The lack of maintenance and repair has left the Dhaka-Barisal highway in a dilapidated condition, increasing the risk of accidents.
Parts of the 24ft wide highway in Faridpur and Madaripur have developed numerous potholes, making journeys risky and multiplying the suffering of passengers as well.
There have been several accidents on the highway near Bhurghata bus stop in the last one month because of the road’s narrow width and also because there is no soil on each side.
The accidents that involved head-on traffic collision and also buses plunging into roadside ditches took place in Madaripur’s Kalkini, Barisal’s Gournadi, Gopalganj’s Muksudpur and Faridpur’s Bhanga.
More than 50 people have been killed in road crashes in the last 30 days, including six who died on Wednesday when two buses collided head on in Faridpur’s Jamtala area.
Yunus Sarder, a local in Bhurghata, said road accidents continued to claim lives on the highway because of its very poor condition but no steps had yet been taken to repair it.
From Bhurghata bus stop to the upazila parishad, pedestrians are forced to get down to roadside fields to allow two buses to run simultaneously on the highway. The roadside areas from Bhurghata to Gournadi are also covered with dense bushes and there have been no steps to clear those.
“Most of the highways are 24ft wide but the Dhaka-Barisal highway is only 18ft. This clearly increase the odds that accidents will happen and people will die thereby,” said Akhter Hossain, who lives in Kalkini’s Gopalpur.
He called on the road transport and bridges minister to initiate repairs on the road.
Monwar Bepari, a driver, said driving on the highway puts motorists in serious peril.
Meanwhile, Roads and Highways Department officials have been accused of misappropriating a boatload of money in the name of repairing the road but no substantial repair has been carried out yet.
Madaripur Executive Engineer Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal refused to directly respond to the accusation but said the authorities had been informed of the highway’s run-down state.
“The highway needs reconstruction, not just repair, and we are awaiting official approval to initiate that. We will float a tender to appoint a contractor for the task,” he said.
Kamal blamed torrential rains and cyclone Komen for the damage done to the highway.
“A 3km part of the road was heavily damaged and reconstructing that portion is imperative,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
The government official said he was not aware of how much money was spent on repairing the highway since the previous fiscal year until now. “I do not have that information.”
