Indira Road residents suffer as authorities dig open main road

Who knows when the Indira Road will be back to normal.

Quazi Shahreen Haqbdnews24.com
Published : 30 June 2015, 05:06 AM
Updated : 30 June 2015, 09:26 AM

It has been more than a month since the main street there was dug open, causing tremendous suffering to thousands of residents.

Indira Road is linked to Farmgate, one of the busiest areas in the capital.

Its main road goes all the way to Panthapath after crossing Farmgate, Khamarbarhi and East Razarbagh.

Water logging, which followed the rains, has added to the woes at Indira Road.

The residents say they want the street renovated but the work should not take so long.

The entire length of the road has been dug up to fix the sewerage lines without any prior notice, they said.  

People cross the road, closed on both sides, stepping over mud and big holes.

Two huge sewerage pipes were blocking the entire street from Farmgate to Indira Road and all the manholes were wide open.

“This road was under water just two days ago,” said ‘Hasan’, a driver at East Razabazar, pointing at the gaping manholes. “Three to four people fell into them.”

He said he has not been able to bring the car out since digging began more than a month ago.

Md Shahin lives and works as a chartered accountant on Indira Road.

“My office is near an alley called Noakhali Road. Ten to 15 minutes of rain and it is under water. There was knee-deep water there for the past few days.

“Nothing except a rickshaw could go through.”  

The digging is to fix the drainage system, he said, but accused authorities of negligence because they failed to inform locals in advance. 

Rabeya Siddiqui Runi of Indira Road works in product design and development for a furniture business. She walks home from Khamarbarhi.

“It’s been like this for a long time. There was no notice before the diggings, it’s a government job, so it just started abruptly.”

But those renovating the street said the work is progressing fast and it has not been a month since it started.

Worker Shahjahan said, “We’ve been digging for the past 20 days. We’ll finish before Eid.”

'Sujon', the contractor, did not respond to calls.