S Dilip Roy

People often talk about ghostly electricity bills that are absurdly high. In case of Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed and his family, the bills are nonsensically low.

Illegal stone extraction in three rivers in Lalmonirhat’s Patgram upazila resumed in full swing after a six-year pause, resulting in massive damage to the water bodies, which may lead to erosion.

Despite going through the arduous task of stone crushing, along with loading and unloading, about 40,000 labourers at Lalmonirhat’s Burimari and Kurigram’s Sonahat land ports are deprived of fair wages.

With excruciating pain in his broken right leg, Subas Chandra Rabidas was seen lying on a bed at Kurigram Sadar Hospital on Friday afternoon.

Maqbul Hossain, 65, a jute farmer of Gokunda village under Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, cultivated Pratiman variety of jute on five bighas of land and produced 35 maunds of the golden fibre for a production cost of Tk 80,000.

Farmer Jahidul Islam, who has no cultivable land of his own, has been producing various crops as a sharecropper for years.

Erosion by the river Brahmaputra has taken a serious turn at 11 villages in Kurigram recently, making numerous people homeless.

Two newly constructed bridges over a canal in Lalmonirhat’s Kaliganj upazila have remained unfit for movements due to lack of approach roads on either side of both the structures.

The revenue collection target set for the Burimari land port by the National Board of Revenue has remained unmet for the last couple of years.

It collected Tk 94.6 crore in revenue in FY23, which was 28.23% down from target

“We had a home and four bighas of arable land, all of which got washed away on Sunday. Now, we have become homeless and landless,” said Koushulya Rani as she broke into tears.

Firoza Begum, a resident of Shalmara village in Bhelabari union under Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat, opened a 12-year term policy with Fareast Islami Life Insurance Company some 15 years ago. 

A new Teesta branch in Gatiashyam village of Gharialdanga in Kurigram’s Rajarhat upazila has become the cause of concerns for locals.

Farmers in Bangladesh are pleased to be getting good yields and prices for kathkachu, a variety of taro root native to South Asia, as demand for the crop has risen this year.

Homes of some locals flooded; water of Dharla, Dudhkumar and Buriganga rising

The ongoing holiday centring Eid-ul-Azha has raised concerns among mango farmers that prices for the fruit may decline further in coming days despite the high production cost.

Authorities of Dakkhin Khauria School and College in Kurigram’s Chilmari upazila have been compelled to suspend all classes as erosion by the Brahmaputra river devoured a major portion of the institution building.

Over a hundred families residing in three unions located by the Brahmaputra in Kurigram have lost their homestead to erosions in the past few weeks.

Farmer Hasem Ali, 50, from Ajoatar village in Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila, has transformed his once barren highland into a thriving grape orchard, becoming a beacon of hope for farmers facing similar challenges.

Vegetable growers in different upazilas of Lalmonirhat and Kurigram are getting frustrated due to lack of rainfall during the ongoing hot spell for the last couple of weeks and they are now worried that they may not get the expected production of crops this season.