President visits flood-ravaged Haor areas

President Abdul Hamid visited the flood-affected Haor areas in Mithamoin upazila of Kishoreganj on Sunday. After his arrival at the upazila headquarters at noon, the president flew in a helicopter to the Haor areas of the district that have been ravaged by flash flood recently triggering food crisis. Days of heavy rainfall and onrush of water from the upstream Meghalaya hills in India caused the flash flood that have damaged around 40,000 hectares of paddy fields, mostly of mature Boro rice, in Mithamoin, Austogram and Itna upazilas of the district, according to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE). Huge extent of paddy fields in the Haor areas of neighbouring Sunamganj, Sylhet, Habiganj, Moulvibazar, Netrakona and Brahmanbaria districts have also been affected by the flood. President Hamid is set to visit the flood-affected areas in Sunamganj on Monday. State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan said on April 9 that the government would take steps to provide relief to the affected people, after visiting the flood-affected areas in Sunamganj. He observed that many farmers in Haor areas were facing food scarcity due to recent flash flood and stated that he would advocate for exempting the affected farmers from loan repayment. Kishoreganj 4 lawmaker Rezwan Ahamed Towfiq has demanded that the flood-affected Haor areas be declared disaster zone to tackle the situation.