CDA drive only benefits street vendors, shop owners
One third of evicted portions of Andarkilla-Chawk Bazar Road occupied
The Andarkilla-Chawk Bazar road remains uncared for for around two years.Photo: STAR
Street vendors and roadside shop owners have occupied one-third of the evicted portions of the Andarkilla-Chawk Bazar Road from Andarkilla to Dewan Bazar. The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) in 2006 bulldozed parts or whole of over 1,000 structures, hotels, dwelling houses, pharmacies, departmental stores or grocery shops, commercial buildings and apartments to widen the one-and-half-kilometre Andarkilla-Chawk Bazar Road. The four-day massive eviction drive along the road, one of the oldest thoroughfares in the port city, was launched also to remove the unauthorised structures and recover valuable government lands to lessen suffering of the commuters and pedestrians. But the entire stretch of the road remained uncared for since then and it has now virtually become inaccessible for the commuters and pedestrians, thanks largely to the inaction of CDA. The road, interlacing some densely populated localities such as Andarkilla, Nawab Sirajuddoula Road, Dewan Bazar, Didar Market, Ghat Farhadbeg, Masua Jharna Lane, Chandanpura, Chittagong College area, parts of Rahmatganj, Chawk Bazar and Kapashgola, was quite good and smooth for vehicular movement before the drive, despite its narrowness. After the drive that started on February 12 in 2006, the road appeared as a nightmare to the commuters as well as the pedestrians with hundreds of cracks and holes, not to mention the untold sufferings of several thousand people of the localities. Sumi Akhtar, a college student, said being a frequent traveller on the road for the last few years she is to experience heavy tilt and jerk everyday while goes to college by a rickshaw or any other vehicle due to multiple cracks and holes. The problem has been created after the CDA ends its eviction drive on the road in 2006, she added. She said the objective of CDA may be good but what is the benefit of such a drive if the road is left uncared for around two years? Yakub Sawdagar, who was evicted during the drive, said they do not see any positive outcome of the CDA drive yet. He said he runs his hardware business now from a small rented store at Telipatti Road at the northern most part of Chawk Bazar since 1985. Mohammad Mohsin, owner of the Concrete Traders near College Road, said was quite happy during the drive believing that it would expand the road and benefit the pedestrians and commuters. He said he is now frustrated as due to the dilapidated state of the road. Mainuddin Quadery Shawkat, president of Sirajuddoula Road Resident and Shop Protection Committee, expressed his displeasure at the pitiable state of the road. He said most of the evicted people have not got the compensation as of yet. He urged the authorities to pay their compensation as per the current market value. The CDA, of late though, started some repair work at few sites few days ago. Locals said the CDA work is just an 'eyewash' to cool down the growing anger of the people. CDA Chief Engineer MA Halim said the development or repair work of the road couldn't be started due to fund constraints. He said work for developing a drainage system along both the sides of the road have started last week while the development work of the road will continue simultaneously.
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