The villagers used the canal's water for irrigating their croplands, and for numerous domestic purposes. It also served as a waterway connecting different areas in the upazila
Once a vibrant waterbody crisscrossing through Barguna’s Amtali town, the century-old Basugi canal is now on its deathbed due to rampant encroachment and pollution.
On November 17 last year, as Cyclone Midhili crossed the coast of Bangladesh, 25 fishermen from Patuakhali’s Rangabali upazila, who were in three trawlers in the Bay of Bengal, went missing.
A tributary of Rabanabad river merges with the Andharmanik river to form an estuary in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali before the rivers descend to the Bay of Bengal.
Saidul Islam, a 25-year-old from Dashmina upazila in Patuakhali, once dreamed of building a stable life for his family. But the light of that dream has been extinguished -- both figuratively and literally.
Just six months after Tk 6,500 crore was spent on capital dredging, Payra Port’s Rabnabad channel has lost much of its navigability, pushing up coal transport costs for the power plants in the area.
Fish farming in Patuakhali has taken a new turn with increasing interest in coral fish farming through artificial feeding
Amid the backdrop of all other coal-based power plants in the country, including India’s Adani, the production of a unit of Payra Thermal Power Plant went into maintenance today
Eight illegal dams, built for fish cultivation, have caused waterlogging in 500 acres of agricultural land in the Patuakhali Sadar upazila. As a result, Aman cultivation in the area has been disrupted.
Another 1,320MW coal-based thermal power plant is in progress in Patuakhali’s Kalapara area. The first of its two units (660MW each) will come on stream in June 2024 and the second unit in October.
The Shuvo Sandhya Beach in Barguna’s Taltali upazila has been facing serious erosion by the Bay for the last couple of years.
A bunch of students in uniforms attending lectures under a tree -- this is what this correspondent saw when he first stepped inside Uttar Tiakhali Government Primary School in Barguna’s Amtali upazila.
“The terminal is full of potholes, all of which transform into ditches following drizzles. Speeding vehicles often spill that water on our clothes,” shared Abdul Halim, a local who frequently commutes through the Patuakhali central bus terminal.
The availability of a simple electricity-run milling machine is helping farmers in Patuakhali double their earnings from a legume crop.
The Sonakata Tengragiri Ecopark has seen a decline in number of tourists due to the suspension of construction works on the bridge linking the area to Barguna’s Taltali upazila’s FakirHat Canal for one and a half year.
Crafted by a group of Rakhines, expelled from the Arakan around 1783, the 240-year-old Srimangal Buddha Bihar (Buddhist temple) in Patuakhali still stands tall today amid chaos as the indigenous community keeps fighting for the full possession of its land.
Mung bean exports from Bangladesh have decreased as foreign buyers are less interested in purchasing the legume this year given their reduced quality and size resulting from severe droughts during the growing period.
Operations at Payra port have slowed down significantly following the temporary stoppage of coal imports for the Payra Thermal Power Plant in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali.
