Cold paralyses life in Lalmonirhat

Normal life is being disrupted in Lalmonirhat as an intense cold wave is sweeping over and thick fog blanketing all five upazilas of the northern district.

People -- especially from low-income groups, homeless and those living in the Teesta and Dharla basins -- are the worst sufferers.

Met office said people of the border district are exposed to such cold weather due to close proximity to the Himalayas from where extreme cold wave comes.

Farmers and day labourers are not being able to work at fields and workplaces because of the cold wave.

Many are seen fighting the bone-chilling cold by burning heaps of straw and old tyres. The cattle are covered with jute sacks in sheds.

“We're burning straw as we have no warm clothes,” said Bachcha Rani Bala, 48, from Uttar Saptana village in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.

Farmer Sunil Chandra Roy, 62, from the same area said he cannot go to the farmland due to cold wave and dense fog.

According to Rangpur Met Office, the lowest temperature was recorded at 8.5 degrees Celsius yesterday. The mercury stood at 7.8 degrees on Friday morning in Lalmonirhat.

“I can't bring myself to go out of home to pull rickshaw amid severe cold. Even if I go out I would not get passengers,” said rickshaw-puller Mazibar Rahman, 48, from Khochabari village in the upazila.

Cold-hit people are also seen gathering at local shops to buy old warm clothes at high prices. Meanwhile, a section of traders are taking advantage of the situation.

Shafiul Arif, deputy commissioner (DC) of Lalmonirhat, said the district and upazila administrations have been distributing warm clothes among the cold-hit people in remote and char areas on a daily basis.

As the assistance is inadequate, a letter was sent to the relief ministry on Thursday, seeking more warm clothes, he said.

People of the region urged the government and other socio-cultural organisations and the well-off to give them warm clothes to ease their sufferings.