Residents of 7 villages using wooden bridges for 30 years

Villagers carrying their loads on head walk across the Marta-Martar Char bridge towards the highway leading to Gazipur district town as the wooden structure is unfit for heavy vehicles, even rickshaws. Around 20,000 people of different villages in Sreepur upazila, who use this bridge, have long been demanding its replacement with a concrete one. The photo was taken recently. Photo: Star

Though the need for better communication facilities grew over the time, the residents of seven villages in Sreepur upazila have been using two wooden bridges for more than 30 years with a longstanding demand for their replacement with concrete structures.
The two bridges connecting Marta with Martar Char village and Nanaia with Nanaiar Char across the Gopidar canal need repair almost every year. Otherwise, around 50 villagers would be cut off from Sreepur upazila sadar, Gazipur district town, and Kapasia and Kaliganj upazilas.
Villagers say they will be able to increase trade activities and distances with various destinations will decrease a great deal if concrete bridges are set up there.
A teacher at Nanaia High School, Md Awlad Hossain, said if the Marta-Martar Char bridge was turned into a concrete bridge, it would reduce the distance between Marta and the highway leading to the district town by five kilometres and heavy vehicles could directly go to the highway.

"I've heard for the last 15 years that a concrete bridge would be built there, but haven't seen any effort to date," he told The Daily Star.
The Nanaia-Nanaiar Char bridge is just 200 metres from the Dhaka-Sylhet bypass, said Naser Ahmed, a retired government employee. If it is turned into a concrete bridge, thousands of villagers will see a new way of communication, he added.
As the shaky bridges are unfit for use by the motorised vehicles, even rickshaws, villagers trading with the suburban areas have to walk long distances carrying their loads on shoulders or head. In some cases, accidents occur when the bridges are damaged.Six months ago, a teacher of Kaliganj-Narun High School got injured after the 30-foot high Nanaia-Nanaiar Char bridge partly collapsed with his motorcycle, said Naser.
Sreepur Uapzila Engineer Abdur Razzak said the local lawmaker usually got the bridge projects approved after locals applied for these based on demand and necessity.
Sreepur Upazila Parishad Chiarman Iqbal Hossain Sabuj said he had applied to the disaster management and relief ministry three times for replacing the Marta-Martar Char bridge with a concrete one, but never got any response.
In this regard, the local lawmaker advocate Rahmat Ali said he would take necessary steps if locals placed the demand, informing him of the due importance of the bridges.