Syed Shemul Parvez :
Every year since the beginning of the holy month of Ramzan, city dwellers generally face traffic jam. But this year it turns severe because of some reasons such as construction of Metro rail projects as well as digging for other development works.
Traffic congestion becomes acute, especially in the afternoon, as all offices are closed earlier due to the change of timetable during Ramzan. Due to traffic jam, most of the main roads and other gig jag lanes and by lanes of the city become immobile.
It has become difficult for those who are managing traffic to control the huge rush of vehicles. Inhabitants have advised the concerned authorities to deploy additional manpower, including military, to maintain smooth flow of traffic.
Some places of the city, including Begum Rokey Sarani, have become a place for heavy traffic congestion, as a large number of vehicles are passing every day when the metro rail project work is underway. Besides, the condition of the road is in a bad shape in most of the places.
Besides, there are some zones in the capital where there was severe traffic jam such as from Gabtoli to Asad Gate, Dhanmondi to Nilkhet, Rampura Road and Biswa Road. Vehicles stood there bumper to bumper for hours.
While talking with The New Nation Md Masudur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, “We applied to the higher authorities not to cut any more new roads in the city during Ramzan.”
Mofiz Ahmed, Joint Commissioner, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Traffic South), told The New Nation that, “We generally try to control the situation even during the Ramzan. We deploy more forces to control but some time we can’t control because of enormous pressure of various vehicles just ahead of the Iftar time.”
“We have been working hard to reduce sufferings of the people caused by traffic jams. During Ramzan, every one tries to reach home at the same time, but there are not adequate free streets compared with the volume of traffic,” he said.
It is to be noted that the government has fixed the office timings for Ramzan from 9:00am to 3:30pm. Within this time, people want to complete their day’s work and return home to break their fast. As a result, there is a huge flow of commuters on the streets at the same time, which leads to congestion.
