Locals suffer due to abandoned bride in Balaganj
S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
The 40 percent bill removed for the 8 crore taka bridge under construction on the Betrikul River in Bangla Bazar of Paschim Gauripur Union of Balaganj upazila of Sylhet has been removed. The locals are suffering immensely as it has been abandoned for more than two years. Despite repeated reports from the villagers, no one has taken any action.
On the other hand, the villagers have alleged that the bridge was constructed in an unplanned manner, ignoring the opinions or suggestions of the locals, and that poor quality construction materials were used in the construction of this bridge.
According to the Upazila Engineer, the construction of this bridge of LGED on the Bethori River on the Banglabazar to Danaram Road in West Gouripur Union of the Upazila was done by a contractor named Dhrub Mosharraf (JB) of Sherpur district through a tender of 7 crore 78 lakh 20 thousand 249 taka on 25.10.2021.
Although the work was supposed to be completed by 30.08.2024, after managing the work and getting the work done, the contractor stopped the construction work by withdrawing about 40 percent of the allocated money at different times.
He stopped the work at different times on the pretext of water coming during the monsoon. Then, when the dry season ended and the rainy season came again, the contractor started some work and left it, and went missing.
Once the construction work of the bridge is completed, communication between Bangla Bazar and several neighboring villages like Tegharia, Lohamura, Atasan-Danaram, Mollapara, etc. will be easier. During the monsoon season, students of those villages use boats and bridges to go to school. This is causing them immense suffering.
Residents of Bangla Bazar, Habibur Rahman Anu, Abdus Samad, Mushahid Sikder, Anjan Das, Subendra Das, Sadik Mia, Pranesh Das said that the bridge is the only means of transportation in our area. We have to travel by bridge during the dry season and by boat during the rainy season.