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Lalmatia roads promise moon ride

Helemul Alam
It was a soggy afternoon when Shikha, a resident of Jakir Hossain Road of Mohammadpur, went out to visit her relatives in Lalmatia Block-B. She could not hire a rickshaw to take her to Lalmatia as they were charging more than double the normal fair.
She spent 20 minutes in the drizzle trying to convince rickshaw-pullers to take her. Even though she offered more than the normal fair, rickshaws refused to go to Lalmatia as the roads there are treacherous.
Crossed, Shikha headed towards Lalmatia on foot and
she found it very difficult as the waterlogged roads of Block-B were in an appalling condition.
"I would not have dared to come on foot if 1 knew about the condition of the roads," said Shikha when The Daily Star correspondent approached her. Her clothes were dirty.
What Shikha faced that day tlie residents of Lalmatia face almost every rainy day. Most of the roads in the area are in a dilapidated condition.
Roads of Lalmatia Block-A, B, C and D are the worst due to lack of attention from the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), said locals.
Developers constructing flat buildings in the area are also blamed for the poor roads.
Abdur Rashid, an employee of Masuda General Store in Block-B, said water remains
stagnant in front of the shop and adjoining areas.
"We cannot walk in front of our office on the road especially after rain as the road gets waterlogged," said Jewel, an employee of Jamuna Real Estate in Block-B.
Shila Chakma, a third year student of Psychology in Lalmatia College, said like many students of Lalmatia College she too has to suffer while going to college.
Mohammad Faruk, a shopkeeper of Ananda Store in Block-B, said there is Wasa manhole in his area which overflows muck on to the street making the condition even more difficult for people living there.
Blaming road-construction contractors and officials concerned for not maintaining the
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quality during construction, Imran, a resident Block-C, said the roads which were repaired around three years ago started to give in three months after construction.
He said land developers in the area are also responsible for damaging the roads as they keep construction materials on the road and grind bricks into gravel on the roads. They should do their work on the sites instead of on the roads, he said.
Commissioner ofWard-45 Atikul Islam Matin said all the roads of Block-A, almost all the roads of Block-B, and a large number of roads in Block-C and D are in wretched condition.
He claimed that before he was
anestedin February. 2007, he had all the roadsof Lalmatia repaired but the roads have been damaged as land developers keep construction materials on the roads.
The developers do their grinding and iron rod work on the road which does damage to the roads, he said.
Atikul said he issued letters to them several times in this regard to no avail.
About the allegation of poor road construction, he said engineers of DCC and contractors who did the job are responsible for maintaining quality during construction.
Executive Engineer of Zone-6 Arifur Rahman said they would repair a number of roads under Mohammadpur Police Station
soon. He said the repairs would be done under aWorld Bank financed project named "Clean Air Sustainable Environment Project".
They have also taken initiative to repair the roads that would not be repaired under the project.
"Initially we will repair 10 roads including a number of roads in Lalmatia. A tender has already been floated which will be opened September 16," he said.
"We have also submitted a proposal to Nagar Bhaban to repair more roads and after getting the approval, we will Doat tenders for them and the work will be done gradually," he said.