Electric poles in middle of road poses risk of accidents

Due to lack of coordination between institutions concerned, the renovation work of 686-metre-long road is going on without removing 12 electric poles in the middle of the road in Derai municipality in Sunamganj, posing serious risks of accidents.

Sarat Biswas, a resident of Derai bus stand area, said the road from Derai municipality bus stand to Thana point is known as College road which saw no renovation in the last eight years. This is the main road in the municipality.

Traffic accidents are occurring in the area frequently following the unplanned installation of the electric poles in the middle of the road by Power Development Board (PDB) authorities, he said.

Wishing anonymity, an official of the municipality said none of the institutions concerned want to take responsibility for removing the poles citing the shortage of budget.

Local Government Engineering Department, PDB and Derai municipality always push each other for this but none bothers to think about commuters’ sufferings, said the official.

Jamsed Ahmed, a resident of the municipality, said “We are happy that at last the renovation work of the road has been started after eight years and it’s high time to remove the electric poles. Otherwise, the problem will never be fixed after completion of the renovation work.”

Mayor of the municipality Mosharraf Mia said widening work of the road was started earlier this year. Earlier, the road was 17 feet wide and it will be now 32 feet wide.

They wrote to PDB twice to remove the electric poles but to no respond yet, he said. 

Tk 4 crore was approved for renovation work of the road but no budget was allocated for this purpose, said the mayor.

Prabir Kumar Dey, chief engineer of PDB in Sylhet region, said as per the rule, the electric poles should be removed at the expense of the municipality.

“To remove the poles at our expense, we sent a proposal to the higher authorities seeking approval. If the proposal is approved, the poles will be removed but it will take three to four months,” said the engineer.