Feni, Oct. 14 -- Once, villagers crossed the Chhoto Feni River by boat as there was no bridge or connecting road. Now, although a Tk 9.2 crore bridge stands over the river in Feni's Daganbhuiyan upazila, there are still no approach roads, forcing thousands of people to use makeshift iron staircases to cross it on foot.

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) built the 60-metre bridge on the Matubhuiyan-Bekar Bazar road to improve connectivity between communities on either side of the river.

Although the main bridge has been completed, the connecting roads remain unfinished, leaving the structure largely unusable years after its construction.

The absence of approach roads has made vehicular movement impossible, while the cons...