Mirza Shakil

Home-bound passengers travelling to the north for Eid this year may face the same old issue of heavy traffic jams at both ends of the Bangabandhu Bridge. Despite the concerns raised by transport workers, passengers and other parties concerned, the authorities have failed to provide assurance of a hassle-free journey.

Commuters visiting their homes in the country’s North for Eid will face much suffering as the Bangabandhu Bridge west link road in Siraganj is in bad shape due to the ongoing widening and renovation works.

Farmers of different hilly areas in Tangail’s Madhupur and Ghatail upazilas are cultivating various types of medicinal plants like tulsi (basil) and aloe vera commercially and earning good profits.

Several thousand battery-powered rickshaws are causing unbearable traffic jams in Tangail town, despite a ban from the higher court. Residents are struggling with regular traffic jams due to the large number of illegal vehicles on the roads.

The Water Tank area in Tangail town, one of the main mass-killing grounds during the Liberation War in 1971, is finally getting due recognition after over 50 years of the country’s independence.

Tangail sari weavers and traders are so far disappointed with the low turnout of wholesale buyers at Karatia market in Tangail sadar upazila as they had hoped to make good sales on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr this year.

The traditional craft of making shital pati mats in Tangail is facing a severe threat due to the shortage of raw materials and rising production costs. The lack of necessary capital has made matters worse for the craftsmen involved in this ancestral profession.

The only digital X-ray machine at 250-bed Tangail General Hospital has been lying inoperative for over five years, depriving patients of its service.

Park Bazar, the main kitchen market in Tangail town, has been in a sorry state due to lack of renovation work for long, causing huge sufferings to the buyers and sellers.

Patients at Tangail’s 250-bed General Hospital have been struggling to receive adequate healthcare services due to an overwhelming number of patients and a shortage of staff, including doctors.

Mulching method, a modern farming technic for producing quality vegetables and fruits, is gaining popularity among farmers in Tangail region nowadays.

Farmers in Nagarpur upazila of Tangail have achieved success in growing potato and maize together on the same land.

The last nail is getting hammered in the coffin of Shyamababu’s canal in Tangail town. After more than half of the town’s main canal was converted into a central drain nearly three decades ago, now drain construction on the remaining part of the canal has also started. Through this, the 128-year-old canal is going to end its life, leaving the ancient town in fear of environmental disaster.

A Tk 3,020 crore government project to popularise cultivation on big plots of land with the help of modern agricultural tools has seen little success in the last two years.

Tangail’s cinema hall business began in 1950, with Lebu Chowdhury constructing Rawshan Talkies in a secluded corner of the then small town.

The cutting of the red hillocks in Tangail continues. With the help of people with political influence, soil traders are allegedly cutting and levelling the hills every day. 

Even two years after the deadline, the construction of a bridge in Hugra of Tangail Sadar upazila has not been completed, causing immense suffering to thousands of people.

For the first time in Bangladesh, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) has succeeded in growing coloured cauliflower on an experimental basis.

In the 90s, Zakir Hossain Topu, a man from Tangail’s Aag Elasin village, went to the US to study alternative medicine. After completing his education, he returned to his village  and started working with different herbal items, including black cumin, trifola (amloki, horitoki and bohera), and moringa.

Minarul Islam, a beekeeper of Shyamnagar in Shatkhira, set up his bee colonies next to the vast mustard fields of Tangail Sadar’s Gala area for the fourth time in November.