Rangpur Correspondent:

Poor and distressed communities across five districts of the Rangpur region — Lalmonirhat, Nilphamari, Rangpur, Gaibandha and Kurigram — are bearing the brunt of a cold wave accompanied by dense fog over the past few days, with char dwellers in major river basins among the worst affected.

People living in the char areas along the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dudhkumar, Gangadhar and Dharla rivers have been facing acute suffering due to the cold, compounded by a lack of warm clothing and limited income opportunities.

According to the Rangpur Meteorological Office, the lowest temperatures recorded at 9:00am today were 13.2 Degrees Celsius in Rangpur, 12.6 Degrees Celsius in Lalmonirhat, 12.5 Degrees Celsius in Nilphamari and 12.0 Degrees Celsius in Kurigram.

Photo: Collected

Mostafizur Rahman, a meteorologist at the Rangpur office, said the region has been experiencing persistent cold weather with dense fog significantly reducing visibility. He said temperatures may drop further over the next two to three days.

Kurigram District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Abdul Matin said government-allocated blankets are being distributed among cold-affected low-income people through district and upazila administrations, as well as union parishad representatives.

Photo: Collected

He said a request has been sent to the relevant ministry seeking additional allocations.

Ashraful Islam, 50, a day labourer from Char Tajpur village in Lalmonirhat’s Sadar upazila, said he has been unable to work for several days due to the cold and fog.

“We do not have adequate warm clothes,” he said.

Another labourer from the same village, Aftar Uddin, 60, said many workers have stopped seeking work and are surviving by borrowing money.

In Kurigram’s Phulbari upazila, Aklima Bewa, 65, from Dharla River basin’s Char Sonaikazi village, said she urgently needs a blanket or warm clothing but cannot afford to buy any.

Nazrul Islam, 55, a day labourer from Char Shakhahati village in Kurigram’s Chilmari upazila, said residents are waiting for government or non-government assistance, as they lack the means to purchase warm clothes.

“Because of the cold wave, we are unable to work in the fields,” he said.

Farmer Atiar Rahman, 60, from Char Mahipur in Rangpur’s Gangachara upazila, said prolonged exposure to cold is disrupting agricultural work. He said workers are forced to light fires in the fields to keep warm.

“If the cold wave continues for several more days, farming activities will be seriously affected,” he added.

Meanwhile, dense fog has also disrupted transport. Rafiqul Islam, a truck driver in Rangpur city’s Satmatha area, said driving at night and early morning has become risky due to extremely low visibility.

“Even objects five metres away are hard to see,” he said, adding that fog has been persisting until around 10:00am in recent days.

Sirajul Islam, additional director of the Department of Agricultural Extension in Rangpur, said the cold and fog have intensified hardship in rural areas.

Although farmers and agricultural labourers continue working, he said they are unable to enter crop fields before 10:00am due to weather conditions.