Haor people repair embankment at own initiative
People of twenty villages near the five-kilometre road cum embankment from Sherpur to Naluar Haor in Jagannathpur upazila of Sunamganj have continued voluntary work to reconstruct the road to protect their croplands and houses and roads,
They took the initiative four years ago after their repeated appeals to the authorities yielded no results.
During a recent visit to the area, this correspondent found around locals working to repair the road.
The protection embankment at different places of the road breached due to heavy rains and onrush of hilly water and the overflowing water caused damage to paddy fields and dwellings in different times, locals said.
"Following our repeated appeals, officials and public representatives visited the areas and promised to get the embankment repaired but it was not done," said Bishnu Das of Hartazpur village.
"Later villagers arranged money and bamboos at their own initiative and many of them provided voluntary service for repairing the embankment," he said.
Farmer Nurul Islam of Sherpur village said, "As there was no result even after repeatedly holding rallies in front of the offices of public representatives and officials of the administration, we started work on the road and it is going on."
"Farmers and other locals as well as expatriates provided money for the purpose. During the repair work, we give priority to vulnerable road areas," he added.
"A considerable amount of paddy grown in Naluar Haor area is carried through this road. But the road becomes muddy even when there is moderate rain, causing trouble for vehicular movement," said Lutfur Rahman, a resident of Sherpur village.
"We started work with our own money for reconstruction of the 5-km-long (16,400 feet) road in 2017. So far, we have completed work on 4,880 feet road at a total cost of Tk 28 lakh.
"Last year, the upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) inspected the road work and announced that at least one kilometre of the road will be constructed by the administration this year. But the work is yet to start," he added.
Rajat Gup, a farmer of Jatrapasha village, said many farmers in the haor areas have to leave their lands uncultivated due to flooding and problem in transporting the paddy.
Rajat and several other farmers demanded that the government allocate sufficient money every year for protection of crops and facilitating their carrying through the road.
Contacted, Jagannathpur UNO Mahfuzul Alam Masum said, "I inspected the road work last year and assured the locals of government assistance, which is still under process."
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