Road digging adds to residents' woes
Even though the road digging work during the rainy seasons apart from intensifying the already impossible traffic jams create misery and hazards for the residents of the capital, Dhaka South City Corporation has started the digging work at Rishikesh Das Road in Old Dhaka.
The work, to reduce the waterlogging problem of the area by setting up underground pipes, started in June but its progress is very slow.
While visiting the area recently, this correspondent saw that only around 10pc work of the half kilometre project was completed. The workers did not even remove the mud from the spot and piles of soil have been kept beside spots being dug up, creating obstacles for the residents and vehicles.
Asma Akhtar, mother of a class III student of a local school, said crossing the portion where the work is ongoing has become a constant struggle.
“The condition turns worse during rain as walking through the muddy and slippery road gets risky. Even the rickshaw-pullers demand more fare, instead of Tk 10, I end up paying Tk 25,” she said.
Mohammad Mamun, a resident of the area, said the construction work is going on from Ekrampur square, which connects three roads to Gopal Shah Lane and Kazi Gupta Lane crossing.
He said the road is a vital one as people from various areas go to different educational institutes through it.
The authority should use more manpower and equipment to speed up the work, he said, adding that the work started from Ekrampur crossing but did not see much progress.
He said there were some damaged pipelines from where water started leaking when the digging began for which the work remained shut for a week.
Anowar, a resident of Laxmi Bazar, said two motorcyclists had fallen in the ditch a few days back but luckily they suffered no serious injury.
Abul Mia, who is involved with the work, said as there are several utility lines under the soil, they are struggling to do the digging work and had to suspend it for around a week. He said they have resumed the work and will try to complete it soon.
Contacted, Md Towhid Siraj, executive engineer of DSCC Zone-4, said that most of the workers were on Eid holiday, which is why they could not complete the work. “We will try to finish it by the end of the month,” he said.
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