Our Correspondent :
Women are repairing, beautifying and maintaining rural roads in Sakhipur, Tangail. A group of women are cleaning and maintaining the green road with shovels, spades and sticks just as women clean their doors and beautify their homes, the road is no exception. Shadows all around, green ceremonies, cuckoos in trees, storks, tia, carcasses, etc. A variety of birds chirping and dancing, all we look at is green nature.
Every day from 8 am to 2 pm, he works for the repair and maintenance of rural roads including beautification. A group of 10 women in each union works 8 days a week on various rural roads under LGED in the respective unions.
120 women road maintenance workers of 6 unions of Sakhipur upazila of Tangail are keeping the proof that women are equally skilled in all tasks not only inside the house but also outside.
According to Upazila LGED sources, women workers usually do minor repairs and maintenance work. If there is grass on the carpeting, they have to remove it, if there is water in the side of the road, drain it for drainage, fill those holes, repair the soil on the shoulder of the road, remove the bushes on the side of the road, etc.
Laili Begum, Beauty Akhter and Molly Akhter and Hasna Begum, women activists of Gazaria Union and Kalia Union of the upazila said, “I get this job with a monthly salary of Tk 8,500.” In between, 2400 rupees per month has to be deposited in the bank account as savings. With the money I get from doing this, I am living well with my family members. I am able to educate my child.
They work on ‘Rural Employment and Road Maintenance Program-3 (RERMP-3)’. The duration of this program is 4 years. On the other hand, 4 supervisors (male) and 40 female workers are working on 4 roads of the upazila under the Labor Contacting Society (LCS). They work for a monthly salary of 9 thousand rupees. They also deposit Rs 3,000 monthly in the bank account. The duration of their program is 3 years.
According to locals, all the women working on the roads are destitute or have abandoned their husbands. As a result of hiring women workers for these maintenance jobs, on the one hand, unemployment is coming to an end and on the other hand, the stability of the road is increasing. As a result local people are benefiting.
Majnu Mia, an autorickshaw driver from Kachua village, said the women had been working on the road for the past few years. There is no more grass on the road or on the side of the road, there are no bushes, there is no water, there is no hole. As a result, safety has increased in road movement. Accidents have been greatly reduced by reducing the risk of movement of vehicles and pedestrians.
According to LGED sources, the ongoing project is monitoring all the work between the Upazila Engineer and the Executive Engineer Lockdown. He is instructing everyone to fulfill their responsibilities in accordance with the health rules. As a result, the pace of work on the project has returned.
Local Government Engineering Department Sakhipur Upazila Engineer SM Hasan Ibne Mizan said in this regard, a Facebook group consisting of Upazila Engineers, Deputy Assistant Engineers, Supervisors and COs has been opened. It monitors the details of daily work virtually. No worker can evade work; Opening the group has greatly increased the pace of project work and can quickly communicate with all concerned.
He further said that under LGED’s ‘Rural Employment and Road Maintenance Program-3 (RERMP-3)’, rural road maintenance such as paved road shoulders, road slopes, rain cut repairs, filling of ditches caused by various types of vehicles, damage to natural disasters. , Shrubs are cleaned, approach to small bridges / culverts is repaired and roads are kept clean. Usually widows, divorced women and the head of the family, poor and destitute women who are able to earn a living through manual labor work through this program. In RERMP-3 program, a total of 70 workers are engaged in these activities in each union of Sakhipur upazila. Besides, 4 supervisors (male) and 40 female workers are working on 4 roads of the upazila under the Labor Contacting Society (LCS). In addition to wages, they are trained to raise chickens, goats, fish, fish and vegetables in the backyard to make them self-sufficient.
With LGED, the savings can be withdrawn from the monthly wage at the end of the term of the project to do something next to the house for a small amount of money. By getting the money together, it will be possible to use these trainings to make a permanent income for one’s normal life.
In this context, LGED Tangail Executive Engineer Rafiqul Islam said LGED is working for the welfare of the country and people through development of rural infrastructure as well as development of the destitute people. He said the RERMP-3 and the Contacting Society (LCS) project, which helps alleviate poverty through employment of needy women during the epidemic crisis, has become an example.
