The Sylhet city dwellers are not benefiting from the extension of city roads as the city corporation authorities are yet to take any measures to remove the electric poles that now stand on the roads.
SCC sources said most of the city roads were expanded between 2007 and 2008 during the regime of the immediate-past army-backed interim government to reduce traffic congestion and ease the movement of the city dwellers.
The authorities, with the help of law-enforcing agencies, had demolished a large number of illegal structures completely or partially during the drive to recover the city roads from grabbers.
But the pedestrians and commuters are not being benefited by the extended roads, as the electric poles have not been shifted from the roads, a good number of city dwellers said.
At the end of 2008, the SCC authorities had sent a proposal to the Power Development Board requesting it to take steps to relocate the electric poles.
‘In reply, the PDB authorities informed the SCC that they would prepare an estimation in this regard if the SCC agrees to bear the cost for shifting the poles,’ a city corporation official said.
He said the SCC authorities did not go ahead with the matter because of fund constraint.
Sylhet PDB’s chief engineer Shahinul Islam Khan told New Age that the electric poles are now on the road because of the road extension.
‘So, it is the city corporation’s job and they should bear the cost of shifting the poles,’ the PDB official added.
Over sixty per cent of the prevailing traffic congestion the city experiences every day will disappear if the electric poles were removed from the roads, commented a college teacher, Roknuzzaman.
‘The authorities speak very often of formulating policies to address traffic congestion. But surprisingly, they do not speak about shifting the electric poles from the roads,’ he added.
Because of the electric poles, venders have installed their makeshift shops occupying a large potion of the busiest roads on both sides, narrowing the roads and accelerating traffic congestion.
Being contacted, SCC’s acting chief engineer Nur Azizur Rahman told New Age that they had decided to shift the poles from the city streets in phases in their own management, as the PDB wants too much if they want to get the job done by the PDB.
‘Shifting the poles from the Rikabibazar to Medical Road is going on and step also would be taken soon on a priority basis to shift the poles especially from the city’s main roads,’ the SCC official said.
