Mokammel Shuvo

Hospitality service providers in Cox’s Bazar are not expecting an onrush of tourists amid the upcoming holiday centring Eid-ul-Azha as ongoing inflationary pressure and unfavourable weather are keeping travellers at bay.

The politics of Awami League in Cox’s Bazar is in utter chaos ahead of the municipality election scheduled for June 12.

Three families in Cox’s Bazar have been shattered by the brutal murder of three young men from their households. The anguished cries of Moyna Khatun Pakhi, the wife of one of the victims, Imran, echo through the walls of their tiny rented house -- a constant reminder of the pain they endure.

Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar camps fear their homes may be destroyed if the Cyclone Mocha develops into a severe one and hits the coast.

“Are you talking about those big pankhas?” auto-rickshaw driver Osman Ali responded when this reporter asked to take him to the wind power plant in Khurushkul area of Cox’s Bazar.

It has been 25 years since the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord was signed, but rights activists and leaders of the party that signed it with the government say key clauses of the agreement still remain unimplemented.

If you go to Telghat of south Keraniganj, you will see a road next to the Buriganga river. Beside it, there are some buildings, makeshift shops and a piece of land filled with garbage and earth.

If you walk by Buriganga’s bank from Jinjira ferry ghat to Keraniganj, you will see people dumping household garbage into the river that’s considered to be the lifeline of Dhaka.

Do you know how much garbage it takes to kill a 13-kilometre-long flowing canal?

“It was a whimsical attack. The situation is normal now. Everyone lives here in a friendly atmosphere and harmony,” said seniors of the Hindu community at Sahapara village of Narail district.

Farmers in Shahbajpur village of Jashore sadar upazila are overjoyed to be producing export quality vegetables but they are disappointed that the produce is selling at home instead of abroad at the same time.

For shopkeepers in Cox’s Bazar’s Ukhia, the day starts with rigorous cleaning. As part of the process, they put a pair of buckets -- one green and the other blue -- in front of their shops.

Business and recreation go hand-in-hand in Cox’s Bazar. But amidst all the usual frenzy, the tourist town fights a silent battle every day -- to make its waste management work.

With the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, prices of essential commodities see a hiking trend -- a common phenomenon in the country for quite some years now.

On one hand, it’s good news that the government has taken up a river excavation project at Hari and Teka rivers to recede water from the waterlogged Bhabadah region.

Around 120 villages in the Bhabadah region in Jashore and Khulna are still under water, even as winter marches.

A racket that includes officials tampered with at least 36 cheques and stole almost Tk 7 crore from a bank account of Jashore Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education in the last five years, an investigation found.

Like previous incidents of communal violence unleashed on minority communities, a post making the rounds on Facebook was what triggered the October 13 attacks in Chandpur’s Hajiganj upazila during Durga Puja celebrations.

After raping both a mother and her daughter in Sherpur’s Nalitabari on Sunday, the perpetrators are now threatening the victim family for filing a case.

Around 80 villages have been flooded in at least six upazilas of Jashore and Khulna districts due to incessant rain last month.