Traffic throughout Moulvibazar in Sylhet is being hampered as most roads in the district have been badly damaged in flooding caused by incessant rainfall and the heavy flow of water from upstream.
Numerous potholes and puddles have developed on roads constructed by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Kulaura, Rajnagar and Sadar upazilas, hindering smooth vehicular communication to and from the north-eastern district.
Some roads were still submerged under knee-deep water on Friday, while two culverts in the district have also suffered damage, worsening the traffic situation.
According to the RHD, cracks had also developed on the regional roads and highway of Juri,
Borolekha, Kulaura, Rajnagar upazilas, and in Sheola and Charkhai areas.
The scenario was almost as bad on the Moulvibazar-Rajnagar and Fenchuganj-Sylhet, Kulaura-Shamshernagar and Kulaura-Sreemangal roads.
“There are as many as 500 roads in Moulvibazar,” said the district unit LGED’s Executive Engineer Kamrul Islam. “We are assessing the amount of the losses and hope that the actual figure will come out in a few days. However, we cannot repair the roads right now since there are no funds available.”
The district administration is maintaining a list of losses incurred due to the flooding between June 12 and 20.
Mintu Ranjan Das, executive engineer of RHD, Moulvibazar, estimated the cost of repairing the damaged roads at Tk12.85 crore.
Situation is ‘normal’, says DC
Contradicting reports from Moulvibazar, the district’s deputy commissioner, Md Tofail Islam, said the overall flood situation was “improving”, while denying there were any instances of water-logging in the district.
“Water has gone down from the roads and the traffic was normal,” he claimed.
“Several villages were flooded as a river protection embankment collapsed in Rajnagar upazila; however, the embankment was repaired while Kamalganj was seeing improved flood situation as well.”
Photo:Dhaka Tribune
Ranendra Shanker Chakraborty, executive engineer of Moulvibazar Water Development Board, said the Kushiara river protection embankment had been repaired in the Rajnagar upazila’s Haldigul and Kalaigul areas.
Official accounts did not match with the experiences of families on the saturated ground.
Up to Thursday, at least 6,322 families had been affected in Kulaura upazila, where there had been two fatalities. One person died in the floods in Rajnagar, where there were 7,180 affected families.
In Sadar upazila, the affected families numbered 10,508, while there were 27,920 affected families in Kamalganj upazila and 2,090 in Sreemangal upazila.
Trade hit
The passage of freight to and from India through the Chatlapur land port has been suspended for the past ten days, with the Chatlapur Bridge approach deemed too risky for traffic.
Private vehicles and foot passengers were also encountering difficulties both ways through the border crossing.
Sub-Inspector Jamal Hossain, of the land port’s immigration department, said around 100 vehicles ply the route on a normal day.
“Since June 13, traffic through the land port has dropped drastically, with most left to commute on foot while entering and leaving Bangladesh,” he said.
In a further blow to the local economy, Aush paddy cultivated on at least 4,160 hectares of land in Kulaura, Rajnagar, Sadar, Kamalganj and Sreemangal upazilas had been damaged.