Hundreds of vehicles get stuck on Bangabandhu Bridge approach road almost everyday due to delay in repair of the busy highway. The photo was taken at Elenga point on Friday.Photo: STAR

Hundreds of vehicles get stuck on Bangabandhu Bridge approach road in Tangail for nearly two hours every day due to delay in completing repair of the road.
Repair work on the six-kilometre-long approach road from Rabna to Elenga began before Eid-ul-Azha. The work was supposed to be done in a month, but Roads and Highways Department (RHD) could not complete the works within the scheduled time, resulting in tailbacks on the two-lane road.
Hundreds of vehicles bound for 22 districts, including 16 northern districts, get stranded on the road regularly, causing untold sufferings to the passengers.
Bablu Miah, driver of a passenger bus, says it takes at least one and a half hours for the tailbacks on the road to clear.
Communications Minister Obaidul Kader visited the road repair works at Elenga one and a half months ago and directed the RHD officials and the contactor concerned to complete the works by December 31. But the repair works are yet to be finished.
While visiting the road from Rabna to Elenga on Friday, this correspondent saw hundreds of vehicles got stranded on both sides of the road.
RHD sources said the contractors concerned had to stop work several times due to fund crisis that led to the delay in finishing the repair works within the scheduled time.
Contacted, Shawkat Ali, executive engineer of RHD in Tangail, admitted that fund crisis caused the delay in completing repair works on 22-kilometre highway, including the six-kilometre approach road.
He, however, said works on the six-kilometre approach road from Rabna to Elenga will be completed within a week.