Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has assured a Patuakhali schoolboy of taking steps to build a bridge on the Payra river in his locality after the boy wrote to her, asking for one.

Shirshendu Biswas, a class-IV student at Patuakhali Government Jubilee High School, wrote a letter to the prime minister on August 15, requesting her to have a bridge built on the river in Patuakhali's Mirzaganj upazila.

The PM in her reply said she was delighted to receive the letter from him. She praised the boy for his awareness regarding his family's safety while crossing the river.

She said she was aware that the Payra in Mirzaganj is a turbulent river. The PM assured Shirshendu of taking steps to build a bridge over the river.

The prime minister's letter, written on September 8, reached the school on September 20, said sources in the school.

In his letter to the premier, Shirshendu said he is a citizen of the country and his father's name is Bishawjit Biswas and mother's name 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.”

He said he wrote an essay on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's childhood at a programme marking the death anniversary of the leader. He stood third at the competition.

“My village home is in Jhalakathi and we have to cross the Payra river to go to my home ... The river has high waves ... Sometimes boats and trawlers sink in the river.”

The boy mentions that many lives are lost in such accidents and he does not want to lose his parents as he loves them very much.

“Therefore, I request you to take steps to build a bridge on the Mirzaganj [Payra] river,” he says towards the end of his letter.

Talking to this correspondent yesterday, Shirshendu said, “I wrote the letter to the prime minister on August 15 this year and posted it.”

Shirshendu is the only child of his parents. His father works for a non-government organisation in Patuakhali town and mother works at the social welfare office. They live in a rented house in the town's Puran Bazar area.

“We are very proud of him [Shirshendu] and glad to know that the prime minister replied to his letter,” Bishawjit said.

Siddiqur Rahman, headmaster of the school, said the letter would be formally handed over to Shirshendu tomorrow.