Residents in Gournadi, Barishal, planted rice seedlings in the potholes of two roads that have gone unrepaired for a long time, in protest over their dilapidated condition. The unusual protest took place Sunday morning at various points along the Helipad Road — the only major road connecting Gournadi municipality to the Dhaka-Barishal highway — and the Shaulkar Road in Batajor union.
News of the protest, planting rice seedlings in the road’s potholes and mud, quickly created a stir in the area.
Local sources said the important Helipad Road, connecting Gournadi municipality to the Dhaka-Barishal highway, and the Shaulkar Road in Batajor union, have developed countless potholes of various sizes over a long period. The carpeting has come off most of the roughly 1.25-kilometer stretch, turning much of it into a muddy track.
This has caused severe hardship for residents of about five villages who depend on these two roads. With the roads impassable for a long time and no visible initiative to repair them, local anger has built up. That anger led residents to plant rice seedlings at various muddy, pothole-riddled points along the roads Sunday morning in protest.
Local residents allege that despite the roads’ long-dilapidated condition, the relevant authorities have shown little initiative toward repair or development. The situation has become even worse during the monsoon, with rainwater and mud making normal travel on the roads difficult.
Students and ordinary pedestrians in particular face severe hardship traveling on the roads, and locals say transporting patients in emergencies has also become a problem.
Affected residents said they resorted to the unusual method of planting rice seedlings in the road’s potholes specifically to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to this long-standing hardship.
Local pedestrian Md. Samsul Haque said, “Due to a lack of repairs, this municipal road has become impassable. Small and large accidents happen daily because of the broken road. We want this problem solved quickly. If the two roads are repaired soon, it will ease the long-standing hardship of people in this area.”
On repairing Shaulkar Road, Atiqur Rahman Mia, sub-assistant engineer at Gournadi Upazila LGED, responsible for Batajor union, said, “We will inspect the road on-site and send a proposal for repair soon.”
On the municipality’s Helipad Road, Gournadi municipality’s executive engineer, Abdus Saleque, said, “Given its public importance, steps will be taken quickly to repair the road.”