Hawkers and others however, are having the time of their life
With the Dhaka City Corporation and Dhaka Metropolitan Police at a loss on how to clear the city’s pavements, walking has become a tedious affair for pedestrians. Hawkers and other encroachers, however, are having the time of their life, as they continue to rule the pavements, without any serious interference from law enforcers. Besides, building material piled on city streets block part of pavements also, while a number of market and restaurant owners use pavements as their parking lot. Even buses are choosing their stoppages at will and ticket counters occupy large portions of pavements, making it difficult for pedestrians to have a free walk.
With the beginning of Ramzan, hawkers have started occupying major points of city roads to set up temporary stalls by converting pavements into mini markets. Paying bribes to police or local goons, they seem to have become owners of the pavements. Every evening, some shady characters, known as “linemen”, can be seen collecting money from them. The rates vary according to locations and seasons.
Also, a spate of unplanned digging of streets by different utility services often leave large potholes, creating traffic bottlenecks during the rainy season. On the other hand, pedestrians run the risk of being hit by a brick or concrete slab from under-construction buildings.
A walk down Topkhana Road shows that using the eastern pavement has become the most daunting challenge. Earlier, it had been cleared and renovated by an Army engineering team as part of the city’s beautification drive before the World Cup Cricket. But it has again been taken over by several under-construction market owners as their warehouse and parking area.
Across the street beside the Secretariat, any careless pedestrian can simply disappear inside a manhole, some
of whose iron covers have been stolen.
-With The Independent input
