United News of Bangladesh

The southwestern part of Moulvibazar Sadar Upazila is groaning under the relentless weight of heavy vehicles, leaving thousands of locals caught in the daily misery of crumbling roads. For people in several unions of Moulvibazar and two neighbouring upazilas, what once were vital lifelines have now become stretches of broken asphalt and deep potholes. The worst-hit are the Moulvibazar–Kagabala and Moulvibazar–Shamsherganj–Sreemangal roads. Together they connect markets, schools, industries, and healthcare facilities over a stretch of roughly 16 kilometres. But today, travelling those roads feels less like a journey and more like an ordeal. At points such as Dighirpar, Aloha, Surya Pasha, Athangiri, and Dhandash, the surfaces have given way completely. Potholes and broken patches make each trip unpredictable, whether for students heading to class, workers rushing to jobs, or families trying to reach a hospital. Dilapidated road hampers trade through Sheola land port “I drive for Pran Food, and what should take 30 minutes now takes more than an hour,” said Milon Mia, a weary driver. “Our vehicles are getting damaged, and passengers are frustrated,” he said. The frustrations go beyond delays. For people like Jagadish Chandra Dey, a village doctor in Dighirpar Bazar, the roads have turned into a serious threat to patients’ lives. “The road has been in a terrible state for years. For serious cases, especially for expectant mothers, the suffering is unimaginable,” he said. Students too are among the worst affected. Jibon Dey Palash, who studies at Jashore University of Science and Technology, blamed the endless stream of heavy vehicles from nearby industries. “Covered vans carrying eggs and feed from Kazi Farms, and trucks loaded with bricks, are ruining the road,” he said, urging the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) to act promptly. The LGED, for its part, admits the problem and promises relief. Shahed Hossain, engineer at the LGED office in Moulvibazar Sadar, said they inspected the damaged stretches in July. “A renovation proposal has been submitted under the Road Maintenance and Repair Programme. Work will begin as soon as funding is approved,” he assured. People suffering due to dilapidated road in Munshiganj Until then, the residents of Amoil, Kagabala, and Nazirabad unions in Sadar Upazila, along with those in Mirzapur and Bhunabi of Sreemangal, and Gajnaipur and Paniumda of Habiganj’s Nabiganj Upazila, continue to live in limbo. For them, every commute is a gamble between necessity and endurance. With classrooms, clinics and markets hanging in the balance, locals can only hope the wheels of bureaucracy turn quickly enough to mend the wheels of their daily lives.

With Covid cases keep soaring in frontier districts apparently because of the highly contagious Indian variant, experts fear that Bangladesh may face the worst outbreak of the deadly virus at the end of June next. They said if the B.1.617, known as the Indian variant, can make its way into other areas from the bordering districts, Bangladesh is likely to witness more than 20,000 cases a day in early July, raising the fatality rate sharply. Lack of necessary oxygen supply and other healthcare facilities may aggravate the situation, according to the experts. They suggested putting the frontier districts, particularly where the virus infection rate has already gone up, under strict lockdowns like Chapainawabganj and halting inter-district public transport services to contain the virus locally. Read UNGA President pushes for Covid-19 vaccines for all Besides, they said, the government should take adequate preparations in advance to face any grim situation like in India and Nepal by increasing the number of hospital beds, treatment facilities, equipment, setting up field hospitals and finding out potential sources for collecting necessary oxygen supplies. Terrifying scenario along border Though the country’s average Covid positivity rate was 8.15 percent on Monday, it was very high in different districts along the Indian border. Chapainawabganj was the worst-hit district with 55 percent infection rate, forcing the local administration to enforce a 7-day strict lockdown. Besides, the positivity rate was over 40 percent in Rajshahi. Read Turkish teams on mission to persuade the vaccine-reluctant The infection rate was also high in some other frontier districts like Satkhira, Jashore, Jhenaidah, Dinajpur, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Sylhet and Moulvibazar. Talking to UNB, DGHS spokesman Robed Amin, said the deadly Indian variant has already entered the country and there could be a full-scale outbreak of the virus if it spreads across the country. He said Covid patients with the Indian variant were found in bordering districts, including Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi and Jashore. “It’s alarming news. As this variant spreads fast, the infection rate may continue to surge seriously, if people show apathy to masking up and abiding by health safety rules.” Read Bangladesh begins administering 1st dose of Chinese vaccine Apprehension   Infectious disease expert Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, a former director (Disease Control) at the DGHS, thinks the bordering districts are now seeing a little bit of outbreak of the virus due to the prevalence of the Indian strain. He said it is still difficult to say whether Bangladesh will witness a similar scenario like India. “We’ll clearly understand the situation one or two weeks later. It depends on the level of the outbreak and the government’s preventive measures. If we can contain the variant locally by enforcing strict lockdown before it spreads to major cities, we may not experience a dangerous situation like in India and Nepal,” he said.

The government has planned to spend Tk 935.81 billion up to 2022-23 fiscal year starting from the current one for the heath sector development as it is committed to taking healthcare facilities to the doorsteps of people.