Mintu Deshwara

Balikandi of Moulvibazar sadar upazila has a long history of being a hub for leather trade in the greater Sylhet division. Even a few years ago, hundreds of people were making a living out of it.

Tea garden owners in Bangladesh have urged the government to keep the industry out of the purview of the strict nationwide lockdown beginning on July 23.

When the death toll due to the highly infectious Delta variant of Covid-19 has been on the rise across the country, the largest weekly livestock market in Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj continue to be arranged without ensuring any health safety rules.

A proposal to build the country's third safari park in Lathitila forest of Moulvibazar has raised concerns among environmentalists as the construction of roads and structures will threaten the biodiversity of the forest area.

Covid-19 patients suffer immensely as there is no intensive care unit (ICU) facility at the hospitals in Habiganj.

Deaths of rare and endangered species of wildlife under the wheels of vehicles and on train tracks are rampant in Moulvibazar’s Lawachhara forest.

Tea garden workers have rejected the recent minimum wage recommendations of a government-led tripartite body.

In a first for the country, rose tea recently joined the white and yellow blends for sale in local markets.

An LGED project to excavate a six-kilometre-long and 100-foot-wide channel in the middle of a river -- 15 kilometres long and roughly 600 feet wide -- is causing an outcry from residents of Nabiganj upazila in Habiganj.

The destruction of Borshijora Eco-Park -- a protected forestland spread out on 326.07 hectares of land near Moulvibazar stadium -- by the hands of the town mayor has brought to light the question whether any forest or wildlife in the country are protected at all.

The authorities of a private tea garden allegedly cut down around 1,000 trees at a punji (village) in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila without permission from Forest Department.

The rubber industry in Sylhet is facing tough times due to a continuous fall in prices.

These days, Shamnarayan Goor doesn’t do much other than sitting on the porch of his hut and watching the day go by, over the hilly terrain of Lungla Tea Garden in Sylhet.

An eight-storey building was built for it at a cost of Tk 30.25 crore, but the 250-bed Habiganj Sadar Hospital has yet to start its operations after more than four years of its inauguration.

Residents near Ekhtiyarpur canal in Madhabpur upazila of Habiganj can now finally breathe a sigh of relief after a factory in the vicinity was shut down for polluting the environment with industrial waste.

“I only had some shemai (sweet vermicelli) this morning. I don't have any new dress this Eid.”

There are a total of 424 haor areas in Sylhet where boro paddy is cultivated. Due to a lack of free space in the region, local roads and highways are the first choice among farmers to dry and thresh their stock.

Young Nurjahan Begum and Nuru Mia got married in early 1971.

Farmers that cultivated yardlong bean in fallow lands in two unions of Kulaura upazila in Sylhet’s Moulvibazar district are enjoying tremendous success thanks to bumper yields and a reasonable market price.

Farmers have already harvested about 25 per cent of the boro paddy sown in haor areas of Sylhet despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.