Moulvibazar Correspondent: The temperature has started decreasing gradually since last week in Kamalganj, bordering Moulvibazar. Normal life has come to a standstill due to the winter and frosty winds in Konkan. As a result, cold-related diseases are increasing among children and the elderly. People suffering from winter diseases are flocking to Upazila Health Complex. Meanwhile, slum dwellers and day laborers are suffering due to the cold.
The minimum temperature was recorded at 10.5 degrees Celsius at the Srimangalastha Regional Meteorological Office at 9 a.m. yesterday, on Wednesday.
It is known that due to the existence of tea gardens and forest areas, the severity of winter is more severe from the city to the village. The number of children and elderly in Kamalganj Upazila Health Complex and various private doctors’ chambers has increased every day due to cold-related diseases. Among them, the number of patients suffering from colds, fevers, coughs, shortness of breath, and diarrhea is increasing. The crowd of low- and middle-income people in hot clothing shops is increasing every day. The sufferings of day laborers, tea gardeners, uprooted people, and slum dwellers increased in winter. The tea gardens are generally cold, mild, and foggy. As a result, a large number of tea workers succumbed to severe cold weather. They are living very hard in the bone-chilling winter due to a lack of warm clothes.
Tea workers said that most of them cannot afford to buy warm clothes due to their low income. To ward off winter, these family members spend time inside and outside the house, lighting fires with straw.
Sitaram Bean, the labor leader of the Kanihati tea plantation in Shamshernagar Union, said that the plantation authorities do not distribute any winter clothes to the tea workers during the winter. A few years ago, the garden authorities used to distribute sacks of chaat among the workers. Now, nothing is given. Most of the working family members are suffering in the winter.
Moulvibazar’s Srimangalastha weather observation office observer, Md. Anichur Rahman, said that the minimum temperature was recorded at 9 a.m. at 10.5 degrees Celsius. Earlier on Tuesday, 10.7 degrees Celsius was recorded. This temperature condition may remain for a few more days.
Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr. Mahbubul Alam Bhuiyan said that the incidence of cold, fever, cough, and diarrhea has increased slightly due to the cold. The number of these patients is also increasing in the hospital.
Kamalganj Upazila executive officer Zainal Abedin said that the upazila has not received official winter clothes so far. Allotments will be distributed as soon as possible.
