Traffic jam in the capital Dhaka is mounting gradually in an endemic form, causing untold sufferings to hundreds of commuters from morning till late night in almost every working days.
According to traffic police, hawkers, indiscriminate parking and illegal establishments have occupied vast areas of roads, resulting in increasing traffic congestion day by day.
Preferring anonymity, a police of traffic headquarters said the traffic wing of Dhaka Metropolitan police (DMP) has not enough expert manpower to maintain traffic system in the city. The people should be cautious about the terrible impact of traffic jam, as they are the sufferers mostly.
Hasunul Kabir Mukul, a resident of the Mirpur section-14 and a school teacher, told The New Nation on Monday that the communications minister put emphasis on curbing traffic jams in the city but his ministry has no direction in this regard.
“The government’s efforts to ease the nagging traffic congestion have failed due to inexpert traffic sergeants and lack of coordination among the traffic control agencies,” he added.
In recent years, it has been a public demand that the government should take steps to ease traffic system in the metropolis.
Meanwhile, the government has a plan to introduce more commuter trains connecting Dhaka with its adjacent districts and proposed elevated expressway to free the capital from traffic congestion.
In front of the Shopping malls at New Market, Mouchak, Gulshan and Bosundhara Shopping Centre at Panthopath, traffic situation is always the worst. The worst traffic vulnerable points also include Jatrabari, Hatkhola, Shapla Chattar, Gulistan, Paltan, New Market, Science Laboratory, Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Sonargaon-crossing, Farmgate, Manik Mian Avenue, Asadgate, Shyamoli, Kalyanpur, Gabtoli, Mirpur Goolchakkar, Mohakhali, Khilgaon, Banani, Mouchak, Kakrail and Malibagh.
Now-a-days residential areas are also experiencing heavy traffic jam. The areas include Dhanmondi, Banani, Gulshan, Baridhara and other prime residential locations.
A large number of cars are parked illegally on both sides of road, which is one of the main causes for traffic congestion in the city, police said.
They jostle for space on the narrow roads with another half a million peddle-rickshaws turning the traffic system in the metropolis further in a shamble situation.
Many vechiles, including CNG run auto-rickshaw, were seen wating for colleting CNG gas from the filling staions in three or four lines occuping the road, that also the another caues of trafic jams in the city.
Traffic congestion in Dhaka eats up Tk 19,555 crore a year, a study said recently.
The findings were revealed at a seminar on “Traffic congestion in Dhaka and its impact on business: Some remedial measures” organised jointly by Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport at the MCCI.
It suggests that mass transit system be introduced and power be decentralised. It said the two remedial measures could save the businesses, commuters and city dwellers from financial losses and waste of their working hours.
The seminar also suggested that the city dwellers should reduce the number of reconditioned vehicles on the city streets.
MCCI President Anis Ud Dowla said streets in Dhaka are very inadequate against the demand. He said only 6 to 7 percent area of Dhaka is for roads against the standard of 25 to 30 percent.
