Dipankar Roy

Poritosh came to Khulna Medical College Hospital’s dedicated Covid-19 unit all the way from a Moheshkura of Bagerhat’s Morelgong upazila on

With the number of Covid-19 patients on the rise, the dedicated hospital for treating coronavirus in Khulna is struggling to cope with the pressure.

In many ways, Jamuna Mondal’s life has been shaped by river erosion and climate change.

Various labour organisations and industry experts have urged the government to allocate special funds in the upcoming national budget to help distressed jute mill workers and shrimp farmers survive the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Fish, shrimp enclosures and other structures in coastal areas surrounding the Sundarbans were damaged by tidal surges and storms due to the impact of cyclone Yaas, causing a loss of over Tk 5 crore.

For the last two months, every morning Helena Khatun, a resident of Moilapota area in Khulna city, wakes up hoping that she will be able to manage enough water for the day.

The Khulna region has not seen any rainfall in the last seven months.

Like other parts of the country, shops in the Khulna and Barishal divisions have become inundated with customers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival in Bangladesh.

Only about ten to twelve years ago, thousands of acres of land in Khulna would remain uncultivated after the harvesting of Aman rice, but growing of watermelon there did not cross the farmers’ minds.

People living by the Kirtonkhola river in Barishal noticed in March this year that the river’s water had become unusually salty.

The people of Khulna had not even considered watermelon farming just 10 or 12 years ago, when thousands of acres of land would remain uncultivated after the aman paddy season.

As the economic effects of the lockdown intensifies, lower to middle income people of Khulna keep finding it harder and harder to meet their grocery bills. In such a dire time, subsidised daily necessities courtesy of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) should be a saving grace. But its shortage in its stocks compared to the people’s needs.

“Very often I visit this museum to go back in time, looking at evidence of the Liberation War and reminiscing the days of freedom fighters,” said Bidhan Golder, a freedom fighter and native of Khulna’s Batiaghata upazila. “I had a good relationship with Madhab Chandra’s family. When I come here, I can feel his soul.”

Bangladesh has finally started to farm vannamei shrimp on pilot basis following pleas from exporters as locally grown black tiger shrimp and freshwater prawn are unable to compete with cheaper varieties in western markets.

It has been 10 months since the cyclone Amphan hit Bangladesh, but over 600 families have still been living on an embankment at Kashirhatkhola point in Khulna’s Koyra upazila.

Roksana Khatun moves aside dirt and floating leaves from a pond, slowly lowers her earthen pitcher into it and fills it with around 20 litres of water.

“Whenever someone visits for the first time, the serenity of being surrounded by saplings all around is bound to amaze. Sometimes even I am baffled by the many varieties added over the years.”

The Bhadra, once a free-flowing river in Khulna’s Dumuria upazila, has been turned into a narrow canal over the years, thanks to encroachment by brick kilns run by local influential people, including elected representatives.

With only a week left before the countrywide Covid-19 vaccination campaign kicks off on February 7, training of field-level healthcare workers in Khulna division is yet to start.

Myth says that the philosopher’s stone was a substance that could turn ordinary metal into gold.