EAM Asaduzzaman

It is a transformation out of a fairy tale. A land once characterised by thatched houses and abject poverty now dotted with sturdy brick and tin residences and the unmistakeable signs of people relishing life’s comforts.

Jackpot Cashew Nuts Industries started producing an assortment of cashew-nut based foods earlier this year in a bid to cash in on the growing demand for heart-healthy snacks.

After 55 years, rail communications between Bangladesh and India through Chilahati-Haldibari route is going to resume today.

It was past midnight at Saidpur Rail Station. In the dim light, mostly Hindu Marwaris and some Bangalees from all walks of life could be seen standing beside the platform. Tense, even those who knew each other were not talking.

In the past, people in rural Bangladesh used to consider coffee as an expensive, imported South American drinking product meant for a select group of people with high income.

Indigenous people from the Musahar community, who used to live on catching and selling eel and snail, are struggling to survive as they cannot sell eel and snail amid coronavirus outbreak.

Tea is fast replacing tobacco in Kishoreganj upazila of Nilphamari as favourable weather and soil conditions along with a ready market next door mean large profits for farmers.

Saidpur Railway Workshop in Nilphamari, the largest in the country established in 1870, has been displaying rail engines from the bygone era at its exhibition yard on its premises, in a bid to preserve the glorious history of railway.

Smuggled Indian cattle are being taken to local markets in large numbers in Nilphamari’s Dimla upazila and adjacent areas for sale as sacrificial animals before Eid-ul-Azha.

As Eid-ul-Azha approaches, online cattle market becomes popular in remote Saidpur upazila of the northern district as this practice ensures maintenance of health rules and social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.

There has been a stunning slump in demand for meat and eggs since coronavirus arrived on these shores. And the dizzying speed at which the lethal pathogen went about upending life in the country prompted many farms, slapped by unprecedented losses, to cut back on production by more than half.

Tilai Joychondi village in Sadar upazila has already earned the reputation of ‘safe vegetable producing area’ as a good number of farmers are cultivating in environment-friendly way for producing poison-free vegetables.

Nilphamari Medical College, that was established two years ago, is yet to get its permanent campus to run the academic and administrative activities.

The damaged roof of historic ‘nilkuthi’ (house for indigo business in British era) at Notkhana village, three kilometres from Nilphamari town, is yet to be repaired, 40 days after breaking of the part by labourers engaged by the district police.

The third direct train connection with neighbouring India, through bordering Chilahati station in Nilphamari, is likely to start in July this year as half of the work for the purpose has been done in six months.

The government’s archaeology department and the district police are at odds now over damage of historic ‘nilkuthi’ (house for indigo business) at Notkhana village, three kilometres from the district town.

Two government departments have been commissioned the same piece of land that houses a primary school building at Sonarai Bazar in Domar upazila. However, one was assigned to develop it, while the other is going to knock it down.

The sweet smell of fresh Aman paddy fills the air in northern districts during the ongoing harvesting season while womenfolk are preparing to arrange ‘Nabanno Utsab’, the country’s traditional festival marking the winter harvest.

These days the farmers in Nilphamari call ginger by the name “magical crop.”

Potato farmers in five northern districts under Rangpur agriculture region are worried at the start of the cultivation season as the most reliable seeds supplied by Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) meets only 3% of the total demand.