S Dilip Roy

"Floods don't just take our crops, they take our peace, our dignity"

“The sun rises, but the light of life seems to be stuck at the gate of the Tinbigha Corridor.”

Around 20,000 residents of 11 villages under Kurigram’s Roumari upazila have been cut off from the upazila headquarters after a wooden bridge over the Jinjiram river collapsed last week due to the pressure of rising waters.

Many farmers are hopeful that this year's Eid will bring better profits and long-awaited relief

The monsoon has yet to arrive in full swing, but erosion along the Teesta and Dharla rivers has already taken a serious turn in Rangpur region, threatening thousands of families living along the riverbanks.

Relentless rainfall over the last one week left vast stretches of cropland submerged across Rangpur region, causing severe disruption to maize and paddy harvest. While the window for safe harvesting is rapidly closing, farmers are hoping for improvement in weather.

Maize cultivation remains a profitable venture for farmers, although many in districts where production is concentrated have voiced concerns over a drop in market prices this season amid a rise in production costs.

The Brahmaputra river erosion has severely affected four villages in Roumari upazila of Kurigram.

Farmers in char areas are happy with the pumpkin production on the sandy chars of the Teesta riverbed. However, they are disappointed as prices have fallen compared to last year. Due to an urgent need for cash, char farmers are being forced to sell pumpkins at low prices.

The company shut its Lalmonirhat district office in 2014, leaving policyholders unable to make deposits

Over the past 15 years, farmers in Rangpur have transformed their agricultural practices by shifting from reliance on imported seeds to supplying homegrown ones across the greater northern region and other parts of the country. 

While the government has fixed the rate for irrigation water supply from the Teesta Irrigation Project at Tk 480 per acre throughout the year, farmers are reportedly paying Tk 1,000.

For years, residents of Baura in Lalmonirhat’s Patgram upazila had to rely on a bamboo bridge to cross the Saniajan river -- a structure that was frequently damaged during the rainy season, forcing villagers to use boats or take long detours.

Ignoring a government ban, organised groups are allegedly extracting stones from the Dharla, Saniajan, and Singimari rivers, causing severe environmental damage in Lalmonirhat’s Patgram upazila.

Three murals of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Liberation War Memorial in Lalmonirhat were demolished on Sunday afternoon.

This year, Eid-ul-Fitr brought little joy to thousands of people living in the shoals of 14 upazilas across Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts due to severe financial hardships amid a lack of employment opportunities.

According to officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension, strawberries are being cultivated on a total of 15 acres of land in Kurigram and four acres in Lalmonirhat. Some are getting good yields, and some are not. Sapling selection is very important for getting a good yield of strawberry production

The major rivers in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat districts, including Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dudhkumar, Gangadhar and Dharla, are drying up, pushing fishermen into crisis.

Around 230 trucks entered port in two days  

Boat travel on the Brahmaputra is being severely disrupted due to a navigability crisis, causing immense suffering for passengers travelling from Kurigram’s Mogolbasa, Jatrapur, and Chilmari Ramna River Port to Roumari, Rajibpur, Jamalpur, and Gaibandha’s Sundarganj.