Poverty has its own pensive look. In Madaripur. the look can be observed at every erosion-hit area of the district, through every dimly lit street of the town and the sad faces of the people

Ebad All (65) of Madaripur town expresses his frustration after pulling rickshaw for 40 years. Now he Is short of hearing and eye sight His mainour ished figure bends hke a tensed bow as he struggles hard to keep the paddles mov ing ahead.

Ebad All Is one of many rickshaw pullers who have thronged to Madaripur town alter they became landless by the erosion of rivers.

Uke others. Ebad All s family which lost ail Its agricultural lands in less than two weeks by the erosion of river Arlalkha. came to the town from Badshanagar village of sadar Iliana

Father of four sons and three daughters. All earns Taka 40 to 60 a day from his services. Out of his total income. he has to pay Taka 20 to the owner of the rickshaw

The money is not enough io meet the need of my family but what can I do at tins age. he says All s eldest son is now mature enough to earn but he has got his own family

The rickshaw puller says that agricultural land was s< arce In the Il46square-

By Masud Hasan Khan hack from Madaripur

kilometre district. There is no work in the villages In town, competition is stiff

The total arable land in Madaripur district is estimated at 2.15.215 acres A good part of the land remains under the Padma. Arlalkha and Kumar

District administration officials identify river erosion, lack of education and communication problem as the main reasons for poverty in the district.

One fourth of the nine lakh and 45 thousand people of the district Is unemployed, ac cording to the available stalls tics Of the total only 12.000 people or 15 per cent own agricultural land

Some pcgitlcal leaders and activists told this correspon dent that the district is de prived of the development programmes as they voted for the opposition

The C category town Madaripur has now four thanas There were ten thanas in the district Four thanas were sev ered and merged with the neighbouring district

The literacy rate in the dis "tnct is 22 per cent. The num her of primary school students is on wane

Parents are to bring their children to work as they are

unable extend education facili ties to them.

Madaripur town is the lone municipal area in the district The people have been pressing hard to declare Shilx har thana as a’ munici pal town

Deputy Commissioner of Madaripur. Abdus Sattar Miah told The Daily Star that construction of Madaripur-Shlb-ch»r road was urgently needed The 102-kilometer metalled road was not enough

"The rivers and the canals need re-excavatlon to remove heavy siltatlon.' he said.

Madaripur was once a famous jute trading centre. With the decline In output of the golden’ fibre, trading dwindled. There is no heavy mills or factories.

The lone Howlader Jute Mills has partially resumed its operation a few days back after a closure for some time and the Madaripur Textile Mills still remains shut down

The BSCIC Industrial estate Just outside the town has only five biscuit and chanachur fac lories

If one compares Madaripur town with other ones, it appears as a big village or a ganj (trading centre).” a resident commented

People of Madaripur expe< t that the government should immediately take up develop ment programmes for the district (to be continued)