All 73 Khagrachhari Bailey Bridges
Declared unfit years ago, still being used amid risk
This bailey bridge in Battali area of Khagrachhari district has become a death trap for the commuters as many of its steel sheets are badly damaged and displaced.Photo: STAR
Vehicular movement on nine inter-district roads in Khagrachhari district has turned risky as almost all the 73 bailey bridges on the roads are in dilapidated condition. Constructed during 1980-1982, the bailey bridges became unfit for use 10-15 years ago but they could not be reconstructed due to lack of fund, said Mohammad Iqbal, executive engineer of Khagrachhari Roads and Highways Department (RHD). Vehicles carrying thousands of people and commodities worth about Tk one crore plying the roads daily have to use the risky bailey bridges, said SM Shafi, general secretary of Khagrachhari Transport Owners Group. "We travel amid life risk as most of the bridges are in awfully bad condition," said Saiful Islam, manager of Khagrachhari branch of Janata Bank, who travels to Chittagong every week to meet his family. Md Jasim, a hardware businessman of district town, said recently he faced loss of Tk 75,000 as a bailey bridge in Manikchhari upazila collapsed with his goods loaded truck. Manik Mia, a fish trader of local market, said the truck drivers now demand extra charges due to the risk in crossing the rundown bridges. "Passing a bridge has become a challenge as frequent accidents leave many people injured and dead every year," said Amar Chakma, a bus driver of Khagrachhari-Chittagong road. "On several occasions, the traffic remained suspended for long hours due to displacement or breaking of the steel sheets of the bridges but instead of reconstructing those, the authorities only do some repair work. And they return to the previous condition after a few days," he added. Asked about the matter, Abdur Rashid, executive engineer of Khagrachhari RHD, said project proposal for construction of girder bridges in place of the bailey bridges was sent to higher authorities several times but no fund has been allocated yet. Civil society leaders and public representatives including Khagrachhari Sadar upazila Chairman Sana Alam and Khagrachhari municipality Mayor Rafiqul Alam have urged the authorities to take necessary steps immediately to reconstruct the unusable bailey bridges to mitigate the sufferings of people and avert casualties.
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