Tired of waiting for bridge repair

Locals through their voluntary service have made usable a bridge on Pakhimara canal under Kalapara upazila, after getting tired of long wait get for the work to be done by the authorities.

The 400-foot-long bridge made of wooden sleepers set on an iron structure on Pakhimara canal in Nilganj union under Kalapara upazila facilitated communication of over 15,000 people of Pakhimara, Alempur, Baintala, Kumirmara, Chotokumirmara and Majidpur villages with Kalapara upazila town, locals said.

But the bridge, badly damaged by super cyclone Sidr in 2007 and again by Aila in 2009, became totally unfit for use, much to the sufferings of locals, especially vegetables growers and students.

In response to locals' demand, the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in middle of 2014 took a project to reconstruct the bridge.

Suresh Chandra as contractor started the construction work one and a half years ago and LGED already sanctioned Tk 22 lakh to set up an iron structure where wooden sleepers would be set.

But the contractor has failed to complete even the iron structure in one and a half years, making the locals lose patience.

Finally villagers led by Md Kamal Hossain, member of the local union parishad (UP), arranged setting wooden planks on a portion (horizontally) of the bridge.

Now the bridge has become usable, although only for walking, after setting up wooden sleepers on it, said the UP member.

Hundreds of vegetable growers regularly use the bridge to carry their produces for sale while a good number of students use it for going to schools, he said.

This correspondent tried to communicate with contractor Suresh Chandra several times through mobile but he did not receive the calls.

Abdul Mannan, Kalapara upazila LGED engineer, said they have asked the contractor concerned to complete the work in a short time.