River erosion devours Tangail key road
Engineer says it is not in their jurisdiction
River erosion devours Tangail key road When thousands of people are suffering as some portions of a road have been devoured by the Jhinai river, the authorities concerned said it is not in their jurisdiction to repair it.
Two large portions of the only concrete road that connects Basail and Mirzapur were devoured by the Jhinai on Monday, disrupting road communication between the two upazilas.
Erosion by the river, a tributary of the Jamuna, started about a week ago and it took a serious turn due to incessant rain from Friday, devouring large portions of the road in Bilpara Bazar area of Basail and Adabari in Mirzapur upazila, locals said.
Thousands of people of the two upazilas have been using the road as shortcut. Students of several educational institutions are the worst sufferers.
Indiscriminate sand lifting from different places on the river by using dredgers might have caused increasing erosion, said local people.
"We have to use the road every day for different purposes,” said Abdul Mazid of Kanchanpur village in Basail, adding that they are now facing serious troubles as the road has gone into the river".
"The collapsed road is our only way for communication,” said schoolteacher Anwar Hossain of Adabari village in Mirzapur.
Basail upazila engineer Abdus Sattar said he cannot say anything about it as the collapsed part of the road is out of their area.
It does not matter whether it is responsibility of the authorities of Basail or Mirzapur upazilas, the important road should be repaired immediately considering woes of the local people, said Mohammad Rubel Miah, a rights activist in Basail.