A much-used Sylhet road remains in pitiable state
A large number of vehicles including stone-laden trucks regularly ply the badly damaged Sylhet-Companiganj-Bholaganj road that turns virtually unusable during the rains. The photo was taken from Bholaganj upazila portion of the road a few days ago.Photo: STAR
The Tk 198-crore project of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) for repairing and upgrading badly damaged Sylhet-Companiganj-Bholaganj road into a regional highway has been waiting approval from the planning ministry for the last nine months. In view of the rising importance of the road, mainly used for transporting stones from the country's biggest stone quarries in Bholaganj upazila and adjoining areas, the RHD prepared the project and sent it to the planning ministry in December last year. In addition to the regular traffic, several hundred trucks and pickups ply the road daily for transporting stones across the country but it has remained uncared for as the matter is pending with the planning ministry while the RHD had dropped it from the list of district roads, sources said. Vehicular movement on the road saw a big rise in recent years with increased activities at Bholaganj land customs station, Bholaganj stone quarry, Uthma stone quarry and Shah Arfin stone quarry on the bordering areas of Sylhet district. Besides, about 500 stone crushing plants have been established on the road. But a number of potholes and cracks have developed on the road and the small culverts have turned risky for loaded trucks. During the rains the road becomes almost unusable. To avoid a badly damaged portion of the road, the locals are now using an alternative dirt road from Kaladsadek border outpost to Bholaganj. "We cannot proceed much as things have remained hanging in the balance. Following approval from the communications ministry the project was sent to the planning ministry. We would be able to start the work upon approval from there," the superintending engineer of the RHD, Sylhet region-Shah Mohammad Musa told this correspondent yesterday. "There has been no major repair on the 37-kilometre road since 2006. The busy road has to bear mainly the load of stone-laden trucks. Often accidents occur on the narrow road that cannot cope with the rush of vehicles, especially trucks. As per the project, it would be made a 24-feet wide road in place of the existing 18-feet one," he said. Locals staged demonstration at the upazila headquarters and in the district town and handed over memorandums to the authorities for improvement of the busy road months ago. "We have been demanding widening of the important road and reconstructing the small culverts on it. But the authorities concerned seem careless despite occurrence of a number of accidents on the road in recent years," said Taiyebur Rahman, chairman of Companiganj upazila parishad.
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