S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
Commuters in the Sylhet City suffered a lot as they experienced severe traffic congestion on most of the roads on tuesday. Hectic efforts by traffic divisions of Sylhet Metropolitan Police to ease congestion have virtually turned futile, city dwellers alleged.
Rainfall, haphazard car parking on roads, slow-moving rickshaws, defiance of traffic rules, jaywalking and road digging by different utility service providers in some areas, includingAmbarkhana.ShahiEdgah , Bandarbazar and Shibganj, largely contributed to the gridlock.
According to Sylhet City Corporation (SCC), there are 52,000 buildings in the city, and among them, 10,000 to 15,000 buildings (both commercial and residential) have no parking lots. During a recent visit to the city’s different areas, this correspondent found 20 minibus, 12 human hauler and 30 auto-rickshaw stands built on roads, and most of which are not, according to SCC, authorised.
Moreover, excessive traffic mobilisation, encroachment of major footpaths by vendors and hawkers, and lack of awareness among drivers are not less responsible for the gridlock. Apart from the causes aforementioned, the residents also said because many educational institutions and restaurants built beside major thoroughfares have no parking lots of their own, people park their vehicles on the roads, intensifying the sufferings.
Nikulin Chakma, additional deputy commissioner (traffic) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, agreed with the residents on the causes, adding that collectively efforts need to be undertaken by the city corporation, district administration and police so as to purge the city of the problems.
Faruk Mahmud Chowdhury, president of the Sylhet chapter of Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan), said, “Now is the time to heed and solve them.”
“SCC asked all to make sure their buildings have adequate parking spaces while constructing them,” he said, adding, “Though many keep on violating the instructions, the authorities are now in oblivion.”
Enamul Habib, SCC chief executive officer (CEO) said, “We are permitting the construction of buildings only after getting assured that they have adequate parking spaces,” underlining the need for bringing the old ones that have no parking spaces under the building code.
Conceding that they were yet to take steps with regard to parking lots, he said, “We have taken serious actions against indiscriminate parking and occupation of footpaths. Our work is going on to reconstruct the roads narrowed.”
The CEO added that they along with the district administration and traffic department of police would shortly take all-out measures to mitigate the gridlock woes.
Rahmatullah , ADC of SMP, said the huge traffic jam was created due to the rainfall, which created sufferings for people.
