In the middle of Poush, bone-chilling cold has settled over Moulvibazar. Dense fog and icy winds have hit the workers of the district's 92 tea gardens and low-income labourers hardest. Ignoring the severe cold, they have to go out to work to feed themselves.
The Sreemangal weather office said the lowest temperature in Moulvibazar on Sunday 28 December was 12 degrees Celsius, against 13.9 degrees Celsius on Saturday. With no sun for several days in a row and dense fog, the cold feels much more intense.
Working without warm clothes
Tea workers have to go to work in the morning despite the severe cold, but without enough warm clothing they are working in hardship. Day labourers, rickshaw pullers, construction workers and other working people, most of whom have to work under the open sky, have also been hit hard.
Tea workers said: "We have to work during the severe cold. None of us has enough warm clothes. We can't sleep at night for the cold. We have to get through this time of our lives with great difficulty."
Day labourer Samuj Mia said the cold had increased in recent days, with dense fog until noon, but he still had to go to work. "If I don't go to work for a day, my family will go hungry. That's why I am forced to go to work in spite of the cold," he said.
Cold-related illness rising
As the cold has intensified, the number of patients with cold-related illness has risen. Children and older people in particular are falling ill with fever, colds, coughs and diarrhoea. Many are being treated at upazila health complexes and the district sadar hospital, while some return home after first aid.
Dr Md Mamunur Rahman, the civil surgeon of Moulvibazar, said everyone should wear enough warm clothes in the cold, and that children and older people need extra care at this time and should be kept well wrapped up.
Anisur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the Sreemangal weather observatory, said the cold had gripped the region for several days, felt most at night, and that similar temperatures would continue for a few more days.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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