S Dilip Roy

The flow in a three-kilometre stretch of the Ratnai river in Lalmonirhat’s Aditmari upazila has weakened following its excavation by a contractor of the Local Government Engineering Department, allege local farmers.

 The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has caused a global economic crisis with Bangladesh being no exception. 

The work of widening of a road has remained suspended due to objection from the Indian Border Security Force along Phulbari border in Kurigram, said an RHD executive engineer.

Dragon fruit has caught the attention of several young farmers in Lalmonirhat as they are increasingly showing interest in growing the tropical fruit because of higher demand.

“Covid has killed my parents. I've become an orphan,” said a distraught 14-year-old Sajjad Hossain.

Aheda Bewa is a resident of Jatrapur char in the Brahmaputra river, under Kurigram Sadar upazila. She stays with her son Atoar Ali’s and his family. She occasionally works as a day labourer. For her, Eid-ul-Fitr morning -- which sees celebrations and festivities around the world and in Bangladesh -- was not joyous. She was depressed as she could not manage to buy new clothes for them.

BGB men led by a camp commander allegedly assaulted a reporter in Lalmonirhat Thursday night and accused him of possessing illegal drugs in a case filed with Sadar Police Station.

April 5, 1971 is a black day that lives on in the memory of survivors and the Liberation War generation of Lalmonirhat.

Many farmers in Rangpur’s Lalmonirhat Sadar and Aditamari upazila have turned to vegetable seed cultivation after being left unsatisfied by the prevailing prices of food grains.

“My father Bocharam Das is a martyred freedom fighter, recognised by the government. But we are not getting any facilities given to the martyred freedom fighter’s family by the government,” said Monaram Das, 51, son of the martyred freedom fighter.

Lakhikanta Rai, a school teacher, is alive and well. He wants to register for the Covid-19 vaccine but the portal won't accept his registration. When he arrived at the Upazila Election Commission to seek help, he learned that he has been listed dead on the voter list since June 3, 2014.

Lalmonirhat’s first commercial dragon fruit grower Abu Taleb hopes to make around Tk 15 lakh in profit this year.

Visually impaired students of Lalmonirhat are deftly crafting jute products. They are earning money from making handicrafts while continuing their studies.

Allegations of plundering of public money surfaced in the re-excavation work of Ratnai canal in Aditmari upazila.

Sixty-year-old Lalchand Das lives on fishing in the Chakirpasha river of Kurigram’s Rajarhat upazila. Like him, 2000 people from 420 fishing families have been making a living by fishing in the river for years.

At a time when the public conscience is gripped by fears over women’s security, three sisters from a remote village in Lalmonirhat decided to take up matters in their own hands.

Earthen pot ‘Hazol’, a technology used for hatching chicken eggs, has become very popular in the char areas of Brahmaputra, Dudhkumar, Teesta and Dharla rivers in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat.

It was time to rebel. It was time to revolt. It was 1971.

It was a Saturday noon in 1971 when Jahiron Bewa’s world came tumbling down.

The average day-labourers in Lalmonirhat are struggling to make ends meet as rice prices in the district’s local markets are refusing to come down although Aman harvests are ongoing in full swing.