A farmer named Akter Hossain, 60, died of a heart attack after his ripe paddy was submerged in the Austagram haor of Kishoreganj. He died at the upazila health complex on the evening of 2 May.

Akter Hossain was the son of the late Dudha Mia of Alinagar Paschim Para in Deoghar union.

According to his relatives, he had grown boro paddy on 3 acres. Continuous rain and the onrush of water from upstream flooded wide areas of the haor, submerging the paddy on his land. Some of it had been cut, but he could not take it home because of a shortage of transport. He fell ill in the afternoon after going to the field and seeing the paddy under water.

His nephew Touhid said his uncle had borrowed about Tk 1.5 lakh to farm, and was mentally shattered when the paddy was ruined. When he fell ill in the field at about 4:30pm, he was taken to the upazila health complex, where a doctor declared him dead in the evening.

Meanwhile, continuous rain and upstream water have flooded wide low-lying areas of Kishoreganj's haor region, submerging ripe paddy on thousands of hectares. Farmers are struggling badly to harvest.

According to the district agriculture department, another 2,000 hectares of boro land went under water on 2 May, bringing the total affected area to 9,045 hectares. The worst damage is in the haor areas of Itna and Austagram upazilas.

Mst Nasima Akter, reserved-seat woman member of Deoghar union parishad, confirmed the death. She said Akter Hossain fell ill after seeing his ripe paddy land under water, and a doctor declared him dead when he was rushed to hospital.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.