Cold spell disrupts daily life in the northern districts; poor suffer most

Mild cold wave is sweeping through the northern districts of Bangladesh since the last week causing disruptions in the daily lives of the locals. The cold spell of winter is especially causing harm to the poor and underprivileged masses. 

The dense fog accompanied with cold wave has disrupted train and ferry operations. 

Train operation in the northern and southern districts under the railway's West Zone has been badly disrupted in the last three to four days due to dense fog.

Almost all the trains have been delayed by 2 to 3 hours due to slow movement amid poor visibility, causing immense sufferings to the passengers.

Nilsagar Express, a north Bengal-bound train, was scheduled to leave Dhaka's Kamalapur Railway Station at 6:40 am and reach Bangabandhu Bridge west rail station at 9:00 am on Thursday, however dense fog disrupted operations for more than 1.5 hours. 

Meanwhile, Ferry services on the Paturia-Daulatdia route resumed at 8:30 am after remaining suspended for three hours due to dense fog.

On the other hand, ferry services on the Aricha-Kazirhat waterway resumed at 8:15 am after remaining closed for two hours.

According to a report released by Global Climate Risk Index 2019, Bangladesh is the seventh most affected country in the world due to “extreme weather events” over 20 years between 1998 and 2017.

According to the report also said 407 people died in Bangladesh in 2017 due to extreme weather.