The unusual cold weather is disrupting normal life in Rajshahi and its adjacent areas for the last couple of days as the difference between maximum and minimum temperature was further reduced during the last 24 hours.
The minimum temperature marked further falls at most places of the district, making lives of low-income group of people miserable.
Normal works, including farm activities, remained affected and fewer people were found out of their homes due to shivering cold.
Local Met office recorded the season’s ever lowest temperature of 6.7 degrees Celsius this morning against the yesterday’s 7.4 degrees Celsius making the business of warm clothes more vibrant, reports BSS.
Meanwhile, life of the people living in the slums and chars on the Ganges basin has become worst as they experience more cold biting than that of the mainland.
Md Muniruzzaman, president of Rajshahi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said the unusual situation has been preventing people from going outside of residences particularly in the morning and the evening.
The suffering of daily wage earners such as day labourers, rickshaw pullers and farm labourers has intensified due to the cold.
The number of patients suffering from cough, fever, asthma and other acute respiratory tract infections sharply increased at different hospitals including Rajshahi Medical College and Hospital (RMCH) for the last couple of days, said Dr Khalilur Rahman, professor of Department of Medicine in RMCH.
In addition to the sufferings of the people, particularly the poor, cultivation, especially potato, chilli and seedbed of Irri-Boro might be affected if the situation prolongs, said Dev Dulal Dhali, deputy director of Department of Agriculture Extension.
Meanwhile, the district and upazila administrations, authorities, organizations, public and private bodies and many NGOs have intensified distribution of warm clothes among the distressed cold-hit people.