Sohrab Hossain

In Bangladesh, the peak season for the tourism and hospitality sector begins in September and continues until March. And the upcoming long weekend is going to provide an initial boost to the sector, with operators in major holiday destinations coming up with various offers.

Around 15 tonnes of non-biodegradable waste are dumped into the Bay of Bengal by fishermen of Patuakhali every year, says a study. 

The Payra sea port’s first terminal is expected to be up and running by October, facilitating transport of goods from mother vessels and speeding up operations in the country’s third major seaport. 

A fish landing station in the Mahipur area under the Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali remains unused although two years have passed since the facility was built at a cost of Tk 13 crore.

The construction of an export processing zone (EPZ) in Patuakhali will begin soon after all land acquisition costs are cleared within the next one month or so, according to project officials.

The Patuakhali-Kuakata highway, a common route for tourists to visit Kuakata beach, has become unusable in recent times due to numerous potholes. Passenger, tourist buses and other vehicles are plying this road daily with the risk of accidents ever lurking.

After waiting for 19 years, all Motaleb Mridha wants is to see the killers of his eldest son punished.

Heavy rain over the last few days has caused waterlogging in different areas of Patuakhali, severely damaging Aman seedbeds.

Patuakhali’s Baufal Upazila Health Complex is in a terrible shape due to the dilapidated four two-storey buildings of the complex, along with a lack of specialised physicians.

As many as 147 iron bridges out of 200 have been unusable in Barguna for a long time due to a lack of maintenance and repair, causing immense suffering to thousands of locals.

Eight illegal dams, built for fish cultivation, have caused waterlogging in 500 acres of agricultural land in the Patuakhali Sadar upazila. As a result, Aman cultivation in the area has been disrupted.

Another 1,320MW coal-based thermal power plant is in progress in Patuakhali’s Kalapara area. The first of its two units (660MW each) will come on stream in June 2024 and the second unit in October.

The Shuvo Sandhya Beach in Barguna’s Taltali upazila has been facing serious erosion by the Bay for the last couple of years.

A bunch of students in uniforms attending lectures under a tree -- this is what this correspondent saw when he first stepped inside Uttar Tiakhali Government Primary School in Barguna’s Amtali upazila.

“The terminal is full of potholes, all of which transform into ditches following drizzles. Speeding vehicles often spill that water on our clothes,” shared Abdul Halim, a local who frequently commutes through the Patuakhali central bus terminal.

The availability of a simple electricity-run milling machine is helping farmers in Patuakhali double their earnings from a legume crop.  

The Sonakata Tengragiri Ecopark has seen a decline in number of tourists due to the suspension of construction works on the bridge linking the area to Barguna’s Taltali upazila’s FakirHat Canal for one and a half year.

Crafted by a group of Rakhines, expelled from the Arakan around 1783, the 240-year-old Srimangal Buddha Bihar (Buddhist temple) in Patuakhali still stands tall today amid chaos as the indigenous community keeps fighting for the full possession of its land.

Mung bean exports from Bangladesh have decreased as foreign buyers are less interested in purchasing the legume this year given their reduced quality and size resulting from severe droughts during the growing period.

Operations at Payra port have slowed down significantly following the temporary stoppage of coal imports for the Payra Thermal Power Plant in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali.