S Dilip Roy

Abdur Rashid is a marginal farmer revered and respected for a completely different role he has been playing for the last nine years in the remote village of Lalmonirhat's Dakkhin Dalgram Parshurampara.

The farm had only one cow and a hundred chickens. Now, ten years later, it has 75 hybrid dairy cows, 20 goats, 6 thousand chickens and 200 pigeons. The farm now spans over 11 acres of land in three separate plots where special grass for livestock, fruits, flower and spices are also grown.

Ninety-year-old Language Movement veteran Abdul Quader Bhasani still works hard at his spice field amid enthusiasm while most people in his age stay indoors and live a passive life.

The Sindurna char in Lalmonirhat that once saw at least three maternal deaths in a year is now free of the menace, thanks to the free of cost prenatal services being arranged in the remote char.

Rampant use of stone crushers is causing severe noise and air pollution in Lalmonirhat's Burimari land port area under Patgram upazila.

When other children of his age are at school, it was third grader Golam Rabbani's turn to tend plants at a field. His parents are growing tobacco in the field in Baje Majurai village of Mahendranagar union under Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila.

Many rural roads under different upazilas of the district have been facing threat of collapse as local brick kiln owners continued removing the topsoil from roadside farmlands, using excavator machines.

A good number of women in char (landmass emerging from riverbed) areas of Teesta and Dharla rivers are now engaged in cattle rearing to bring solvency to their families.

A man from ultra-poor family has been working at BDR Gate in the town as a volunteer traffic signalman for over a decade for people's welfare.

Following the government's decision to procure less rice from the local rice mills (chatal) this year than that of the previous years, most of the rice mills in the district are idle now.

Several thousand villagers of 10 ten villages under Mogholhat union in Sadar upazila have been suffering immensely as construction of a bridge on Ratnai river is yet to be completed.

Farmers in the district are upset due to fall in prices of paddy in the local markets to below the production cost, and some of them have lost interest in cultivating paddy in future.

Over 2000 families in former enclave Banshkata of Patgram upazila are now safe from the Dharla river erosion as river dredging and embankment protection works have been completed costing Tk 24.72 crore.

Twelve small rivers have already dried up and two major rivers -- Teesta and Dharla -- have been turned into canals in the district due to lack of water flow from upstream India.

Normal life is being disrupted in Lalmonirhat as an intense cold wave is sweeping over and thick fog blanketing all five upazilas of the northern district.

Housewife Shirina Begum, who set an example of producing bumper crops, especially vegetables, on a small land, has now become a role model for many female growers at her native Maynakuti village in Rangpur Sadar upazila.

The topsoil of vast areas of farmlands in the agriculture based northern district is being used for manufacturing bricks, which is having a harmful impact on agriculture and the environment.

A syndicate of influential people allegedly started lifting stone illegally from the Dharla river at four villages in Patgram upazila in the last week of November, threatening erosion by the river and damaging village roads by transporting stones on trucks.

The first three hours were peaceful, even festive at times as people came in to cast their vote at the polling centres in the Lalmonirhat 3 constituency since early morning.

While BNP supporters remained out of the field even on the day before the national polls fearing arrest and police harassment in Lalmonirhat-3 constituency, Awami League activists were active with last moment electioneering in support of the Jatiya Party candidate.