Flooding in Sylhet City causing submersion by heavy rains and upstream flow, has not yet subsided. 15 wards in Sylhet City Corporation area are still under water due to the flood outbreak. Besides, about 10 lah people of 13 upazilas have been affected by this flood. About 22,000 people, including children, have taken shelter in shelters to get a safe place.

According to the information given by the Sylhet district administration, 130 wards including the city and 1602 villages of the district have been flooded till Thursday. 9 lakh 57 thousand 448 people have been affected by flood. In the meantime, 50 thousand people in the city are waterlogged. 627 shelters have been opened in district and city. Of these, 80 are in the city.

Women and children sheltered in shelters are at risk due to such floods. Especially children's safe place, safe food, ensuring nutrition and safe sanitation have become a big challenge in Sylhet.

After on the spot visit in several shelters , it was seen that families had to leave their homes without any preparation. As a result, there are not enough living materials in the shelter. Parents are not able to bathe children or provide other facilities.

On the one hand, there are sanitation problems and on the other hand, children are not able to get a safe place and nutritious food. According to the information provided by the district administration, there are at least 7 thousand children in the shelters. Due to the damp environment and unsanitary dirty water during floods, children can be affected by various diseases.

Along with children, women are also in trouble. Due to the lack of adequate sanitation in the shelters due to the presence of extra people, women are facing big problems. Women are also suffering from safety risks due to the use of one toilet by men and women. Besides, the flood is also having a big impact on the menstrual problems of girls.

 A woman named Umme Kulsum said that the night before Eid, water started entering the house before she knew anything. Children were drowning in waist-deep water. The came to this school to save them. The City Corporation is providing food here. But I can't bathe the children. I can't give food properly. I can't even make breakfast. We cannot use the toilet. Many people but there are two toilets here.

Sylhet Sadar Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer Dr. Sheikh Mohammad Abdul Ahad said that the risk of children in flood is very high. For example, after floods, children may suffer from diarrhea, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. Apart from children, women can also have various problems. They can suffer from various diseases including stomach ailments. So be safe and aware. Damp environment should be avoided. It is important to use safe sanitation.

The people of Sylhet are affected by the second round of floods in a span of 20 days. Before this Sylhet flood situation occurred on May 27. 7.5 lakh people of all upazilas of the district were affected. Sylhet was flooded again from June 15 before the flood water receded completely.

Among them, heavy rain started in Sylhet from dawn on the day of Eid (June 17). With the name onrush from the hills many areas of the city were submerged before morning. The flood situation continues to deteriorate in different parts of the district.

24 hours have passed since the boat capsized in the Teesta river in Ulipur, Kurigram, but 6 people, including children, are still missing. It is said that 4 of the 6 people are from the same family. 4 of them are children and 2 are husband and wife.

Fire service divers are carrying out rescue operations till Thursday (June 20) evening. On the other side, relatives are waiting on the bank of Teesta.

Kurigram Fire Service Senior Station Officer Md. Shariful Islam said around 7 pm, 3 rescue teams are still searching the river. The search for the missing people was also carried out up to Haripur Bridge, about 4 km downstream from the boat sinking site. No one was found there either. He said that even the sunken boat has not been found so far. The depth of water was about 30 meters at the place where the boat sank. He also said that the intensity of the current has decreased today from yesterday.

Earlier on Wednesday (June 19) before evening, 25 passengers, including women and children, were going to an invitation by boat from the old Bajra Ghat of Bajra Union of Ulipur Upazila of Kurigram. As the boat neared Damar Hat Ghat in the same union on the other side of the Teesta, it sank in the strong current of the Teesta. Later, 18 people were rescued alive with the help of locals and by swimming. Later, the fire service recovered the body of a child from the spot. And 3 diving teams of fire service from Rangpur and Kurigram are searching the river to rescue the remaining 6 people.

Arifur Islam, a relative of the missing, said, 6 of my people are still missing. Another child died. We are waiting for the rest. Now trust in Allah. 

Stand somewhere! Dunes somewhere! Rows of houses at the top and at the foot of these hills. Looking at the hills of Chattogram, this scene will be visible. Every year, many people living in those houses lost their lives due to landslides. After the loss of life, the administration began to struggle. People were evacuated from dangerous hills. But when the rain stopped, those people again built a base on that mountain.

Then it rains again! Disaster comes and "kills" people!

According to the district administration, about 30 thousand people of 6558 families are playing with their lives on 26 hills of Chattogram. Out of these 16 hills belong to government agencies. The remaining 10 hills are privately owned.

