UNB, Dhaka :
Crossing busy city streets can be fatal in Dhaka, particularly for the ones who have visual impairment.
Nazmus Sakib, a visually impaired student of Dhaka University, still recalls with a sense of horror the day he met an accident at Shahbag while trying to cross a road.
“While I was trying to cross the road at Shahbag, a car hit me leaving my legs injured in April this year”, said Sakib, the general secretary of Physically-challenged Development Foundation (PDF) of Dhaka University unit, a platform for physically-challenged students.
Everyday thousands of physically challenged persons like Sakib are facing such difficulties in their way to access desired goods, services, activities and destinations as there are very little special facilities for their safe road crossing.
Under the circumstances, road crossing becomes an everyday struggle for them.
For the troubles, Sakib blamed Dhaka’s road crossing system as well as the absence of road designs, zebra crossings and separate ramps along foot over bridges to ensure easy movements of challenged people.
He told UNB, “The state of roads, footpaths and foot over bridges of the capital are not easy to cope with, for the person having physical disabilities and even the general people have to face trouble here.”
Sakib said with a pity that, “We have to take help of others to cross roads but sometimes we don’t even get anyone for the assistance.”
Abdul Hye Mandal, President of National Grassroots Disability Organisation (NGDO), an NGO for disable persons, said to cross the roads the disable persons have to depend on others’ sympathies as in Dhaka there is no special arrangement for them.
Talking to UNB, Professor Dr. Moazzem Hossain, Director of Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said, though the number of persons with disabilities is significant in Bangladesh, they did not get required facilities in public places.
Terming the road crossing system ‘faulty’ he said to make the disables movement smoother, every foot-over bridges should have separate ramp way and the pavements should be textured for pedestrians who are blind and visually impaired.
In recent months though Dhaka saw many of its pavements get textured.
Another transport expert Dr Mahabubul Bari said foot over-bridges are not an effective solution of the problem. To him, zebra crossing, effective traffic signal system and special signaling for the physically challenged can reduce the problems of road crossing.
Akbar Ali, a senior assistant secretary of Social Welfare Ministry told UNB that government is very much sincere about the wellbeing of all people with physical disabilities.
Crossing busy city streets can be fatal in Dhaka, particularly for the ones who have visual impairment.
Nazmus Sakib, a visually impaired student of Dhaka University, still recalls with a sense of horror the day he met an accident at Shahbag while trying to cross a road.
“While I was trying to cross the road at Shahbag, a car hit me leaving my legs injured in April this year”, said Sakib, the general secretary of Physically-challenged Development Foundation (PDF) of Dhaka University unit, a platform for physically-challenged students.
Everyday thousands of physically challenged persons like Sakib are facing such difficulties in their way to access desired goods, services, activities and destinations as there are very little special facilities for their safe road crossing.
Under the circumstances, road crossing becomes an everyday struggle for them.
For the troubles, Sakib blamed Dhaka’s road crossing system as well as the absence of road designs, zebra crossings and separate ramps along foot over bridges to ensure easy movements of challenged people.
He told UNB, “The state of roads, footpaths and foot over bridges of the capital are not easy to cope with, for the person having physical disabilities and even the general people have to face trouble here.”
Sakib said with a pity that, “We have to take help of others to cross roads but sometimes we don’t even get anyone for the assistance.”
Abdul Hye Mandal, President of National Grassroots Disability Organisation (NGDO), an NGO for disable persons, said to cross the roads the disable persons have to depend on others’ sympathies as in Dhaka there is no special arrangement for them.
Talking to UNB, Professor Dr. Moazzem Hossain, Director of Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), said, though the number of persons with disabilities is significant in Bangladesh, they did not get required facilities in public places.
Terming the road crossing system ‘faulty’ he said to make the disables movement smoother, every foot-over bridges should have separate ramp way and the pavements should be textured for pedestrians who are blind and visually impaired.
In recent months though Dhaka saw many of its pavements get textured.
Another transport expert Dr Mahabubul Bari said foot over-bridges are not an effective solution of the problem. To him, zebra crossing, effective traffic signal system and special signaling for the physically challenged can reduce the problems of road crossing.
Akbar Ali, a senior assistant secretary of Social Welfare Ministry told UNB that government is very much sincere about the wellbeing of all people with physical disabilities.
