Manikganj Correspondent: There have been complaints of widespread irregularities in the ongoing work on several roads in the upazila under the jurisdiction of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). In the name of road renovation, low-quality materials, including bricks and mortar, are being used. Not working according to the rules. Instead of sand and earth, poor-quality old brick culverts and their leftover dust are being worked on. Locals complain that due to the negligence and nepotism of the upazila and district LGED officials in supervising the road works, the contractor is continuing to work like this. This defeats the purpose of the government.
It is reported that the construction of three kilometers of road is going on up to Jamirtta-Bakchar farm on the south side of Dhalla police station at a cost of about 2 crore rupees. Abu Saeed Khan, the owner of the contracting firm named M/s Nirman Engineer, is implementing the work. Complaints of the local residents: the way the work is going on, soon the carpeting will come up and the road will be broken, creating ditches and making it impassable.
This irregularity continues outside the schedule in front of Enamul Haque, working assistant of the LGED office. There is a lot of anger from the locals about the poor quality of the bricks. Ashraf Hossain of Binnadangi said that work is being done with very low-quality bricks and mortar. Everything is out of order. The road is not as thick as it should be. Moreover, although silicate sand is supposed to be given to the work, it is not being used. UP member Abbas Uddin said that despite banning the use of low-quality bricks, nothing has been done, but the work is being done with those bricks. UP Chairman Abul Hossain Molla said, “I have heard that low-quality bricks are being used for road work. In any case, it will not be allowed.
A similar situation prevails in the paving work from Golaidanga to Bara Kaliakair Bazar under that contractor. Abdul Malek of the LGED office is taking care of this five-kilometer road with an allocation of Tk 3 crore. He is a surveyor. People’s questions are also about making him a supervisory officer. However, although he is a surveyor, he identifies himself as a sub-assistant engineer. Besides, his designation is written as Assistant Engineer on the scheme information board.
A local person said that the poor quality of brick and terra cotta was used to make it difficult for the locals, but later the same was done in defiance of the barrier. Meanwhile, there are complaints of irregularities in the work on the Sahrail-Maniknagar road. After being closed for a long time, the work is still going on, but it is very slow. As a result, passengers have suffered a lot. Sonar Bangla Construction is the contractor for the work, worth about 13 crore rupees. Deputy Assistant Engineer Mahbubur Rahman is in charge of this road. He denied the allegations of substandard work.
Upazila Engineer Md. Ismail Hossain said that there were irregularities in Jamirta road work at first, but after he learned about them, it was being done within the rules. Apart from this, the contractor was also chastised due to irregularities in the Golaidanga-Kaliakoir road. Inferior-quality bricks have also been returned. Since then, it has been working properly. The work on the Sahrail-Maniknagar road is also getting better. Besides, he claimed that the contractor mistakenly mistook surveyor Malek for a sub-assistant engineer and was writing the scheme information on the board. However, the surveyor has the right to supervise the work.