How many inhabitants in a hill?

Out of the 26 hills, seven hills are owned by Railway (East) Chattogram. Among those hills, 12 at the foot of the hill adjacent to Polytechnic Halt Station, 5 at the foot of the hill adjacent to Fauji Flower Mill in the Cantonment area, 74 at the foot of the hill adjacent to Sholashar Station, 4476 in the hill adjacent to Jhil No. 1, 2, 3 in the Foys Lake area, Motijharna and Batali Hill. 4031 families, 46 families in hills adjacent to Environment Department, 288 families in Vijay Nagar Hills adjacent to Lake City residential area are living at risk.

88 families are living in the hills of Batali Hill and Motijharna area owned by Public Works Division-3. 49 and 146 families are living at the foot of the two hills owned by the National Housing Authority, the hill adjacent to Feroz Shah Housing Estate and the hill adjacent to Kaibalyadham Housing Estate respectively.

28 families are living at risk in 150 dag hill (adjacent to Jayantika residential), 12 in BS 212 and 213 dag hill (adjacent to garden view society via chicken farm) and 89 families in Akbar Shah Beltali hill of three hills belonging to No. 1 Khas Khatian.

On the other hand, 43 families are living in the hill adjacent to Polytechnic College under AP (abandoned property) and 323 families are living in the hill adjacent to Lalkhanbazar Jamiatul Uloom Madrasah under VP (vested property).

Among the remaining 10 privately owned hills, 144 in Harun Khan Saheb's hill, 12 in the hill of Nachiaghona area, 28 in the hill behind the zoo, 29 in Madhushah hill, 5 in the hill near Jalalabad, 25 in Nagin hill, 38 in Mir Mohammad Hasan's hill near Forest Research Institute, 42 in MR Siddiqui's hill, 49 families in Miar Hills and 11 in Bhera Fakir Hills (Raufabad, Oxygen) are living at risk.

When the monsoons come, it's a mess

On June 11, 2007, 127 people died in a terrible landslide in Chattogram city. Among them, 11 people died in Motijharna area of Lalkhanbazar ward. After that terrible incident, the hill management committee was 'born'. The responsibility of the hill management committee was to implement the 36-point recommendations given by the expert committee. Notable among these were - stopping hill cutting and evacuating vulnerable settlements. However, there are complaints that the management committee meets only when the monsoon comes and resolves the liability.

Every year since 2007, before the monsoon, the hill management committee meeting decided to cut off the electricity, water and gas connections and stop the eviction and hill cutting. According to that decision some work is also done. But then the hill management committee went into a long sleep! And on this occasion, new settlements were made in the hills.

Some dishonest officials-employees of Chattogram WASA, Chattogram Power Development Board and Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Corporation cooperated in that work. They are the ones who deliver water, electricity and gas to dangerous hills in exchange for bribes. And most of these hills are controlled by councilors and local influentials. As a result, the administration cannot evict those living at risk even if it wants to.

Now, the hill management committee is shaken again by the death due to landslides in different parts of the country during the monsoon season.

In the Hill Management Committee meeting held on Thursday (June 20), it has been ordered to disconnect all the illegal water, electricity and gas connections in the hills within the next 15 days.

However, some visible work has been done, said Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Abul Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman, one of the members of the hill management committee.

In the hill management committee meeting, he said, 'We have hung signboards on 26 hills of Chattogram city. 10 acres of Khas land has been recovered by evicting the illegal occupants from the hills.

In the last one year, 51 raids have been conducted in the metropolis alone. 11 families have been evicted from there. In the future too, initiatives will be taken to move the people living in the mountains at risk.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is going to New Delhi today on Friday on a two-day state visit at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be the first bilateral visit by a foreign prime minister to the country after the formation of the new coalition government.

According to a press release of the Prime Minister's Press Wing, a private meeting will be held between the two Prime Ministers at the highest level during the visit. Then there will be discussion at representative level. During the visit, several agreements and memorandums of understanding will be signed to further strengthen the existing bilateral relations between the two countries. A possible trade deal is also expected to be discussed. Over the past decade several cross-border initiatives have been launched as part of stronger regional partnerships.

This is Sheikh Hasina's second visit to the Indian capital in less than 15 days. She was among the dignitaries invited to Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister on June 9.

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight will leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with Sheikh Hasina and her entourage around 2 pm on Friday, Prime Minister's Press Wing informed. The flight will land at Palam Airport in New Delhi at 4 pm (Delhi time). Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will meet the Prime Minister at her residence.