Arun Bikash Dey

Khaleda Akter can’t help repeating, “What was my son’s fault?”

A modern and specialised burn and plastic surgery unit is being set up at Chattogram Medical College Hospital following a bilateral agreement between China and the health ministry.

It is often said that if we hurt Mother Nature, we end up hurting ourselves. This saying could not be truer than in the case of Chattogram, the commercial capital of Bangladesh, during monsoons, when it goes under water for the most part.

It was early in the morning on a Saturday. The Sun was peeping behind the cloud. The road at Raoshan Hat in Chandanaish upazila was wet due to overnight rain.  

An injured monkey showed up at a hospital three days in a row till yesterday all by itself to get treatment for wounds in Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila.

Waterlogging caused by overnight downpour has disrupted the lives of residents in Chattogram and forced the authorities to delay the HSC exams by an hour yesterday.

With the number of patients increasing every day, dengue has already become a menace in Chattogram this month. And if proper actions are not taken, the outbreak threatens to wreak havoc in the region.

Shuvechchha Ghosh, a resident of Chattogram’s Askar Dighir Par area, has been suffering lately due to frequent load shedding, which occurs six to seven times a day.

City dwellers of some areas are not getting the water supply they need as Chattogram Water and Sewerage Authority is in difficulty purifying river water.

The low-lying areas of the port city were inundated yesterday for the second consecutive day as heavy rain continued to fall accompanied by strong winds in the region.

Every monsoon, Chattogram residents brace themselves for the annual ordeal of ankle- to knee-deep water flooding the low-lying areas following rainfall.

After 19-year-old Mohammad Masud was diagnosed with dengue a few days ago, he returned to his Pirojpur home to stay with his parents.

Awami League candidate Mohiuddin Bachchu won the Chattogram-10 by-polls held yesterday amid a low presence of voters.

To save the Karnaphuli from encroachers, the Chattogram City Corporation and district administration have jointly initiated a project to build a park on the river bank in the port city’s Firingi Bazar area.

On January 30, 2020, Chattogram City Corporation inaugurated the port city’s first escalator footbridge, only to shut down its operations indefinitely after the next couple of months following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I grew up listening to my grandfather’s stories of how tigers ascended down these hills. He even saw one himself while one of his friends even tried to hunt one once using a trap, but failed. It was their reality, but for us and our following generations, it’s only a myth,” said 80-year-old Saleh Ahmed sipping tea at a small stall in the port city’s Tiger Pass area.

There was a time when movie theatres used to multiply Eid joys for most “Chatgaiya” families.

“I thank God for letting me see my son’s body for the last time,” Ali Kawsar, the father of a 12-year old boy, told reporters with  tear-stained eyes, soon after the body of his son Kamal was recovered  from Mirza Khal in Chattogram’s Muradpur area in December 2021, around 68 hours after he fell into a drain on December 7.

From the infectious enthusiasm in the air to the meticulously prepared delicacies and vibrant gatherings, the Chatgaiya way of celebrating Eid-ul-Azha showcases a fusion of prosperity, religious devotion, and cultural heritage.

Once upon a time, egg collectors used conventional earthen wells to hatch spawns after collecting eggs released by broodfish in the Halda.