Photo : Messenger
A busy road on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border has become a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of people due to 2,000 potholes in just 2 kilometers. Despite this condition persisting for two years, the authorities are turning a blind eye. The road is maintained by the Ramu LGED (Local Government Engineering Department).
Passengers traveling on this road report that it is the Gorgonia Bazaar connecting road in Ramu Upazila. Although this road falls under Ramu Upazila, it ends at the Myanmar border. The road passes through Naikhongchhari Upazila of Bandarban and then re-enters the Ramu area, connecting to Gorgonia Bazaar. This section is only 2 kilometers long.
Sources reveal that this road runs from the canal near Naikhongchhari Police Station to Gorgonia Bazaar. The 2-kilometer stretch contains at least 2,000 large potholes, with an additional 1,000 smaller ones.
In this dire situation, more than 100,000 people from 4 unions of Ramu and Naikhongchhari Upazilas have no choice but to use this road, including students, businessmen, office-goers, and court employees traveling to the upazila and district levels.
Local residents add that this road is crucial for the activities of three markets in the eastern part of the two upazilas and for border-related operations. Additionally, countless people use this road to transport agricultural products and conduct business. However, no initiatives have been taken to repair or reconstruct the road yet.
Despite the LGED not prohibiting the use of heavy vehicles on this road, even in its deteriorated condition, they continue to regularly travel on it. Meanwhile, goods-laden trucks still operate on the road, as Gorgonia Bazaar is the only major weekly market for the southeastern border residents of Cox's Bazar and Bandarban. On market days, at least 20,000 people come to buy and sell goods, with a large portion of them using this Bailey road.
Ramu Upazila Engineer Manjur Hasan Chowdhury stated, "We currently have no allocation to repair the bridge. However, the director of the road widening and strengthening project has informed me that work on the bridge will begin once the market widening is completed. There are no plans for any repairs before that."
Messenger/Fameema
