Gulam Rabbani :
Traffic congestion is a common problem for the people of Dhaka. It is due to the ‘development works’, it has become much more common to the city dwellers for years. But the scenario in last one week aggravated. Traffic congestion has increased suddenly in different areas of the city.
Huge presence of traffic was seen in some parts of the capital on almost all the office days in last week. Severe traffic congestion has been observed on the main roads of the capital including Paltan, Shahbagh, Science Lab, Bangla Motor, Karwan Bazar and Dhanmondi. The people using those roads had to suffer a lot due to this.
It was learned that traffic congestion may rise in those roads in some areas of the capital in the coming days.
Officials of the traffic department of different zones of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said that roads in different parts of Dhaka city have been occupied to house the equipment of the Metrorail project.
Some roads have been excavated on a large scale for the works of a project of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL). Besides, work is underway to develop the drainage system by digging before the monsoon. Apart from that, a large number of vehicles are running in the roads of Dhaka recently. Basically these are the reasons for new traffic congetion in Dhaka.
The traffic department officials said that the main reason of traffic congestion in Dhaka is the defective construction strategy in different areas of the city. Traffic comes down through four lanes from the Moghbazar flyover. But that traffic goes through two lanes when those come in front of the old Ramna Police Station. Traffic jams naturally occur when four lanes coincide with two lanes.
Apart from this, two of the four roads at Sonargaon crossing in the capital never run together. The construction of this road is such that only one road can be used at a time. One road is opened after minimum 12 minutes. As a result, many vehicles gather at this time and traffic jams is created. A large of number of rickshaws is also one of the reasons for the traffic jams in Dhaka.
The traffic police have to work under a lot of pressure every Monday and Wednesday, the officials said. Several markets in the capital, including New Market reopen on Wednesday after being closed on Tuesday. As a result, many people and cars move on the roads on that day. It is another cause of traffic jams in that day.
Pressure gears up in Old Dhaka on Thursday. Many people and vehicles move together to the Sadarghat launch terminal as because Friday is a holiday.
Jaydeb Chowdhury, Deputy Commissioner of Ramna Zone Trafice Police, said, “Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the movement of people on the roads was limited. After a long time, the movement of people has suddenly increased. As a result, the number of vehicles is also increasing which is causing the traffic congestion.”
Moreover, metro rail works and digging of roads for some other works are the main reasons for this congestion, added the official adding that they always try sincerely in their parts to resolve the problem.
Shaheduzzaman, Assistant Commissioner of New Market Traffic Zone, said that they have to face a lot of pressure on every Friday and Saturday as a huge number of people come to the New Market for shopping on those days. The same scenario has been seen in the area on every Wednesday also as the Market reopens on that day after being closed on Tuesday, added the official.
The official said that it is also a cause of traffic congestion that most people who come to the New Market for shopping don’t want to use the foot over bridge. Moreover they cross the road during the busy hours stopping the high-speed cars.
