Four owlets and 400 river turtles of endangered species were seized in two incidents in South and North Dinajpurs today.

At South Dinajpur

Some of the injured birds at the Kulik sanctuary in North Dinajpur dry their wings in the sun. Picture by Nantu Dey Sept. 29: Over 1,500 birds were killed in a storm that ripped through north Bengal last evening and the rain that came with it.

A congested NH34 in Malda. The highway passes right through the town. Picture by Surajit Roy Malda, July 1: The expansion of NH34 from Barasat to Dalkhola will be completed by 2011, National Highways Authority officials said today. The stretch between Barasat in North 24 Parganas and Dalkhola in North Dinajpur will be widenend to four lanes. "Provisions are being kept to turn it into a six-lane road in future. The land acquisition is being made with an eye to achieving the goal,' said Srikumar Bhattacharya, the project director of the NHAI here.

Islampur : At least 12 children have died of an unknown fever in villages of two gram panchayats in North Dinajpur over the past four days. The outbreak of the fever has prompted the district health department to send a team of doctors to the affected villages in Rasakhawa and Domohana gram panchayats. According to health sources, at least 25 more children in the area are suffering from fever. The sources added that most of the children who died were aged between three and 10 years. The death of a two-month-old girl has also been reported from the area.