Cold weather makes life difficult in Kurigram

The lowest temperatures have been recorded between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius in last three days, according to Kurigram Met Office. The sun becomes visible at noon. Poor people are trying to keep themselves warm in the heat from burning straw and leaves. Working class people cannot go outside in the hostile weather to make their living, as they do not have sufficient warm clothes. Fazu, a van puller in Kurigram town, told the Dhaka Tribune that he could not earn his living, as it was very difficult to go for work in the chilling weather without any warm clothes. Abdul Jalil, an elderly man who lives beside the Brahmaputra in Sadar upazila, said: “We, who live beside the Brahmaputra, tremble in the biting cold coupled with wind from the river even inside home. We cannot fight with the hostile weather only with mat. We do not have any warm clothes.” Patients of cold-related diseases have increased in number over the last few days. Md Shahinur Rahman, residential physician at Kurigram Sadar Hospital, said: “Increasing number of patients, especially aged and children, have been coming to the hospital for the last two days. There are 26 patients in pediatric ward. Number of diarrhoea patients has also increased.” “If the fall in mercury continues, the number of patients will rise further,” he added. However, the well-off people of the region have been increasingly crowding markets to purchase warm clothes and water heater. Abdus Samad, a businessman at Dadamore in the town, said lots of people came to buy geyser, but he could not satisfy all the consumers due to the shortage of the product.