Mintu Deshwara

Disregarding environmental laws, illegal hill cutting continues unabated in different areas of Moulvibazar and its adjoining areas.

Ultra-poor tea workers in the district are shivering in the chilly winter as they are passing days in extreme misery without warm clothes. People living in the tea gardens are more vulnerable.

A bridge built 21 years ago over a canal at Chilarkandi village in Moulvibazar's Kulaura upazila remains useless as it has no approach roads.

Thousands of farmers in Sunamganj are worried as rats are eating up their paddy at Jahangirnagar union under Sadar upazila in Sunamganj Haor area.

Two culverts over two canals in Hakaluki Haor area at Shahpur village in Juri upazila remain useless due to lack of approach roads, much to the suffering of thousands of people in the area.

Pest attacks and import of Indian mandarins have caused severe setback for the mandarin growers in the district.

Defying court order, local influential people are illegally fishing in Gutaura Haorkhal, a water body under Hakaluki Haor in Barlekha upazila.

Bookworms are being deprived of reading due to closure of Kulaura Public Library beside Independence Monument in the municipality for the last two years.

Shukria Begum, the 11-month-old daughter of Hamida Begum, was having breathing difficulties and was showing signs of diarrhoea in late October. Hamida took her to a nearby doctor at Shahbajpur Bazar of Moulvibazar's Baralekha upazila on 28 October as her condition deteriorated.

Meritorious Mala Jhora still does not know whether she will be able to manage finance for her admission into a public university as her tea worker parents do not have the ability to support her education expenditure.

The red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus) has made a triumphant return to its old home in Lawachhara forest in Kamalganj Upazila of Moulvibazar.

Padmo Beel, a natural water body adorned with innumerable lotuses, adds to the tourist attraction in Baniachong upazila of Habiganj, a district noted for a wide range of natural beauty, including extensive tea gardens, Laksmibawar Jolarbon and famous Kamalarani Dighi.

Mindless lifting of sand from a canal flowing along a tea garden in Habiganj's Chunarughat upazila has led to the collapse of a bridge and eroded at least 40 houses, affecting hundreds of families in the area.

Eighth grader Poli Malakar was sobbing. She feared that she might not be allowed to sit for the model tests as she had tuition due. It was the Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) who eventually paved the way for her to sit for the exams.

An endangered green cat snake, sheltered at Bangladesh Bonyo Prani Sheba Foundation in Sreemangal upazila of the district, laid four eggs there on Monday, much to the enthusiasm of foundation officials as well as locals.

The contract made between tea workers and tea garden owners expired last year. They spent the last two years fighting for their minimum wage to be increased from Tk 85 per day to Tk 230. This would have brought their monthly cash wages from Tk 2,550 to TK 6,900, which is approximately equivalent to the minimum wages of the ready-made garments sector.

Two important bridges over the Monu river and a nearby embankment in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar are at risk due to extensive riverbed sand extraction just 500 metres from the bridges.

The approach road to Nolujur bridge in Jagannathpur upazila of Sunamganj collapsed on December 6 in 2017 but has not been repaired as yet.

Bamboo groves, poised magnificently like arched gateways, welcome visitors to the misty woodland of Lawachhara National Park, the final frontier of the old forests.

As flood water recedes, thousands of affected families, from two districts in Sylhet division, are returning home only to see their dwellings ravaged by the deluge.