Brahmanbaria Road 217 in Disrepair: Commuters Suffer, Residents Await Repairs
Since the devastating 2024 floods, the severe deterioration of 217 gazetted roads in Brahmanpara upazila under Cumilla district has plunged residents into immense suffering. According to statistics from the Upazila Engineer’s Office, approximately 381 kilometers of road networks across eight unions became entirely impassable due to floodwaters. Data from the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) indicates that the affected infrastructure consists of 210 kilometers of unpaved dirt roads and 171 kilometers of paved roads, with most sections requiring urgent rehabilitation.
On-site observations and interviews with commuters highlight frequent accidents and extreme hardship during daily transit on these primary transport routes. Monu Mia, a resident of Sidlai village, expressed his distress regarding the Brahmanpara route, noting, ‘Traveling from Sidlai to Brahmanpara leaves you needing pain medication. At night, it’s difficult not just for people, but even for birds and animals to move along this road.’ Conditions remain equally severe across major arteries like the Bordhushia-Nagaish-Shashidal and South Chandla–Mandabag Deus roads.
Frustration continues to grow among community members who have had to resort to self-funded temporary fixes to maintain basic accessibility. Helal Uddin, a regular commuter on the Bordhushia-Nagaish-Shashidal route, remarked, ‘If someone hasn’t traveled on this road, they wouldn’t know what a road actually is or how many types exist. After the ’24 floods, we, the residents of Nagaish, repaired the road at our own expense to make it usable. Even after two and a half years, there is no visible improvement.’
The extreme road damage has severely disrupted local transport networks, making basic mobility and commercial transport nearly impossible. Resident Abdul Khalek, who commutes daily to the upazila headquarters for work, observed that operating three-wheelers like rickshaws or CNG-run auto-rickshaws has become completely impossible, leaving even walking as an arduous task. The worst-affected routes include the Dularpur-Balina, Brahmanpara-Sidlai, Sidlai-Kandughar, Harimangal-Bagra, North Chandla-Balakia, Sidlai-Berakhola, Bareshwar-Jiruin, Jiruin-Ramnagar, and Brahmanpara-Dularpur roads.
In response to the growing public crisis, Brahmanpara Upazila LGED Engineer Md. Golam Hossain Bhuiyan assured that official administrative actions are actively underway. He stated that the formal tender processes for most damaged paved and unpaved roads within the upazila are either finalized or currently in progress. Construction has already commenced on several stretches, with the remaining projects set to begin shortly, expressing optimism that visible infrastructure development will become apparent in the coming months upon completion.
