An important road in the district has remained in an awful condition for long due to reckless movement of heavy vehicles carrying sand.
Tengra-Dewandighi-Tarapasha road in Rajnagar Upazila has developed numerous potholes, causing immense sufferings for around 50,000 people living in two upazilas of the district.
Locals said nearly 13 kilometres stretch of the 15-km road has been damaged badly as heavy vehicles carrying sand from nearby Tarapasha balu mahal have long been using the road.
They said people living in Rajnagar and Kamalganj upazilas of the district have been suffering a lot due to lack of repair work for long. Talking to this correspondent, they demanded immediate stopping of sand extraction from Tarapasha balu mahal and repair of the important road.
Tareq, the driver of a sand-carrying truck, said 50-60 heavy vehicles use the road at night. The trucks carry sand to different districts, including Brahmanbaria and Sylhet, from Tarapasha balu mahal. They have nothing to do if the road is damaged for carrying sand, the driver said.
Moulvibazar district administration sources said they will freshly lease out Tarapasha balu mahal of river Manu this year. The government will earn Tk 1.46 crore and VAT-tax from the balu mahal.
in the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) office in the district said they approved tender for repairing 10-km long Dewandighi-Palpur road, a portion of the damaged Tengra-Dewandighi-Tarapasha road, at a cost of around Tk 12 crore.
Locals said the government is earning only Tk 1.5 crore from the balu mahal while it will have to spend around Tk 12 crore on road repair.
Moulvibazar Deputy Commissioner Dr Urmi Binte Salam said the government leases out balu mahal following rules and it cannot be stopped suddenly. Leasing out of the balu mahal is at the final stage and it is also the district administration’s responsibility to check movement of any overloaded truck on the road, the DC added.