Defiant contractor abandons road work, causing suffering to thousands
A contractor abandoned construction of a road that was scheduled to be finished by May this year, under Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in Nabiganj upazila of Habiganj.
As a result, around 25,000 residents of Deopara and Shatak areas in Gajnaipur union are now facing immense sufferings during this monsoon when the 780-meter-long dirt road has become impassable with knee-deep mud all over.
Till date, the contractor ignored three consecutive mails that were sent out by the LGED, asking it to complete the work, said Sabbir Ahmed, the engineer of LGED in Nabiganj upazila.
The work order for the Tk 54.48-lakh project was awarded to Jason Enterprise, which was scheduled to start construction of the road on May 16 last year and finish it on May 21 this year.
It is now a nightmare for anyone who has to use this unpaved road to reach the union parishad (UP) or the upazila headquarters, locals said.
Even lighter vehicles such as rickshaws or auto-rickshaws get stuck in the mud or skid off the road, sometimes resulting in injuries to passengers and drivers alike, said Jibon Mia, a CNG-run auto-rickshaw driver.
Gajnaipur resident Bishad Datta said this is a vital road for thousands of inhabitants in two unions as this is their only way to communicate with the upazila headquarters.
Retired teacher Jahedur Rahman, a resident of neighbouring Deopara area, alleged that after commencing construction work in November last year, the contractor started to illegally extract reddish soil from hillocks in surrounding areas and dump it on the road in place of an 8-inch layer of coarse sand, approved by the LGED.
When locals protested and the administration raised objections, the contractor stopped the work, he also said.
The road was somewhat usable for a short period of time when an expatriate worker in Suadi Arabia paid for dumping some sand bags on the road. But the situation worsened again when pouring monsoon rain damaged and washed those away, said Mahmudul Islam, a resident of Shatak village.
While speaking with this correspondent, Gajnaipur UP Chairman Imdadur Rahman Mukul, who is also president of Awami League in the upazila, said thousands of inhabitants in two unions of the upazila are suffering as the contractor abandoned the work site. "I requested the LGED several times to complete the work. But nothing worked."
Contacted over cell phone, Nurul Amin, proprietor of Jason Enterprise, said they had to stop the work due to Covid-19.
But when this correspondent asked him whether he was using soil from surrounding hills for the sand layer in the foundation of the road, he disconnected the call.
Sabbir Ahmed, the LGED engineer in the upazila, said the contractor deviated from using materials approved by the LGED and did not comply with their demand of rectifying the flawed work.
They would inform the higher authorities of the anomalies by the contractor and seek necessary action, he added.