​​Sushanta Ghosh

Severe erosion by the Meghna river has intensified in recent weeks in Shibpur union under Bhola Sadar upazila, threatening to wash away riverbank areas, a fish landing station, and other infrastructure.

Hospitals across Barishal are witnessing an alarming rise in diarrhoea cases, prompting serious concern among health officials over the increasing number of patients.

An acute shortage of teachers has left Barishal University struggling to conduct academic activities smoothly, exacerbating students’ woes with prolonged session jams.

Although watermelon cultivation has surpassed the target and farmers are celebrating a bumper yield this season, prices remain three times higher in major cities than at farm-level rates in Barishal—one of the largest watermelon-producing hubs in Bangladesh.

The Char Fasson municipal authorities have been dumping household and clinical waste along the Bhola-Char Fasson regional highway for a long time, spreading unbearable stench and making life miserable for commuters, students, and local residents.

Siddique Majhi, a 55-year-old fisherman from Kuakata, has spent three decades fishing in the deep sea but has never been able to tune into Bangladesh Betar’s Barishal station.

For the past ten years, the radiotherapy machine at Barishal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH) has been out of order, leaving thousands of cancer patients in the region without access to a critical part of their treatment.

Seat bookings for passenger ships that ply the inland waterways of Bangladesh, including the Barishal to Dhaka route, has decreased by at least 66 percent.