‘Rundown roads belong to LGED’

Communications Minister Obaidul Quader has said the rickety roads whose images are being published in the media do not come under the purview of his ministry.

While visiting Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at Narayanganj on Thursday, he told reporters he had been targeted unfairly by publishing reports about monsoon-ravaged roads.

Their upkeep was the responsibility of the LGED (Local Government Engineering Department) and not of Roads and Highways Department, he remarked.

The minister, however, said he would not protest against the news reports.

Claiming that the highways had been made suitable for traffic, he said sufferings of passengers during this Eid-ul-Fitr would be less.

Earlier in the morning, he visited Gulistan road in the capital.

Quader, who took over as the communications minister towards the end of previous Awami League-led government and holds the same portfolio in the incumbent government, frequently visits roads and highways to oversee their condition.

Though Local Government and Rural Development Minister Syed Ashraful Islam once criticised Quader for his role, he said he would not change his ‘style’ of functioning.

When reporters asked him about the outcome of road visits, the communications minister said his visits were certainly bringing benefits.

“Here at Gulistan, there are no hawkers on the footpath, there are no traffic congestions. The traffic movement is normal.”

Restrictions were imposed on street vending at Gulistan since morning as the minister was supposed to visit the area.

However, the hawkers resumed their business as soon as the minister left the area.