Kalapara UNO stops substandard school building construction

Kalapara School building construction halted for using substandard materials.

Patuakhali: Kalapara UNO Md. Jahangir Hossain stopped the construction work of the 5-storied school building of the Directorate of Education and Engineering using low-quality construction materials in Kalapara of Patuakhali. On Sunday (July 23) afternoon, UNO Md. Jahangir Hossain visiting Dhankhali Maher Uddin

(MU) Secondary School of the upazila, at that time he stopped the construction work after finding low-quality construction materials on the side of the construction work of the five-storied building.

Earlier, UNO stopped the election in Dhankhali MU secondary school due to irregularities in the formation of school management committee.

Recently, due to the application of several hundreds of SSC candidates from several secondary schools in Dhankhali and Champapur, UNO visited the school for SSC exam center then he ordered to stop the construction work for the time being as there is evidence of the use of low-quality plaster sand, bricks and stones in the construction of the building. And UNO requested the Patuakhali Department of Education and Engineering to inspect the lab test and emergency visit the construction materials.

Meanwhile, under the supervision of the Department of Education and Engineering, the construction work is going on in several school campuses of the upazila, including girls' secondary school in Kalapara town. Allegations have been made against the contractor for completing most of the work with low-quality materials by managing the concerned school management committee, head teacher, engineering directorate in exchange of money. The demand of students and parents is to check the quality of these works in public interest before paying the final bill.

Kalapara UNO Md. Jahangir Hossain said, after verifying the lab test and inspection report of the construction materials, the construction work will be started again after confirming the quality. He further said that our utmost efforts will continue to ensure safe education system for future generations.

Md. Shahidul Islam, Executive Engineer of Patuakhali Education and Engineering Directorate said, Shafiq Enterprise and Khan Traders are jointly implementing the construction work of the 5-storied building of MU Secondary School with a cost of Tk 3 crore 71 lakh. He was informed about the stoppage of work. Lab tests of the materials used have been undertaken. Besides, the concerned contractors have been asked to work with quality construction materials.

However, no statement was received from the contractor regarding the use of low-quality materials. - Gofran Biswas Palash