Cox’s Bazar Correspondent: 10,000 people of some villages are suffering indescribable hardships due to extreme negligence of the contractor in the cupping work of Ukhiyarghona Tilapara-Saudagar Para road of Kawarkhop Union of Ramu Upazila of Cox’s Bazar. After the excavation of one kilometer road, the vehicular movement has also come to a standstill as the renovation work has stopped for a month. Because of this, walking on that road has become difficult. If it rains a little, the dug road gets knee-deep in water. As a result, thousands of people from nearby villages, school-college, madrasa village students are also facing difficulties in movement.
Shamsul Alam, chairman of Kawarkhop Union Parishad, said that the renovation of the road is closed. There are potholes all over the road. A little rain causes water to freeze. The car is not running. Human suffering is beyond measure. He also said that a year ago, the contractor Shahjahan, a resident of Ukhia Upazila, was given the responsibility for the renovation of the road. After that the entire dry season passed but he did not start work. Even the contractor could not be found to deliver the work. Later, the Upazila Engineering Directorate canceled the tender for this work and sent a letter to the contractor. Later, the contractor lobbied the district LGED office and started work in the current monsoon season. The contractor asked him (Chairman) to go when the work started, but he did not go because it was full monsoon season.
Local residents Saiful Islam and Sarwar Alam said that the carpeting work of one kilometer road started from Ukhiyarghona Tilapara of Kawarkhop Union to Saudagar Para a few months ago. At the beginning of the renovation work, the road was excavated by removing the old bricks and soil. At some places, piles of construction materials are kept beside the road. But a month after the start of the work, the concerned contractor stopped the work due to mysterious reasons and public grievances started. All traffic was stopped on the road.
Ukhiyarghona Saimum Sarwar Kamal High School assistant teacher Mizanur Rahman said that the work of this one kilometer road of Ukhiyarghona road started recently with the sole efforts of MP Saimum Sarwar Kamal. The concerned contractor started work a few months back. After working for a few months, he suddenly stopped working a month and a half ago. Now vehicles cannot ply on this road. People are also suffering from unrestricted traffic. Hundreds of students coming to school are suffering from extreme hardships. Even a little rain turns several parts of the road into puddles. Apart from this, students from faraway places have stopped coming to school due to traffic stoppage. Therefore, the speedy completion of the road renovation work has now become a public demand of the local residents. For this, he sought the attention of the concerned authorities including members of parliament, upazila administration.
Some students of Ukhiyarghona Saimum Sarwar Kamal High School said that the road has been closed for more than a month. The car is not running. So far away students have stopped coming to school. When it rains, the road gets knee-deep in water. Therefore, if it rains, even the students near the school cannot come.
Meanwhile, hundreds of autorickshaw, easybike (TomTom) drivers plying on the road have become jobless due to traffic stoppage. Because of this, several autorickshaw and TomTom drivers said that they are struggling to make a living.
Ramu Upazila Local Government Engineering Directorate (LGED) engineer Manjur Hasan Bhuiyan said – In the beginning, some brick kiln owners blocked the work. Due to this, the work was not done on time. First of all, if the brick piles were thrown on the road, it would be possible for vehicles to move. Now the sand and rain water has turned the road into mud. As the duration of the work was not long, the contractor was given a deadline to complete the work within monsoon. However, he said that he will immediately visit the site and take necessary measures in this regard.
The contractor said in this regard. Although several calls were made to Shahjahan’s mobile phone, it was not possible to take his statement as he did not receive the calls.
