Sushanta Ghosh

On Saturday afternoon, thousands of villagers gathered around the banks of the Arial Kha river with a resolve. Over the past few years, erosion caused by the river has intensified, submerging two mosques, a primary school, at least 50 houses, and hundreds of acres of agricultural land.

Cultural activists of Barishal yesterday organised a human chain and rally to protest irregularities in construction of the divisional Shilpakala Academy. They demanded immediate handover of the building.

In a move to rid the city of waterlogging, Barishal City Corporation (BCC) has started a drive to clean the 43 major canals flowing through the city, but are facing an all-too-familiar obstacle -- polythene -- by the tonnes.

Cynics say that to the authorities concerned sports development means making more infrastructure in the country, regardless of whether existing ones are properly used or not.

An acute shortage of water at the Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) has persisted for close to a month, putting several thousand people in severe woes.

In a blow to citizen morale, Barishal City Corporation has placed lowest in the evaluation of annual performance contracts under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives (LGRD).

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, drinking from communal cups at traditional tea stalls and the like is considered as a potential risk of infection. However, a one-time use cup made of clay has opened the door to new possibilities.

Thanks to strict monitoring against jatka netting and government programmes to conserve hilsa, production of the fish has seen a steady increase in Barishal, and this year has been no different.

The only burn unit in Barishal division at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) has been closed for five months. Not only that, the only psychiatry ward of the hospital has been closed for around a year.

A woman who has been accused in her husband’s murder case has accused Barishal Metropolitan Police members of torture and molestation in custody, and forcing her to confess as an accomplice to the murder.

This was supposed to be a good year for hilsa traders and anglers of Barishal. Ever since the beginning of the season, a record number of the fish are being netted. Now that it’s time for the peak season, much to everyone’s delight, large sized hilsas are also flooding the local markets.

Barishal has been experiencing unprecedented waterlogging for over a week due to tidal surge from the river Kirtankhola, causing immense suffering to city-dwellers.

Despite being in the works for five years, the construction of Barishal’s divisional and district Shilpakala Academy has not been completed. This is drawing dissatisfaction from the area’s cultural activists as this delay is hampering the area’s progress in the arts.

The last six years have been good for hilsa fishing in the south.

Believe it or not, guava is selling at Tk 5 per kg at the wholesale markets in Pirojpur, Jhalakathi and Barishal districts.

On July 30, Ashikur Rahman Zubayer received a letter from Guinness World Record at his house on Masjid Bari Road in Jhalakati. Eight months ago, Ashikur had submitted his world record attempt entry to the organisation under football freestyle world records category.

Holidaymakers from the southern region have started returning to their workplaces in Dhaka after spending Eid-ul-Adha with their families.

Eid-ul-Azha typically brings throngs of people to the ports, eager to go home before the religious festival. Launches are often overcrowded, and

Guava traders in Barishal district are on the verge of heavy losses this year due to the low turnout of buyers and drastic fall in demand for the fruit in Dhaka and Chattogram caused by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

On July 22, a mobile court sentenced three employees of a diagnostic centre in Jordan Road area of Barishal city to six months’ imprisonment.