Tabarak, Lakhimpur Correspondent:During the Eid holidays, people from various places including Dhaka-Chittagong have started coming to their village homes in Raipur, Lakshmipur. But the suffering of transport drivers started as soon as they entered the Raipur-Panpara road. In February 2022, the 6-kilometer road between Raipur-Panpara was renovated at a cost of 9.17 crore taka. Four days after the work was completed (February 27), the pitch came off in some parts of the important regional road. Alleging that low-quality materials were used, the locals had removed the pitch from the road by hand.
A three-kilometer stretch of the road was inspected on Monday (June 2) and it was found that the carpeting in many places was coming off along with the wheels of vehicles as they were moving, creating large potholes.
In the last five months, after three years, large potholes have appeared on the road in several places, including in front of Raipur Government College, Government Primary School, BRAC office, Jorpul, Nayarhat, Wazuddin’s Pool and Panpara three-way intersection. Accidents are happening constantly.
In addition, the municipality’s T&T Road, Women’s College Road, TC Road, and 9 wards, as well as the city traffic intersection on the Raipur-Hyderganj Road to the Model Mosque, Gazinagar Road, and Rustam Ali College Road, are in very bad condition.
Locals have alleged that the asphalt covering (carpeting) of some parts of the road was removed within four days of the completion of the work due to the use of low-quality materials for road renovation. This situation has arisen due to the use of low-quality materials including stones and bitumen in the renovation work. Large potholes have been created over the past 4-5 months.
According to the rules, the road was supposed to be cleaned with a compressor machine and primed with pitch, but the unscrupulous Awami League contractor did not do so. The contractors carpeted the road on top of tree leaves and dirt.
In early 2022, the renovation of the pothole-filled six-kilometer Raipur-Panpara road was approved under the Rural Road and Bridge-Culvert Repair GOB Maintenance Project under the supervision of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).
According to the Raipur office of LGED, “The road is very important. The contractor companies Messrs. Tama Enterprise and MA Engineering did the work through a tender after being included in the RCIP project from the LGED Ministry. 9.17 crores have been allocated for the 6-kilometer road. Since the work could not be started on time, the two contracting companies completed the work at the last minute using low-quality materials.
When contacted, Abu Taher, the contractor for the Raipur-Panpara road, and Bhulu Chairman, they were not receiving calls.
Raipur Upazila LGED Engineer Suman Munshi said, “The important road will not be repaired without a big budget. The road has also been damaged due to continuous rains for the last 7-8 days. We will inspect the land and talk to the higher authorities and take immediate action.”
