Sunamganj Needs Cooperation

Sunamganj is the most beautiful district of Bangladesh. It is surrounded by natural beauties. Millions of green trees, thousands of acres of cultivable and fertile lands, numerous lakes and rivers and above all local inhabitants made Sunamganj unique and distinctive among the rest of the districts of Bangladesh. Sunamganj, on the contrary, is one of the least developed districts of the country. Almost two million (19,68,669) people live here. The ratio of male and female are 103.6 and 100 respectively. Nearly half of them are female. The overall population density is 536 persons per sq km (about 1362 persons per sq mi) in 2001.

 Sunamganj supports a large rural population, with 8-10 percent of the people classified as urban in 2001. Rest of the people live in the vast zone of rural area. Although the distribution of the population is relatively even, but there are a number of ethnic and occupational groups are sparsely populated in Biswambarpur Thana, Sadar Thana, Thahir pur Thana and Chatak Thana of Sunamganj district. Generally they are populated in the border part of Sunamganj adjacent to the bottom of Kashia hill. Ethnic groups are divided into “Haijong”, “Manipuri”, “Garo”, “Kuch”, “Banai”, “Hadi” etc.

Most of the people of Bangladesh are relatively young, nearly 60 percent being under the age of 25 and only 3 percent being 65 or older. Life expectancy at birth is 61 years. These data are also nearly relevant and true for Sunamganj district. People of this region are very energetic, laborious and industrious. Cultivation is the prime occupation for the inhabitants of Sunamganj. Other major occupations are fishing, agro based small entrepreneurs, business etc. Rivers, Haors and Bills (Lakes) are the prominent and important feature of the landscape of Sunamganj. These navigable routs are the major sources of transportation. People depend on navigable routs tremendously during rainy season. Hundreds of thousands of small and big boats become the only way of communication in this period. In dry season, on the other hand, people mostly depend on foot for transportation because of the lack of adequate roads.

Education, food and nutrition, pure drinking water, sanitation, health service etc are the most vulnerable sectors of Sunamganj. The literacy rate is so poor that it put Sunamganj to the last row of other 63 districts of Bangladesh. Pure drinking water and proper sanitation are other two basic problems for the inhabitants of Sunamganj. Besides, the presence of arsenic in deep tube well made the problem more difficult and complicated. Acute poverty is the regular companion for the population of Sunamganj. People face natural calamites like flood and drought almost every year. We need to change the scenario.

To eradicate poverty and to increase literacy rate as well as to introduce programs for sustainable development in Sunamganj district, the inhabitants need your idea, advice, suggestion, experience, support, assistance and cooperation. CSA strongly believes if we work together for the welfare of Sunamganj, we will be able to make our dream true.