Road communication in Khulna district and its metropolitan area is severely ram-shackled, due to faulty construction of the roads.
Being the third-largest city of Bangladesh and serving as the second-largest seaport in the country, Khulna is one of the most important industrial hubs in Bangladesh, which accommodates many multinational companies. It also hosts one of the two principal naval command centres of Bangladesh Navy.
However, roads in Khulna are either under construction or under waiting to be renovated. Residents face regular hassle to move from one place to another.
At least 35000 people are bound to commute via these dilapidated roads around the city.
Students from at least six educational institutions, and twenty thousand people, commute regularly on the Phoolbari-Teligati road alone. Accidents caused by these potholes have become a daily scenario for the residents.
The Phoolbari-Teligati road was established in 1987, and was renovated only once by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in 2016, thirty-three years after its construction.
Large vehicles are unable to cross many areas of Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET), Khanabari Narikel Tola, Laboratory School Mor and Paka. It takes a long time for the vehicles to cross those roads, as the potholes and the wearing of the road takes a toll on the vehicles.
Allegations are that the construction company responsible for the project showed negligence during renovation, and mainly used low-grade materials so that they can illegally profit from the project. Locals later informed and submitted a complaint to the district administration and LGED officials about the mismanagement of the contractors, but the conditioned remained unchanged till date.
Dilip Kumar Biswas, a teacher of Teachers Training College blamed the faulty condition of the road for the student's disinterest to study in local institutions. He said, "Students suffer a great deal because of potholes and ditches on the road. This, in turn, made many students change their schools or academy to avoid those deathtraps."
"I saw many accidents where students got injured, falling off from three-wheelers," he added.
A three-wheeler driver named Md Babu said: "We face great difficulties driving our vehicles on the road, and the poor conditions cause around five to seven vehicles to break down on the road."
Babul Shikdar, a rickshaw-van driver who had an accident a few days earlier, said: "A few days ago my van broke down and left me unemployed. Many drivers in the area become day labourers, as they cannot afford the constant maintenance cost of their vehicles, which regularly breakdown due to these roads."
Social worker, Arif Hossain blamed the ignorance of Khulna City Corporation (KCC) and LGED for the condition and said: "The maintenance and renovation of these roads are done by some corrupt officials, and an internal clash of KCC and LGED makes it worse."
Another main road of the city, the Alaipur-Vabanipur road under Rupsha upazila has become a deathtrap, as its many puddles keep causing frequent accidents. More than 15000 people suffer regularly, and are in constant fear of accidents happening at any time of the day.
According to Upazila Engineering Department, the road was under a renovation project, costing around 40 million from February this year. Because of the delay by the contractors, even the stipulated date of August 27 has been exceeded, but the condition of the road remains the same.
Upazila Parishad Chairman Kamal Uddin Badhshah said: "We requested the contractors several times to complete the construction soon, but they did not pay any heed to it.”
When asked, Contractor Idris Ali, one of the people responsible for the project, did not comment on the work that is getting delayed but said: "The renovation is on halt for the Eid holidays."
Locals are distressed and expressed their concern over the dilapidated roads saying that the commuters, especially students, are suffering the most while using the route to reach their various destinations. They also fear that these roads could lead to a major accident and lives may even be lost.
Most of the roads of the city are either under construction or in poor condition. KVA avenue, Sher-e-Bangla Road, Islampur Road, Doulkhola Lane, Miapara, Piper Mor, Tutpara Central Road, Rupsha Bridge Road, Bagmara Main Road, Nirala Road, Jahidur Rahman Road, Tetultola, Musolman Para, Raipara, BK Main Road. Locals staying on those roads said that this suffering has become part and parcel of their daily lives.
As Khulna WASA is working to improve the drainage system of the city, they are making the situation worse by keeping the debris beside the roads. This then gets scattered through the whole area, causing vehicles to go through a lot of problems.
SM Delowar Hossain, a resident of Sonadanga said: "Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is working on some of the roads for over a year. While digging the roads, they are further destroying the dilapidated roads."
A resident of Miapara Mohammad Selim said the potholes, which after rain turns to puddles, are always flooded with dirty water.
Deputy Managing Director (MD) of Khulna WASA, Kamal Uddin Ahmed denied their allegations and said WASA is not responsible for the ditches and potholes on the roads.
Khulna City Corporation ( KCC) Chief Engineer Md Nazmul Islam assured the problems will be resolved soon and said: "We are working to renovate the faulty roads. Our teams already have started to work to take the situation under control."
