Sonaimuri (Noakhali) Correspondent:
In Ward No. 7 (Barla-Dushwimpara-Naotala village) of Sonaimuri Municipality, in order to please a few local people, excluding the main road used for hundreds of years, Monir Ahmed of Bhuiyan village is building a different road with the money from the municipal fund to widen the road to their house in the same area. This has created a stir in the area as it has created difficulties in the movement of people from 3 villages, which has created discontent among the people. According to local sources and on-site reports, from the north end of the 65.14 feet long and 14 feet wide bridge built on the canal on the east side of the Barla Abdur Rezzak Master Market in the Sonaimuri municipality, thousands of people from the Barla-Dushwimpara-Naotala villages have been moving along the canal side road to the Sonaimuri railway station for hundreds of years. This road is recorded as a road in the survey design. Hundreds of people from the area, including local workers Mia, Ratan, Ali Akkas, condemned this incident and said that thousands of people from the west of Razzak Master’s house and from three villages including Barla Purba Para, Naotala and Dushwimpara have been moving towards Sonaimuri through this road for hundreds of years. As several mosques and madrasas have been built in the area, students and Muslims can easily move along this road. During the tenure of former mayor of the municipality, Motaher Hossain Manik, the Borla Dushwampara bridge was constructed and the road was renovated in a planned manner to facilitate the movement of people from 3 villages. But now, under the supervision and control of the administrator of Sonaimuri Municipality, in the name of road renovation, the construction of the road in a different way has been done in an unethical manner to please a few families from the local Bhuiyan family, leaving the main road aside and creating discontent among the people. Locals Eyakub and Nur Islam expressed their anger and said, the municipal administrator is a government official, his house is not in this area and he has never walked on this road for three days, so how can he understand the future movement of thousands of people from three villages? The unplanned construction of this road is nothing but misuse of public tax money. Many people in the area, on condition of anonymity, said that the authorities concerned were doing such a thing due to regular entertainment and immoral compulsion from a few people from Bhuiyan’s house.
Khokon Khan, a former councilor of Ward No. 7 of the municipality, said, “During my tenure, I had given a scheme to renovate and pave the road that people have been using for centuries. In the meantime, the government had exempted us from the responsibility in a notification. We could not get the road scheme passed. It is sad to change and expand that scheme, ignore the main road and build and renovate such a road to please someone, ignoring the needs of the people.
When asked about this, Sonaimuri Municipal Executive Officer Mostaq Ahmed Talukder said, “The matter is the work of the Development Committee and the Municipal Engineering Sector. I do not know how it happened.”
When asked about this, Municipal Engineer Mohammad Saifuzzaman avoided the subject and said, “Since we have learned about it from you (the report), we will send people to verify it later.” Despite repeated calls to the mobile phone of Municipal Administrator and Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nasrin Akhtar, her statement could not be obtained as she did not receive the call.
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