Repair roads before Eid

Floods and rains are realities for Bangladesh. If appropriate preparations are taken ahead of natural calamities including floods, the sufferings of the people can be minimised. If post-flood activities are done properly, the comfort of the affected people can be ensured. But, it cannot be said that floods have been tackled efficiently this year. Supplies of relief materials and medicines for flood affected people could not be ensured as per need. Now we have to wait to see how the post-flood situation is managed.

A major portion of roads and highways in the country is already in bad shape. The floods have damaged the roads and highways further. According to the Roads and Highways Department’s control room, the floods have damaged 396 kilometres roads under their authority. The disaster management department, however, claims the length of damaged roads is much higher. Total damage cannot be ascertained now as many areas are still under water. According to the disaster management department, a total of 172.78 kilometres road have been ruined entirely and 3,303 kilometres of road have been damaged partially. The floods have affected 27 districts. There is no doubt that the amount of damage will be much higher once information from all the districts is available.

The Eid ul-Azha is set to be celebrated within a few weeks. If the roads are not repaired, the homeward people will have to suffer a lot. Some 11 out of 65 divisions of the RHD have been damaged. The divisions include Gaibandha, Kurigram, Rangpur and Netrokona. Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader on Monday said the roads affected by the floods are being repaired on an emergency basis. He also claimed that the condition of roads is much better now than any time in the past.

The Eid journey of the homebound people will be smooth or not, depends on repairing the roads before the Eid. Smooth journey also depends on the discipline on roads. The minister has talked about taking some steps in this regard. Except the vehicles carrying cattle, the movement of heavy vehicles will be restricted during the Eid and CNG stations will remain open for 24 hours. If the decisions are implemented, it will yield a good result. The passengers sometimes suffer due to crisis of ferries. So the matter has to be dealt in a comprehensive manner.

Steps have to be taken to repair all the damaged roads before the Eid. The authorities have to be kept in mind that it may rain during the Eid. The roads have to be repaired properly. Necessary funds have to be released.

The length of roads across the country is 21,578 kilometres. Of those roads, RHD maintains national and regional highways and roads in the district level. Different organisations of the local government maintain roads at upazila level. There must be coordination among different departments as roads are linked to each other.

Repair the damaged roads immediately leaving the mentality that everything is alright and there is no problem.