Locals question quality of materials being used
After over two weeks of suspension, from December 2 to 17, amid allegations of using substandard materials, work of a Tk 22.13-crore road reconstruction project in Patgram upazila resumed with the same materials.
Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in August this year issued work order for widening a 16-km-long section of Patgram-Dahagram road to joint consortium of Rana Builders, Rizvi Construction and Hasan Techno Builders. The work also includes building of four culverts on the road, according to RHD in Lalmonirhat.
Residents of Dahagram village said the contractor stopped work in early December when the former raised objections in the use of substandard sand and stones that were collected locally and supplied by influential locals.
They also said only sand from Sylhet and stones from overseas are approved as construction materials for roads built under the RHD.
Besides, instead of ensuring a sand-stone ratio of 40:60, the contractor was mixing the materials in a 60:40 ratio, alleged Rabiul Islam, from Panbari village in Dahagram union.
Even though the materials being used in the road are not as per RHD standard, the engineers at RHD are keeping mum about it, he also said.
“We made them stop the work... But now we see the construction firm using the same substandard materials again,” Belal Hossain, an elderly resident of the same village, said frustratingly.
He further said local influential suppliers, affiliated with the ruling party, even issued threats on villagers for protesting the irregularities with the road work.
Pointing fingers at corrupt RHD officials behind the irregularities, another elderly villager, Mohammad Ali, said the road built with such low-quality materials will not withstand the weight of heavy vehicles in the long run.
RHD’s Sub Assistant Engineer Alamgir Hossain, tasked with overseeing the work, claimed that they had collected samples of the materials from the site and those passed tests in their laboratory.
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