Bridge collapse halts traffic in Jhenaidah for nine months, suffering mounts

JHENAIDAH, Apr 11 (UNB): Traffic movement has remained suspended for the past nine months after a 45-year-old bridge collapsed in the Kumrabaria and Maharajpur areas under Sadar upazila of Jhenaidah, causing severe public suffering.

Although the bridge collapsed around nine months ago, reconstruction work has yet to begin, locals said. Local people have built a temporary bamboo footbridge on their own initiative, which has now become risky to use.

Local Union Parishad Chairman Khurshid Alami Mia said the road connecting Kumrabaria and Maharajpur unions, locally known as the Bishoykhali GC-Nagarbathaan GC via Defolbari road, was constructed about 45 years ago. The bridge over a canal under the Ganges-Kobadak (GK) irrigation project was built by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) in the Bhabanipur-Defolbari area.

Kumrabaria Union Parishad Chairman Sirajul Islam said the bridge collapsed in 2025 due to heavy rainfall and strong water currents. "Despite repeated appeals by local representatives to the authorities concerned, no reconstruction work has been undertaken so far, increasing the suffering of commuters, transport operators and goods carriers."