Hot spell burning Rajshahi: No sign of rainfall

The hot spell blowing over the whole of Rajshahi and Chapinawabganj districts has doubled the sufferings of people. With no traces of rainfall or even a spec of cloud in the sky for nearly over a month, the people of the districts are seeking divine mercy by offering Isteskha Prayers( Prayer for rain) in various places of the districts.
The weather of Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj has turned extreme during the recent days. The blockage of natural flow in the river of Padma and other common rivers through erecting barrages beyond the international border, unplanned use of underground water for irrigation purposes, unabated felling of trees, and non-excavation of ponds, tributaries and water bodies have incurred a huge toll on environment and now the people of the region are facing their adverse impact.
There is no rainfall from locally congealed cloud because there is no surface water available here for vaporisation and forming of cloud and rainfall locally excepting the rainfall during the Monsoon. Moreover, the monsoon clouds have been shifted to the South Indian states causing 40 percent less rainfall in Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj region than the normal last year.
The heat of the region has been increased unabated due to the same reason. The temperature in Rajshahi is ranging from 40 degree Celsius to 42.5 degree Celsius in last two weeks with no hope of release from the hot spell by the rainfall in near future, informed sources in Meteorological department in Rajshahi. On Sunday, temperature recorded in Rajshahi was 42.5 degree Celsius, highest in last five years. The temperature may further rise in days ahead.
The sufferings of the elderly people, the children and the HSC and the degree examinees know no bounds. Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital sources said, the number of patients being attacked with diarrhoea, jaundice and viral fever has been nearly doubled in last one week. People are being increasingly attacked with heat related diseases like high blood pressure, sun stroke and kidney ailments, RMCH sources mentioned.
Sorof Uddin, Senior Scientific officer of Regional Horticulture Research Centre in Chapainabganj said that due to hot spell, more than 50 percent of mango buds have already been withered way and now the green mangoes are drying up and falling.
Not only the mangoes, but also the young jackfruits, litchis and other summer fruits are also drying up and the growth of those being hampered due to absence of rainfall, he informed.
The target of Boro production may not be achieved for acute shortage of irrigation. Nasimul Ghani, a deep tube well operator of Matikata union under Godagari thana informed, eight deep tube wells of the union have gone out of order on account of lifting water from below the calculated layer. He mentioned, the water level has gone down alarmingly this year, moreover, the recurrent load shedding is also a concern that the deep tube wells which are in order are failing to send sufficient water to the paddy fields.
Almost all ponds and tributaries of the region have been dried up and the scarcity of fish has become acute in the district. According to met office sources, on Friday last, the temperature in Rajshahi was recorded at 41.6 degree, on June 2, 2005 the temperature in Rajshahi was 42. 8 degree and the highest ever temperature recorded in Rajshahi in the last 50 years is 45.1 degree Celsius as recorded on 18 May 1972.

Courtesy of The New Nation