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<i>When self-help is best help</i>

1 March 2009, 18:00 PM

NATIONAL

Our Correspondent, Gaibandha

People of char areas in Fulchhari upazila under Gaibandha district have constructed this hundred-yard-long bamboo bridge across a tributary of the Jamuna on self-help basis.Photo: STAR

People of char areas in Fulchhari upazila are enjoying fruits of their voluntary service as a bamboo bridge, set up across a tributary of the Jamuna, has eased their communication with the 'mainland' on two sides of the river. The hundred-yard bridge, made mainly of bamboo, iron rod and GI wire at a cost of Tk 45 thousand, has benefited residents of char (land formed through siltation) areas of Fazlupur, Arendabari and Fulchhari unions in the upazila. Local people gave physical labour and bore the cost for materials to complete the bridge. “Small number of boats could carry only a fraction of the passengers from the areas and the problem became more serious during the market days. The bamboo bridge now comes to a great help for us,” said Amjad Hossain, a small jute trader in the area. Only two decades ago, the tributary was part of the mainstream Jamuna River when Railway Marine Department conducted passenger ferryboats to connect train services between Teestamukh Ghat and Bahadurabad Ghat. With shoals emerging in the Jamuna the ferry route lost its navigable depth and the Railway Marine Department shifted Teestamukh Ghat in Fulchhari to Balashi. In 2005 Railway Marine Department closed down Balashi-Bahadurabad ferry route, as water level came down three to four feet at different points on the route. Drastic decline in water level and emergence of shoals even disturbed plying of country boats on the route and people, who have to cover long distances on foot to go to market for shopping and sale of agriculture products, faced serious problem.