Road expansion work being done with low-quality materials in Patuakhali
Manjur Morshed Tuhin, Patuakhali
Renovation work is underway on 1.7 kilometer of rural road expansion work in Dharandi village of Kamalapur union in Sadar upazila of Patuakhali with low-quality materials. Despite complaints and obstacles from locals, the road is being constructed with low-quality bricks and materials.
Md. Shahidul Islam, Deputy Assistant Engineer of the Upazila LGED, who is supervising the work, has been allegedly involved in irregularities with the contractor company.
However, he denied the allegations and said that although my name is on the signboard, I am basically no longer involved in the work. I was transferred from here a year ago, but I joined here again a few days ago. Before the transfer, I was in charge of it, and if you still want to know anything, come and meet me tomorrow.
It is learnt that a contracting company named Mohammad Yunus & Brothers has been awarded the work of 1725 meters of road in the important upazila and union road widening and strengthening project of Barisal division in the fiscal year 2023-2024.
The estimated cost of the work of the Patuakhali Local Government Engineering Department is Tk 4 crore 82 lakh with a contract price of Tk 4 crore 33 lakh and the supervising officer of the work from the beginning is Md. Shahidul Islam. Although adequate guide walls have been installed on most of the sides of the road, some places remain. The quality of the palasting post is very poor and the quality of work is not the same at all places. The correct method of work has not been followed. The contracting company named Mohammad Yunus and brothers is from Chittagong district.
Some dishonest officials of the Patuakhali LGED office and a local contracting group benefit from taking work in the name of this contracting company. For this reason, the Mohammad Yunus & Brothers contracting company has taken over work worth thousands of crores of taka from Patuakhali LGED through dishonest means. According to the data of January, out of the 223 ongoing works from Patuakhali LGED, 26 works are in the name of Mohammad Yunus & Brothers. Although journalists have gone to the ground at various times on the complaints of locals, no one from the contracting company except the workers could be found.
Local resident Kalam Chowkidar said, the work is not done in two days or three days. The way the work is being done, everything will be finished within a year of completion. He saw that the guide wall was being completed little by little, and then our Farooq Khan stopped the work at another place and is raising the wall. On the other side of the road, there were some number two bricks on both sides, and some more bricks have been mixed with them.
While visiting the spot, it is seen that the road has been paved with very low-quality bricks along with the rotten bricks used earlier on the road. The visible guide wall is high and low. The paraceding post made of very low quality materials has no pointed head. The paraceding post has been installed by cutting holes in the ground, which will cause the guide wall to collapse in a few days. Although the work was carried out at a rapid pace for several months after the work order, the work was stopped for some time after the fall of the autocratic government, but the work was progressing slowly during Ramadan.
However, the work is now stopped again, which is why the local people are suffering. Due to the movement of vehicles, the houses and trees on both sides of the road have turned red due to the dust of rotten bricks.
Another local resident, Kalam Mira, said, everything that can be seen for a kilometer from here is bad brick bricks. We can see the work, but we do not see the government people.
In this regard, Patuakhali LGED Executive Engineer Md. Hossain Ali Mir said, if any work is done outside the specification, we will reject it. We will not take up such work. Since I have come to know about it, I will visit the site next week and take action. If any of our officers are involved in irregularities, action will be taken.
