Rajbari town beset with civic problems

The inhabitants of Rajbari Municipality are deprived of basic civic amenities for a long time.   Population of the municipality is increasing day by day whereas authorities seem to be unconcerned about the civic facilities for the town people.      Established in 1913, the municipality area has 11.66 square kilometer, which was upgraded to first-class municipality in 1990 in name only.   Poor drainage system, deplorable condition of roads, inadequate street lights, lack of proper sanitary system affect the town people most, not to mention frequent traffic jam on the roads, water-logging  and absence of recreational facilities for children.    Two children’s parks in the town remain closed for a long time.   Most of the drains – almost all are open – are filled with filth and garbage due to lack of cleaning in time, resulting in overflow of dirty water during rainy season posing threat to public health.   Most of the roads in the municipality areas are in deplorable condition, which often go under water even after a light shower. They are so narrow that even two rickshaws cannot cross each other at a time.    Dunchi, Goderbazaar, Beradanga, Sreepur, Hosnabad, Sajjankanda, Kazikanda, Bhabanipur, Police line, South Bhabanipur of Rajbari municipality have roads in bad shape with cracks and potholes everywhere causing problems to pedestrians and vehicles movement.     Footpaths have yielded to makeshift shops.    Contacted, Executive Engineer of Rajbari Municipality Md Abdur Razzaque said the roads could not be repaired due to lack of fund.   Traffic jam in the town is a nagging problem. Due to absence of traffic signal, roads remain clogged with vehicles across the busy thoroughfares of the town.   The increase in unlicensed autorickshaws has contributed much to the tedious tailbacks.   Sanitary system in the town is not satisfactory; only there are a few dustbins in the town which are hardly cleaned timely, often emitting bad odour.    The derelicts respond to the call of nature beside the roads and drains, thus polluting environment.   Anti-social activities are also rampant, which worries the dwellers of the town.   They call for immediate steps to address the issues.