Jhenaidah Correspondent
Prime Minister’s Political Assistant Rashed Khan has ordered the cancellation of the licence of the contractor responsible for a road in Jhenaidah Municipality where the bitumen reportedly came off within 24 hours of completion. dover, the bitumen and stone chips on the surface reportedly started coming off even with foot pressure. Local residents alleged that low-quality bricks, sand and bitumen were used in the reconstruction, which was carried out after nearly 18 years. They also alleged that the road was constructed with a thickness of only 17 centimetres instead of the stipulated 25 centimetres. They further alleged that the World Bank PD and Jhenaidah Municipality engineer Rashed Ali Khan assisted the contractor in carrying out the substandard work. Local residents welcomed Rashed Khan’s inspection and assurance of action against the contractor. They demanded that those responsible be held accountable and that a durable, quality road be constructed as soon as possible. Rashed Khan inspected the onekilometre road from Sadhupatiram School to Bharuapara intersection in Ward No. 4 of the municipal area on Friday morning. Expressing anger over the alleged irregularities, he ordered legal action against the contractor and cancellation of the firm’s licence. During the inspection, Rashed Khan spoke to local residents and expressed dissatisfaction at the condition of the road. He told municipal authorities and engineers present that such misuse of public money in the name of development work would not be tolerated. He also ordered that the road be reconstructed properly. According to the engineering department of Jhenaidah Municipality, the road was constructed at a cost of around Tk 43 lakh against an estimated Tk 60 lakh under joint funding from the World Bank and Jhenaidah Municipality. Anukul Chandra Biswas, owner of Anik Enterprise on KP Basu Road in Jhenaidah town, is the contractor. Construction of the one-kilometre road began on September 1 and was completed on September 22. However, just one day after its hanConfirming the site visit on Friday afternoon, Jhenaidah Municipality engineer Rashed Ali Khan said Rashed Khan had inspected the road and instructed the authorities to take action against the contractor and others involved in the work.#SAS
