People use this rickety bamboo bridge to cross the Kumar River at Aruakandi in Shailkupa upazila under Jhenidah district as their demand for construction of a concrete bridge there has remained unheeded for long.
Thousands of people of Monoharpur and Bogura unions in Sailkupa upazila under the district are badly suffering for want of a permanent bridge over the Kumar River at Aruakandi village in the upazila.
The people of Damukdi, Bishnupdia, Monoharpur, Lakkhipur, Madabpur, Nagirat, Mokampur, Dalilpur, Shitali and a few other villages use a bamboo-made bridge, locally known as sako, to cross the river in the dry season to go to their destinations including the upazila headquarters.
But the sako, which has already turned risky due to use by a large number of people for years, goes under water during the rainy season, locals said.
They have to take the trouble to cover additional earthen roads, which becomes unfit for vehicular movement in the monsoon, they said.
Around 400 school and college going students of different villages become the worst sufferers due to the situation.
“Many students cannot attend the college as the bamboo bridge cannot be used to cross the river due to increase of water in the rainy season,” said Tofazzel Hossain, principal of City Government College in Shailkupa upazila.
Farmers Manir Uddin and Hatem Ali said they are often deprived of fair prices of their produces that cannot be easily carried to the upazila market due to want of a bridge.
Villagers had urged local lawmaker Abdul Hye, also state minister of fisheries and livestock, and Nayeb Ali Joarder, chairman of the upazila parishad, for taking initiative to construct a bridge at Aruakandi.
When contacted, Nayeb Ali Joarder, upazila parishad chairman, said he had informed the local government authorities of the situation and urged taking necessary steps.
Abdul Latif, executive engineer of Water Development Board in Jhenidah, said he will visit the spot soon and take immediate step to construct a bridge there.
Source: The Daily Star
