Road Repaired for Prime Minister's Rangpur Visit Falls Apart in Two Days, Locals Allege Irregularities
Allegations of waste of government money and irregularities have been raised against the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) over road repairs and painting of road dividers carried out around Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to Rangpur.
Locals allege that because the repairs were rushed with low-quality materials, the road became unfit for movement again within two days of the work finishing. They have also alleged the use of low-quality materials in painting the city's road dividers.
According to related sources, on October 20 Prime Minister Tarique Rahman flew from Dhaka to Saidpur airport. Around his arrival in Rangpur to visit a temple and exchange views with members of the Hindu community, a section of road from the Rangpur Divisional Commissioner's office to Rangpur Medical College Hospital was repaired.
Locals allege that although no initiative had been taken earlier to repair the long-neglected road, the work was rushed around the Prime Minister's visit. However, potholes have allegedly appeared again at various places on the road within two days of the repair.
Traffic is being disrupted as a result. As vehicles avoid the damaged parts of the two-lane road, pressure is increasing on one side, and drivers and passengers are suffering.
Potholes were seen on the ground on the Rangpur-Dinajpur highway near the BGB Sector Commander's office and on nearby roads. Locals claim the section repaired at a cost of about Tk 10 lakh for the Prime Minister's arrival returned to its previous state within a short time. The report noted, however, that the amount of spending could not be independently verified.
Local resident Mostafizar Rahman said that although a large amount of money was spent repairing the road for the Prime Minister's arrival, it became unfit for movement again in just two days. He alleged the situation arose because of low-quality work.
Badarul Hasan, an NGO official who regularly travels by motorcycle from Paglapir, also questioned the quality of the repair work. He said how the road repair was done and how much money was spent on it need to be disclosed transparently, and he also questioned whether a tender had been invited for the work.
Several RHD employees said the potholes were temporarily repaired with brick chips and sand, and they are dissatisfied with the quality of the work. When the RHD executive engineer was contacted, he advised speaking to engineer Kamal Pasha. Kamal Pasha said no tender was invited for the road repair and the work was done with money from the department's maintenance allocation, but he declined to say how much was spent. Locals have demanded an investigation into the allegations, verification of the actual cost and quality of the work, and action against those responsible.
