Business suffers as road in sorry state

The five and a half kilometre road from the district headquarters to Mahendranagar-Borobari has been in awful condition for the last 10 months, severely hampering transportation of goods to and from the district and other parts of the country.

Mehndranagar-Borobari and Mahendranagar-Mostafi roads connect the district headquarters and four other upazilas of the district. Mahendranagar-Mostafi road is not in use as it has been under repair by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) for the last seven months. Mahendranagar-Borobri road is open, but it is in awful condition, and so is the Kulaghat-Borobari link road.

Truck driver Noor Islam, 45, said they do not dare to drive on the Mahendranagar-Borobari road as there is a risk of going off the the road.

Ramkanta Roy, 42, another truck driver, said they take the risk of driving on the road if they get higher fare from the businessmen, adding that the fare has increased by Tk 3,000 to Tk 6,000 per trip due to the risk of accident on the horrible road.

Truck owner Lal Miah said he allows his drivers to go on the awful road if he gets higher fare.

Shariful Islam, a businessman of the town, said they are paying additional cost for transporting their goods as there is no alternative road, which is causing losses for them.

President of Lalmonirhat Chamber of Commerce and Industries Sheikh Abdul Hamid said many businessmen have stopped transporting goods to and from the district town due to the awful road. This situation is affecting them badly as their business is dependent on transport.

Estimator of Roads and Highway Department in Lalmonirhat Shahidul Islam said they have been allocated Tk 12 crores for repairing 12 km of roads, including Mahendranagar-Borobari road. Repair work will start after processing of the tender, he added.