For want of a bridge over the Brahmaputra river, thousands of people from about 10 villages in the Sanmandi and Sadipur unions of Sonargaon upazila have suffered severe hardship for more than three decades. Every day, villagers must cross a bamboo footbridge at the risk of their lives to reach schools and colleges, markets and workplaces. When the footbridge is submerged in the monsoon season, boats are the area’s only recourse.
According to local sources, the Brahmaputra flows between Gulnagar village in Sadipur union and Kumarchar village in Sanmandi union. With no bridge over the river near Panchmighat Bazar, people from Kumarchar, Joar, Doulardi, Fatepur, Kulkandi, Darikandi, Sajalerkandi and about 10 surrounding villages cross the river on a temporary bamboo footbridge. Although a bamboo footbridge is built each dry season on the initiative of local people, when it goes under water in the monsoon, students, farmers, traders, sick patients and pregnant women all have to cross by boat at the risk of their lives. A Kumarchar resident, Abdul Haque, said they faced extreme difficulty transporting market goods and farm produce. Sonargaon upazila executive officer Asif Al Zinat told journalists that, on the direction of the member of parliament for the Narayanganj-3 (Sonargaon-Siddhirganj) seat, a proposal to build a bridge over the Brahmaputra had been sent to the ministry, and that steps would be taken for its quick implementation if the proposal was approved.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report