A steel-made bridge over a swamp, locally known as beel, in Kadma area of Bogra’s Adamdighi upazila has posed a death trap to thousands of people, but authorities are blind to repairing it.
The bridge measuring 61 metres caused such a threat as it was constructed with sub-standard materials and not maintained properly.
Among worst sufferers of this messy bridge are children, elderly people and young students who have to cross the bridge frequently risking their lives.
“I have to cross the broken bridge two times daily while going to Haji Tasher Mahila college in Adamdighi,” a Marufa Khatun, a 19-year-old college student, told FE.
For a smoother communication system in the area, she called on the authorities concerned to take up steps immediately.
The Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED), which constructed the bridge as a connector between Kadma and Adamdighi in 2006, said they are not responsible for this.
LGED’s Upazila Engineer Abdul Matin said the roads and highways department (RHD) has recently taken responsibility of the bridge.
He, however, said that his department had informed the higher authorities of the bridge’s derelict condition several times in the past.
But all those efforts proved to be futile, he observed.
Fund scarcity, according to him, might have led to such inaction.
When asked, sources in the RHD department also hinted at cash crunch as apparent reason behind.
Once the fund is available, we’ll be able to fix the problem, they said.
