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Farmers snatched 50 sacks of urea at Keshabpur upazila in Jessore on Sunday evening after failing to collect any from dealers.

The farmers stopped the rickshaw vans carrying fertilisers to the shops of the dealers at Surighat and Boserbaria and snatched away the consignment. They then used it on their boro field.

The government on Monday said it had taken measures for smooth distribution of fertiliser within the next three days.

The assurance meant very little to farmers as they continued demonstration against the acute shortage of fertiliser hampering cultivation during the peak IRRI-boro season. In Satkhira, several hundred farmers blocked the Khulna-Satkhira highway at Patkelghata bazar under Tala upazila for about three hours since 10:00am. Farmers at the Kaliganj upazila headquarters in Satkhira put the office of the upazila nirbahi officer under lock and key for three hours from 9:00am. The farmers did not get fertiliser even after frequent assurances by the upazila administration, local people said.

In Pabna, more than 1,000 farmers besieged the offices of the upazila nirbahi officer and Palli Bidyut Samiti at Bera upazila. They also submitted a memorandum to the Bera UNO and the authorities of Palli Bidyut Samiti, Pabna-2. In Netrakona, the police swung into action when the Krishak League, a front organisation of the main opposition Awami League, laid siege to the office of Palli Bidyut Samiti, injuring at least 10 persons.

In Thakurgaon, the Krishak League laid siege to the Palli Bidyut Samiti office and submitted a memorandum, demanding proper irrigation and uninterrupted electricity supply during the IRRI-boro season.

In Jamalpur, the Krishak League staged a demonstration with the cooperation of the Kendua union Awami League against electricity crisis.

Meanwhile, the coastguards on Sunday night impounded a mechanised boat and arrested five persons with 142 sacks of fertilisers reportedly being smuggled to Myanmar.

A patrol team started to chase the trawler down the river Naf near Shah Parir Dwip at 9:00pm and impounded it an hour later.

Two of the smugglers received bullet injuries when the coastguards opened fire to make the trawler pull over, sources said Monday. The smugglers at one point swung the trawlers onto the path of the coastguard patrol boat and a coastguard member fell into the river as the patrol boat tried to avoid a collision.

In Shariatpur, the district administration filed cases against two fertiliser distributors for allegedly selling fertiliser on the black market.

Locals said Suman Dewan and M Jashimuddin had taken 10 and 9,000 tonnes of fertiliser respectively from the Ghorashal Fertiliser Factory. On Sunday, during a visit, upazila administration officials found smaller stocks of fertiliser than what they had taken from the factory.

The deputy minister for industries, Abdus Salam Pintu, at a meeting at the secretariat on Monday instructed contractors to carry fertiliser to different supply points within three days.

‘Punitive action will be taken against the contractors in case of failure to transport the fertiliser within the stipulated period,’ he warned.

source:New Age