Wild elephants start return home in Dalma forest of Jharkhand

PTI, Jhargram, 3 May : The herd of wild elephants, which was stopped on their way to paddy and vegetable fields of Nayagram in West Midnapore has been diverted to their home in Dalma forest of Jharkhand.

"The elephants has taken the return route to their home after being stopped since April 15 near a jungle here. The herd was seen crossing the Kangsabati river and following a traditional route via Chandra, Binpur, Belpahari to Dalma forest," Forest Range Officer in Jhargram Samir Ranjan Majumdar told PTI. The herd of 80 elephants, including eight tuskers and five calves, were trying to cross train tracks in Jhargram and make foray into Nayagram where vegetables and paddy are currently being grown on the bank of Subarnarekha river, officials said. Forest officials said the elephants were prevented at a jungle near Panisola yesterday to stop their advance to Nayagram, south of Jhargram. Meanwhile, the elephants may take another route to Jhitka forest and enter Bankura district. But, that is unlikely to happen due to water and foodder scarcity in the area, forest officials said.

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Trinamool Congress leader attacked by partymen in Nadia
PTI, Kalyani, 3 May : A Trinamool Congress local leader and three partymen were beaten up by party supporters today for turning up late for filing their nominations for the civic elections in Nadia district, police sources said.
When PK Sur, Trinamool town Congress president and the three others reached the SDO's office here for filing their nominations, around 1000 party supporters waiting for them pounced on them and beat them up, the sources said. Sur, however, went to the SDO's office and filed his nominations.

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Boro harvest best in decade
Reaz Ahmad, Sirajganj, 3 May : The northern region of Bangladesh is eyeing at the best harvest of the decade as the biggest rice season sets at its peak.
For the resilient farmers of northern districts, who suffered erratic power supply and falling of groundwater table, prospect of a bumper boro production is exactly what they deserve. Farmers of Naogaon, Bogra and Sirajganj had a hard time irrigating lands in the last few months of dry spell. The spell, however, came as a boon as the boro farmers hardly suffered pest infestation this season unlike last year. Those who started harvesting early- from late April- are all happy at the prospect of a bumper boro output.

Though dissatisfied with the interrupted power supply, farmers are also very appreciative of the government's policy supports like, subsidy in diesel used in running irrigation pumps, lowering prices and ensuring adequate supply of urea and non-urea fertilisers and fixing encouraging prices for paddy (Tk 17 /kg) and rice (Tk 25 /kg) for public procurement.
Shafiqul Islam is from a farmer family of Raiganj upazila in Sirajganj. He is also hoping for the best harvest in the last 10 years from their 400 hectares of farmlands. He expressed satisfaction over the fertiliser supply and its prices and fixing of the rice prices in tandem with international market.
Naogaon, a food-surplus district with Mohadevpur as the agriculturally rich upazila, is contributing in food production from the front. Upazila Agriculture Officer of Mohadevpur Mostafizur Rahman said, " In 2008, we had the best boro output--3.8MT per hectare of land--in the last one decade. But this year the production is likely to exceed 4MT per hectare."
About the reasons behind this year's increased production Rahman said, "The fields had balanced proportions of urea and non-urea fertilisers. Previously, farmers had a tendency of over-using low-price urea, as non-urea fertilisers were costly."

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