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A moderate cold wave is sweeping across at least 12 districts in the north of the country with Naogaon district recording the lowest ever temperature this year at 6.7 degree Celsius on January 6 last. Temperature in Rajshahi hovers between 7.0 and 9.0 degree Celsius for a few days now. The cold spell has been particularly gnawing with fog and wind conspiring together to make the matter worse. Mercifully, mercury has not dipped as low as it did on January 8, 2018 when Bangladesh's northern most tip Tentulia recorded temperature of 2.6 degree Celsius and even Dhaka registered its lowest ever temperature at 9.5 degree Celsius.
A tropical country, Bangladesh is not inclined to get prepared for temperature lower than 10 degree Celsius. In the capital, temperature has stayed between 12 and 20 degree Celsius. Even this level of chill proves too much for the elderly people and children. Poor and aged people who have to do menial jobs in the open suffer the most. Their income falls with the drop of mercury. First, the day labourers hardly find employment and if they find any, their endurance against the biting cold is tested to the limit.
This is the time for preparation of Boro field and transplantation of the paddy saplings from the seed beds. Farmers have to work in fields more like wetlands than in dry plots. Exposure to such hostile conditions certainly takes its toll on them. A good number of them fall victim to cold-related diseases. Similarly, children in poor families suffer such illnesses because of a lack of enough clothing for keeping them warm. Their poor living conditions cannot protect them from the wintry chill. Moreover, they do not get required nutritious foods to eat. This does not allow them to develop immunity against such hostile weather.
This is exactly where the number of patients suffering from cold-related diseases is soaring up with every passing day. In the worst affected areas of Rajshahi and Rangpur, hospitals are crammed with such patients, the majority of whom are children. With scarce employment, the poor families now suffer the twin blow of lower income and health emergency of their underage loved ones. Shrinking income and bloated expenditure on account of hospitalisation of young and elderly members of families present a daunting challenge for these underprivileged sections of people to protect their young ones from cold. As many as 41 such patients died in Rajshahi and Rangpur. If the cold spell continues, more children and elderly people will die there. Here the economy of scale goes haywire to turn into its reverse edition.
At a time when global warming is the number one problem for developing nations, the imperative of combating cold is not taken very seriously. Dhaka spent winterless seasons for some years before 2024 when it was felt chillier than now but barely for a week. This year the problem has intensified because of the puny difference between day and night temperatures. With the sun disappearing completely on some days and its shorter appearances on other days, adaptability with the capricious Nature diminishes. Wintry cold and scorching heat of summer are not all about natural systems, those are also about the human body's struggle for adaptation with Nature's extremes.
When poor families are rendered with no means to feed their young ones, let alone themselves, because of their unemployment, their preparation for the winter is very poor. It is because of this harsh reality, there is a need for helping them tide over the crisis. The government should declare an emergency and launch a campaign for distribution of blankets and food among the vulnerable people. A leading contemporary through its young readers' association called Bandhu Sava (association of friends) has been rendering a noble service of blanket distribution to the distressed humanity. But political leaders are not as concerned about these hapless people as they are about their future in politics.
Thus their focus is on their own or their party's prospects in the next month's national election. This is an indication of how they like to fight for people's causes as against their personal benefits. Those who aspire to become members of parliament will spend millions of taka. They could leave behind their campaign trail in order to spend some time, energy and money from their huge poll budgets to alleviate the sufferings of the distressed people. That would have served their promotional campaign much better. In fact, it is the time for responding positively to a crisis. The nation can help feed the poor and vulnerable people and also protect them from winter invasion from its own resources. Some of the candidates' income level and wealth show they can spend a fraction of their income which would be enough for the suffering people to overcome the crisis.
Rational and equitable distribution of wealth is a key to reducing socio-economic disparities. The cold wave has presented a unique opportunity for political parties and their candidates for the next month's polls to prove that their oft-repeated rhetoric to stand by the people is not mere verbosity but a genuine commitment to the noble cause. The government should also allocate a special fund to address the twin problems of lashing cold and shortage of food. A concerted public-private mission of reaching food and warm clothes/blanket to the vulnerable people in the north and floating people in cities and towns should immediately be launched. Or else, more lives will be lost and economy will suffer on account of the cold spell.