LALMAI, Cumilla — About 20,000 people from at least seven villages in the Perul Uttar and Bakai Uttar unions of Lalmai upazila have for 19 years risked their safety crossing a rickety bamboo bridge. During the monsoon, the bridge becomes the only way across the Dakatia river.
With no bridge over the river at Alishwar and Bhabakpara, residents of Alishwar, Nurpur, Kasraish, Bhabakpara, Shikaripara, Gachkara and Para Bhabakpara villages have been forced to collect bamboo themselves each year to repair the makeshift crossing.
Local residents said Alishwar Government Primary School, Alishwar High School, the deeniya madrasa and Alishwar Bazar are on the east side of the river. Hundreds of students and ordinary people use the bridge daily. The crossing is particularly risky for the elderly, women and pregnant women, and accidents happen often, they said.
Mokbul Mia, a local farmer, said he fell into the river last year on his way back from a field with straw when his foot got stuck between the bamboo poles. “People came and rescued me,” he said.
Another resident, who asked not to be named, said he had been hearing for years that a bridge would be built, but nothing had happened.
Saiful Islam, general secretary of the BNP’s Bakai Uttar union unit, said thousands of villagers face hardship every day. “We urge the government to end this public suffering by building a permanent bridge,” he said.
Dr. Shahjahan Mojumdar, president of the Lalmai Press Club, said a bridge would not only ease people’s hardship but also accelerate the area’s education, business and overall development.
Lalmai Upazila Executive Officer Himadri Khisha said the request to build a bridge at the site would be sent to the Department of Disaster Management on a priority basis to ease people’s travel. Source: Kalbela.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report