Four Months After Deadline, Gaibandha Eidgah Road Work in Jamalpur's Islampur Still Not Started; Refund Sought

The CC paving work on the Gaibandha Eidgah road in Gaibandha Union of Islampur upazila in Jamalpur has still not started, even though the project's deadline ended on 30 June, according to the office of the Upazila Project Implementation Officer (PIO).

In the 2025-26 fiscal year, four projects were approved in different unions of Islampur under the Disaster Management Department's rural infrastructure maintenance programme. Allocations were made under the Kabita (money for work) and Test Relief (TR) programmes, work was due to start in the second week of February, and the project chairpersons had also been paid the first instalment.

The four projects carried a total allocation of Tk 1,020,945. Of that, Tk 307,187 was allocated in the second phase of Kabita for a boundary wall on the south side of the South Sirajabad Dihidar Bari graveyard in Palbandha Union, and Tk 187,401 in the second phase of TR for a boundary wall on the west side of the same graveyard.

Tk 200,000 was allocated in the first phase of Kabita for the CC paving of the Gaibandha Eidgah road. Another Tk 326,357 was allocated in the second phase of TR for a U-drain on the road from Abdur Rashid Member's house to beside Munur's house at Paschim Bamna in Chinaduli Union.

Supervision of the work was the responsibility of the then Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO), Nazmul Husain, who was later transferred elsewhere. After a pictorial report on the stalled projects was published on 3 September, three of the projects were completed, but the Gaibandha Eidgah road work has not begun, raising concern among local residents about whether it will be implemented at all.

Islampur's current UNO, Shah Md Jubayer, said the allocations were released before he joined the upazila and that examining the matter was the responsibility of those who had been in charge of supervision. Repeated attempts to reach the former UNO, Nazmul Husain, by mobile phone went unanswered, the report said.

Md Habibur Rahman Sumon, the PIO of Bakshiganj who holds additional charge in Islampur, said a letter had been sent seeking a refund of the project money because the Gaibandha Eidgah road work had not started for a long time.

The current PIO, Md Rakibul Hasan, said he was new to the upazila and had not known that work had not started even after the deadline. Now that he knows, he said, the matter will be examined seriously.