Staff Reporter :
The people across the haor districts are now facing hardship since they lost crop in the recent flash flood.
Food and fund are urgently needed as crisis deepens there. The smiling faces of farmers have become pale with grief and uncertainty over their future.
The government has not distributed relief or food among the people of most-affected district like Sunamganj yet, the private television channel RTV said quoting locals. The district administration says it will enlist the affected people before distributing relief.
However, the Disaster and Management and Relief Minister said the government has started providing food assistance among the flood-hit haor people, according to a handout.
Sunamganj, Habiganj, Kishorganj, and Netrokona are the worst-affected districts and lakhs of people need immediate help. All 142 haors of Sunamganj have washed away.
Meanwhile, many farmers are compelled to sell their cattle at a throw-away price to buy food as they did not get any relief or fund yet.
Talking to journalists, many families there say they are losing their last surviving animals, their livelihood, and have little money to buy food. “My family members are starving but I cannot feed them. I tried for relief or cash money but I’m failed. So that now I’m going to cattle market to sell my cow to buy food,” a farmer of Sunamganj district said.
He said they are also facing serious difficulties in getting cattle’s feeds. “The crucial period is coming up. The crisis has already reached its peak,” another farmer said.
Meanwhile, the district administration has withdrawn its ban on fishing in the haors.
The decision was taken at a meeting on Tuesday morning.
Earlier, the district administration imposed a week-long ban on fishing as huge quantum of fish died in the haors following the recent flashflood. The flood situation in Sunamganj and Habiganj continue to worsen as rainfall and onrush of water from the upstream submerged new areas in the districts on Tuesday.
In Sunamganj, the Urar Bondho dam in Pagnar haor in Jamalganj and Dirai upazilas breached at various points in the early hours, damaging crops on some 1,000 hectares of land newly.
The water level in the hoar marked an unusual rise due to incessant rain for the last few days and water rolling down from the areas.
Meanwhile, the government on Tuesday has started providing food assistance to the flood victims of haor region under the vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme.
The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry is distributing rice among a total of 3.3 lakh households of haors under the VGF programme, said a handout on Tuesday.
Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya formally inaugurated a 100-day programme by distributing food grains among the flood victims in Madan upazila of Netrakona on Tuesday.
Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Arif Khan Joy, Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Shah Kamal and local deputy commissioner Dr Md Mushfiqur Rahman were, among others, present on the occasion.
The Minister said the flood victims have no reason to be worried since the government will continue food and cash assistance for them until the harvesting of new boro reason starts.
He assured the affected farmers, who lost their crops to flashflood, that the government will take all possible measures to rehabilitate them. The government has already allocated 148 tonnes of rice and Tk 34 lakh for the flood-hit people of Netrakona district. About 50,000 poor families will get food assistance under the VGF programme.
Maya urged the NGOs to refrain from collecting installments of agriculture loan for one year from the affected farmers of disaster-hit haor areas. “The farmers, who cultivated boro paddy in haor areas by taking agricultural loan, need not to repay the loan for the next one year,” he said.
The people across the haor districts are now facing hardship since they lost crop in the recent flash flood.
Food and fund are urgently needed as crisis deepens there. The smiling faces of farmers have become pale with grief and uncertainty over their future.
The government has not distributed relief or food among the people of most-affected district like Sunamganj yet, the private television channel RTV said quoting locals. The district administration says it will enlist the affected people before distributing relief.
However, the Disaster and Management and Relief Minister said the government has started providing food assistance among the flood-hit haor people, according to a handout.
Sunamganj, Habiganj, Kishorganj, and Netrokona are the worst-affected districts and lakhs of people need immediate help. All 142 haors of Sunamganj have washed away.
Meanwhile, many farmers are compelled to sell their cattle at a throw-away price to buy food as they did not get any relief or fund yet.
Talking to journalists, many families there say they are losing their last surviving animals, their livelihood, and have little money to buy food. “My family members are starving but I cannot feed them. I tried for relief or cash money but I’m failed. So that now I’m going to cattle market to sell my cow to buy food,” a farmer of Sunamganj district said.
He said they are also facing serious difficulties in getting cattle’s feeds. “The crucial period is coming up. The crisis has already reached its peak,” another farmer said.
Meanwhile, the district administration has withdrawn its ban on fishing in the haors.
The decision was taken at a meeting on Tuesday morning.
Earlier, the district administration imposed a week-long ban on fishing as huge quantum of fish died in the haors following the recent flashflood. The flood situation in Sunamganj and Habiganj continue to worsen as rainfall and onrush of water from the upstream submerged new areas in the districts on Tuesday.
In Sunamganj, the Urar Bondho dam in Pagnar haor in Jamalganj and Dirai upazilas breached at various points in the early hours, damaging crops on some 1,000 hectares of land newly.
The water level in the hoar marked an unusual rise due to incessant rain for the last few days and water rolling down from the areas.
Meanwhile, the government on Tuesday has started providing food assistance to the flood victims of haor region under the vulnerable group feeding (VGF) programme.
The Disaster Management and Relief Ministry is distributing rice among a total of 3.3 lakh households of haors under the VGF programme, said a handout on Tuesday.
Disaster Management and Relief Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya formally inaugurated a 100-day programme by distributing food grains among the flood victims in Madan upazila of Netrakona on Tuesday.
Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports Arif Khan Joy, Disaster Management and Relief Secretary Md Shah Kamal and local deputy commissioner Dr Md Mushfiqur Rahman were, among others, present on the occasion.
The Minister said the flood victims have no reason to be worried since the government will continue food and cash assistance for them until the harvesting of new boro reason starts.
He assured the affected farmers, who lost their crops to flashflood, that the government will take all possible measures to rehabilitate them. The government has already allocated 148 tonnes of rice and Tk 34 lakh for the flood-hit people of Netrakona district. About 50,000 poor families will get food assistance under the VGF programme.
Maya urged the NGOs to refrain from collecting installments of agriculture loan for one year from the affected farmers of disaster-hit haor areas. “The farmers, who cultivated boro paddy in haor areas by taking agricultural loan, need not to repay the loan for the next one year,” he said.
