Mintu Deshwara

People of at least 22 villages of Doarabazar upazila under Sunamganj district are passing days amid panic as the swelling Surma river

Farmers living in and around Hakaluki Haor have been dealt a triple blow with the death of hundreds of ducks they have been farming for their livelihood for years.

Unusually early flash floods late last month in Sunamganj's haor region not only damaged vast tracts of Boro just a month prior to

After devastating vast croplands and death of the fishes in Hakaluki haor, the flash flood caused by last month’s incessant rain has now taken a toll on livestock. Hundreds of ducks have reportedly died in Sylhet's Fenchuganj, where duck farming is a main source of earning livelihood.

Fish in Hakaluki Haor have started dying since Sunday as half-ripe paddy submerged under flashfloods continues to rot and pollute its water.

Asbestos roofs widely used on the houses of the tea garden workers in greater Sylhet region pose high risks of cancer, said health experts and environmentalists.

Bangla New Year Pahela Baishakh will hardly bring any joy to the people of haor areas of Baniachong upazila in Habiganj as flash floods triggered by rain and water from hills have left a large number of farmers in utter despair.

Farmers in the northeastern backswamp are all too familiar with flash floods. Rice paddies grown just once a year in this vast haor remain at the mercy of nature. But thousands of growers in this wetland ecosystem had never experienced flash floods striking this early as in this season, completely destroying paddies in over one lakh hectares of land.

Despite a government ban, illegal hill cutting is rampant in the hilly areas of Moulvibazar.

There is an old saying: “It takes a village to raise a child”. Now another saying could be introduced, “It takes an upazila to save a levee”.

Herons have found a safe haven in Raja House at Sreemangal upazila of the district.

Three suspected militants were found dead inside the Moulvibazar's Borohat den as police wrapped up their 82-hour raid on the hideout yesterday.

Despite being the only wildlife treatment centre in the region, Lawacherra Wildlife Rescue Centre in Moulvibazar's Kamalganj upazila, is running without any veterinary surgeon, nurses and adequate equipment.

The 34-hour siege at one of the two suspected terror hideouts in Moulvibazar ended yesterday with the recovery of body parts of seven to eight people, including a number of children, inside the den at Nasirpur in Sadar upazila.

Locals are passing difficult times in Moulvibazar Sadar with schools shut, normal life hindered and business suffering for the ongoing anti-militancy raid.

A London expatriate from Moulvibazar is found to be the owner of both houses where law enforcers are conducting a raid in suspicion that militants are residing there. However, it is yet to be ascertained how the suspected militants have rented the houses and via whom.

People living in the surrounding areas of the militant den at “Atia Mahal” in Sylhet city were passing hard days after authorities cut off power and gas connections there to facilitate the raid on the hideout.

Food crisis has begun in the areas around Atia Mahal, where Bangladesh Army is raiding to flush out militants. Power and gas lines have been cut on top of a standing Section 144 imposed in the area - compelling locals into days of misery. Low-income groups has been hurt the most.

Two militants were killed during the army-led operation inside the terror den at Atia Mahal in Sylhet yesterday, as the raid to take on the terrorists holed up there entered its third day, making it one of the longest anti-terror operations. However, the operation codenamed “Operation Twilight” was far from over as more militants were believed to be still inside the five-storey apartment.

The heavy rain on Thursday came as a boost for the tea gardens in Sylhet as the shower could help the owners avoid the fall in output caused normally by drought at this time of the year.