Dipankar Roy

Even three years back, vast lands would remain barren throughout most of the year in Koyra upazila of Khulna due to high level of salinity in the nearby rivers and waterbodies.

Once a mighty river, the 29-kilometre long Soilmari, which flows through Khulna’s Batiaghata upazila, is in dire need of excavation.

GKM Lutfar Rahim, regional manager of NGO Forum in Khulna, has a unique hobby -- collecting newspapers.

Citing insurmountable losses, nine jute mills in Khulna region, including the country’s second largest one, abruptly shut down operation in July 2020.

After winter ended, mosquitoes took control of Khulna, making life difficult for many city dwellers. Locals claim that the situation has been ongoing for a long time, with the authorities continuing to turn a blind eye.

After a two-month hiatus during the breeding season of crabs, fishermen set sail once more in various rivers and canals of the Sundarbans to resume their crab catching activities.

Seated on a rug in front of a closed shop on the west side of Badamtala Bazar, 61-year-old Nomita Sarkar was sorting out various local seeds.

Numerous farmers in Khulna have been successfully growing coloured cauliflowers and selling them for a handsome profit, prompting even more farmers to start cultivating this visually striking, savoury, and nutritious variant.

Hari, once a 200-metre-wide river, is now on the verge of extinction. The river was once a lifeline for the residents of at least 15 villages.

Sheikh Abu Naser Bypass Road, one of the six major roads in and out of Khulna city, used to be a boon to the area’s road connectivity.

To establish a direct connection between farmers and traders, the country’s first village supermarket (VSM) was set up in Tipna village under Khulna’s Dumuria upazila in 2015. However, the market currently remains idle.

In 1998, SM Kamrul Islam Babu, a native of Dhulgram village in Abhaynagar upazila, Jashore, badly injured both of his hands while working with a shallow machine at a fish enclosure.

From Hogolbunia of Batiaghata, Gautam Mondal often travels to Khulna city for his business. He was used to the congested, narrow footpaths of the city, lined with vendors, hawkers and beggars. With no space left for pedestrians, they were often forced to get down and walk along the roadside.

The two-kilometre-long Taltala canal once used to be a vital waterbody flowing through Khulna city.

Curled up leafless twigs rattling with every breeze and decaying tree trunks crowd the roads of Satkhira.

The cricket fans of Khulna cannot remember the last time an international cricket match was held at the Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium (SANS) nor are they too optimistic about seeing one at the Rupsha-Bhairab shore any time soon.

Rivers don’t live anymore, they merely exist. They exist as relics of their halcyon days when rivers were truly wild, mysterious, free -- or as a character in their own story, as told through poetry and music.

Permanent concrete structures being constructed by encroaching parts of Gulatola canal and dumping of solid wastes is putting the final nails in the coffin of the waterbody.

The 22-kilometre-long Mayur river, which used to flow through the western side of Khulna city while being a source of fresh water for locals, is now on its deathbed. 

As the nation heads to the polls today, the BNP continues its two-day hartal as part of a polls-boycott movement. The party has also called for a non-cooperation movement to remove the current regime and demanded elections under a neutral administration.