A section of the Tetultala-Lota road in Lota union, Paikgacha, Khulna, has collapsed under the force of saline water discharged from shrimp enclosures, completely cutting off communication in the area.
The Tetultala portion of the 2.94-kilometer road, which runs from Shankardana ferry ghat to Katamari Bazar via Taltala ferry ghat in the upazila, collapsed under the pressure of the water. Alongside cutting off communication, saline water is now entering the settlements inland through the collapsed section. With the only road serving the wider area cut off, residents have faced hardship for the past four days, with schoolchildren and college students particularly affected.
Locals said reconstruction of the 2.94-kilometer road, which runs through a riverine, shrimp-enclosure-dominated part of the upazila, began at a cost of 24,941,469 taka. Contractor Messrs Zakatullah and Brothers won the reconstruction work under the Amphan project.
The contractor received the work order on April 25, 2025, and began work that was supposed to be completed by Oct. 14 of the same year. But after a slow start, the contractor failed to finish on schedule, and has so far completed only about 30% of the work.
The contractor has said the delay was due to the project area’s highly remote, marginal location, which requires transporting sand — one of the road’s key materials — a long distance by boat and pipe fitting from Kathamari. Sand-filling work was temporarily halted midway due to faults in the dredger and other machinery.
The contractor said roughly 200-300 feet of sand-filling work remains at the road’s final section, while sub-base work has been completed on at least a kilometer of the starting section.
On the road’s collapse under the force of the water, the contractor said the location, where a culvert is planned, sits relatively low, making that section of road easily vulnerable to the extra pressure of tidal water.
Locals allege that by working during the monsoon rather than the dry season, the contractor has effectively forced the marginalized community to live in a state of isolation, citing communication issues as an excuse. They say their hardship has now reached its peak after the road collapsed under excess tidal pressure, letting saline water from the river and shrimp enclosures into the settlement.
Young schoolchildren and college students in the area have faced the worst of the hardship, soaking their clothes and carrying books and notebooks on their heads as they risk crossing the broken section of road. Farmers and ordinary fish and shrimp farmers have also struggled to transport goods to market and access emergency medical care.
Locals are angry that while mismanagement of water discharge by shrimp-enclosure owners and excess tidal pressure caused the under-construction road to collapse, the contractor’s prolonged delay is to blame for the underlying problem.
The relevant engineering department said the crisis stemmed from a delay in sand supply due to mechanical faults, but said work would resume at double speed very soon.
Upazila Engineer Md Shafin Shoeb said the damage to the road is being closely monitored. The contractor has been given strict instructions to quickly install ring culverts or an alternative embankment to hold back the water at the collapsed section and fill it with sand to make it passable again. Negligence in the work will not be tolerated, he said.