People here are growing increasingly desperate for job to overcome the acute financial hardship during the ongoing off-season.

Most of them, however, do not have money enough to travel seeking job elsewhere. They take loan from the moneylenders.

Many loaned Tk 500 to 1,000 on high interest rates. They hope to repay after the Aman harvest, which is only two weeks away.

"I borrowed Tk 1,000 from a relative on condition that I'd return it with two maunds of paddy in addition to the original amount after two months," said Tara Mian of Telipara village in Chilamari upazila.

Tara's fellow villagers, Zasmat Ali, Mazedul and Amir Hossain, too took loans between Tk 500 to 1,000 on similar condition.

They told The Daily Star that they are leaving home because the amount they earn while staying in the area is nowhere near enough to survive with the family members. The off- season always forces them to leave home, they added.

They are, however, not sure of the job opportunities in Dhaka.

"We would stand at the market places in Dhaka and hope people would hire us on wage and other facilities," said Nurul Islam, one of the job seekers soon to venture outside his locality.

They also do not have any choice regarding the nature of work.

"We are day labourers, we would do whatever the employers would ask us to do," said Zasmat.

Some of villagers are planning to go to Munshiganj, which, they had heard, abound with agricultural jobs.

Most of these job seekers leave behind four to five family members who depend entirely on them.

Some of them told The Daily Star they hope that they would be back by Eid. But it is certain that many would not be able to make it, says a local.

Usual wage of an agricultural labourer in Dhaka and Munshiganj ranges between Tk 30 to 50 a day with free food and accommodation. So, many of these job seekers would not be able to repay the loans in time. Still, they prefer leaving home to spending time idly.

People in areas like Ulipur and Chilmari in Kurigram that are worst affected by monga, hardly get any job during the off-season as these areas are solely dependent on agriculture.

Recurrent floods that submerged most of Kurigam and part of Rangpur district, have caused the monga this year. The price hike of the essentials only added to the miseries of the people here.

"We are already in serious difficulties and now comes the price hike. We just can't afford to buy one kg potato at Tk 12, aubourgine at Tk 32 and pulses Tk 45 per kg," said Sirajul, 40,who earns only Tk 30-40 a day by carrying goods at Ramnaghat.

He said most people in his village on the north bank of river Brahmmoputra live on two meals a day, instead of three times a day previously.

The Chilmari Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Parimal Majumder refused to admit that the area faces starvation. "Yes, there is a shortage of food, but the situation is still under control."

This time, both the government and non-governmental organisations (NGO) have come up with a lot of assistance to the people on low incomes, he said.

As many as 15,000 families out of 24,000 in the upazila have received food aid under Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) programme that began this month. Besides, another 2000 families got food assistance under Vulnerable Group Development programme (VGD), he explained.

Also, many NGOs provided the poor with food and other essentials during and after the floods, Parimal said.

Referring to the people leaving the area for job, Majumder said it is typical of the region. As the area relies solely on agriculture, people tend to go outside for work in off-peak times, he said.

The locals, however, said the monga persists in the districts as except for a few bidi factories in Haragach, there are hardly any other mills and factories in Rangpur and Kurigram to create large-scale employment for the locals.

The Bengali month of Ashwin and Kartik are the off-season for farmers when the transplanted Amon paddy matures and is harvested.