Yet another cold wave has gripped the country with dense fog disrupting the normal life and communication by road, air, rail and waterways.
People in the northern districts suffered the worst on Wednesday as temperatures dipped mostly below 8 C in some of the country’s most poor areas where people can hardly afford warm clothes.
The onrush of people to government hospitals with cold-related diseases continued with 5,945 people treated at or admitted to hospitals in nearly 300 upazilas in the 24 hours ending on Wednesday morning.
Authorities were forced to shut down flight operations at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for six hours and suspend services on the Paturia–Daulatdia and Shimulia–Kathalbari routes for eight to 11 hours.
Train services between the capital and the northern and the western districts were also disrupted because of poor visibility.
The Met Office predicted rains at places over the Dhaka, Khulna and Chattogram divisions for Thursday and Friday with a slight increase in temperatures.
Bangladesh being a tropical country is not prepared for severe cold and homes are designed here to suit warm weather rather than cold waves.
Summers are hot in Bangladesh and people are physically not much able to deal with cold weather while physicians warn that temperatures below 15 C could be dangerous.
“I am not sure if I could make through this winter without any warm clothe,” said Ayub Ali, 75, a resident of Khuninagar, Lalmonirhat.
Ayub contacted local representatives for relief but did not get any yet though a second cold wave is sweeping across the country in less than two weeks.
The poor old man has been to local representatives time and again in last three years without any success in obtaining winter relief materials.
Our correspondent in Lalmonirhat reported that the district administration distributed 4,500 pieces of quilt in an area where more than 1.5 million people live, some 60 per cent of them poor enough to suffer in cold because of lack of warm clothes.
“I am kind of hiding from people for so many of them are in need of warm clothes,” said Habibura Rahman, chairman of Mogolhat union parishad, Lalmonirhat Sadar.
Lack of warm clothes often prompts people to arrange hay fire for warmth and it leads to accidents at times. At least 11 people suffered burn injuries in Kurigram from hay fire in the first cold wave that swept across Bangladesh between December 16 and 23.
Weather forecasters had earlier predicted that people would get a three-day respite before the next cold wave at the end of this month.
But there was hardly a break between the two cold waves. On Wednesday, the country’s lowest minimum temperature of 6.2 C was recorded at Tetulia, Panchagarh. The minimum temperatures in the Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions largely hovered around 8 C. In the capital the minimum temperature was recorded at 13C. The Met Office said that moderate to thick fog might continue to affect visibility in the early and morning hours of Thusrday.
SM Wahidur Rahman, special air traffic officer, Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, said that flight operations were suspended until 710am from 130am on Wednesday as the runway visibility was very low.
At least four international flights were diverted to Kolkata and Chattogram and five others ran behind schedules due to poor visibility.
Almost all domestic flights ran behind schedules, said Wahidur. Our correspondent in Manikganj reported that the ferry and launch services between Paturia and Daulatdia resumed at 930am after a ten-and-a-half-hour suspension.
At least five ferries were anchored halfway in the Padma River because of low visibility, he said.
More than 1,000 vehicles were stranded on both sides of the river when the ferry services resumed.
Our Munshiganj correspondent said that the ferry services between Shimulia and Kathalbari remained suspended for eight hours until 830am on Wednesday.
He said that five ferries remained anchored midriver due to low visibility. Besides, dense fog hampered train services between the capital and the northern and western districts with many of them running behind schedules until Wednesday evening.
The Lalmoni Express was four hours behind the schedule as it headed Dhaka on Wednesday evening.
