Engineers of the Roads and Highways Department (R&HD) and Mir Akhtar Hossain Ltd, the contractor of the Tk 49 crore project had to call off construction work at Basila end until they could formally complete the official procedure to acquire 'more land' for the bridge. The district administration of Dhaka had however completed all land acquisitions for Tk 15 crore in 2005 and 2006.

The project, funded by the Kuweit Fund for Arab Economic Development, is now '20 percent complete' and is scheduled to be completed by 2010. The bridge would facilitate creating two more alternative routes to Mawa road in the west and Savar road in the east and connect areas in Keraniganj and Dohar with Dhaka.

The problem started after the engineers of both R&HD and Mir Akhtar Hossain Ltd recently went to lay the path of the 2,300 feet long and 33 feet wide bridge on the basis of the map provided by the Development Design and Consultant Ltd, the official consultant of the project.

"When we compared the consultant's design sketch with the real situation on the ground we found out that it would be impossible to lay the path of the bridge until we had more land or part of the school demolished," said an engineer of the Mir Akhter Hossain Ltd requesting anonymity. "Now that we have installed other pillars avoiding the school we have no alternative to acquiring more land," he added. The source also said that they needed an additional 0.1399 acres of land for the work to resume.

The engineer said that the consultant had sketched the path avoiding the illegally extended part of the Basila Government Primary School. A source confirmed that the consultant was then asked to officially confirm the 'revision of the project design'.

The project director of the Third Buriganga Bridge Mozammel Haque on Februray 25 requested the central land allocation committee under the Ministry of Land to expedite the process of land acquisition for the sake of the project time frame.

Mohammad Manik and his family had originally lost their ancestral home to the bridge when the district administration acquired the land in 2005. Now the family is under renewed pressure for parting with whatever they are left with.

"A year ago we gave our ancestral home away. Now all on a sudden they realise that they need the rest of our land," said Manik adding that he and other family members demand why the illegal part of the school was not demolished as it had been planned.

According to sources the Education Engineering Department (formerly known as the Facilities Department) had built the school and used the additional land beside it illegally to build the staircase of the two-storey structure. The staircase was built temporarily 'without much expenditure' with the idea that one day it might be removed.

"It was all set initially that the illegal part of the school would be removed for the bridge but mysteriously it was never done, now they are targeting us to inflict further loss, which is injustice," said Manik.

Parents alleged that the school staircase is extremely risky and prone to collapse. "Every time children use the stairs, the structure vibrates dangerously," said a resident of Basila.