Bridge work stalled

The work of a bridge over the Nautara River on Lalmonirhat-Nilphamari-Panchagarh road in Dimla upazila under the district has remained stalled for about a year due to a dispute between the construction firm and the upazila engineer of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).

For want of the bridge, tens of thousands of people of Jaldhaka, Dimla and Domar upazilas in Nilphamari, Hatibandha and Patgram in Lalmonirhat and Deviganj and Boda in Panchagarh have to cover additional 20 kilometres to go to different destinations by buses and trucks.

Work order to construct the 75-metre-long and 5.5-metre-wide concrete bridge was given to construction firm Messrs Shamimur Rahman JV on March 27 last year to complete it by this year, said sources of upazila engineering department in Dimla.

The estimated cost to construct the bridge was about Tk 2.37 crore but the firm agreed to do it for about Tk 1.96 crore, some 18% less, allegedly to receive the work order easily.

Saiful Islam Lenin, chairman of Nautara union parishad, said the firm started the work in time and brought construction materials but removed those within a few days.

Saidul Islam, site caretaker of the construction firm, said after starting the work, the upazila engineer made a number of deliberate objections, making it difficult to continue the work.

Abu Jafar Saleh, upazila engineer of LGED, said, "The contractor started using low quality stones and cheap composite cement and planned to do low quality work for piling. I will not allow sub-standard work by any means."

Contractor of the work, Md Jewel claimed that he did not use any low quality materials.

"As per rule, certain amount of initial fund is to be released to start the work but the authorities concerned didn't release any money for the purpose. Besides, two pillars of the old bridge sold in auction are still standing in the river, making it difficult to continue the work," he added.

Executive engineer of LGED in Nilphamari, Belal Hossain said the work order in favour of the construction firm might be cancelled and the deposit money forfeited if it fails to do the work in time as per schedule.