The 11.5km Mollarhat-Shuktagarh-Bolarjor road in Rajapur upazila of Jhalakathi is coming off within two months of construction creating potholes in several places.
Locals allege this is due to the use of low-quality materials during the renovation of the road and the construction of an approach road of Hajibari Bridge under the purview of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
According to local sources, the contractors did not provide the right amount of asphalt pitch during the construction, due to which cracks and holes appeared in many areas. Locals fear the possibility of accidents as the road runs beside a canal.
Messers Badal Construction got an allocation of Tk 2.76 crore for the construction of a bridge in Hajibari area. Apart from this, the work of two more bridges is in progress on Mollarhat-Shuktagarh-Bolarjor road, for which more than Tk two crores have been allocated. An application has also been made for the renovation of the remaining 9.5km road.
The contractor of the road reconstruction work and former chairman of Rajapur UP Anwar Hossain Mojibar Mridha said the renovation work has been done over the previous road.
“There is nothing to do if it breaks off or a hole appears. However, if the stones fall off, it will be fixed,” he said.
During a visit to the spot, this correspondent found from local sources that the contractor started the construction of the road two months ago. Locals made allegations of widespread irregularities and corruption in the construction of the Tk 2.76 crore allocated two kilometres of the approach road on both sides of the bridge in the Hajibari area, including the use of low-quality materials.
Several people including local residents Noor Hossain, Yasir Arafat, Tipu and Rajib Hossain said stones have fallen into the canal from various places on the road which was repaired a few days ago. The surface coarse in several places is collapsing into canals.
Apart from this, large potholes have been created on the road in the area adjacent to Mollarhat. As a result, the movement of vehicles is also being hampered. Locals fear that accidents can happen at any time. Also, due to road pavements falling off on both sides of the bridge in Hajibari area of North Shuktagarh village, it has become dangerous for vehicular movements.
Badal Hossain, the contractor of the bridge and approach road construction work, said, “The work was done correctly at that time. Maybe the pavement came off due to cow dung falling there. It will be repaired soon.”
Locals complained that the contractors were able to use low-quality materials due to the upazila LGED officials’ lacklustre supervision.
According to the upazila LGED office, the Mollarhat-Shuktagarh-Bolarjor road is 11.5 kilometres long. Out of which Tk 2.2 crore was allocated for the renovation of two kilometres, of which Anwar Hossain got the contract.
Rajapur LGED Deputy Assistant Engineer Ziaur Rahman was in charge of supervising this work.
Rajapur Upazila Engineer Abhijit Majumder said that the contractors have been asked to fill the potholes on the road and remove the raised stones. Necessary action will be taken if the contractors do not perform properly.
In regards to allegations of irregularities, he said, “There were no irregularities and corruption in the implementation of the works by the contractor and LGED. The work has been completed properly.”
