Mintu Deshwara

In the heart of the green Fulchhara tea garden, the air was filled with a riot of colours and joy as thousands of tea workers gathered to celebrate the Fagua festival yesterday. It was a rare moment of respite from their otherwise arduous and monotonous lives.

All trains running through the Lawachara National Park in Moulvibazar have been instructed to run at a maximum speed of 20 kilometres per hour to ensure the safety of the wildlife in the area.

The tea workers demanded Tk 30,000 in arrears for 20 months in line with the hiked wages that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked tea garden owners to pay in August last year

The year was 1971. Odoitto Sen Odhikary was just a tenth-grader preparing for his board exams.

Moulvibazar district has one of the largest Manipuri communities in the country. While everyone in the community can speak Manipuri, the language’s script and alphabet were at risk of extinction.

There was a time when the Jujnal river used to be the lifeline of Habiganj. Boats used to ply the river with goods and passengers, facilitating agriculture, trade and communication simultaneously.

Tea garden workers in the country’s northeastern region are at high risk of developing leprosy due to their unhygienic living conditions, malnutrition and lack of awareness.

A tea estate in Habiganj has completely cleared their leased land by setting it ablaze and cutting down the trees, much to the dismay of environmentalists and wildlife activists.

A total of six bridges built on Fanai river, flowing through the southern part of Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila, have either collapsed or partially broken down allegedly due to unplanned dredging of the river.

Cutting, selling and using topsoil from cropland for different purposes is going on unabated at many places in Habiganj’s Nabiganj upazila, defying laws.

Hatimara Tea Garden took lease of a land near Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary in Habiganj’s Chunarughat upazila some years ago. The place was a safe habitat for wildlife and hosted century-old trees... up until January 19, 2023.

The state-owned National Tea Company took the lease of Moulvibazar’s Kurma Chonkhul area a long time ago. The place, surrounded by trees and bushes, serves as the sole breeding ground for the rare Golden Headed Cisticola, locally known as “Munia” in Bangladesh, and many other endangered species.

In 2021, Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved a mega project worth Tk 996.30 crore in 2021 to permanently free three upazilas of Moulvibazar from flood.

On June 30,  the Directorate of Public Health Engineering finished building a water-supply centre in Habiganj at a cost of Tk 9.29 crore.

Some 48 years ago, a Shaheed Minar was built at Shamsernagar area in Moulvibazar’s Kamalganj upazila commemorating those who lost their lives during the Language Movement in 1952.

Lobbing Sumer (40) is the head of a six-member family at Doluchhara punjee in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila. During the last 13 years serving as the Khasi punjee (indigenous village) chief, he had to manage the expenses of seven cases filed by the forest department against the members of their community.

Some TCB dealers in Moulvibazar are selling daily essentials in black markets, depriving low-income groups from buying the commodities in fair prices.

By December 20, the war was well and truly over. After nine long months of blood, sweat and tears, the freedom fighters snatched the victory flag. This was their time to return home, meet their beloved ones, and rest on their own pillows.

Jamilur Rahman (69), a resident of Girzapara under Moulvibazar municipality, had just retired a few years ago from his profession as a college professor. After working for years on end, when he retired, loneliness had gotten the best of him.

Srihatta Economic Zone has become active as a door and window manufacturing company started production in the special area in Moulvibazar’s Sherpur.