Dwoha Chowdhury

Imagine small boats gliding through snaking waterways, canopied by lush foliage. Suddenly it starts raining over the freshwater swamp and nature embraces all with its serenity.

Jadukata, a transboundary river originating from Khasi Hills of India and flowing through Sunamganj’s Tahirpur and Bishwamvarpur upazilas, is famed for its scenic beauty.

Most archaeological sites in Sylhet, even the protected ones, have been left uncared for as neither the Department of Archaeology nor the local administration are being able to take proper care of them due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Heart patient Syed Shofiqul Alam, 75, from Habiganj’s Nabiganj upazila, was admitted at the general ward of Sylhet’s North East Medical College Hospital on June 11 with fever.

This January, Sylhet city was praised for having a street with no cobweb of overhead cables as the first phase of underground power line project of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) was progressing.

They do not get much acknowledgement for what they have been doing for the community, but they are true heroes of the time.

Only a month after harvesting 85 maunds of Boro paddy from around five bighas of land, farmer Suresh Debnath of Sunamganj was able to gather another 25 maunds of paddy from the same field.

Fifty-year-old man Abdus Salam had been suffering from chronic kidney disease and needed routine dialysis.

Saheed Shamsuddin Ahmed Hospital in Sylhet, a subsidiary 100-bed hospital under Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, was dedicated for treating Covid-19 patients, days before the first patient was detected on April 5.

A 55-year-old businessman died yesterday from breathing complexities and chest pain, after allegedly being denied treatment at three different hospitals in Sylhet.

A 63-year-old woman died early on Monday night from breathing complications after being denied treatment at six different hospitals in Sylhet.

Indiscriminate catching of fish fry in the haors of Sylhet region, including the protected Tanguar Haor in Sunamganj, has been posing a serious threat to the area’s ecosystem. Due to this illegal practice, many local breeds are becoming extinct, said fisheries experts and elderly fishers.

Anticipating an increased demand for food grain, a section of rice millers and wholesalers are exhibiting stockpiling tendencies, pushing up the price of the recently harvested Boro paddy.

An entomological survey team supporting Sylhet City Corporation’s (SCC) anti-mosquito drive found Aedes larvae at five locations of two wards in the city, as the drive resumed after being disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

It happens at a time when farmers are complaining of shortages of labourers due to the travel restrictions amid the nationwide shutdown enforced to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.

The government recently declared 70 percent subsidy for farmers of the haor region, up from the previous 50 percent, for the purchase of agriculture machinery.

Amid the coronavirus scare and threat of impending flash flood, farmers in the haor region of Sylhet Division are expecting a bumper Boro harvest this time.

While it may sound reassuring to hear that Sylhet division has 589 beds dedicated to treating Covid-19 patients in isolation centres. However, that enthusiasm might start to fade in the face of some details -- out of these 589, only two are ICU beds.

Inclement weather. Lack of buyers. Shortage of workers. And impending flashfloods. These very real developments, coupled with a belief that prices of their harvest are set to fall, have Boro farmers in Sylhet’s haor region looking down the barrel. The government-declared stimulus package and assurances of buying up a huge amount of paddy and rice, which are meant to help, also ring hollow to many farmers.

At this time when countrymen are in distress amid the nationwide shutdown but many MPs are not seen in their constituencies, one lawmaker from Sylhet -- Mahmud Us Samad Chowdhury, parliamentarian for Sylhet-3 constituency -- has been an exception.