Rural roads in Sylhet are in poor condition, no initiative to repair them

In the past few years, rural roads in the Sylhet region have collapsed due to several floods. Currently, the damaged roads have become death traps. The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) claims that the allocation for repairs was not received during the previous government’s tenure, so the suffering is not ending.

The socio-economic context of the Sylhet region was severely damaged in the terrible floods of 2017 and 2022. Without being able to overcome this damage, the flood of 2024 added to the damage.

In the past few years, the condition of many roads in 35 upazilas of four districts of Sylhet division has deteriorated due to three floods. In some places, roads, bridges and culverts have been washed away by the water. Due to this, the suffering of the people has reached an extreme level. Vehicles are being damaged. Transportation costs are also increasing.

The victims and transport workers said that they cannot drive properly on the roads. Due to the poor condition of the roads, cars break down every two days. There is also a risk to movement. Everyone is suffering from the poor condition of this connecting road connecting 5 tourist centers including Jaflong-Sadapathar. Everyone wants to get out of this situation. However, the previous government did not take any steps to repair these roads.

LGED says that work is not possible at present as the application for allocation made during the previous government to repair the damaged roads was not approved. Sylhet LGED Senior Assistant Engineer AKM Shahidul Islam said that it has not been possible to work on several major roads for the past 4-5 years. Although the project was expected to be approved, it did not happen. As a result, the repair work has not been done. LGED has sought an allocation of Tk 500 crore for the road repair of Sylhet division on an urgent basis.