No road for 20,000 villagers

Over 20,000 residents of Betuan village of Dilpashra union under Pabna's Vangura upazila have to undergo perennial suffering due to the lack of a paved road in the village.

There are five primary schools, a high school, a college, two madrasas, 12 mosques, a temple, an Eidgah and a community clinic in the remote village but there is no road link with these institutions.

"Due to the lack of road communication, we have to go to school traversing the residences of others, fields and canals in the village. When it rains, we often do not go to school," Md Rubel, a fourth-grader, said.

Due to the absence of the road, villagers have to go to the upazila headquarters and elsewhere on foot, they said.

"Due to the lack of road communication, there is no vehicular movement in the village. Villagers often go to upazila headquarters or other areas of the upazila on foot. It takes one hour to one and a half hours to reach the main road," said MdHumayun Kabir, a resident of the village.

"When most of the rural areas are getting rapidly changed due to the development initiative of the government, Betuan village remains backwards because of the absence of road communication," Humayun said.

Hasina Khatun, an elderly woman of the village, said that although the male members of the village can move to other places crossing hurdles, it is the women who suffer the most. 

Out of desperation, the villagers started filling up a canal in a bid to establish road communication on their own. However, the local administration foiled their attempt as it is an illegal act to fill up the government canal.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Vangura Md Ashrafuzzaman said that as the villagers started to construct a road on their own filling up a canal, their attempt was foiled.

"There is no scope to fill up a waterbody in this way. Although the villagers need a road badly, we cannot allow them to fill up a canal for road communication. Public representatives in the area are trying to solve the long-standing problem of the village," the UNO added.

Ashok Kumar Ghosh Prono, the chairman of Dilpashra Union Parishad, however, said that over 20,000 people living in the village have been immensely suffering for many years due to the lack of road communication.

"As there is not enough land in the village for road communication, we are facing difficulty to implement any project. We have already discussed the matter with the local lawmaker. We are trying to establish road communication in the village giving utmost priority," the chairman also said.