Staff Reporter :
The Road Transport and Bridges ministry’s Road Transport and Highways Division is working for a comfortable Eid journey reducing suffering on the street.
In a cheque handover programme to Dhaka Bypass Expressway Development Company Ltd under the supervision of Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Ltd ahead of making a Dhaka Bypass Expressway, Road Transport and Highway department Secretary Md Nazrul Islam said it in the conference room of the Secretariat on Sunday.
Three flyovers from Joydebpur to Alenga to Hatikumrul will be opened for traffic on Monday to control the rush on the roads ahead of Eid.
“I went to inspect these in person yesterday. Opening these three flyovers will solve the traffic problem a lot,” he said.
Nowjor, Safipur and Gorai – these three flyovers are opening today, informed the secretary.
Abdullahpur to Joydebpur crossroads, Joydebpur crossroads to Alenga Hatikumrul – these corridors also have traffic congestion every time, he added.
Another bridge in Sirajganj’s Nalka will be opened on Monday for the traffic, said Nazrul Islam. “The work was supposed to be completed later, but we have already done it considering Eid.”
Besides, the intersections at Alenga junction are being widened. There is a road to Jamalpur and Mymensingh via Tarakanda, Madhupur and Ghatail through Bangabandhu Bridge. “We have discussed with the highway police, we have an option to divert the vehicles from Mymensingh-Jamalpur on this road.”
“We have also addressed the areas identified as prone to problems and prone to traffic jams,” he added.
If the traffic management is controlled properly, the situation there will be tolerable, said the secretary.
He said this time the pressure of homebound people will be more during this years’ Eid as the Covid situation is under control now. “We have an arrangement keeping that in mind.”
“Our control room will remain open for 24 hours. We are also installing CCTV cameras at important points. We will monitor from the control room,” said the secretary.
The police department is also preparing to tackle the Eid rush, he added.
However, traffic jams have already been seen on Dhaka-Gazipur and Dhaka-Mymensingh roads. There may be more problems before Eid, said the secretary.
Regarding the steps taken by the government to reduce the suffering of home bound people, the secretary said, “I have always seen traffic jams in this corridor in the past.”
The Road, Transport and Bridges Minister also announced that the construction of infrastructure in the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor of this route will be completed by December this year.
“We have already completed the work in various places to make the road passable. We arranged a joint visit with Gazipur City Corporation, transport owners and other concerned people. We have seen what the problems are in this route,” said the secretary.
He said, “There were some recommendations from the transport owners, we took them into consideration so that there is no deadlock keeping the traffic jam at a tolerable level.”
Nazrul Islam also demanded that no faulty bus will leave from any of the terminals.
He also raised a concern that when ‘the garments declare holidays, an unusual situation arises’.
Workers take faulty cars or trucks leaving from any turn of Tongi, he said. The law enforcement agencies cannot be strict in this regard on humanitarian grounds.
In all, the traffic congestion is expected to be at a tolerable level. “Hopefully, the homebound people won’t have to suffer this time as we have explained the rationale for this.
