Home ›› 08 Oct 2021 ›› Nation
Asphalt could hardly be traced on the six-kilometre road stretch connecting Kaiyabazar and Mostofar Mor on the outskirts of Khulna city for lack of maintenance and plying of overloaded vehicles.
Countless massive potholes have made the road unusable, causing suffering for thousands of commuters on the most important thoroughfares in the district as it connects Khulna City Bypass with the Khulna-Satkhira Regional Highway.
The dire condition of the dilapidated road has made accidents a common phenomenon on the road.
Ahmed Ali, a driver, said the road has long been in such a sorry state for lack of repair works.
The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) constructed the road of which 3.8 km fall under Dumuria and 2.1 m from Rajbandh Bazar to Kaiyabazar under Batiaghata.
The entire road is broken. Repairing is underway on various parts of the road over the past three years under a few packages. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, 2.1 km of the Batiaghata section was repaired at a cost of Tk 1.8 crore.
Locals complained that potholes have created on the road in 2020 due to negligence during the renovation work. The potholes gather rainwater during monsoon as often they turn into massive puddles.
Locals were asking the authorities concerned to renovate the dilapidated portions of the road with reinforced concrete instead of bitumen asphalt. But their appeal went vain and the road was carpeted which worsened the condition of the road in the past three years.
A spot visit to the road found huge potholes were created in the middle of the road near Kaiyabazar. Construction of ditches along the road also made it tough for traffic movement and vehicles are plying at great risk. The Dumuria section of the road has also developed numerous small and big potholes.
Numerous private housing projects have sprung up on both sides of the road. These projects are being made by filling the crop fields with sand. Hundreds of sand-laden trucks ply on the road round the clock.
Khalil Gazi, a businessman from Boyra in Khulna, said that the movement of traffic is about to stop for the big potholes on the road. Vehicles often get stuck falling into potholes and minor accidents are regular phenomena.
Traders at the largest market in the area at Kaiyabazar suffer most to carry goods to the market.
Vegetable retailers in Khulna city need to go a long way after buying vegetables from Kaiyahat wholesale market as they cannot use this road, he added.
Abul Hasan Gazi of the area said the road was mainly damaged by sand trucks and land traders. “These land traders are not residents of the area. They do plot business here. Due to this, the road has become completely unusable. The locals are suffering for it,” he added.
LGED Khulna Executive Engineer Kamruzzaman said the road got damaged sharp for plying of overloaded trucks. “It will be repaired next year. The most damaged part will be repaired with reinforced concrete cement. For the time being, the potholes will be filled with bricks and mortar to make the road suitable for traffic movement,” he said.
