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A newly constructed culvert in Jashore Manirampur upazila collapsed in the middle three days after it was opened for public traffic. The location of the culvert is in Saraskathi village of the upazila.
A part of the culvert roof collapsed on Friday. Two more sections have been roofed.
Pedestrians have to walk on the road at risk as the culvert is broken in the middle of the road. The Upazila Project Implementation Officer (PIO) office has allocated Tk 67,000 for the construction of the culvert.
The culvert has been constructed on a dirt road in the village with Billal Hossain, a member of the Union Parishad of Saraskathi Ward of Rohita Union, as the project president.
Allegations have been raised that UP member Billal spent less than half of the allocation for the construction of the culvert and pocketed the rest.
According to the office of the Upazila Project Implementation Officer, Ministry of Disaster and Relief allocates one box culvert to each union with 40 days program work each time.
Construction of a culvert started in Saraskathi village of Rohita Union last month with an allocation of 67 thousand taka.
UP member Billal, president of the project, has been given 67,000 taka in two installments for this work.
It has been found that at the beginning of construction of 20 feet long and 5-6 feet wide culverts, brick soles must be woven with sand below.
Then 6 inches should be cast down with iron rod. After that, 10 inch brick wall is built on both sides and 12 mm iron rod is thickly woven and 6 inch welded on top.
Golam Sarwar, assistant engineer of PIO office, is supposed to be present during both the top and bottom welding. Locals complained that no one from the upazila came to see the work. The UP member happily constructed the culvert with nominal rod cement.
Aminul Islam Shilpi, a former UP member of Saraskathi Ward, said,Many people in the village saw the work during the construction of the culvert. I heard that bamboo is used in culverts. It is estimated that 25 to 30 thousand taka have been spent on the culvert.
On investigation, it was found that UP member Billal dug the soil for the culvert with the workers of the another project to save costs. Again, the construction work of the culvert was done with the workers of the program.
UP member Billal Hossain said, 22 days ago the roof of the culvert was poured. On Friday, the centering was opened and the culvert was opened for the people. Soon after this, the roof collapsed as a truck loaded with paddy went over the culvert. UP member Billal Hossain said that 53 thousand taka were spent on the culvert work. I will repair the culvert again due to collapse.
Upazila Project Implementation Officer Deputy Assistant Engineer Golam Sarwar said, Received news of a new culvert collapse in Rohita Union. Project president UP member Billal Hossain has been asked to demolish the roof of the culvert and build a new one.
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