The Crime Desk: Lakhs of people are complaining about the suffering of two projects on both sides of Anwara. Bakkhain’s sluicegate is creating a barrier to livelihood, while the narrowing of the Sapmara Canal in the tunnel township has become a matter of life and death. The monsoon actually increases this suffering several times. In such a situation, the newly elected chairman asked for a priority solution for the two projects in the coordination meeting of the Zilla Parishad.
Upazila Chairman Kazi Mozammel Haque attended the coordination meeting last week and drew the attention of the District Commissioner about the two projects discussed in the upazila. Kazi Mozammel Haque said that the local residents have been complaining for a long time about a bridge over the Sapmara canal. Sanko on canals is highly inconsistent in areas that boast projects like the Bangabandhu Tunnel. Similarly, the sluice gate of the Bakkhain canal is broken, and people are suffering. The Deputy Commissioner was assured about these two projects.
Chittagong Deputy Commissioner Abul Basar Mohammad Fakhruzzaman requested the senior officials of the Roads and Highways Department and Water Resources Department present in the meeting to take the necessary steps regarding these two projects.
It is known that this Sapmara Sankoti is the main means of transportation for 50 thousand people in Juidandi and Raipur Union. Also, hundreds of students from Raipur go to JKS High School and Anwar Uloom Dakhil Madrasa in Juidandi for their studies. At various times, Sankoti has become vulnerable due to heavy traffic and cyclones. Later, the Sankoti was repaired at the initiative of the locals. But the condition of Sanko becomes fragile due to continuous monsoon rains, tide water, and flood water. It has become dangerous for women, children, old people, and students to cross the road. So the locals are worried during the current monsoon. At various times, students and pedestrians have also been injured by falling from the scaffolding.
On the other hand, as the sluice gate of Bakkhain has collapsed, cultivation cannot be done over a wide area. For more than 3 years, half a lakh people from 5 villages, including Kayagarh, Baghkhain, and Chatri Union of the Upazila, have been suffering from this.
Apart from monsoons, large areas of Kyagarh, Ichamati, Sinhara, and Chatri villages are flooded by tidal water every new moon and full moon. Besides, two hundred families of Mollapara have been separated from the upazila headquarters for the last three years. Elderly, pregnant women, and children in the area have to travel with great difficulty. Students are traveling to school and college at extreme risk.
