Munayem Khan, Netrakona
Thousands of people from 10 villages in Khaliajuri upazila of the district have been suffering for the past five years due to a bridge. Locals said the bridge was built in 2001. After using the bridge for 20 years, the suffering increased when the bridge completely collapsed five years ago. However, when contacted by the Local Government Engineering Department, they were unable to provide the name of the contractor, the estimated cost, the name of the contractor, and the start and end dates of the bridge. It is also not known whether the bridge will be built anew. Upon visiting the site, it can be seen that the bridge was built over the Nihari Canal flowing over Chakua village in Chakua Union of the upazila. The bridge on both sides of the village collapsed about five years ago. Since the bridge collapsed, locals were using banana and betel trees to cross the bridge. During the rainy season, the crossing is done by boat. Local farmer Majnu Mia said that when we plant Boro crops and cut and bring home ripe rice, we have to travel several kilometers to get home. Thousands of people from 10 villages including Chakua, Lipsa, Rangchapur, Shaldigha, Patra, Makimpur, Dautpur, Bhalli, Patua and Arakandi are commuting over this bridge. Moyna Rani, a primary school student in Chakua village, said that the collapse of this bridge has made it very difficult for us to travel to school. We get very scared when crossing the canal by boat. A few days ago, a friend of ours fell off the boat and was injured. Ajay Chandra, a resident of Chakua village, said, “Thousands of people from 10 villages around us are suffering immensely because of this bridge. After the bridge collapsed, we collected money and somehow managed to cross under the bridge using betel and banana trees.” But since that too has been broken for two months, I have been commuting to school using an alternative route of several kilometers other than the boat. Monir Mia of the area said that the bridge over the Nihari Canal has been collapsed for a long time. I informed the chairman, UNO and everyone concerned about the matter 5 years ago. But no one is worried about the issue. The locals have sought cooperation from the current interim government to build the bridge to facilitate the movement of people in 10 villages by facilitating the schools, community medical centers and agricultural crops in the area. And they demanded that corrupt contractors be brought to justice. Md. Rabiul Islam, executive engineer of the Netrokona Local Government Engineering Department, said, “I don’t know anything about the bridge. You can go and see it on the ground and tell me.”