Agitated locals blocked and dug sections of the road and held demonstration demanding immediate completion of repair of Barisal-Nabagram road in Barisal city yesterday.
Around 4,000 agitated residents of Barisal city blocked the Barisal-Nabagram Road by felling logs, cut roads by digging and staged sit-in from Government Syed Hatem Ali College Chowmatha to Ruiar Poll areas of the road.
Locals alleged that the repair and reconstruction of the vital eight-kilometre long road connecting vast areas of western part of the city and eastern part of Jhalokati district remained suspended following the changing of mayor after city corporation election of June 15, 2013. Kawsar Hossain, one of the residents in the area, said that the contractor left the site of work without completing the task more than a year ago.
Vehicular movements on that half-done road cause regular accidents, spread dust, and create health problems like asthma and diarrhoea among the neighbouring residents, alleged Nasimul Alam, another resident.
AKM Shahidul Islam Talukdar, local councillor of ward 22 of Barisal City Corporation, contacted with BCC Mayor and expressed his solidarity with the participants of the movement. The mayor assured him of starting the work within seven working days.
The agitated locals opened the road for vehicular movements after two hours, giving the authority a seven-day ultimatum, the ward councillor said.
Nurul Islam, superintendant engineer of BCC, said Md Samraj, nephew of Shawkat Hossain Hiron, Barisal city AL president and former BCC mayor, received the work order of Tk20 m for construction of footpaths and reconstruction and repair of 1.5 kilometre part of the Barisal-Nabagram road in November 2012 and started construction work as scheduled.
Humaun Kabir, BCC engineer in charge of monitoring that work, said that contractor Samraj stopped the work after the defeat of Hiron and subsequent winning of BNP leader Ahsan Habib Kamal in BCC election.
BCC issued show cause notice against Samraj last month and in reply he assured resumption of the work soon. If he failed, punitive action would be taken against him, the BCC officials said.