Heavy vehicles still using risky bridge in Savar

It was around 3:30pm. A brick-laden truck was crossing the squeaking and rattling Bhakurta Steel Bridge over the Turag river in Savar.

But suddenly, a labourer, who was standing on the loads of the flat bed facing the opposite direction of travel, had his head hit by a concrete bar erected at its end. The bar had a sign that forbids heavy vehicles from using the bridge.

As the man screamed for help, the driver pulled over and then drove to the main road probably to take the injured to the nearest hospital.

The incident happened on March 7, just five days after The Daily Star published a photo of the rickety bridge. Its caption said buses and trucks use the bridge every day, ignoring the warning sign and posing risks.

Apparently, nothing has been done to repair the bridge since this correspondent made an earlier visit to the spot on March 1.

Heavy vehicles were still using the worn-out bridge that had a total of 240 steel plates. There were steel patches almost all over.

Also, two concrete bars with the warning signs on both sides of the bridge may cause further accidents at night as there was no street light.

Contacted, Amir Hossain, secretary of Bhakurta Union Parishad, said local UP Chairman Anwar Hossain and officials of the LGED upazila office took the initiative for erecting the bars on pillars a couple of years ago.

The move aimed at preventing heavy vehicles, which are also over 12-feet long, from using the bridge.

Over the last decade, Tk 1 lakh to 2 lakh has been spent every year to have the bridge repaired, he added.

UP Chairman Anwar Hossain claimed that they do repairs of the bridge almost every month.

Although there was no assessment of how unsafe the bridge was, LGED's Savar upazila engineer Khandker Asaduzzaman said, “I asked others not to let heavy vehicles use it.”

Sharful Anam Khan, Dhaka's divisional executive engineer, said they had replaced four steel plates with stronger ones and some of the nuts and bolts last month.

The LGED planned to continue its regular repairs of the bridge, he said.

Hundreds of CNG-run auto-rickshaws, human hauliers, minibuses, pick-ups, motorcycles, cars and trucks use the bridge daily, according to locals.

UP Chairman Anwar Hossain said the shipment from at least 40 brick kilns in Bhakurta union depends entirely on the bridge.    

The 379-feet bridge connects 27 villages of Bhakurta union, with about 30,000 residents, to the upazila town in Savar.

People from Kolatia, Taranagar, Hazratpur, and Ruhitpur of Keraniganj are also heavily dependent on it.