Bagerhat Correspondent :
Frequent accidents are occurring due to large potholes on both sides of a heavily used culvert in Chitalmari Upazila of Bagerhat district. The culvert is located over the dead Chitra canal between Surshail and Durgapur villages (adjacent to a local monastery), on the border of Upazila Sadar and Charbaniari Union.
On Sunday, June 22, around 11 a.m., a water tanker overturned while attempting to cross the culvert. The driver was seriously injured in the incident. The tanker’s owner, Shaheen Sheikh, said that minor accidents happen almost daily at the site.
According to local residents and on-site observations, the culvert was constructed in the 2016-17 fiscal year by the Disaster Management Department at a cost of Tk 23.4 lakh. The contractor responsible was Md. Ziaul Haque from Gopalganj. Over time, the soil on both ends of the culvert has eroded, forming hazardous holes and depressions in the road surface-leading to regular accidents.
Local van driver Azim Sheikh said, “We tried to fix it ourselves by putting some sand in the holes.”
Engineer Md. Saddam Hossain from the Upazila LGED office clarified that the culvert falls under the jurisdiction of the Upazila Project Implementation Department. In response, Upazila Project Implementation Officer Saida Dilruba Sultana stated, “I am currently investigating the matter.”
