S Dilip Roy

The Teesta River, originating in the Himalayas, travels a long way through the mountains and plain land before reaching Bangladesh.

The flood affected victims of Lalmonirhat have very little to look forward to this Eid. Many have lost their homes and source of income and are struggling to make ends meet.

Poor people living in different remote char areas along the Teesta river in Lalmonirhat have sought help to build houses on raised lands as 16 homesteads made above the flood level at Char Sindurna in Hatibandha upazila provided shelter to the affected people during the recent floods.

Thirty-five teachers in Lalmonirhat’s Hatibandha upazila have complained that they were under pressure to bribe the authorities in order to receive their dues for working under a literacy programme of the government that ended over a month ago.

Local varieties of fishes are facing extinction amid disappearance of waterbodies and spread of fast growing hybrid fish cultivation in Lalmonirhat.

Talukder Rice Mill is registered with the local food office and eligible to sell rice to the government. According to papers, it is located in Jummapara village of Lalmonirhat sadar upazila. But when this correspondent went to visit the mill recently, all he found at the location is an abandoned concrete surface, two tin-roof houses, and a poultry farm.

It’s Friday afternoon. She lost everything to the river before her eyes. It was not the first time. The flood victim’s life has been chained to the wrath of nature for years.

Basic Literacy Project (64 Districts) run by the Bureau of Non-formal Education (BNFE) under Primary and Mass Education Ministry did not bring any fruitful results in two upazilas of the district due to alleged irregularities and corruption.

Hundreds of commuters cross the Teesta Railway Bridge every day risking their lives as the longevity of the age-old bridge on the Teesta river in Sadar upazila expired in 2001.

Monaram Das, lone son of martyred Freedom Fighter Bocharam Das, and his family of five members are crying for livelihood, living in a small house of government’s Sonapukur Abasan at Daikhowa village of Lalmonirhat’s Hatibandha.

With frustration in his eyes, rice grower Raziur Rahman was seen selling paddy reluctantly to a buyer at Durakuti Haat in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila last Tuesday.

By the time Saminul Islam reached the government buying centre with 500kg of paddy on Thursday, the officials had already wrapped up the procurement activities there. No more buying, he was told, because the procurement limit was reached.

Like many others, chhola boot (fried and spiced chickpeas), puffed rice, beguni (a popular item prepared with aubergine), piyaju (made with finely chopped onion with lentil paste) and seasonal fruits should be their usual iftar items but farm labourer Abu Taleb, his wife and two daughters used to break their fast with chal bhaja (fried rice) daily.

Villagers in Baura union of Patgram upazila reacted with disbelief after they found out that the union parishad (UP) chairman himself auctioned off 240 live trees beside a road.

If it were before 1983, people would be seen fishing at the exact same spot where children now play football, on Teesta’s sandy floor lying arid and barren. The river is no longer blessed with water, except for a few months of the year.

In a span of five years’ time, since 2014, they lost their 32 decimals of ancestral land to an influential local -- not once, not twice, but a staggering five times!

Sahanara Begum Soma pioneered green tea farming in 2007 in the plain lands of Lalmonirhat, improving the economic fate of the poor farmers in her locality.

Boat making charge has doubled this year in the district, much to the worry of char people, especially fishermen and boatmen.

Physically challenged train passengers at Lalmonirhat railway station have been suffering a lot for long as the flat entrance to the station platform, especially built for them, was kept locked for four years, thanks to the authorities indifferent to the nuisance.

A bridge on a canal was damaged and its approach roads, part of Kakina-Aminganj road in Lalmonirhat's Kaliganj upazila, were washed away by floodwaters in August of 2017, but the authorities are yet to replace or repair those.