Locals have been suffering for the past two months, since the collapse of the only bridge in the Rangachira area of the Sadar upazila in Tangail, that had access to the Bangabandhu Bridge, causing major inconvenience in the daily communication of 40,000-45,000 locals of 20 villages.
A bamboo bridge was built in its place now being used regularly by auto rickshaws, motorcycles and rickshaw-vans. Locals fear the bamboo bridge might collapse anytime as it is unsteady and shakes when a vehicle crosses it.
According to District Relief and Rehabilitation Office sources, the contractor company Molla Enterprise had built the Rangachira Bridge in FY2016-17, at a cost of Tk22 lakh.
"The tender issued for the Rangachira Bridge did not include any instructions for piling. So, the bridge had collapsed due to its weak foundation during the recent floods in the area," said former union parishad chairman Badiuzzaman Faruk.
"The bridge collapsed in July this year because it did not have any reinforced cement concrete (RCC) pillars,” said Abdus Sattar Azad, Awami League's Kakua Union unit president.
Auto-rickshaw driver Minhaz Uddin, who has to drive his vehicle regularly on the bamboo bridge, said: “The collapse of the concrete bridge have caused much inconvenience to the people here in the char areas. It needs swift reconstruction.”
Kakua UP Chairman Md Ali Jinnah said: “The temporary bamboo bridge was financed from my private funds to curb the commute trouble.” He added that a letter was sent to the Upazila Engineer and MP for the construction of a brand new bridge in the area.
Tangail District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Abdul Gani said: “Tenders has been issued for reconstructing broken bridges across the district. We will construct the bridges upon considering their priority.”
