Blame game bars road renovation work
Number of potholes developed on 400-metre-long station road in Lalmonirhat town, hampering movement of vehicles and pedestrians
Local people have been suffering for the last seven years due to the awful state of the station road beside the district central mosque and Islamic Foundation office in the town.
The 400-metre-long important road is under the authority of Bangladesh Railway, said a railway official.
A number of potholes have developed on the road. Townspeople mainly use the road to catch trains in the Lalmonirhat railway station.
Vehicles and pedestrians cannot move smoothly on the road due to potholes, said locals.
Especially patients are the worst sufferers due to the bad condition of the road, said rickshaw puller Nazir Ali of the town.
During the monsoon, people have to suffer more to use the road as the large potholes were filled with rainwater.
Atiqul Islam, imam of the district central mosque “Baro Masjid”, said people who come to the mosque face immense trouble due to the bad condition of the road.
The busy road has been lying in such awful state for years, no step has been taken to repair it yet, said Sahedul Islam, a resident of the station road.
Lalmonirhat Railway Divisional Engineer Anwar Hossain said although the road is under Bangladesh Railway, they are not interested in spending fund for renovation of the road.
There are some railway staff quarters but the quarters are lying in an abandoned state for long and no railway staffers live there.
So, it is now no longer the most important road for them, said Anwar, adding, that the municipality authority now can renovate the road in the greater interest of townspeople.
If the municipality authority seeks any help from them in repairing the road, they will give their full support in this regard, said the engineer.
Reazul Islam Rintu, mayor of the municipality, said they are not interested in spending fund for renovation of the road on railway land as it is under the authority of Bangladesh Railway.
However, locals questioned the role of the mayor for construction of a new road on the railway land just a few metres off the damaged road.
The mayor said a proposal was invited a long ago for construction of the road.