A wooden bridge over the Bhadra River, the lone means to cross the river, collapsed recently within a week of construction, causing extreme sufferings to 10,000 residents of Shovona and Kharnia unions in Dumuria upazila of Khulna.

The Water Development Board completed the construction of the wooden bridge over the river in the third week of December in 2019 and opened it to traffic but a portion of the bridge caved in within a week, said locals.

Talking to UNB, local people alleged that the bridge collapsed within a very short time as it was built with substandard materials, intensifying their communication woes.

They said when the bridge was being constructed with substandard bamboo and timber they tried to resist it through staging demonstrations and forming a human chain but the authorities concerned continued the work ignoring their concern.

After completion of the construction work the authorities opened it to traffic on December 21 last year. On December 29, a portion of a bridge collapsed, making it unfit for use.

The bridge has turned so risky that even local people don’t dare to cross it on foot.

Locals said a huge quantity of vegetable is produced in Shovona union every year but famers are facing trouble with their produces this year due to communication problem.

Sardar Abdul Gony, chairman of Shovona Union Parishad, said the Water Development Board and a contractor farm built the bridge with substandard materials and they filed a General Diary against local people when they protested it.

Mohammad Hasnatuzzaman, section officer of Water Development Board, said the repair work of the bridge is going on to make it usable.

Gazi Ezaz Ahmed, chairman of Dumuria upazila Parishad, said the authorities concerned have been asked to investigate why the bridge caved in within a week.