Kishoreganj Correspondent  

 Bangladesh has been witnessing a rise in casualties from thunder strike mainly due to drastic shifts  in weather patterns. 

 Most of the fatalities happen in the pre-monsoon  and monsoon season, with the northern and northeastern region being the most vulnerable areas. 

 Deaths due to lightning are increasing day by day in haor areas,likes Kishoreganj, Netrokona, Sunamganj, Habiganj . 

 It is reported that more than a hundred people have been killed by lightning in haor region in the last three years.

   In 45 days, at  least  13 people have lost their lives in Kishoreganj  haor areas.   

There are allegations that there is no place to take shelter in the vast haor during rain and lightning.

Farmers and fishermen have nowhere to take shelter in case of storm, rain or lightning. In May 2016, the government declared lightning a national disaster.

 Even after 9 years, no initiative has been taken for the safety of farmers and fishermen in the haor.

 There is no lightning rod. Haors make up 46 percent of the total area of Kishoreganj. They are located in Itna-Mithamain-Ashtagram upazilas.

  District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer (DRRO) of Kishoreganj,  Md. Badruddoza said that during floods or other natural disasters, various educational institutions in the locality are used as shelter centers.

 There is not a single shelter or lightning rod in the open space of the haor. The matter will be reported to the higher authorities.

The official said that more than a hundred people have died in the district due to lightning in the last six years.

The government has provided Tk 25,000 for the burial, shrouding or cremation of those killed in lightning strikes. Ashtagram Sadar Union Parishad Chairman and former General Secretary of Upazila BNP Syed Fayyaz Hasan Babu said that farmers and fishermen of the haor have to spend their days in fear during the entire monsoon season from the month of Baishakh.

 Farmers and fishermen stay in the haor for various activities, including harvesting Boro rice during Baishakh and Jyaishtha and fishing at other times.

 When storms and thunderstorms begin, there is no place to take shelter in the vast haor. As a result, the number of deaths due to lightning is increasing day by day.

 He further said that he has built a shelter center at Dhopa Beel in Ashtagram Sadar so that farmers and fishermen working in the haor can take shelter during lightning strikes.

The two-story shelter center was built in the 2022-23 fiscal year with the funding of the Union Parishad and with his own subsidy.

 A system of drinking water has also been installed here.

If such shelter centers were in the entire haor region, the number of casualties due to lightning would have been reduced to some extent.

Farmers and fishermen of the haor said that when there is a storm, rain and lightning in the open field, there is no other option but to call on God. Relatives at home are also worried.

  They said that since the haor is five to seven kilometers away from the locality,

 it is not possible to return home even if they want to. They would benefit if a shelter center is set up at different points in the haor.