There is no work in rural areas in the district where about nine lakh out of a population of 17 lakh are ultra poor.

Most people in the rural areas are passing days amid hardship since mid-August when sowing of Aman paddy was complete.

The monga (lack of work during pre-harvest period) has forced rural people to move to towns and other districts. Finding no alternative, many have started begging in towns.

People in villages are compelled to take inedible and unwholesome food and are being attacked with diarrhoeal diseases.

At least 18 people have died of diarrhoea in the district since beginning of the monga, according to official records.

Some people this correspondent talked to in different areas of the district said the situation will deteriorate as Aman harvest is still about a month away.

Making best use of the monga situation, moneylenders do a brisk business. They lend money on high interest. Poor day labourers sell their labour in advance and borrow money from well to do farmers on condition that they would work in their fields at waged far less than normal. Daily wage of a farm labourer is Tk 60-80 during harvest.

The situation in Teesta shoal areas of Char Kharibari, East Kharibari, Jharsinghershor Kisamater Char, Fakrater Char, Ekotar Char in Dimla and Jaldhaka upazilas is critical as no help from government io any NGO reach the far away inaccessible areas.

To combat the monga, the government started the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme from September, under which each union in six upazilas of the district got 2000 VGF cards.

A total of 1, 28, 600 VGF cards were distributed earlier, which has been raised to 1,60,500. Each card holder gets 10 kgs of rice per month. Already, the card holders got rice on two occasions.

Additional 500 cards were given in each union and in four municipalities on the eve of the Ramadan.

The third phase of rivc distribution under VGF cards began on Sunday and will be completed in 3-4 days, official sources said. Army is supervising the distribution.

On Sunday, while visiting Nilphamari municipality office, this correspondent saw at least 8000 people there while officials said 3,000 VGF cards had been given in the area.

The government has also allotted 526 MT of rice under test relief programme and started open market sale (OMS) of rice a fortnight ago. The steps lowered the prices of coarse rice by Tk two per kilogram, traders said.

But it is all the same for the poor people who have no work and money to buy rice.