Mintu Deshwara

Around three decades back, flocks of vultures were a common sight across the country. These vultures, known as nature’s “cleaners”, would gather around dead cattle left in open fields, swiftly removing the bodies and sanitising the area.

The recent spells of floods caused damages to at least 512 kilometres of road network and 12 bridges in Moulvibazar district.

Nurun Begum, 65, stood by the embankment on Manu river in Mierpara village under Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar near the border with India, with a blank look towards the place where her mud hut stood even a few days back.

Ramnath Biswas, a celebrated globetrotter during the British period, became renowned for his remarkable bicycle journeys across four continents between 1931 and 1940.

Whenever a flood takes place, the full extent of its damage cannot be mostly understood until the water recedes.

With this month’s flood ravaging communities, sweeping away homes and leaving people and livestock amid acute shortage of food and drinking water, a grim scenario now prevails across Moulvibazar.

A breach in the Manu River embankment in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila has led to widespread flooding, submerging over 35 villages and causing significant damage to crop fields, houses, and roads.

Says mother of Mostak, 24, who was fatally shot

Unabated hill cutting by unscrupulous syndicates has become a serious concern in Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj.

Most union parishad chairmen in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila, who are also Awami League leaders, have gone into hiding following the fall of Sheikh Hasina due to a mass upsurge.

A seven-kilometre stretch of road from Sadpasha in Prithimpasha union to Muroichhara in Karmadha union in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila has long been in a dilapidated state.

Educational institutions across Sylhet division reopened on Tuesday following a government directive. However, many schools reported near-zero student attendance.

Even after curfew was lifted from 6:00am yesterday, very few shops and businesses opened in Moulvibazar, Habiganj, Sunamganj and Sylhet district towns following a prolonged period of unrest and uncertainty.

With flood still inundating vast expanse of land across the Sylhet division, including the haor (wetland) areas in Habiganj, boats have become an indispensable mode of communication as well as livelihood for the affected people.

The indigenous Tripura community has lived for generations in the Satchhari National Park of Chunarughat upazila, Habiganj.

As their house was damaged in the ongoing flood, Aftab Uddin’s family has been living in Bara Maidan High School shelter for 23 days at Talimpur union in Barlekha upazila, Moulvibazar.

For the past several years, local residents have been dumping household wastes in the open on Olipur-Shahjibazar road in Brahmandura union under Shayestaganj upazila of Habiganj.

Prices of vegetables have surged sharply over the past one week in markets across Moulvibazar due to a shortage of vehicles for transporting the produce amid the ongoing nationwide curfew, as well as potential price manipulation by traders.

Academic activities of at least 665 educational institutions have been suspended for the last 12 days across Sylhet division due to flooding.

The houses are barely standing on bamboo poles with fences broken, other parts dilapidated, and foundation submerged under water.