The long-awaited Maulana Bhasani Bridge over the Teesta River, a long-cherished dream of residents of Gaibandha and Kurigram, has plunged into darkness on the night of its inauguration.
Thieves dug up about 310m of power cable from the newly built bridge, leaving the lampposts without electricity.
“Someone or other has cut the power cable connected to the bridge from the Haripur point. That is why the lights on the lampposts did not light up at night after the bridge was inaugurated,” said Kazi Mahbubur Rahman Milon, deputy assistant engineer of the Upazila Engineering Department, on Friday.
He added that work was under way to restore electricity and that the lights would likely return in a day or two.
The bridge was inaugurated on Wednesday over the Teesta at Haripurghat in Sundarganj, Gaibandha, by Local Government Advisor Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain.
Built at a cost of Tk 9.25 billion, the 1,490 metre (m) longand 9.6m wide bridge is the largest project in the history of the Local Government Engineering Department, funded by the government of Bangladesh along with the Saudi Fund for Development and the OPEC Fund for International Development.
“On Wednesday night, the lights on the lampposts of the bridge did not light up. The next day, Thursday, when an investigation was started, it was found that the electrical wires connected to the bridge from the Haripur point had been cut by miscreants,” said LGED Upazila Engineer Tapan Kumar Chakraborty.
The theft on the night of the inauguration sparked outrage among locals.
Many took to social media to vent frustration and anger over what they described as poor security measures on the bridge.
Sundarganj Police Station Sub-Inspector Mominul Islam said officers visited the scene Friday morning and that preparations were under way to take legal action.
