Mintu Deshwara

People of greater Sylhet and Chittagong Hill Tracts regions are familiar with domesticated elephants being used to pull trees down the hills, in circuses and at various social events.

“I can’t pay the rent of the house in which my daughter and I live. The landlord called us and insulted us for nonpayment. Now, I don’t see any alternative to committing suicide,” Birangana Shila Guha said.

Bone-chilling cold and thick fog hit the poor tea workers hard in Sylhet division as hundreds, mostly children and elderly, have been suffering from different cold-related diseases due to the cold spell for the last few days.

Non-agricultural use of land especially for the development purpose has recently seen a sharp increase in Sylhet division. By filling croplands, houses, roads, buildings and business establishments are being built in an unplanned manner.

This is usually that time of the year when anglers of Hakaluki haor smile ear to ear. “This is the time to catch large hauls from the Haor,” said angler Mansur Ali. “With the income from these few months, I have no trouble running my family of seven.”

A connecting electric line runs right through the Lawachhara protected forest in Moulvibazar’s Kamalganj upazila. The power line packs 33 kilovolts, putting the forest’s wildlife in peril, as the animals often come in contact with it.

Gibbons are endangered worldwide, and it just so happens that Bangladesh is no exception to the norm.

Mala Santal is an indigenous tea worker at Baikunthapur Tea Garden in Habiganj’s Madhabpur.

“Many people like you come to visit us with a promise to help us but they never keep their words,” they resented.

A Moulvibazar polling centre reported a hundred percent turnout in Sunday’s union parishad elections although the voter list included people who have died and those who were not even in the country.

Illegally cutting down various species of aquatic trees, especially in the Hijal-Karach area, has posed a serious threat to the ecosystem at Hakaluki Haor, one of the country’s largest natural water bodies.

Sonai river, which flows through Madhabpur upazila in Habiganj, has almost turned into a canal due to illegal occupation and dumped trash. It now acts as a narrow drain carrying hazardous pollutants to the haor area.

Dewchhara beel in Kamalganj upazila of Moulvibazar used to be a sanctuary for thousands of migratory birds and different species of native fish but for the last two years,

By December 20, the war was well and truly over. After nine long months of blood, sweat and tears, the freedom fighters snatched the victory flag. This was their time to return home, meet their beloved ones, and rest on their own pillows.

For the first time ever, a book fair was held for the Manipuri community in Moulvibazar, in a festive manner.

Riddled with floating trash and indiscriminate encroachment, the Old Khowai River in Habiganj town is under threat of being occupied again, just two years after eviction drives were launched in 2019.

When a column of Pakistan army vehicles entered Dewrachhara Tea Garden in Moulvibazar in the afternoon of May 3, 1971, most of the workers there were alarmed but had little strength left to do anything about it.

Although the deadline for the renovation works on a two-kilometre stretch of the central road in Habiganj town has exceeded for five months, the works have yet to be completed, much to the sufferings of the people.

Many tomato farmers in Sylhet have secured bumper yields this year by using the grafting method to grow their crops amid favourable weather conditions.

Six large unauthorized commercial poultry farms are posing hazards to public health and agriculture in Madhabpur upazila of Habiganj violating a High Court order.