A bridge, now too old to bridge the upazilas
A bridge, which links several upazilas of Dinajpur and Thakurgaon districts, is in a deplorable state due to lack of renovation.
It was built on Dhepa River in Birganj upazila of Dinajpur in 1950 to ease communication of the people of Birganj and Khansama upazilas of Dinajpur and Pirganj and Debiganj upazilas of Thakurgaon.
Several thousand people of the two districts use the bridge and heavy and light vehicles also run over it every day amid risk of accident.
Numerous cracks have developed in the 30-metre-long bridge that is gradually tilting to one side. During the Liberation War in 1971, the bridge suffered little damage, but no renovation work was done in the last 44 years, said locals.
“We have to use the bridge as there is no alternative way, connecting the four upazilas of two districts,” said an ambulance driver, who was coming to Dinajpur from Pirganj upazila of Thakurgaon on Friday last.
The bridge first tilted slightly to one side during the flood in 1987. People of the four upazilas of Dinajpur and Thakurgaon repeatedly tried to draw attention of their lawmakers to this old bridge and urged them to build a new one, but to no effect, said Abdul Khaleque Sarker Chairman of Nizpara Union Parishad under Birganj upazila.
'Staff of the Roads and Highways Department visited the bridge, but they didn't take any measure to repair it or build a new one,” the chairman said, adding that he vainly tried to draw the attention of the local lawmaker to this issue.
Contacted, Executive Engineer of Roads & Highway in Dinajpur Abdur Rashid said they have already formulated a project plan for construction of a new bridge there. “We hope the construction work will start early next year,” the engineer said.
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