Culvert building pains Faridpur townspeople

Movement of all types of vehicles has stopped at Kamlapur in Sadar upazila since April 17 as the old bridge was broken down to build a culvert on a canal without building any alternative road to cross the canal.

Road Transport and Highway Division allotted Tk 30 lakh for building the 24-foot-long and 6.5-foot-wide culvert on Faridpur-Charbhadrasan road in Kamlapur area in the town. The contractor demolished the old bridge without building an alternative road there, causing inconvenience to people using the road.

“Faridpur-Charbhadrasan road is a very important road as thousands of people use it daily to go to their destinations. The contractor started breaking the old bridge without building any alternative road for pedestrians and vehicles,” locals said.

“We are suffering much because there is no alternative road,” said Dulal Matabbor.

“Now I have to pay extra money to travel around one and a half kilometres to go to school. If they built an alternative road there it would be better for all,” said Rozina Akter, a teacher at Police Lines High School.

“We want to continue construction work in rain, but the labourers reluctant to do,” said Md Masuk Khondoker, who is looking after the construction work.

“I have heard about the suffering of the local people due to the construction of the new culvert. The contractor got two months to finish the work and I told him to finish it in time,” said district Roads and Highways Department Executive Engineer Jahangir Alam.

“Mayor of Faridpur municipality and the local people asked me to finish the work as soon as possible,” he added.