Md Joynal Abedin Khan :
The disgusted traffic congestion in capital Dhaka and its entrance points is getting worse day by day mainly because of haphazard illegal parking on a big portion of busy roads by cars and microbuses and at some places by buses and trucks.
According to urban and traffic experts, lack of monitoring, inadequate parking facilities and sloppy traffic management are responsible for the illegal parking, but there has been hardly any initiative to address the problem.
Thus, it is seriously hampering normal traffic flow and vexing pedestrians, they said.
The illegal parking in the city’s Dilkusha, Motijheel, Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Uttara, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Karwan Bazar, New Market, Jatrabari, Paltan, Malibagh, and Old Dhaka has already reached to a miserable condition causing sufferings to the city dwellers.
Even, a good number of private and government organizations, including Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) have allocated spaces for parking of vehicles of their high officials on the busiest roads by hanging notices in front of the buildings.
The law enforcers, two City Corporations and RAJUK are showing such a mood that they could not find any illegal parking in the capital, although it is the common phenomenon in the capital on the nose of the authorities concerned.
As a result, sufferings of the city dwellers, particularly the commuters, have increased to a great extent due to the indifference of the two City Corporations, RAJUK and the law enforcing agencies.
Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a noted Civil Engineer and Transport Expert, said a key reason behind the illegal parking is abuse of power in the name of political identity. Most of the commercial and residential buildings have no parking places that too create traffic jam in the city, he said.
Prof Jubayer-bin-Alam of Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said, a lack of monitoring, inadequate parking facilities, and sloppy traffic management are responsible for illegal parking.
“A huge portion of the street is occupied by cars, microbuses and at some places by buses and trucks, but there has been hardly any initiative to address the problem. Such as the illegal parking seriously hampers normal traffic flow and vexes pedestrians,” he said.
Meanwhile, the pledges of the two Mayors of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) to make Dhaka city clean has already been denied as no effective steps were taken to fulfil the target.
In December 2015, the DNCC declared Tejgaon truck stand road in Tejgaon industrial area and Mohakhali bus terminal free of illegal parking. But it has turned into its old-shape just after a few days of the eviction which is the normal image of any eviction in the city.
Following negligence of the concerned authorities, the High Court on September, 14 in 2015 had asked the government and police to take necessary measures to stop illegal and haphazard parking of all modes of transports that trigger nagging traffic congestion. But the order could not be implemented yet.
Visiting different parts of the capital, this correspondent found that traffic police were noticeably reluctant despite seeing a large number of vehicles parked on both sides of the roads.
Asked about illegal parking on street near the multi-stored car park “City Centre” at Motijheel, a driver replied that it takes plenty of time to park cars inside the facility and bring them out. Cars and microbuses were also seen parked from the Science Lab intersection to Nilkhet, where big shopping malls and markets like Dhanmondi Hawkers Market, Badruddoza Super Market, Gausia, Chadni Chowk and New Market are situated.
The same situation prevails from Dainik Bangla crossing to Motijheel Shapla Chattar, although the nearby “City Centre” parking lot can accommodate over 1,000 cars.
In addition, a multi-storey parking facility, owned by Sadharan Bima Corporation, is situated at Dilkhusa with a capacity of 500 cars. But on-street parking is ubiquitous there, too.
Chief Estate Officer of DNCC Md Aminul Islam said, “Parking on roads was illegal, and the Traffic Department should clamp down on the violators.”
“If they enforce the law strictly, illegal parking will come down gradually,” added Mohammad Sirajul Islam, Chief Town Planner at DSCC. About setting up of parking signs on the streets, he said, “We don’t put up parking signs due to a lack of space on the roads.” Speaking about their efforts, Additional Commissioner (Traffic) of DMP Mosle Uddin Ahmed said that traffic police are trying to enforce existing laws against illegal car parking.
As there are inadequate parking spaces, the illegal parking creates a chaos, said the police official.
“We’ve already requested the City Corporations to designate spaces for on-safe parking,” he said.
