No vehicular movement for five months
Movement of vehicles across a bridge over the Kharuvaj river at Nekirhat village has remained stopped for the last five months as a wing wall and approach road collapsed due to strong current in June this year.
Around 30,000 people of 15 villages in Taraganj upazila of Rangpur are facing immense problems as Saidpur-Nekirhat road is the only way for them to go to Rangpur city in the shortest possible time.
Locals said Saidpur Division of Water Development Board (WDB) in the district built the bridge at Nekirhat village in the upazila.
WDB authorities said they had recently handed it over to Rangpur Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) when Taraganj upazila LGED expressed its ignorance about the matter.
Visiting the area recently, this correspondent saw that a portion of the approach road on the west side of the bridge collapsed due to strong current in the river during the last rainy season.
It was also found that cracks have developed on the pillars, making the bridge shake when vehicles pass on the nearby Dhaka-Dinajpur road and causing panic among the people, who cross the bridge on foot with great difficulty.
Member of Harial Kuti Union Parishad (UP) ward No-7 Nazrul Islam said Saidpur WDB constructed the 60-foot-long and 6-foot-wide bridge at a cost of around Tk one crore in 1993, but no repair work was done since then.
“People living in villages on the west side of the bridge seldom come to the market at the other end as they are afraid to cross the bridge, as a result, our business is greatly hampered,” said Mahbubar Rahman, a trader in Nekirhat bazar.
“We face difficulties while going to Rangpur town or catching Dhaka-bound buses as mechanised vehicles cannot cross the bridge. Now we have to go to Taraganj bus stand, which costs more time and money,” said Shariful Islam of Dangir hat village.
Ayub master, Abul Hossain and many other affected people said they submitted several petitions to the local UP chairman and upazila chairman, but no steps have been taken till now.
“I contacted the WDB authorities in the divisional office about the problem, but they are yet to take any initiative to address it,” said Taraganj Upazila Chairman Anisur Rahman.
“I have visited the spot, but we have nothing to do as LGED in Rangpur is now responsible for looking after it,” said Saidpur Divisional WDB Executive Engineer Krishna Komol Chandra Sarker.
Taraganj Upazila LGED Engineer Ahmed Hyder Jaman differed with the WDB executive engineer's claim. “The road on which the bridge is situated belongs to us, but the bridge is not ours as WDB owns Kharuvaj river. However, we are planning to build a new bridge there to ease people's sufferings,” he added.
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