Roads and Highways Department (RHD) engineers yesterday were assaulted on the Dhaka-Barisal Highway by disgruntled residents because of substandard materials were being used in repairing the highway.
Witnesses said residents of Mahilara in Gournadi upazila, led by the Mahilara Union Parishad Chairman Soikat Guha Piklu, were angered after discovering that RHD officials were using substandard brick chips and sand instead of stone chips and bitumen to repair the highway.
RHD sub-divisional engineer Nasiruddin Ahmed was physically assaulted and confined inside the Mahilara School by angry protesters who said they wanted the shoddy repair job halted.
The Gournadi upazila nirbahi officer, Masud Hasan Patwary, rushed to the scene with police after hearing the news. They brought the situation under control and rescued the RHD officials, Abul Kalam, Gournadi police station officer-in-charge, said.
RHD officials Nasiruddin Ahmed, sub-divisional engineer, and Shishir Kumar Baral, sub assistant engineer, started repairs to the Barisal-Dhaka highway at Mahilara point around Thursday at noon.
Local UP chairman Picklu said people were protesting the shabby work on the highway that they say would easily be washed away during the rainy season.
The beleaguered engineer, Nasiruddin Ahmed, said higher authorities had decided not use stone chips and bitumen during the rainy season.
