Cold bites, warmth eludes

The char people in Kurigram and Lalmonirhat are enduring severe suffering due to a biting cold wave that has persisted for two consecutive weeks.
These areas, situated in the basin of 26 rivers, including the Brahmaputra, Teesta, Dharla, Dudhkumar, and Gangadhar, are home to around 500 chars, with 400 in Kurigram and 100 in Lalmonirhat.
More than six lakh people live in these remote and vulnerable regions, struggling to cope with the extreme cold using old, worn-out clothes.
The inability to afford winter clothing exacerbates their hardship, and while government, NGO, and private initiatives distribute winter clothes, these resources often fail to reach the remote char areas.
In the impassable Char Ghughumari on the Brahmaputra riverbed in Saheber Alga Union of Ulipur upazila, Kurigram, the situation is particularly dire. Located about 20 kilometers from the mainland, residents are shivering due to a lack of blankets.
Suruj Mia, a 62-year-old farm labourer from Char Ghughumari, said the cold has made life unbearable. Despite his need for a blanket, his sons cannot afford to buy one, and no external aid has reached the char due to its remoteness, he said.
At Rahamater Char on the Teesta riverbed in Ulipur upazila, Noor Islam, a 55-year-old farm labourer, shared how he and others are forced to warm their bodies by burning straws in the morning and evening due to the lack of blankets.
"We have no choice but to resort to such measures," he said.
Similarly, in the Char Chinatuli on the Teesta river at Rajpur Union in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, Sahidar Rahman, a 65-year-old farmer, said he attempts to work in the fields despite the cold but cannot endure it for long.
In Char Bhagabatipur on the Brahmaputra riverbed in Kurigram Sadar upazila, 60-year-old day labourer Amjad Hossain echoed similar struggles.
Contacted, Bablu Rahman, the chairman of Begumganj Union Parishad in Ulipur upazila, Kurigram, highlighted the inadequate allocation of blankets for his union, which is home to 40 chars in the Brahmaputra river basin.
While there is a demand for more than 8,000 blankets, only 300 have been provided by the government. He said donors are often unwilling to bring aid to the impassable chars.Abdul Hai Sarkar, the district relief and rehabilitation officer of Kurigram, said the ministry does not make special allocations for char dwellers. He said government aid for cold-affected poor people is distributed through district and upazila administrations and public representatives, but this does not adequately address the needs of char residents.
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