& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Highway Repair Works in Sirajganj

Holidaymakers face huge tailbacks on battered roads

Ahmed Humayun Kabir Topu, Pabna
When highways are swamped with heavy traffic ahead of Eid, the authorities usually start repairing those.
This year is no different. Repair work on several highways in Sirajganj started only a few days ago, adding to the woes of travellers and transport workers.
Holidaymakers going home for Eid in 22 northern and southern districts, crossing the Bangabandhu bridge, should brace for a longer travel time due to the ongoing
repair work in Sirajganj.
Currently, Sirajganj-Bogura, Hatikumrul-Bogura and Hatikumrul-Bonpara highways are undergoing repair. Incessant rain and floods over the past month left these regional highways battered and damaged.
The damage is extensive in about 18 kilometres of road from Hatikumrul to Chandaikona toward Bogura and 25 kilometres from Hatikumrul to Mannannagar on way to Bonpara.
Ashraful Islam, executive engineer of Roads and Highways (RHD) in
Sirajganj, said, "We've already started repair work on Bonpara-Hatikumrul highway and Hatikumrul-Bogura highway ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.”
Now the potholes in Hatikumrul-Bonpara highway are being fixed with bricks and carpeting work on the Hatikumrul-Bogura highway is going on.
The RHD in 2017-18 fiscal year undertook repair work of the Hatikumrul-Bogura highway at a cost of Tk 15 core and the Hatikumrul-Bonpara highway at Tk 8 core. But as
the contractor firm did not complete the work, RHD had to start urgent repair work of the highways ahead of the Eid, Ashraful also said.
Frustrated by long delays on the road, bus passenger Eunus Ali said thanks to the congestion on the road due to the repair work, it took him more than double the usual time, nearly two and a half hours, to reach Bonpara from Hatikumrul.
Truck driver Sohel said with all the work going on and an increased number of vehicles loaded with sacrificial
animals on the road, passing ten kilometres distance from Hatikumrul nowadays takes at least an hour.
Hatikumrul Highway Police Station Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Akteruzzaman said a long queue of vehicles is being formed on the only available lane on both Hatikumrul-Bonpara and Hatikumrul-Bogura highways due to the ongoing work.
He also said the situation might worsen if the work is continued amid the Eid rush.