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South Jatrabari

Endless woes of commuters

Helemul Alam
A stretch of road in South Jatrabari is less than 500 metres but it is in such a bad shape that it is making life of people in the area miserable.
Popularly known as Kazla Power House Road, which connects Demra Road to Jatrabari Biswa Road, the road is so pothole ridden that businesses there are suffering as people are reluctant to go there.
The link road used to help ease congestion on Dhaka-Chittagong highway and Jatrabari-Demra Road in Jatrabari as vehicles could bypass the clogs during rush hours.
Rickshaws and auto rickshaws that have to cross the road charge higher fairs while breakdown of heavier vehicles has become a regular phenomenon on that piece of road.
Motorists complain of having broken axles, ruined shock absorbers, smashed radiators, and dislodged prop shafts on a regular basis.
The holes are so deep at places that they go under knee-to-thigh-deep water after a shower, locals said. They said the road was built in 2007 but for the last two years it has gone bad.
Mohammad Asif, a fruit trader, said he lost apples worth Tk 2,000 when the rickshaw-van carrying them turned turtle in a pothole.
He said he now uses autorickshaws to carry goods to his shops which add Tk 200-250 to the carrying cost.
Rickshaws and rickshawvan that used to charge Tk 60 to Tk 70 earlier are now charging Tk 150 to Tk 200 and three-wheelers do not use meters anymore and charge Tk 400 to go there from Badamtali.
Mohammad Arzu Islam, a rickshaw-van puller, said his vehicle turned upside down four to five times in the last one and half months after falling into potholes.
Wholesale flour shop owner Monir Hossain said his business plummeted as the road went bad. He said he used to make sales worth Tk 3 to Tk 4 lakh a day but now it is Tk 1 lakh to Tk 1.50 lakh.
He said people do not want to go to the area to buy things anymore.
Communications Minister Obidul Quader visited the road on July 30 and being unhappy with what he saw he asked Dhaka South City Corporation to have the road fixed within three days.
Things, however, did not change.
Jahangir Alam, chief engineer of Dhaka South City Corporation, said there was no way to drain the rain water off the street and it was causing them problems to repair the road.
He said they would repair the road as soon as they figure out a way to drain the water.