Children with their caregivers wait in the outpatient area of the ICDDR,B hospital in Dhaka after diarrhoea-affected children were brought there for treatment on Saturday. — Sony Ramany
Dense fog at mornings continue to disrupt communication by road, waterways and air as people shiver from the first spell of sudden cold weather with winter’s arrival.
On Saturday, authorities were forced to divert seven international and delay almost all the domestic flights, suspend operation of ferries and launches across the Padma for hours and alerted the police to manage tailbacks on the highways.
Bangladesh Railway instructed its staff to remain extra-cautious with signals and at level crossings, especially at early mornings, to ensure safe movement of trains.
For the fifth straight day the sun was eclipsed by clouds and fog in northern and western Bangladesh and in the capital sun was not seen for the last four days in a row.
As a result normal life and activities were greatly hampered.
‘The weather will remain more or less the same today,’ weather man Bazlur Rashid told New Age.
‘It’s likely that the sun might shine tomorrow,’ he predicted.
According to the weather forecast moderate to thick fog would continue to hamper visibility until this morning.
Chilly wind from the north continued to cause deep distress to the children and the elderly people, particularly the low income people.
At least 4,500 people treated by government hospitals in 40 districts for cold related diseases.
Dense fog compelled the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh to divert four Dhaka-bound international flights to Kolkata and Myanmar between 4:00 am to 7:00 am Saturday.
The flights landed at Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport five to seven hours behind the schedules, said CAAB officials. About 200 international flights and 40 domestic flights operate from the airport every day.
Domestic airliners had to delay flights on all routes because of low visibility in the morning and flyers waited long hours at airports to catch up with the new schedule of flying, said CAAB officials.
The US-Bangla cancelled one Dhaka-Chittagong flight in the morning.
Sarwer E Alam, manager, Shah Amanat International Airport, Chattogram said that three Chattogram City bound international flights were diverted to Dhaka and Kolkata until 9:30 am due to low visibility.
The flights landed at the Shah Amanat International Airport four hours behind their schedules after the visibility improved, he said.
The airport handles 80 domestic and international flights daily, he said.
BIWTA deputy director M Asghar Ali said that the launch service from the he Mawa Ghat to different destinations across the Padma was suspended for six hours from 5:00 am due to dense fog.
He said that launches transporting passengers to long distances were instructed to stay anchored at the nearest possible location until the visibility improves.
BIWTC commercial manager at Paturia Mohiuddin Russell said that ferry and launch services between the Paturia Ghat and the Daulatdia Ghat were suspended between 3:00 am and 8:00 am Saturday.
Hundreds of vehicles were seen waiting in long queues on both the ghats to cross the Padma River until Saturday afternoon, reported New Age correspondent in Manikganj.
New Age correspondents at Kurigram and Lalmonirhat reported that the people in the d northern districts were the worst suffers of the bitter cold weather persisting for fifth straight day.
Lacking warm clothes poverty stricken villagers were seen keeping them warm around hay fire, they reported.
Persisting chilly weather drastically reduced the earnings of day labourers as they had to stay indoors.
‘I earned nothing for days togther,’ said Monir Uddin of Gorol, Lalmonirhat who pulls rickshaw to support his family.
The Met Office recorded the country’s lowest minimum temperature of 10.1 C at Faridpur in 24 hours ending Saturday afternoon.
In the capital the minimum temperature fell to 12.2 C, the lowest for the metropolis according to the Met Office.
The country’s highest maximum temperature of 26.6 C was recorded at the border town of Teknaf.
The Met Office predicted light rains in northern region for Wednesday and Thursday with rains clearing the fog to bring temporary relief as another cold wave was in the forecast for the first week of January.
Source: New Age.
