Haider Ali, Panchagarh:
Residents of Bashbari in the Magura Union of Sadar Upazila are facing severe hardship as the development work on a 1-kilometre road has been halted for a long time. After laying brick chips (concrete) on the road, no further progress was made.
As a result, school and college students, the elderly, pregnant women, and sick individuals are struggling to travel, while local farmers face difficulties transporting agricultural products.
During an on-site visit, van driver Nazmul (40) said, “It’s extremely difficult to travel on this road. When passengers get on, they pay the previous fare; no one wants to pay extra. If the road were paved, it would be easier to journey.”
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Shahin (40), a young man from Uttar Pradhan Para village, said, “Around four to five thousand people use this road daily. It has been in this condition for the last four to five years. The road is completely unusable.”
Shimu (22), a woman from Magura Bashbari village, said, “Vehicles don’t want to come to our area because of this road. We are having a hard time commuting. We urge the concerned authorities to pave this road as soon as possible.”
Local residents have complained that about 4-5 years ago, the contractor laid concrete on the road but didn’t complete the work, leaving them to suffer while using the road.
Mofiz Uddin, an elderly man from Bashbari village, said, “I have to travel on this road all the time. It’s impossible to ride a bicycle at night; I have to walk with it. Because the road is in such bad condition, many people use a longer alternative route.”
According to the Panchagarh Sadar office of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the contractor halted the work due to rising material costs.
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Krishna Chandra Roy, Assistant Engineer at LGED, Panchagarh Sadar, said that in 2021, a budget of BDT 61,42,553 was allocated for the development of the 1-kilometre road (ch. 00-1000 meters) from Panchagarh-Atoari Road to the Uttar Pradhan Para High School via Bashbari and Bakultala Government Primary School.
He said that the contractor, Kamrul Hasan of K Hasan Enterprise, was awarded the contract. The work started on November 11, 2018, and was supposed to be completed by November 4, 2019. Despite two times extensions, the contractor has not finished the work.
Attempts to contact Kamrul Hasan for speaking about this as he did not receive his phone.
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Md. Mahmud Zaman, Executive Engineer at LGED, Panchagarh, stated that the contractor’s work order has recently been canceled.
A letter has been sent to the project director seeking approval to re-tender the remaining work. A new contractor will be selected to complete the project.
