Vehicles are blocked on the Barishal-Kuakata highway, and passengers are forced to pay hefty sums to mahouts riding elephants. People are intimidated with the gentle giants into paying more.

Seventy years ago, the cholera epidemic drove the population of the village of Mangolpur in Jhenaidah to dwindle to insignificant numbers.

Roads in Dhaka and other districts saw severe traffic congestion today as the withdrawal of lockdown took effect.

Toxic, reeking chemical waste floods fields, roads and even houses every monsoon in Tongi and other industrial areas. A BSCIC survey reveals that at least 48 factories all over the country do not have effluent treatment plant (ETP) installed -- disregarding environmental laws and polluting rivers and residential areas.

“Work for Money”, a government programme intended to generate income and ensure food security for the rural poor, has turned into a mess of corruption and irregularities in Natore.

With the end of the lockdown, people are diving into usual activity in all divisional towns and cities including the capital. Launches, buses and trains have started transporting passengers. But in some places the gathering was thin due to rain. Markets and roadside shops were seen opening for business.

Tens of thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers across the globe are waiting for months after applying for renewal of their passports. The entire process of issuing and renewing passports has been halted due to the delay in updating the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) server.

People stood in line for hours and still could not get vaccinated because there was a severe shortage of vaccines in Narayanganj General Hospital.

Sutalari Ramchandrapur Government Primary School in Manikganj has been reduced to half its original size because the entire school is slowly crumbling into the mighty Padma river, while the Water Development Board remains inactive.

The production of potatoes has exceeded all expectations.

When most of the restrictions are lifted tomorrow, buses, trains, launches and other modes of transportations will start operating. Preparations were underway for activities to resume in full swing. In the capital, the roads were congested with traffic jams forming in several areas.

The mass vaccination trial run has raised a wave of complaints about disorder, corruption and public suffering.

Finally, the critically endangered crocodile specimen gets caught in a net set up by villagers. After the Wildlife Conservation Department failed to capture the behemoth for two days, the villagers took it upon themselves to capture the creature in a fishing net.

During this pandemic, since last year, the hustle-bustle of the country's largest floating guava market has been missing.

The worst Covid-19 wave in this country is still far from passing. Even as the medical system is on the brink of being overburdened, and with thousands dying of Covid each week, the government is planning to withdraw movement restrictions from August 11.

When the government has ensured that Covid-19 vaccines are free, some people are complaining that they were being charged to get vaccines at a centre in Radda, Mirpur.

This monsoon, severe drought is ravaging North Bengal and its agriculture. The rainfall this year has been below average, and the farmers are fearing a stunted yield, especially in Lalmonirhat and Kurigram districts

Traffic on the roads was usual today across the country. In some areas, law enforcement forces were busy controlling movement of people and vehicles, while in other places, people were seen opening shops breaking the lockdown.

The first day of the Mass Vaccination programme has turned into another chaotic carnival of unrestrained mass cross-infection -- with hundreds of under-informed expectants waiting in lines just to get refused, disproportionate vaccine shortage, people fighting to get vaccine, political leaders halting vaccination and posing as vaccine administrators only for photoshoot.

The ground floor and the playing field of Kajlarpar Government Primary School has practically become a pond as it remains under knee-deep water almost throughout the year.