The people in northern districts of the country have been experiencing biting cold with foggy down putting the poor, destitute and homeless in deep anxiety.
Besides, with the winter setting in, people in the region have started to suffer from seasonal diseases like cold fever, runny nose and cough, alongside breathing problem and various skin diseases.
The New Age correspondents in Dinajpur, Thakurgaon, Panchagarh, Nilphamari, Lalmanirhat and Kurigram said thousands of people living in the slums, rural areas and river basins in the region were more vulnerable. They had been passing days miserable without worm cloths, the sources said.
The low income groups mainly the farm labourers of the region are also suffering as most of them can not go out for work due to the cold weather.
Couple with cold wind moderately dance fog covers roads and highways reducing visibility which is increasing road accidents.
Chilly wind and foggy weather, sweeping over northern part of the country, disrupting the normal life of the people and causing out break of cold related diseases. Mostly the Himalayan adjoining areas of the country have been affected badly where people are facing biting cold which pushing them in the houses just after sun set.
The floating as well as ill fated poor people are warming themselves by firing straw, wastage wood and papers in both rural and urban areas especially in the morning and at night. The river-erosion hit poor people who took shelter on different dykes as well as river side people are the worst sufferers.
Kurigram deputy commissioner Md Habibur Rahman said they had received only 4,000 pieces of blankets. Of them, 3800 pieces had already been distributed among cold hit poor people in all the nine upazilas.
The blankets which had been distributed were not adequate and more blankets needed among cold-hit people immediately to protect from bone chilling cold wave, several poor people of the river side areas said.
Doctors and different hospital sources said people were suffering from seasonal diseases like cold fever, runny nose and cough, alongside breathing problem and various skin diseases. Specially, children and elderly people were being attacked with the cold related diseases, the sources said.
Child specialist of Kurigram Sadar Hospital Dr Moktar Ali told New Age that the most of the patients, who were rushing towards the hospital being attacked with bronchitis, cold diarrhea, pneumonia and Respiratory Tract Infection, were children. Besides, old aged persons were also attacked with asthma and other cold related diseases, he said.
