Despite having enough money in the fund, due to non-acquisition of land, the road development work of two projects worth Tk 1,400 crore has stalled in Kishoreganj. The project has already been extended by one more year after meeting the deadline. The extended period is also about to end. But still 60 percent work is left. Therefore, the local residents have expressed their apprehension about the completion of the work in an extended period.
On the other hand, thousands of small and big vehicles are running on the roads of these two projects every day with risk. There is no limit to the public suffering as the construction stops. All in all, the suffering of lakhs of people on these two under-construction roads has reached an extreme level.
It is known that in March 2020, widening of the 20 km road from Kishoreganj via Karimganj to Chamraghat and the construction of a new 7 km link road from Chaina to Chawdashata Bazar started. 703 crores have been allotted in this.
On the other hand, in the same year, widening of the road from Kishoreganj via Pakundia to Mirzapur to Tok and the construction of a new link road of 24 km length started. 706 crores were allocated for it. Kishoreganj Road and Public Path Engineering Directorate is responsible for the implementation and supervision of the two projects.
It has been found that the contractor has almost completed the work of widening the road in the area of about 10 kilometers acquired earlier on the Kishoreganj-Karimganj-Chamraghat road. At times on the road, work remains to be done at various places. However, the work of the remaining 10 km up to Karimganj-Chamraghat is stuck due to non-acquisition of land.
On the other hand, in the new seven-km link road from Chaina to Chawdashashat Bazar, only about one kilometer of some soil has been dumped. In the remaining six kilometers, not even a spade of soil was removed. Landlords do not allow work on their land without compensation.
Apart from this, partial work on the road from Kishoreganj to Pakundia to Mirzapur to Tok is underway, but the land acquisition work is still pending.
Pedestrians and victims said that accidents are often happening on the bumpy road due to the incompleteness of the project. People are suffering a lot while traveling through these roads. When it rains, water accumulates and the suffering reaches its peak. The road becomes a death trap when an urgent patient is to be transported for better treatment.
Local residents say that the vehicles are moving slowly due to the bad condition of the road. On rainy days, water accumulates in many places. A sea of dust has to be crossed during drying. Many times, traffic jams are caused by cars getting stuck in potholes.
Vehicle drivers say that accidents happen frequently on this dangerous road. Accidents occur due to the falling of pebbles on the broken roads and the wheels of motorcycles skidding.
Some landowners claim that they will not leave the land unless they get the compensation money. Because, they have bitter past experience with these.
Mizan, Project Manager of Taher Brothers Limited, the contractor of Kishoreganj-Karimganj-Chamraghat and Chaiana-Chawdashata projects said, “We could not complete the work within the specified period due to the complexity of land acquisition. The work should have started after the acquisition of land.
Kamal Pasha, Project Manager of Kishoreganj-Pakundia-Mirzapur-Tok project contractor National Development Engineers Limited said, "If there is no acquisition, no one else will be able to work in place of one person. Project work is being delayed due to non-completion of acquisition work.
Kishoreganj Road and Highway Department Executive Engineer Ritesh Barua said that there is no problem of money in the project fund. The tenure has been extended by one year. Efforts are made to complete the work on time.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Mohammad Nuruzzaman said, the main work of acquisition has progressed a lot. The entire process will be completed in a few days.