An iron bridge at Kaukhali in Pirojpur collapsed within a few months due to the construction of slabs with betel trees instead of rods. This incident has caused intense anger among the local residents.
LGED has invited a tender for six works from the Kaukhali Upazila Engineer’s office in the financial year 2021–22 for repairing several old works, including two bridges at Kaukhali in Pirojpur. The cost of which is 7 lakh, 88 thousand, 500 taka. In this, the repair of an iron bridge in front of Nurul Islam Sharif’s house at Kathalia Canal in Sadar Union is done by the contractor M/s Halima Enterprise of Pirojpur. But a few months after the reconstruction, some of the slabs on the bridge collapsed. Although these slabs are supposed to be constructed with rods, instead of rods, the contractor uses betel trees instead of rods!
When some of its slabs collapsed on Wednesday morning, it spread instantly on Facebook. As a result, this incident has caused intense anger and protest in the area. The people of the area demanded exemplary punishment.
Ramesh Lal, a local resident, said, ‘The only bridge for our movement has collapsed, so there is a lot of difficulty in movement. Those who gave betel trees instead of rods should be brought under the law and punished because they are enemies of the country.’
Akram Hossain, another local resident, said, ‘They are able to do such work due to the moral degradation of the contractors. They should be given exemplary punishment. This punishment ensures that other contractors will never dare to do such work again. I demand that you repair this bridge and improve our movement.
After this incident, the Kaukhali Upazila Chairman visited the spot and confirmed its authenticity. Later, in one of their meetings, it was decided to write a letter against the contracting company, Md. Kaukhali Upazila Chairman. Abu Saeed Mia. Meanwhile, the upazila executive officer of Kaukhali, Sajal Molla, expressed regret, admitting it was mismanagement.
He said, ‘Those who have implemented this project will be brought under the law soon.’However, even after contacting the contractor several times in this regard, they did not receive any statement. This iron bridge was reconstructed at a cost of about one and a half lakh taka in the financial year 2021–22.
