S Dilip Roy

A family from the minority community in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila is now living in fear of eviction from their ancestral home by an influential land grabber.

The story of Language movement hero Zahir Uddin Ahmed, who died at his home at Naodabash village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Friday evening, is quite encouraging, especially when people have been cutting trees for personal interest and financial gain.

Sand is being extracted illegally from the Teesta river in some places of Mahishkhocha union in Lalmonirhat’s Aditmari upazila, making the river bank vulnerable to erosion.

In 1991, when Abul Kasem, a farmer of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat, a northwest bordering district, decided to cultivate maize, he was one of the few growers in his area.

Two local influential men have continued building separate permanent structures on leased out government khas land at Balarhat Bazar in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila, thanks to the negligence of the authorities concerned.

The Sheikh Hasina Teesta Bridge, also known as the second Teesta Bridge, over the Teesta in Mahipur area on the Kakina-Mahipur route in Kaliganj  is in a vulnerable condition due to heavy vehicles, especially stone-laden trucks, plying over it every day.

It is hard to believe that a government primary school, built in the middle of croplands, in Kurigram Sadar upazila is running without students.

Betel nut, also called the areca nut, has become a great source of additional income for farmers in Bangladesh as the fruit native to South Asia and parts of east Africa is widely consumed in the country.

To promote the book reading culture and develop a nag for reading among villagers, Jaynal Abedin, a day labourer, established his library “Satvita Gronthonir” in his village Satvita of Kurigram’s Ulipur upazila in 2016.

Gold smuggling continues to be a persistent issue at the Bangladesh-India border, particularly through the routes of Chawratari in Moghalhat union of Lalmonirhat Sadar Upazila and Baniatari in Durgapur union of Aditmari Upazila.

Traditional Sindurmoti Mela was held at surrounding the historical Sindurmoti pond at Sindurmati village of Panchagram union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila on Thursday and Friday. Thousands of devotees from different areas of greater Rangpur and other parts of the country, along with people from India took part in the fair.

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members have seized three Indian trucks with Indian goods worth Tk 3 crore, including sarees, three pieces, chemical products, and spectacles, which were illegally coming through the Burimari land port in Lalmonirhat’s Patgram upazila.

The livelihood of over one lakh people, living in the Teesta river basin areas, has been hit hard as the mighty river has dried up due to a lack of water flow from the upstream.

For the first time, carrots are being grown commercially in char areas of Teesta river, where farmers previously grew the vegetable only for personal consumption.

Poet and writer Ishor Dulon Roy, author of Teestar Kanna, told The Daily Star that many of his relatives live on the Teesta shoal. Once they were all rich, all now lost to the river erosion.

On the occasion of Ganga Puja, thousands of people from both Bangladesh and India gathered at the border near Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat today to meet their near and dear ones like every year

The light of education hardly ever reached Char Kalikapur, an inaccessible area on the Teesta riverbed. For the children of 400 families of this area, going to school remained a distant dream amid other harsh realities.

Sixty-seven-year-old Idris Ali is a farmer living at a remote char in Rolakata area on the Brahmaputra bed. He has to travel to Jatrapur market of Kurigram Sadar upazila every day because of his work and to buy essentials for his family.

"It is not just a book fair; it is a gathering of the people of this region."

Barma told The Daily Star that he is a folk music artist listed by Bangladesh Radio and Bangladesh Television. He has sung more than a thousand Bhawaiya songs on radio and television.