Four years ago, a concrete bridge collapsed in Manikganj’s Harirampur Upazila. And yet, local residents have been unable to get another built in its place.
Villagers from Babupur have, instead, constructed a makeshift bamboo bridge, which can only be used by pedestrians to try and ease the suffering of students on their way to distant schools, farmers looking to transport their produce, and for the pregnant women of five nearby villages. But the situation is causing great difficulty for those living nearby.
The bamboo bridge, located about a 100-metre away from the Diyabari Market in the upazila, did not seem strong enough to allow even a bicycle to pass, this reporter found during a visit to the area.
Locals say the bamboo bridge usually doesn’t last very long and they have to put up a new one every year or so, reports bdnews24.com.
The previous concrete bridge was 26-feet-long and was built in the 2012-13 fiscal year under the bridge and culvert construction programme of the Bangladesh government’s Department of Disaster Management, said Md Manikuzzaman, the project implementation officer in the upazila.
It collapsed during a flood in 2017, Manikuzzaman said, adding that they have sent a proposal to the relevant government agency for the construction of a new 50-foot bridge in place of the broken one and the construction will begin once it is approved.
“Locals built a bamboo bridge and have been using it at their own risk, but bicycles, motorcycles, and rickshaw vans cannot use it. The villagers are having trouble transporting goods,” said Md Mohiuddin, a teacher of Azimnagar Government Primary School in Babupur.
Dipu Saha, a former student of Jahangirnagar University, said thousands of people from several different villages use the road the bridge connects. “It is very difficult to carry patients from the main road to a hospital, particularly a pregnant woman, on the bamboo bridge. And the students of schools and colleges have to face great hardship,” Dipu added.
Dilip Saha, a trader at the Diyabari Market, said that constructing a new bridge or renovating the old one is urgent as transporting agricultural products is a major problem for villagers.
Harirampur Upazila Chairman Dewan Saidur Rahman said he has applied to the project implementation officer of the upazila for the construction of a new bridge.