Home ›› 12 Jun 2023 ›› Nation
Almost all the roads under Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Beanibazar upazila of Sylhet are left in a dilapidated state causing suffering to the residents, said local sources.
Due to not inviting tenders for renovation on time, dissimilarities between budget and market prices of construction goods, contractors failing to finish work on time and other negligence the development work of rural roads in the upazila have been left in poor states for a long time.
Especially school-going students, patients and elderly people are suffering due to this.
The situation worsened after the flood in 2022 when about 40 km of roads in the upazila were severely damaged from waterlogging.
According to LGED office sources, there are 210 kilometres of paved roads out of the total 627 km of roads in Beanibazar. Due to the lack of renovation work for a long time, the paved roads are in poor condition.
Especially during the monsoon season, it becomes very difficult for locals to travel through the roads filled with potholes. Moreover, most of the unpaved roads in the upazila have become impassable.
According to related sources, the road paving work of about 10 to 12 km is currently ongoing in the upazila.
Apart from this, the plans for the renovation of 20-25 km more roads are underway. Besides, there are also plans for another 5 km of road development work through re-tendering.
Gobindosree Ward Awami League General Secretary Najmul Hossain told The Business Post that even though the list of these roads has been sent to the higher authorities, they have yet to receive allocations.
“Most of the roads in the upazila became impassable after the flood. The locals repaired some of them on their own initiative and made them suitable for vehicular movement,” he said.
He also said that tenders have been called for the construction work of Gobindosree Bazar to Anguramohammedpur twice or thrice.
“However, due to the dissimilarities between the budget and current market prices of construction goods, the contractors were disinterested. One contractor was offered additional finances by the villagers, but he refused,” Najmul added.
According to locals, the construction of another road in the area is halted for similar reasons. The residents were forced to repair some of the damaged roads on their own initiative for temporary movement.
Rukon Uddin, a local autorickshaw driver, said that the government representatives should consider renovating the roads as thousands of people are suffering due to it.
Kurarbazar Union Parishad Chairman Tutiur Rahman Tota said about Tk 50-60 lakh worth of structural damage has been caused by the flood last year. But they were only allocated a budget of about 10 per cent of that to repair the roads.
“The residents are repeatedly urging me to repair and renovate the roads, but it is not possible due to lack of funds. The situation is similar in all the other unions of the upazila,” he said.
Regarding the development of rural roads in the upazila, LGED Engineer Md Saiful Azam said road repair and construction works are an ongoing process.
“The list of flood-damaged roads has been sent to the higher authorities, but we did not receive any funds for it yet. The repair process will begin as soon as funds are allocated,” he added.
Beanibazar Upazila Nirbahi Officer Apsana Tasnim said the state of the rural roads was discussed in various meetings of the district and upazila administration.
“The roads in need of repair works have been listed accordingly and sent to higher authorities for budget approval. The construction work will begin after it is budgeted,” she added.
