Mintu Deshwara

A 15-metre bridge construction project over the Ghungijuri canal in Moulvibazar, undertaken by the Directorate of Disaster Management in the financial year 2021-22, has turned into a failure even before its official inauguration.

“The school is about 2.5 kilometres from my house. But I only have to walk for about half a kilometre to reach it, and don’t even have to take off my shoes while crossing the canal on foot,” said Nigom Tanti, a fifth-grader at Kalighat Government Primary School.

Residents of Moulvibazar’s Hajipur and Sharifpur unions have long been demanding a bridge over the Manu River, and finally, authorities decided to construct one at a cost of Tk 100 crore.

Numerous excited locals standing in a queue in front of a booth, holding used plastic bottles, old containers, and worn-out polybags -- this is what this correspondent saw when he first arrived at the Moulvibazar municipality on Sunday evening.

There is only water, stretching as far as the gaze can reach. Amidst this submerged world, stands the Madhabpasha Community Clinic.

The primary objective behind constructing the bridge was to alleviate the difficulties faced by students commuting to school, improve transportation of haor crops, and end the sufferings of residents.

The forest department is chopping down some 1,246 trees, planted under the government’s social afforestation programme, on both sides of Habiganj-Shayestaganj regional highway for widening the road.

Sudden collapse of a makeshift bamboo bridge over Satchhari Canal, connecting Tripura village with Habiganj’s Chunarughat upazila headquarters, due to landslide caused by flash flood has left several families of the village in immense sufferings.

Students of Golgaon Government Primary School in Habiganj’s Chunarughat upazila have been attending their classes amid risk of accident due to the dilapidated condition of the year-old schoolhouse.

Plumporis Ev, a Germany-based voluntary organisation, is working actively to preserve the endangered Bengal slow loris, locally known as “Lajjabati Banor” in Moulvibazar.

A century-old government-owned pond in Robirbazar area of Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila has transformed into a desolate wasteland, as garbage is being dumped there indiscriminately for a while now.

It is the peak harvesting season for jackfruit in Bangladesh. As such, Brahmanbazar, a wholesale market in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar, is abuzz with the presence of farmers and traders looking to profit off the tropical fruit.

The Dhaka-Sylhet highway near Madhabpur has been transformed into a dumping ground as municipality trucks have been throwing away and burning waste there indiscriminately for a while now.

Clonal tea seedlings, which are cloned from hybrid varieties of the plant, are helping develop the tea industry of Bangladesh by providing high yields of top-quality tea, according to growers.

From the humble confines of a mud wall house, where economic struggles cast their long shadows, emerges a woman who defies all odds and shatters gender norms.

Litchi growers in Moulvibazar fear a low production of the juicy summer fruit this year due to unfavourable weather condition during the peak time of flowering.

Construction work of Moulvibazar 132/33 KV Grid Substation sees very slow progress, much to the inconvenience of the consumers.

Around 400 acres of farmland in Moulvibazar’s two upazilas remain uncultivated every year for lack of a sluice gate in the Lachgang river in Kawadighi Haor area.

Indecision over selecting the right location has been delaying the construction work of Moulvibazar’s Kulaura Upazila Central Shaheed Minar.

Tea farmers in Bangladesh are concerned about seeing lower yields this year as much of their trees have been afflicted by various diseases and pests amid the ongoing heatwave and insufficient rain.