No relief from potholed roads
Parking of trucks on the dilapidated Halishahar Road in Eidgah area adds to the suffering of commuters. The photo was taken on Monday. Photo: STAR
As there has been no massive repair work by Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) for years, Halishahar Road and DT Road have developed cracks and potholes, causing much suffering to motorists as well as commuters. CCC reportedly kept its job limited to mending the potholes instead of going for massive repair works, alleged the residents of Halishahar and Olankar in the port city. Over two-kilometre Halishahar Road that connects the Eidgaon Kancha Rasta and busy Port Connecting Road was repaired filling the potholes last year to return to its previous run-down shape in the rainy season. On the other hand, the three-kilometre DT Road that connects Dewanhat and busy Olankar intersection, city's second largest wholesale rice market and an inter-district bus terminal, was repaired just before the last rainy season only to get previous state within several months. Mohammad Kamruzzaman, a trader, said travelling through the dilapidated Halishahar Road is a painful experience as jerking of vehicles makes journey through the road risky and it takes a much longer time to reach the destinations. Besides, illegal parking of trucks on both the sides of the road creates serious tailback during the peak hours to add suffering to the passengers, he added. Tempo driver Jamal Uddin said they are to spend additional money for repair and maintenance of vehicles due to the dilapidated condition of the roads. Local Ward Councillor Mohammad Kabir Ahmed said he has submitted a recommendation to CCC to take massive repair work for the road around one year ago. He said CCC could not start the repair work due to fund constraint although tender process has been completed in this regard. Regarding the traffic congestion, Kabir said he already informed the matter to Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury seeking cooperation. On the other hand, the DT Road is also in a bad shape due to lack of proper maintenance. Rice-laden trucks ply the road to and from the Pahartali wholesale rice market everyday to damage the road further, creating gridlock. Cashing on the worst shape of the road, rickshaw pullers and CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers charge excessive fare from the passengers, said Afrina Naznin, an executive of a private firm. She urged the authorities concerned to take immediate measures to rid the passengers of the menace and demanded sustainable repair works of the road. Local Ward Commissioner Shamsul Alam said process for floating tender for repairing the road is under process.
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