Dhaka, April 1 -- By the end of February, the hills had already begun to thirst.

What should have been the early stretch of a manageable dry season has instead turned severe. Tube wells falter, ring wells yield less, and along the edges of thinning streams, people dig into damp earth -- coaxing water from beneath the surface to meet their most basic needs.

These shallow, makeshift pits -- known locally as "Kua" -- are visibly unsafe. Yet for many, they are the only source left.

In Amtoli Marma Para, a village in Suwalok Union of Bandarban Sadar, the crisis is immediate and unhidden. There is no need to travel far into remote hilly areas; the scarcity reveals itself at the village edge, in queues that form at dawn and in the steady move...