Three pillars in 3 years!

Construction of a bridge on Jhenai river in Kashil area of Tangail's Basail upazila remains incomplete even three years after the work began.

Locals blamed the officials of the Local Government Engineering Department and the contractor companies for their negligence in not completing the bridge work.

After an old bridge on the spot collapsed due to being damaged by flood in 2007, the LGRD ministry called for tenders to construct the new 270-metre bridge in 2020, said sources at LGED in Tangail.

The work order was issued to construction firms Mainuddin Limited and SM Dwip Construction (JV) on March 23 of the same year, with a six-month deadline to complete the work.

And more than three years have passed since then, with only three pillars of the bridge being constructed so far.

Last year, The Daily Star reported on this issue.

With no other bridge on the river in the area, thousands of residents of Kashil, Basail, Kauljani, Fulki, Kanchanpur, Fatehpur, and Dubail unions have been facing prolonged sufferings, as they are compelled to use boats to cross the river.

Students have to wait for long periods on the river bank for their turn to cross the waterbody, while farmers face hassle when taking their crops to the markets.

"Every time we cross the river on a boat, we fear of drowning. Also, we often have to wait 20-25 minutes to catch a boat," said Rasel Miah, an eighth-grader at Kashil High School.

Sumi Akter and Bablu Miah, residents of Kashil village, echoed Rasel.

After the bridge's construction began, the contractors abandoned the work several months later following a hike in price of construction materials, locals alleged. There are also cases filed over the demarcation of land ownership on one end of the bridge, they added.

Contacted, Rafiqul Islam, executive engineer of LGED Tangail, informed that the work order for the bridge has been cancelled as the contractor firm expressed reluctance to complete the rest of the work.

"A Tk 24.50 crore re-tender was held by the ministry concerned afterwards and a contractor firm from Jamalpur got the work order. The construction work on the bridge will resume soon," he added.