The inhabitants of two villages have been trying to protect a rural road from the Kushiyara river erosion as the authorities concerned failed to take measures to save one of their important roads in Sunamganj.
Locals said Alampur-Rouail road, built by the LGED in the riverbank area at Raniganj south bank site in Jagannathpur upazila of Sunamganj district, is in a dilapidated state and becomes risky due to negligence of the authority concerned.
A firm in last fiscal was ordered to carpet three kilometres of the vital road at a cost of Tk 19 million by December this year. As the contractor left the work incomplete, the under-construction road faced severe erosion due to sudden rise in the river-water level amid rain and rolling down water from upstream.
Inhabitants of at least 10 adjacent villages including Noagaon, Alampur, Balisri, Rouail, Harinakandi, Megharkandi etc frequently use the road. As the erosion started taking a serious turn, the inhabitants of Rouail and Balisri managed funds on an urgent basis and started work by setting bamboo fencing and dumping sandbags on the riverbank.
However, many dwelling houses and croplands had already been eroded into the Kushiyara river, but the “authority took no steps”, alleged some elderly inhabitants of Balisri.
An official at the LGED said the WDB and Upazila Parishad officials had been asked to take emergency steps to protect the road. Contacted, an official at the WDB said, "After a spot-visit by officials, a proposal was sent to the higher authority".
