There have been repeated complaints of irregularities in repair work of a road in Ulipurupazila of Kurigram district.
In the beginning, there were complaints of repairing the road with substandard materials. News about this was published in various media. Later, the locals complained that the work of the road started again with low-quality brick chips.
The amount of sand that was supposed to be used in the road subbase with brick chips was not done at all. There are allegations that clay was used instead of sand.
Locals complained that there was supposed to be a layer of three-inch brick chips on the road, but it was not followed properly. Although there is supposed to be 90 percent brick chips and 10 percent sand, no sand was found on the surface. As 40 percent clay is used in the mixture, high and low waves are created on the road due to the movement of different vehicles. Number two bricks are used in edging while some of the bricks have already been destroyed.
Apart from this, there have been complaints of widespread irregularities in the construction of guide walls. Half metre 15 inches and half metre 10 inches were supposed to be built in one metre guide wall but it was not followed. Besides, low-quality rods were used in the construction of the guide walls.
Sources said through the Flood Damaged Rural Infrastructure Road Rehabilitation Project, renovation work from Ulipur Municipality Boundary Pillar (Munsipara) to Bagua Anantapur GC Road under Hatia Union started in March this year. A contractor named ROB-RC-HT-JV of Kurigram got the responsibility of the work. The cost of renovation of 6,645 meters of road is estimated at Tk 5.5 crore. But at the beginning of the work, there were allegations of various irregularities against the contractor.
Some local people said that at the beginning of the work, the contractor's people worked on the road with clay instead of sand. Now again they are making roads using terracotta like bricks instead of good quality bricks. The people of the area protested but they did not obey. “We do not know when people from government offices come and go,” said a local wishing not to be named.
In this regard, Abdul Hamid, the contractor, admitted the complaint and said this has happened in some places due to the previous bricks in the edging on both sides.
UlipurUpazila Engineer Pradeep Kumar said the contractor has been asked to repair such defects.
Executive Engineer of Kurigram LGED Md Masuduzzaman said now only the carpeting of the road is left. Necessary action will be takenregarding the complaint after lab test, he said.
