Thousands of people of Kamarchak union under the Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar have been risking their lives everyday to cross the Laghata River by a make-shift bridge of bamboo. Construction of a concrete bridge over the river has been a long standing need of the people of this union.
The Laghata River originating from a hill of Tripura enters Bangladesh through Kamalganj and separates Kamarchak union into two parts. People of the 15 villages situated in two parts of the union either have to take the longer detour to travel to other parts of the upazila or use the rickety bamboo bridge to cross the river.
Nurul Islam of Teghori village said, having no other alternative, they had to use the bamboo bridge amid much fear. “Villagers are scared to send their children to the school or go the upazila or to the town for necessary work.”
He added that the government officials took measurement several times to construct the bridge, but there had been no real progress.
“If a bridge is constructed over the river, the communication system of the whole union will change contributing to the development and betterment of people’s lives.”
Md Nazmul Haque Selim, chairman of Kamarchak union parishad said, he had been trying to get fund allocation for the bridge since he took office.
Rubayet Hussain, the upazila engineer said, construction of Laghata bridge was truly important and they had discussed the issue with the social welfare minister and hoped that the minister would do something in this regard soon.