and Mozaffar Hossain, son of deceased Sheikh Mahatab, led by Mizan Mallik of Gilatala, were laying siege.

When Malik Mizanur Rahman was asked about this, he denied the allegation.

Sheikh Belal, Mukul, Arif and Shariful said that all of them are occupying government land and cultivating fish with dams. Mizan Master's people are preventing us from building the dam. All surrounded the land. We are at fault!

In this regard, Member Secretary of 'Mongla-Ghoshiakhali Channel Raksha Sangram Committee' Molla Abdus Sabur Rana complained that due to the lack of supervision of Bagerhat District Administration, concerned Water Development Board and BIWTA, land worth thousands of crores of taka has become vacant. The navigability of the river is declining and the channel is under threat.

In this regard, Rampal Upazila Nirbahi Officer Rahima Sultana Bushra said that everything will be done to protect the navigability of Mongla-Ghoshiakhali channel. Appropriate action will be taken against illegal encroachments of government land.

She expressed regret that due to the shortage of manpower, land management is being hampered.