‘Brother, the donated blankets can’t mitigate cold’

‘Waiting half a day, I got a blanket as donation in last year, but that couldn’t mitigate cold. If anyone wants to donate blankets this year, please, please, ask them to distribute a good one’. One Soleman Ali said these while this reporter was talking with him.

Soleman, 65 years old but still working as a day laborer, lives with his family at Chandanpat union in Sadar upazila of Rangpur district, located in northern part of Bangladesh and just 616 km away from the Himalayas, a mountain range.

Northern part of the country is very much cold-stricken region and many people live under poverty line. They can’t afford warm clothes during winter season, November to February.

This is late November and chill has already sent its arrival message. Many people like Soleman, especially who live on the bank of rivers and in islands, are fear of bitterness of cold.

They can’t see any hope as the warm clothes, which would be distributed by government and private agencies, aren’t enough in both quantity and quality.

In response to a query about their sufferings in winter season Zobeda Beoa of Mulato area in the town said, ‘We don’t have enough warm clothes when chill come with its bitterness. Last year, Sir (officers or wealthy people) gave a blanket at the end of winter. But the blanket couldn’t mitigate cold.’

During winter season, dense fog and chilling cold paralyze normal lives in the region and sometimes cold wave sweeps over the country, which force people to stay in their homes. So the lives of day laborers and lower income people become worse as they can’t go for work and bring food for their families.