Replying to a letter from a schoolboy in Patuakhali, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has promised to have a bridge built on the Payra River, near his home.
Shirshendu Biswas, a Class-IV student of Patuakhali Government Jubilee High School, wrote a letter to the PM on August 15, requesting her to have a bridge built on the Payra in Patuakhali's Mirzaganj upazila.
Hasina was quick to respond to the letter.
In her reply, the PM praised the boy for his concern about his family’s security. She wrote that she was aware that the Payra is a turbulent river, assuring him that she would have the bridge built.
Shirshendu began his letter by saying that he was a citizen of the country and introduced his parents Bishawjit Biswas and Sheela Rani Sonnamot.
“I am a regular student of Class IV at Patuakhali Government High School. Abinash Sonnamot, my maternal grandfather, was a freedom fighter,” the letter went on.
He also mentioned that he had won the third place in a competition by writing an essay on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s childhood at a programme marking the leader’s death anniversary.
“My village home is in Jhalakathi and we have to cross the Payra to reach it. The river makes huge waves. Sometimes boats and trawlers sink in it,” he wrote.
The boy mentioned that many lives are lost in such accidents and he did not want to lose his parents whom he loves very much. “Therefore, I request you to take steps to build a bridge on the Payra,” he wrote.
The PM’s letter, written on September 8, reached the school on September 20, said sources in the school.
Siddiqur Rahman, the headmaster of the school, said the letter would be formally handed over to Shirshendu today.