Haripur Chilmari Bridge to be inaugurated without Chilmari
Chilmari (Kurigram) Correspondent.
After changing the inauguration date three times, Haripur-Chilmari 1490-meter Maulana Bhasan Teesta Bridge is finally being inaugurated without Chilmari.
A day later, on Wednesday, the bridge will be inaugurated by Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, Advisor to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Although all the procedures have been completed, the work on the Chilmari section of the bridge's connection road has not yet been completed. As a result, even though the bridge has been inaugurated, the people of the Chilmari region are not able to enjoy the immediate benefits.
It is learnt that the implementation of road development work has started under the 1,490-meter-long PC Girder Bridge Construction Project (3rd Revised) on the Teesta River from Panchpir Bazar to Chilmari Upazila Head Quarter Road under Sundarganj Upazila of Gaibandha district. For this purpose, the development of Panchpir GC Road (Length: 1220m-5230m. 4010m.) from Chilmari Upazila Head Quarter Matikatarmore and the development of Panchpir GC Road (Length: 00m-1220m. 1220m.) from Chilmari Upazila Head Quarter, totaling 5,230m. The contract for the development of the area was executed on February 11, 2024. The contract value of which was 10 crore 33 lakh 2 thousand 832 taka.
While taking the work, Rashedul Islam Rashed, APS of former Primary and Mass Education Minister Zakir Hossain, used his power to bid extremely low and submitted a license in the name of Mir Habibul Alam of Natore area. Which was supposed to start on February 18, 2024 and end on February 17, 2025. Due to not completing the work on time, the time was extended twice to December 31, 2025. Two days before the inauguration of the bridge, i.e. until Monday, only 2,150 meters of road work out of 5,230 meters of the Chilmari section has been completed. A day later, on Wednesday, the bridge will be inaugurated by Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan, Advisor to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Although all the procedures have been completed in the area, the work on the Chilmari section of the bridge's connection road has not yet been completed. As a result, even though the bridge has been inaugurated, the people of the Chilmari region are not able to enjoy the immediate benefits.
From the Chilmari headquarters to the Duithana intersection, it can be seen that paving work has been done from the Upazila Matikata intersection to the College intersection. The old road pavement from the College intersection to Mudafathana Sarkarpara has been turned upside down, which is completely unsuitable for vehicle movement. Although the road from Sarkarpara intersection to Apu Hazir Bhata has been paved, the road work in the next section has not been completed yet.
Ashraf Ali, Majedul Islam, Shahin Mahmud and many others said that the bridge was built for the movement of people. However, the inauguration of the bridge without the road work in the Chilmari section is incomprehensible to us.
In this regard, Upazila Engineer Md. Zulfikar Ali said, the bridge will be inaugurated through a formal ceremony and the connection road has nothing to do with the bridge. He also said that the carpeting of 2,150 meters of the 5,230-meter road in the Chilmari section has been completed. 2,065 meters of the road are ready for carpeting, and there are land issues at two places on the remaining 700 meters of the road. Once the issues are resolved, the rest of the road will be worked on.
