Sushanta Ghosh

Despite centuries of life on the water, the Mantas remain invisible in official records.

Relatives claim they are now at West Bengal jail

Large-sized hilsa have almost disappeared from markets across the southern region, with traders reporting that most of the catch now weighs between 200 and 400 grammes.

Despite being more than a century old, the main building of Barishal General Hospital has remained incomplete for four years, forcing patients to receive treatment in cramped tin-shed rooms.

This year, fishermen have been returning with lesser catches and bigger losses.

A significant number of roads within Bhola municipality, including several vital ones, are in a dilapidated state, causing immense suffering to locals.

Patients and their families have alleged severe mismanagement, overcrowding, and poor healthcare services at the medicine ward of Barishal’s Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital (SBMCH), which is currently operating out of a cramped five-storey building not originally designed to serve patients.

Around five kilometres away from Jhalakathi district town, past the buzzing Kirtipasha bazaar and post office to the outskirts where the urban cacophony begins to fade, a colossal relic of Bengal’s feudal history rises like a spectre through the foliage- the Kirtipasha Zamindar Palace.