Mintu Deshwara

Sixty-year-old Sujan Dofo, a resident of Balukona Punjee, indigenous village, in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila, used to be solely involved in cultivating betel leaves for a living.

Since 1990, the number of vultures in the subcontinent has been rapidly declining. According to the Forest Department, there were 1,972 vultures in the country in 2008. In the last census conducted in  2015, that number fell to 260.

Alongside its tea estates, one thing that tourists also look to relish while visiting Sylhet is the local betel leaf cultivated there, also known as Khasi Paan.

A bridge, built over a canal at Rupnagar village in Habiganj’s Madhabpur upazila over one and a half decades ago, has been lying unused since construction as it does not have an approach road on one side, causing immense suffering to residents of several nearby villages.

Traditionally, beans are cultivated during the winter. However, the SAU Bean-1 (Sikribi-1) variety, which has been developed by Sylhet Agricultural University, exhibits remarkable adaptability, allowing it to thrive even during the summer in Moulvibazar.

Continuous downpour over the past few days have left connecting roads of a concrete bridge in Ajmiriganj upazila of Habiganj  in a dilapidated state.

Risk of hill collapse and landslides amid monsoon mounts in Jaychandi union in Moulvibazar’s Kulaura upazila as hill razing continues unabated in the area.

Law enforcers discovered another hideout of the new militant group “Imam Mahmuder Kafela” in the hills of Karmadha union of Moulvibazar’s Kulaura yesterday.

Locals yesterday apprehended 17 people from Karmarha union of Kulaura upazila in Moulvibazar on suspicion of their involvement with a new militant outfit called “Imam Mahmuder Kafela”.

Counter-terrorism police yesterday arrested 10 people – six women and four men – in a raid on a suspected militant hideout in Moulvibazar.

Moulvibazar District Sadar Hospital used to be a place of hope for the people of tea gardens and haor areas.

Moulvibazar District Manpower and Employment Office has been facing significant challenges to deliver services to people seeking overseas employment, as the office is running amid an acute shortage of staffers.

Lawachhara National Park is an important sanctuary, buzzing with rare and endangered animals. However, its wildlife is facing a significant challenge when it comes to co-existing with the railway and regional road that passes through it.

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.