Culvert of no use
It was built on a canal one year ago without any approach road in Atrai
The culvert over a canal in Atrai upazila of Naogaon is of no use to the people due to absence of approach roads.
The 25-foot-long culvert was built a year ago at Taranagar village to connect three villages, but the lack of a connecting road is causing suffering to the people.
The suffering increases further during the rainy season, the villagers said.
“Another rainy season has arrived, but no one is talking about building a road on both sides of the culvert,” said Mujibur Rahman of Bandaikhara village. Nearly 20,000 people of Bandaikhara, Taranagar and Baullah villages have been suffering for want of roads, he said.
The locals were expecting that the roads linking the culvert would be built before this rainy season, but now, no one knows when the work will start.
“Despite having a culvert, we use boats for crossing the canal during the rainy season,” said one Shawkat Ali. The villagers have built two bamboo bridges for connecting with the culvert as another rainy season has already come, he added.
Farmers, students and patients are the worst sufferers, said Md Hanif of Taranagar village. “Farmers cannot carry their produce to Atrai markets due to the absence of a road,” he added.
“The culvert could ease our life if there was a proper road connectivity,” said Rafiqul Islam of Baullah village.
Local Government Engineering Department's Upazila Engineer Md Mobarak Hossain said the fund for building the culvert was spent last year. He said his office is trying to arrange fund to complete rest of the work of the culvert this year.