Sorry tale of a Barguna road

Hundreds of villagers in Barguna's Taltali upazila have been suffering immensely since an important road at Baro Amkhola village has not been repaired for long.

Protesting the delay in repair work, local people have continued their agitation and even planted paddy seedlings on the muddy road on Saturday to press for their demand.

Villagers said about 2,500 residents of the village use the awfully dilapidated two-kilometre-long road to go to their destinations including the upazila headquarters.

During the monsoon, villagers have to suffer a long as the road turns muddy and becomes completely unusable.

School and college going students, elderly ones and critical patients are the worst sufferers due to the present condition of the road.

Moreover, local farmers have to bear the brunt as most of them cannot take their agricultural products to nearby markets.

One of the villagers Mosharraf Hossain said despite their suffering for long, no initiative has been taken to repair the road.

"We have urged the local chairman and members on several occasions to repair the road, but nothing has been done so far," Mosharraf said.

Finding no other alternative, agitated locals planted paddy seedlings on the muddy road on Saturday to press home their demand, he added.

Aleya Begum, another resident of the village, said the road needs to be renovated immediately to reduce the sufferings of hundreds of villagers.

Mizanur Rahman, assistant teacher at Dr AKM Majumdar Government Primary School, said the school kids have to suffer immensely to reach the institution during the rainy season.   Sonakata Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Yunus Faraji said decision has been taken to repair the unpaved road within the current fiscal year.