Mintu Deshwara

Manipuri clothing weavers in Moulvibazar and Sylhet are passing busy days ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, which will be celebrated in colour for the first time in two years thanks to the easing of coronavirus restrictions.

“Even after 50 years of independence, this historic place has not been properly preserved. There’s no awareness in this regard,” lamented freedom fighter Abdul Malek Madhu, deputy commander of Madhabpur upazila Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad.

Visiting the Town Mosque Road area recently, this correspondent found some workers throwing bags of sand in the pond. Local traders said the work started around a week ago.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has taken an initiative to construct a road through Lathitila Protected Forest in Moulvibazar’s Juri Upazila.

Nandiura, a village in Moulvibazar’s Rajnagar upazila, was once famous for almost all its inhabitants being engaged in pottery.

Once upon a time, there were ever-flowing streams running through the Satchhari National Park.

After Gazipur and Dulahazra, the forest department has finalised plans to build the country’s third safari park in Lathitila forest, located in Moulvibazar’s Juri upazila.

The river is called Sutki. It flows at least 20 kilometres after originating from the Kushiara river in Lohajuri area under Baniachong upazila in Habiganj before falling into the Ratna river at Pratabpur of the same upazila.

A family of four – with physical disability – belonging to the Mahato community, has received a new house, two sheep, two months' food stock and cash assistance.

Juri has been robbed of its beauty.

There’s a haat in Moulvibazar where all the sellers are women. Aptly called “Kainya”, the haat is gradually gaining popularity among local buyers and sellers.

Women tea workers not only play a vital role in their industry, they’re also the rocks of their family’s economic fortunes. But for all the work that they do, they are plagued by malnutrition, stigma, financial uncertainty, lack of awareness regarding gender issues and lack of hygiene.

Although flocks of birds could be seen roaming around the watchtower of Baikka Beel once upon a time, presently, the numbers have drastically reduced.

Noria village falls under Kagabala union in Moulvibazar Sadar upazila, but it differs from most other villages due to the atrocities that took place there during the Liberation War. The “Noria genocide” is a part of history that reminds us of the horrors of the nine-month war that started in this very month of March.

For a group of people whose most members haven’t even gone to school, many tea workers of the country are forced to maintain official communication with their employers in English.

Samra Soura, 85, the oldest resident of Soura village is forgetting his mother tongue. People of the Soura community mostly speak Bangla, Oriya and Sadri languages.

About 1,000 acres of land is lying uncultivated due to lack of irrigation facilities in Kawadighi haor of Moulvibazar Sadar upazila.

Once, Rupaichhara government hills in Habiganj used to be around 500 feet high. Due to sand extraction and tree felling, they now stand on the verge of extinction.

The government has recently started listing beneficiaries for a special programme to improve the lives and livelihoods of tea workers of the country, under the “Cha Sramikder Jibanman Unnayan Karmasuchi” scheme.

Even though everything came to a halt during the pandemic, hill cutting didn’t.