Electric poles in the middle of now widened road
Hundreds of electric poles, now standing in the middle of the road due to widening of a 21-kilometre regional highway in Barguna, causes trouble for vehicular movement, in addition to disturbance in the road renovation work.
The road widening work from Purakata ferry terminal to Baroitala ferry terminal began in 2018 and the Tk 100-crore project is expected to be complete by June this year, said sources at Barguna Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
As the road widened, the electric poles adjacent to the old road are now in the middle.
Rural Electrification Board (REB) and West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd jointly asked for Tk 62 lakh from the RHD to shift the poles to the side but to no effective action yet.
"Electric poles in the middle of the road causes problem for vehicular movement. Accidents often occur on the dusty road," said Abul Kalam, driver of a battery-run auto-rickshaw.
Echoing the same, another auto-rickshaw driver Babul Howladar said the authorities should take steps to complete the road renovation work as soon as possible.
Md Main Uddin, executive engineer of West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd in Barguna, said, "We wrote a letter to the RHD last year demanding allocation for removing these poles but we are yet to get it. And so, the poles have remained there."
Khairul Islam, site engineer of the contractor firm 'Kohinoor Enterprise', said, "We are facing problems to do the renovation work as electric poles are still in the middle of the road. We talked to RHD officials about the matter on several occasions but no action has been taken."
Barguna RHD's Executive Engineer Md Haider Kamruzzaman said the REB and West Zone Power Distribution Company in last year demanded Tk 62 lakh to shift the electric poles.
"Afterwards, we sent a letter to the ministry concerned on December 24 last year asking for the allocation, but it is yet to be made. We hope to get the allocation soon and then steps will be taken to shift the poles from the middle of the road," he added.
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