Important Tangail roads in awfully bad condition
Large potholes and rugged surface make it a tough task for vehicles to ply around eight kilometres of Sakhipur-Seed Store Road from Sakhipur upazila headquarters of Tangail to Batajore Bazar in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh. The picture was taken from Boder Bazar a couple of days ago. Photo: STAR
A few important roads connecting Sakhipur upazila with Tangail district headquarters, capital Dhaka, and Mymensingh are in very bad conditions, much to the distress of commuters. Often vehicular movements are suspended and long tailbacks created as vehicles get stuck, sometimes even badly damaged, due to fall in potholes. The eight kilometres of Sakhipur-Seed Store Road was constructed to make the road communication from Sakhipur to Mymensingh and Dhaka easier. But numerous potholes, including two big ones near Sakhipur upazila parishad and Bodar Bazar, developed on the road from Sakhipur upazila headquarters to Batajore Bazar in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh. "Vehicles are damaged and sometimes accidents occur as they ply the potholed roads," said truck driver Mohammad Russel. Conditions of all other roads from the upazila headquarters are also bad, said Mostafizur Rahman of Kirtankhola village. The 45-kilometre Sakhipur-Garo Bazar-Kakraid road is very important as people of several upazilas of Tangail and adjacent Mymensing and Jamalpur districts go to Dhaka through the road via Sakhipur. Different agricultural products including pineapple, jackfruit, mango, banana, turmeric, bamboo and timber produced by local farmers are sent to different districts including Dhaka through the road. But several big potholes at Soukhin More, Kachua Bazar, Boro Chowna Bazar and Sagardighi Bazar areas make vehicular movement on the road difficult, locals said. The direct road communications to Dhaka and Tangail from Garo Bazar, Kakraid and Sakhipur remained suspended for over two weeks in last month due to the awfully bad condition of the road, sources added. Asked about the bad shape of Sakhipur-Garo Bazar-Kakraid Road, Abdul Gafur, upazila engineer in Sakhipur, said, "A project to repair the road has already been made and sent to the departments concerned." Abdul Alim, general secretary of Kachua Bonik Samity (traders' association), said a big pothole at Kachua Bazar causes difficulty to vehicular movement on Sakhipur-Garo Bazar road. Many people received injuries while crossing the pothole at Shoukhin More on three-wheelers, motorcycles and bicycles, said Haji Motaleb Miah, a shopkeeper at Shoukhin More under Sakhipur municipality. The condition of two kilometre portion of Sakhipur-Gorai road from Taltala to Grameen Bank point is so bad that it looks like a narrow water body after a moderate rainfall. Although heavy vehicles like passenger buses and goods-laden trucks ply the road amid serious risk, small vehicles like bicycles, motorcycles and three-wheelers cannot ply the road due to stagnant water and mud, locals said. Meanwhile, contractor firm SS Engineering got a Tk 5 crore 43 lakh work order for construction of the two kilometres of Sakhipur-Gorai road and started the work about five months ago. But they have kept the works suspended for the last two months. Nurunnabi Tarafdar, sub-divisional engineer of Roads and Highways Department in Mirzapur, said, "The road repair work has been kept suspended due to rain. It will resume after end of the rainy season.”
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