A laudable move!
Locals unite to widen their street
Avik Sanwar Rahman
For long, the residents of Shantinagar witnessed how their locality was growing haphazardly. As new buildings were built, the road into the area became increasingly narrow. Like in any other unplanned area of the city, the plots in this area were never set in a planned way.The narrow Shantinagar road became totally blocked at one point when some musclemen forcibly took over the road. But residents have recently united to fight back and get hold of the possession of the road linking Shantinagar with Inner Circular Road, with the help of their local MP, Mirza Abbas. The width of the road had narrowed down to nine feet because of encroachment, but now the success of taking back its possession has inspired the local people to shift the boundary walls of their own homes inward by two to three feet to expand the road. "People are enthusiastic and even breaking their own walls for expansion of the road," said Engineer Saidul Alam, convenor of the Shantinagar Shamaj Kalyan Samity, a neighbourhood welfare committee. The committee was formed to solve the problems the locals have been facing for long. The problem of the road was more nagging for them. "We have solved the gas and water supply problems in our area. Now widening the road is our priority," says Saifur Rahman Dulal, a resident of Shantinagar. Although Shantinagar residents are living in the heart of the city, they were deprived in many ways due to the narrow road. "The road was so narrow that truck, ambulance, fire-brigade vehicle could not enter it," said Obaidur Rahman Paltu of Shantinagar. The dynamism of the young generation and the guidance of the elderly together made it possible to recover the road from encroachment, but the tougher task -- completion of the expansion work -- is ahead. The widening of the 1,500 feet long road depends on the collective will. "We have vowed to complete the road this time. People started to understand the value of a wider road," said Ashraful Haq Titu. The price of the land is about Tk 16 lakh a katha, whereas the house rent for 1,000 square feet is Tk 5,000 only. If the road is widened back to 15 feet, the landlords will benefit from it, as the rent of 1,000 square feet will increase to Tk 10,000. The price of the land will be Tk 20 lakh a katha, says Saidur Rahman Titu. Local landowners agreed to contribute part of their land to widening the road. The widening of the road will be a relief for 5,000 inhabitants of Shantinagar.
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