The disgusted traffic congestion in capital Dhaka and its entrance points is getting worse day by day mainly because of haphazard illegal parking on a big portion of busy roads by cars and microbuses and at some places by buses and trucks.
According to urban and traffic experts, lack of monitoring, inadequate parking facilities and sloppy traffic management are responsible for the illegal parking, but there has been hardly any initiative to address the problem.
Thus, it is seriously hampering normal traffic flow and vexing pedestrians, they said.
The illegal parking in the city’s Dilkusha, Motijheel, Dhanmondi, Gulshan, Uttara, Mohammadpur, Mirpur, Karwan Bazar, New Market, Jatrabari, Paltan, Malibagh, and Old Dhaka has already reached to a miserable condition causing sufferings to the city dwellers.
Even, a good number of private and government organizations, including Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) have allocated spaces for parking of vehicles of their high officials on the busiest roads by hanging notices in front of the buildings.
The law enforcers, two City Corporations and RAJUK are showing such a mood that they could not find any illegal parking in the capital, although it is the common phenomenon in the capital on the nose of the authorities concerned.
As a result, sufferings of the city dwellers, particularly the commuters, have increased to a great extent due to the indifference of the two City Corporations, RAJUK and the law enforcing agencies.
Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a noted Civil Engineer and Transport Expert, said a key reason behind the illegal parking is abuse of power in the name of political identity. Most of the commercial and residential buildings have no parking places that too create traffic jam in the city, he said.
Prof Jubayer-bin-Alam of Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said, a lack of monitoring, inadequate parking facilities, and sloppy traffic management are responsible for illegal parking.
“A huge portion of the street is occupied by cars, microbuses and at some places by buses and trucks, but there has been hardly any initiative to address the problem. Such as the illegal parking seriously hampers normal traffic flow and vexes pedestrians,” he said.
Meanwhile, the pledges of the two Mayors of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) to make Dhaka city clean has already been denied as no effective steps were taken to fulfil the target.
In December 2015, the DNCC declared Tejgaon truck stand road in Tejgaon industrial area and Mohakhali bus terminal free of illegal parking. But it has turned into its old-shape just after a few days of the eviction which is the normal image of any eviction in the city.
Following negligence of the concerned authorities, the High Court on September, 14 in 2015 had asked the government and police to take necessary measures to stop illegal and haphazard parking of all modes of transports that trigger nagging traffic congestion. But the order could not be implemented yet.
Visiting different parts of the capital, this correspondent found that traffic police were noticeably reluctant despite seeing a large number of vehicles parked on both sides of the roads.
Asked about illegal parking on street near the multi-stored car park “City Centre” at Motijheel, a driver replied that it takes plenty of time to park cars inside the facility and bring them out. Cars and microbuses were also seen parked from the Science Lab intersection to Nilkhet, where big shopping malls and markets like Dhanmondi Hawkers Market, Badruddoza Super Market, Gausia, Chadni Chowk and New Market are situated.
The same situation prevails from Dainik Bangla crossing to Motijheel Shapla Chattar, although the nearby “City Centre” parking lot can accommodate over 1,000 cars.
In addition, a multi-storey parking facility, owned by Sadharan Bima Corporation, is situated at Dilkhusa with a capacity of 500 cars. But on-street parking is ubiquitous there, too.
Chief Estate Officer of DNCC Md Aminul Islam said, “Parking on roads was illegal, and the Traffic Department should clamp down on the violators.”
“If they enforce the law strictly, illegal parking will come down gradually,” added Mohammad Sirajul Islam, Chief Town Planner at DSCC. About setting up of parking signs on the streets, he said, “We don’t put up parking signs due to a lack of space on the roads.” Speaking about their efforts, Additional Commissioner (Traffic) of DMP Mosle Uddin Ahmed said that traffic police are trying to enforce existing laws against illegal car parking.
As there are inadequate parking spaces, the illegal parking creates a chaos, said the police official.
“We’ve already requested the City Corporations to designate spaces for on-safe parking,” he said.
