Faisal Azam Apu, Chapainawabganj: Locals have written to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stop the acquisition of houses in the central residential area from Goalpara-Daudpur Road adjacent to Kamal Uddin Girls High School in Ward No. 2 of Chapainawabganj Municipality. According to the application signed by 31 homeowners, the construction of this new road will cost a lot of money by acquiring these lands worth crores of rupees. The land being acquired to build the road from Goalpara-Daudpur Road to Basic Bank has about 60 houses in the area. Also there is no big turn at the beginning and end of the road. Even in the middle of the road the width is much less, pedestrians will have to face huge problems in traffic. Considering the overall aspect, the locals have stopped the acquisition of houses and looked for alternative roads. Before the application was sent to the Prime Minister, on October 29, 2017, the locals along with the Prime Minister, Secretary of the Ministry of Land, Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, Member of Parliament and Chapainawabganj Municipal Mayor applied.
According to the application, the proposed road from Goalpara-Daudpur Road to Basic Bank is very narrow, with a length of the first 150 feet and a width of 6-7 feet. The width of the next 100 feet is only 3 feet. The next 330 feet road from Daudpur to Basic Bank is 8-10 feet wide. The length of the proposed road from Goalpara-Daudpur Road to Basic Bank is 870 feet and there are 60 houses on both sides of this road. The construction of the road will require demolition of many residential houses and parts of houses. This will make many middle and lower middle class families homeless in this area. Most families will not be able to make up for the loss. Even the acquisition of houses on both sides of the road would hurt many people on the one hand, and increase the government`s financial spending several times over on the other.
Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal, a local resident, said, "When we compare the road between Goalpara-Daudpur Road to Basic Bank and the locals` proposed alternative Madrasa Junction-Walton Junction, we see that there are 60 families living in Goalpara Road. The more, the more the cost. On the other hand, the locals will have to acquire 7-8 houses on the road proposed by the Madrasa junction. The width will be doubled and the length will be reduced a lot.
Moha, a resident of Goalpara. Anwar Ahsan, Md. Locals including Iqbal Hossain, Tariqul Islam, Nurul Islam demanded to acquire 60 one-storey, two-storey, three-storey houses at a higher cost, stop the acquisition of narrow high-distance road houses, buy 6-7 houses at low cost Demanded to start work as.