Digging leaves Mirpur roads in a shambles

Commuters in the capital's Mirpur are struggling due to the ongoing road digging that started in November last year for implementing the government's Metro Rail Project. The road connecting Mirpur, Sheorapara and Taltola are witnessing massive traffic congestion every day. It has turned narrower due to the digging and piling of construction materials on roads. They have to factor in an additional hour or so now to reach their destinations. Sadia Afroze, a Mirpur resident and student of the Holy Cross College, said it takes her more than two hours to reach college from home. Earlier it would just take an hour. Commuters say the road digging has also polluted air in the area alarmingly.

"While crossing the road, I can hardly see anything due to the dust. This can lead to accidents any time," said Sadia. Many commuters came up with similar complaints, as they walk down the road wearing face masks. Walking the roads for them is not easy. Street vendors, wastes, illegal parking and puddles have made the situation worse. Authorities have turned a blind eye and commuters say the digging has been "mindless and haphazard." "Metrorail project is a great thing. But these works could be more organized," said Sajjad Sayem, who works for a bank. Hafizur Rahman, a worker involved in the digging, said it might continue for a few more months.  Commuters would continue to face much difficulty as the underground pipelines of a number of utility services are being relocated at the same time, he said.

Mofazzol Hossain, director of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Develo-pment Project (Metrorail), admitted that their "inexperience" and "attempt to finish all tasks at a time" has led to problems for commuters. Authorities have started relocating underground pipelines of Dhaka WASA, DESA, DESCO, PGCB, Titas, BTCL, Grameenphone and Fiber at Home. They lie on the proposed route for Metro Rail.

All the underground lines from Agargaon to Mirpur 10 intersection will now be laid through a new 3.2 km duct. After the decision in June, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) was ordered to start digging out their lines. To install the duct, the digging started on November 1 last year. "We have flagged the utility service providers whose pipelines fall in the area. Now they are being exhumed. It created some problems in the beginning but things are okay now," Director Hossain said. All the underground pipelines from Mirpur to Karwan Bazar would be relocated and the task might continue until April, he added. "We aim to finish the work in one go to avoid future hassles. We are taking measures to mitigate the possible inconveniences," said the project director. - bdnews24.com