The construction of Khotkhotia-Chabbish Hazari road under Rangpur City Corporation is still incomplete five years after it was dug up for making it a pucca road.
The 1.5 kilometre road is the sole passage for over 5,000 people of those two villages. It is also a shortcut for Bahadur Singh, Habu and Kobaru villagers.
Ward no 6 Councillor Monowarul Islam said that the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) authorities have been contacted many times regarding the matter. But they have been ignoring the problem for the last five years.
A source at the LGED Rangpur office said that the tender for the reconstruction of the 1.5 kilometre mud road was sent on June 2014. A contractor named Kamruzzaman was paid 78 lakhs for the project. The road was the dug up for the reconstruction which was due to be completed by June 2015. But due to the delay by the contractor, the deadline for the project passed.
When contacted, contractor Kamruzzaman said, ‘the price of bricks was very high and that’s why I couldn’t finish the project on time. Later the project was cancelled and I had to suffer a lot because of that.’
Upon inspection, it was found that the whole road was dug up. There were piles of dirt scattered all over as well as water-logged holes.
Accoridng to locals, because of the state of the road, they have to take a 3 km round-about to reach their destination. However, the same journey only took 15 to 20 minutes before the construction work started.
Khotkhotia resident schoolteacher Abdul Mannan said that it’s unthinkable that a town road is being neglected like this.
Chabbish Hazari resident Gautam Roy said that even a little rain causes the road to become waterlogged. Often pedestrians slip on the muddy road when it rains.
Recently transferred executive engineer from LGED Rangpur office said that the contractor in charge of the project has been fined. The road work is due to begin again under the Rangpur division administration.