FROM PAGE 12

Met Office.

Farmers and agricultural labourers are among the worst affected in the region.

Nazir Ali, 65, a farmer from Milonpur village in Rangpur’s Mithapukur upazila, said, “On Thursday afternoon, I started working in my potato field with three labourers, but we could not continue even for an hour.”

The thick fog has also severely affected river, rail and road communications.

Sahidul Islam, a boatman at Jatrabari river ghat in Kurigram, said, “Even at noon, we have to operate very carefully due to dense fog. Boat navigation becomes too risky after 4:00pm.”

The worst sufferers are day labourers, the landless poor and people living in shoal areas.

Maneshwari Bala, 67, from Uttar Saptan village in Lalmonirhat, said she has nothing but a thin shawl. “I cannot go outside because of the cold. If it continues like this, I will fall seriously ill,” she said.

Local representatives expressed concern over a shortage of blankets.

Bablu Mia, chairman of Begumganj Union Parishad in Kurigram’s Ulipur upazila, said, “In previous years, many private individuals and organisations came forward, but this year that support is largely absent. More government allocation is urgently needed.”

According to sources at the Rangpur Divisional Commissioner’s Office, so far 86,000 blankets have been allocated for cold-stricken people across five districts -- Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, Nilphamari and Gaibandha. Preparations for additional allocations are underway.