Thousands of passengers had to suffer on the Dhaka-Tangail highway for the last couple of days due to unprecedented tailbacks, resulting mainly from lack of initiative on the part of the administration and the police to enforce traffic rules.
Talking to The Independent, senior police officers of Tangail and Gazipur admitted that drivers violated traffic rules, which was a major cause of the congestion.
People returning to the capital after celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr faced traffic jam, stretching over 60 km, without food and water and lack of toilet for more than eight hours.
Although the communications minister, Obaidul Quader, apologised for the sufferings of the people, the question arises whether the authorities can avoid accepting responsibility by simply seeking apology and not taking measures.
The authorities are blaming the huge rush of vehicles for the congestion, but this is nothing uncommon after Eid. Why didn’t they take measures in anticipation of the problem, asked several passengers.
Travellers returning to Dhaka on Saturday morning said they did not see policemen with wreckers removing stranded trucks and buses after breakdowns and accidents. It was the people who lent their helping hand to keep the traffic moving.
Normally about 14,000 vehicles ply on the Dhaka-Tangail highway. On Friday, about 30,000 vehicles paid toll at the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge to cross the Jamuna, Tangail police said. When vehicles started moving down the bridge towards the capital, hoping to make it in two and a half hours by the evening, drivers and passengers braced themselves for a relaxed journey. But to their profound shock, they found the road blocked with hundreds of buses, trucks, cars, motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, three-wheelers driven by water pumps, best known in the north as Nasiman and Kariman, leaving a gridlock stretching over 60 km towards Dhaka.
As vehicles moved at a snail’s pace, it became impossible for all to bear it stoically, without food and water.
Those who were travelling on rooftops of buses and in trucks found it difficult to cope with the situation compounded by rain.
Women who took their children to their roots to celebrate Eid with their grand parents in villages, found it difficult to console the little ones crying for water and food. There was no restaurant or eatery for kilometres at a stretch, with some of the vehicles stranded in forest areas.
Nor were there running water, tubewell or toilet, something that made matters worse for women and girls.
The police said road mishaps on the Dhaka-Tangail-Sirajganj highway and an 8-km-long tailback on the Dhaka-Khulna highway from Daulatdia and Kewrakandi ferry ghats on Friday caused the massive traffic jam.
As more vehicles took to the highway from the 23 northern districts on way to Dhhaka by crossing the Bangabandhu bridge on the Jamuna, the situation worsened.
Traffic jams on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, Bangabandhu bridge area, Dhaka-Khulna and Dhaka-Chittagong highways are a regular feature as drivers do not abide by traffic rules, said police officers of Tangail and Gazipur. But when asked why didn’t the police take action against them, they blamed it on shortage of manpower .
However, it is alleged that whatever manpower they have, the police are never found to be active on the highway to enforce rules.
Long tailbacks develop on the highways during Eid vacation every year due to narrow bridges, unplanned bus stoppages, shops and markets adjacent to highways, damaged roads and drivers ignoring traffic laws, experts said, adding that no steps have been taken to address these problems.
Communications minister Obaidul Quader sought apology for the gridlock. While talking to The Independent over the phone on Saturday, he said the traffic congestion was created on the Dhaka-Tangail highway due to the large number of garment workers returning after the holidays.
“Eid holiday makers gathered at different bus stoppages to return to their places of work in Dhaka after a two-day hartal. It was beyond our control. I apologise to those who had to suffer,” he added.
Besides, holiday-makers entered the capital in large numbers after a two-day hartal,called by the Bangladesh Jammat-e-Islami which resulted in a heavy rush of people to the city and in accidents. This resulted in the gridlock on the highways, the communication minister further said.
Hayatul Islam Khan, additional police super of Tangail, said the existing four-lane highway cannot bear so many vehicles. Work on eight lanes is on, but it is yet to be completed. There are potholes at places, contributing to such gridlocks during holidays. Even if a vehicle breaks down, it causes a long tailback, as happened on Friday, the police officer said. The highway police has two outposts at Elenga and Gorai. But they lack manpower to control the large number of vehicles which use the highway from the north.
Abdul Baten, superintendent of Gazipur police, said: “If drivers abide by traffic rules, there will be no gridlock on the highways. About 90 per cent of them do not go by the rule book. The police cannot control traffic if this goes on.”
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Dhaka Cantonment, Major General Shafique, said some army vehicles were stranded on Friday. Soldiers helped clear the tailback. “Many drivers try to overtake other vehicles, violating traffic rules. This is a major cause of traffic jams,” the General observed.
-With The Independent input
