Many of the banners, festoons and billboards that were put up on Bangabandhu Expressway to celebrate the opening of the Padma Bridge have collapsed on the street, creating risks of accident.
Authorities did not act on Sunday to remove the decoration from the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway after the bridge was opened to traffic in the morning, a day after its inauguration.
More than 100 such decorative materials were seen lying on the 75-kilometre expressway from Dhaka’s Postogola to Faridpur’s Bhanga, much to the annoyance of the drivers who took the road, reports bdnews24.com.
The Padma Bridge approach road from Zajira to Pachchor was, however, clean.
Besides the central leaders of the ruling Awami League, locals activists used their photos on the banners and festoons congratulating the government.
“I narrowly escaped [accident]. I veered to the right to give space to a large vehicle, but suddenly noticed a collapsed festoon on the road. I slowed down and saved my life,” said Abdus Salam, an employee of a private bank who was driving to the Padma Bridge from Dhaka through the expressway.
A person was seen removing a banner in a place between Sirajdikhan and Sreenagar, but the wooden structure was still there. Such structures on the divider tilted to the expressway in many places.
“People who put up the banners and festoons should have removed those following the law,” said Roads and Highways Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri.
“As they haven’t done it yet, we’ll ask people from the project to remove those for the convenience of the drivers.”