Sohrab Hossain

The government’s efforts to fast-track the construction of Payra deep-sea port in Patuakhali has received a blow as the primary infrastructure development project is set to be delayed by two years while the cost will go up by Tk 1,024 crore.

For nearly four decades, encroachers and trespassers have been tightening their grip on about nine acres of lucrative land, belonging to Water Development Board (WDB), near Mohipur fish landing station in Kalapara upazila.

The flood protection embankment of the Bishkhali river, which flows through the southern part of Patharghata town in Barguna, is gaining popularity among tourists.

The forested areas inside the national park adjacent to the Kuakata beach are disappearing over time as sand is continuously being eroded by waves, eventually uprooting and sweeping away trees.

Video footage that went viral in social media clearly showed Ayesha Siddika Minni was trying to save her husband Rifat Sharif from the group of young men who killed him.

Ayesha Siddika Minni, the widow of slain Rifat Sharif, and five others were sentenced to death yesterday for killing the youth in broad daylight in Barguna in June last year.

For the first time in the country, researchers at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) have developed seeds for watermelons that come in two colours -- red and yellow -- and can be cultivated all year round.

Cattle markets in Patuakhali are now buzzing with buyers and sellers of sacrificial animals ahead of Muslim religious festival Eid-ul-Azha to be celebrated in the country on August 1.

The pandemic has ruined livelihoods of many hardworking honest people, but it apparently could not stop those who had been repeatedly feasting on public money.

Coastal fishermen, especially those fishing at sea, are passing days amid much hardship, facing the coronavirus pandemic, super cyclone Amphan and lastly the ongoing 65-day-long ban on fishing while the compensation provided by the government is too small to meet their requirement.

Kuakata municipality in Kalapara upazila under Patuakhali suffers severe waterlogging during the rains every year, thanks to the abysmal drainage system in the famous tourist centre.

The cyclone Amphan destroyed a number of households and vast tract of cropland. It also crushed the last strands of hope for many vegetable farmers in Kalapara upazila of the district amid ithe Covid-19 pandemic.

The authorities of Sikder Resort and Villas keep building a structure near the Kuakata beach defying a removal notice issued by the local land office almost a year ago.

The onslaught of super cyclone Ampan on May 20 wrought havoc to the large tamarisk plantation in Shuvoshandhya beach, a tourist spot in Barguna’s Taltoli upazila, uprooting about 25,000 trees on 10 hectares of land and damaging the road connecting the spot.

A team of doctors under the banner of “Patuakhalibasir Daktar” (Doctors for the People of Patuakhali) are providing telemedicine services to the people of the district, facilitating treatment for general patients during the adverse situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the administration is struggling to check the spread of Covid-19, some unscrupulous people did not miss the ‘opportunity’ to occupy land on the western bank of the Sheakathi river on Patuakhali-Galachipa route in Phedainagar area of Jainkathi union of Patuakhali Sadar upazila.

A shut-down is being enforced across the country to prevent the spread of coronavirus and tourist spots, including Kuakata’s beaches, have also been closed. With human activity at these spots grinding to a halt, nature has found ways to flourish.

Navigability problem in Lohalia and Kobai rivers, two key channels of Dhaka-Patuakhali river route, remains a nuisance for operators and passengers.

Locals including a good number of students have to cross Boalia canal between Ratneshwar and Panpatti villages in Patuakhali’s Galachipa upazila amid risk on a small country boat locally known as ‘kheya’.

Hundreds of electric poles, now standing in the middle of the road due to widening of a 21-kilometre regional highway in Barguna, causes trouble for vehicular movement, in addition to disturbance in the road renovation work.