Syed Shemul Parvez :
Almost all roads in Dhaka city are in bad shape due to digging by roadside and through the middle of the road to fix metro-line and underground drainage system. As the Eid shopping spree is getting momentum, people’s sufferings are taking a new turn as traffic is getting stuck in long queue in an immobile city.
Moreover roads and highways throughout the country are also in very bad shape with potholes and broken surface where rainwater is creating muddy road adding risks to traffic movement and to accidents.
City roads and highways throughout the country have turned into death traps at many points as commuters and pedestrians remain highly vulnerable to accidents from unsafe road condition. The Eid journey may prove highly risky if rain fall continues ahead of holidays.
Reckless driving, unfit vehicles and absence of public awareness are some other important reasons to cause such accidents. The number of casualties is increasing in an alarming rate.
In the last one and a half months, at least 15 terrible incidents took place due to reckless driving which shocked the whole nation. Are these accidents or killing or attempted to murder? Ask the common people.
On Thursday evening, Atikun Nessa Swasti, 50, who was returning to Uttara from Tongi in a BRTC bus with her husband. At Abdullahpur, when Atikun Nessa was pulling her one leg on the road, the bus starts moving before she steps another leg. As a result, she fell on the road from the bus. The bus ran over her thrashing from knee down to the ankle. A resident of Uttara she works as a Health Worker in Mymensingh.
She is the mother of four children. Doctors at Shyamoli Trauma Hospital imputed her left leg to save her life.
Noor Alam Siddiqui, Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Uttara East Police Station, told the media that the bus of Dhaka Metro 14-4643 has been seized. But no case has been filed yet.
Perhaps relatives of the victim are busy with the patient. If the case is filed then necessary actions will be taken, the OC said.
On May 17, Nazim Uddin, 38, a Media Executive was killed at Hanif flyover in the capital when he fell between two buses were in virtual race. Police Constable Alauddin who was on the spot said a bus from Tarabo Paribahan pushed him from behind and the wheel of the other bus over-run him.
On April 3, Rajib Hossain, a student of Titumir College lost his left hand in a clash between two running buses at Bangla Motor in the city. Rajib died on April 16 in a hospital under treatment.
Khalid Hasan Hridoy, 20, lost his hands one day after Rajiv’s death.
Analysts say the number of death is growing in city roads every day. Buses and trucks were seized in many cases but arrested drivers somehow managed release on bail. Experts believe that lack of proper enforcement of law and public awareness are causing most accidents.
DIG of Dhaka Range, Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun, termed lack of trained drivers and indifference of bus owners responsible for many accidents.
Ilyas Kanchan, Chairman of Safe the Road and a filmmaker, said, no single organization is responsible for the accidents. All the Ministries and organizations are responsible for these.
It may be mentioned that at least 7,397 people were killed and 16,193 others injured in road accidents in the year 2017.
Out of total people injured, 1,722 were maimed for life, says the report compiled by Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh.
Road accidents claim nine to 20 lives every day in the country but the government has no updated statistics to address the situation.
