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43km of horror

Home-goers to face nightmare on neglected stretch on Faridpur highway

HASAN JAH1D TUSHER, back from Magura
If you are going home this Eid via Dhaka-Jessore highway, brace for a bumpy ride when you reach the Faridpur-Magura part of the highway.
Even the finest driver in the world would find life difficult on that 43km stretch of road. The passengers would be going up and down as well as going side to side.
The road has numerous potholes the size of small meteor craters and cracks on the surface here and there. Even bicycle riders have trouble on that road.
And predictably, the situation would be worse in the coming days when hundreds of vehicles taking millions home for Eid would be on that road connecting 10 south-western districts.
The road has been in this condition for months but Roads and Highways Department (RHD) of Faridpur have paid little attention to it.
Around 20 to 30 thousand people and more than 1,000 buses travel on it everyday; and it would be many times more during the holidays, according to bus operators.
During a recent visit, The Daily Star correspondent found that hundreds of potholes have made vehicle movement hazardous. No one could drive straight.
Vehicles were seen swerving left and right and sometimes going into the incoming lane to avoid potholes.
Vehicles have accidents frequently
causing traffic jams and sometimes they end up in the ditch causing casualties.
"It seems like I am travelling on a tractor, not a bus," said Mohammad Ismail Hossain, a bus passenger who travels frequently between Dhaka and Meherpur.
Kaium Mollah, a bus driver, said tires get punctured often and vehicles go off the road due to the poor condition of the road.
Shafique Sheikh, another driver, said the RHD had repaired the road a couple of days ago in their area but potholes fillers got washed away in the rain.
On several occasions, locals had staged demonstration demanding repairs but the authorities concerned paid little heed to it.
Ahsan Uddin Ahmed, executive engineer of Faridpur RHD, said they have been repairing the roads on a regular basis. "We have all preparation to repair the roads before Eid,” he said, adding that the work was being hampered due to incessant rain.
Contacted, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader admitted that potholes have developed on Faridpur-Magura highway. He said the road surface was too old and needed resurfacing and just repairs would not cut it.
The minister said the road would be made into a dual carriageway from Dhaka to Benapole and the work would start next year. He claimed that the condition of roads and highways were better than any time before.