Road to unity

This 1.5-kilometre earthen road is being funded and constructed by locals seeking to connect Dogair in Demra with Signboard and bring an end to the hours of wading through knee-to-waist deep waters, especially during the monsoons. The photo was taken recently. Photo: Firoz Ahmed

The idea of having to literally swim just to get to school might seem like a practice of remote, rugged areas. But right in present day Dhaka, it is an everyday routine during the monsoons for Md Asif and most of his schoolmates, who carry an extra dress for the purpose.

This was the scenario for only one section of the muddy route between Dogair in Demra and Signboard, approximately 1.5 kilometres in length, for long, thanks to the apparent obliviousness of the authorities concerned.

The need for a proper road and to bring an end to suffering of thousands who daily have to wade through knee-to-waist deep waters at other sections along the route has now brought together thousands of one community.

With donations amounting to around Tk 3 lakh collected under Dogair Dokkhin Pashchim Para Adarsha Samaj Unnayan Sangsad in the last two weeks, they have been using earth to raise the route by around five feet while maintaining a width of around 20 to 24 feet.

“We, around 100 people, collected funds and started constructing the road getting a positive nod from local representatives including the lawmaker and Sarulia union chairman and members,” said the sangsad Vice-President Mohammad Ullah.

Around 1 lakh people of Demra, Matuail, Sarulia, Dogair and Demra Staff Quarter will benefit, predicts the treasurer, Belal Hossain.

A half-a-kilometre road already connects Dogair to Basherpool on the Dhaka-Demra highway, said the sangsad general secretary Nurul Alam Chowdhuri.

Another 2.5-kilometre road connects Dogair to Demra Staff Quarter, from where another leads to Rampura. It was constructed by the government in 2007 but the current under-construction one could not be made then for lack of funds, said Sarulia Union Chairman Mohammad Shahidul Islam.

He terms the under-construction road vital in linking Rampura and Narayanganj.

It will also ease movement to Jatrabari and Kanchpur, said Belal, reducing time to reach the Jatrabari-Kanchpur road or Signboard-Narayanganj link road.

However, Shahidul said he has urged the locals to continue dumping earth so that a layer of asphalt can be laid on the road from Demra Staff Quarter to Signboard via Dogair next year, when he hopes the LGRD ministry will approve a project proposed last year in this regard.