Flood washes away 2 bridges in two years
About 400 inhabitants of bordering Dighaltari Degreechar village in Aditmari upazila have been suffering immensely since a 32-foot concrete bridge over a canal washed away by floodwater in July last year.
About 80 families of the village, which is surrounded by Bangladesh-India border in one side while Dharla and Giridhari rivers in the other side, have been suffering a lot for want of a quality bridge as it is their only way of their communication.
During a visit to the area this correspondent saw many villagers wading through the muddy water of the canal to go to their destinations.
People of the bordering village have to cross the canal amid risk to go to nearby markets, local union parishad (UP) office and even the upazila and district headquarters.
Locals said Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) first constructed a 25-foot concrete bridge over the canal spending Tk 5.5 lakh about eight years ago.
But within two years of its construction, the bridge was completely damaged by floodwater.
In 2018, local union parishad built another 32-foot bridge on the same spot at a cost of Tk 8.5 lakh, funded by Local Government Support Project (LGSP).
But within one and a half years of its construction, that bridge too was washed away by flood.
Kabir Mia of the village, said, “If any of the two bridges was constructed with quality materials, it wouldn’t collapsed in a short time.’’
Another villager Yunus Ali said, “Many of our school and college going children are continuing their studies staying at relatives’ houses.’’
Farmer Mubarak Hossain said due to the poor communication system they cannot carry their produces to nearby local markets.
Durgapur UP member Abdus Sattar said they have urged the authorities concerned several times to build a quality bridge over the canal but to no avail.
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