TA Panna, Roving Correspondent, Ishurdi

It has become urgent to construct underbridge no. 210 near Ishwardi Railgate, which is compared to the Huanghe River in China. Since almost a hundred years ago, the railgate has divided the city of Ishwardi into two parts, east and west.

 Due to this, about five lakh people living in Ishwardi have to suffer at least 35 times a day. Due to the movement of trains every time, long-distance buses, trucks and various types of vehicles have to suffer on both sides of the railgate for 30 minutes with numerous passengers and goods. Similarly, numerous local people from various professions and ambulances carrying patients on both sides of the railgate have to be stuck.

Many patients have also died while stuck at the railgate. Not only that, passengeru use  and freight trucks from Khulna, Jessore, Chapainawabganj and Bagha Rajshahi regions have to be stuck at this rail gate. Due to this, people working hours are lost every day and they are also facing financial losses. To save peopler fom this suffering, reports were published in various ways in the local newspapersn icluding Dainik Janakantha and Bijoydeepta about seven years ago. For the samee reason, the cooperation of the then DRM of Pakshi and the current DG of Railways, Afzal Hossain and other senior officials was sought. Even if the officials were sincere, the issue of building a tunnel under bridge no. 210 was still pending at that time.

 Finally, in May 2024, the issue of the daily suffering of people at Ishwardi Rail Gate came to the attention of two Birbal Mandals, the divisional engineers of Pakshi Railway, who are known to be patriotic and responsible officials. Since then, he has been continuously trying to build a tunnel under the bridge to alleviate the suffering of people. He has recently applied to the Pakshi Divisional Railway Manager for permission to build a tunnel. Earlier, he had Pakshi Divisional Railway Manager Liaquat Sharif Khan inspect the bridge on site.In his application to the Pakshi Divisional Railway Manager for permission to build a tunnel under bridge number 210, he wrote, Ishwardi Junction Station is the largest junction station of Bangladesh Railway. From this junction station, 09 pairs of trains run daily only towards Khulna. In addition, other freight trains also run.

The only way to travel to Bagha, Rajshahi, Pabna, Dhaka and other regions is through the rail gate adjacent to this station in Ishwardi. But since 09 pairs of trains and other trains run over this rail gate, the rail gate is closed for at least 30 minutes eery time a train passes through. As a result, every train passes through it, causinge serious traffic jams and causing suffering to the people. 

An underpasse needs to be constructed at this location. It is known that an underpass was  reviously constructed under bridge no. 210 located at km 204/1-2 adjacent to Ishwardi Railgate. Through which small vehicles such as rickshaws/vans, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, etc. can ply. The said underpass is closed due to the evolution of time. 

If this underpass can be reactivated/repaired and started, then the people of this region will be saved from the traffic jams caused by every train passing through Ishwardi Railgate. Therefore, it is necessary to construct/operate an underpass under bridge no. 210 located at km 204/1-2 adjacent to Ishwardi