Sufficient aid has yet to reach remote areas of Feni, leaving many residents desperately pleading for relief.
A visit to several areas of Daganbhuiyan upazila on Tuesday revealed that while government relief is being provided at shelters by the local administration, the aid has not yet reached the people in remote villages.
Several hundred thousand people in Feni have been affected by one of the worst floods in recent history, caused by water from upstream and heavy rains.
Although water levels have begun to recede in most areas, more than 200,000 people in Daganbhuiyan upazila remain trapped in floodwaters.
The affected areas are now facing severe shortages of food and clean water.
Locals said most rural roads were submerged, cutting off road communication and severely disrupting daily life.
They added that while relief and rescue workers had entered Fulgazi, Parshuram and Chhagalnaiya upazilas from across the country, the hundreds of thousands of waterlogged residents in Daganbhuiyan were not receiving aid.
Women, children and the elderly were living in dire conditions, they complained.
They said the severity of the flooding in this upazila had not been adequately publicized, leading to a lack of rescue operations.
As a result, they said, they were not receiving relief or any other form of assistance.
Apart from minimal efforts by a few social and political organizations, around 250,000 flood-affected people in the upazila are not receiving any relief, forcing them to endure extreme hardship.
Saleh Ahmed, a resident of Sonapur village, expressed his frustration, saying: "All the villages in Daganbhuiyan were flooded before Fulgazi and Parshuram. But it is unfortunate that our suffering has not been highlighted.
“No government or voluntary organization has delivered any relief to our village or the surrounding areas. We are crying out for food, and there is also a severe shortage of clean drinking water."
Residents of Neyazpur village, Abdur Rahim and Ali Hossain, said their villages had been underwater for at least 15 days.
Being located deep inside the area, no one had come to their aid, leading to a food crisis, they added.
The same situation prevails in all remote villages of the upazila.
Several other flood-affected families said while relief was reaching other upazilas in the district, it was not coming to Daganbhuiyan.
There were hardly any food supplies in the shops, and whatever was available was being sold at inflated prices, they added, appealing to the administration for relief assistance.
When asked about the situation, Daganbhuiyan Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Nibedita Chakma said there was a shortage of relief.
“We have not been able to provide aid to many people. Additionally, many villages are inaccessible due to the floodwaters. However, we are trying to deliver relief to them through volunteers."
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Shahina Akter said that so far, 824,392 people across six upazilas in the district had been affected by the floods.
She added that 66,445 people had taken refuge in shelter centres.
“We are continuing our efforts to deliver relief to those who are still trapped in the floodwaters."