The traffic of Dhaka city has long earned the infamy of giving commuters a nightmarish time. On Thursday last, the regulators of traffic at Shahbagh and the intersections around it were perhaps determined to enter the city's name in the Guinness Book of Records for endurance test for drivers and passengers. Or, else no such agency responsible for managing movement of vehicles in a mega city like Dhaka can hold in check vehicles on the segment of roads between Shahbagh and Sheraton crossings for an hour. Indeed, vehicles were compelled to come to a halt there without moving an inch for a full hour.
It was the time when service-holders from non-government organisations and bankers usually return home after a long and arduous day's work schedules. And the ordeal was not confined to that particular segment of roads on that day. Actually, it is almost a daily odyssey now for commuters of this city. But of late, celebrations of some important events by the ruling party and its student wing took the travails of city people to a level of the Greek hero Odysseus' epic journey. After the day's work, passing agonising hours on roads tells on both body and mind of the victims. Those who are subjected to daily doses of such mental carcinogenic agents surely have their creativity or productivity reduced and longevity cut short by a few years.
Different agencies and organisations have measured the man-hour losses in traffic gridlock of the capital in financial terms. But no one has taken a long view of continued tailbacks' impact on people responsible for running offices, factories and other service sectors. When a bus takes half an hour to an hour daily to cross the distance between Matsyabhaban and Shahbagh intersections with passengers mostly on their return journey home from office, no one really seems to give a serious thought to this chronic problem. As if the road users there have been fated to this ordeal under a decree from the providence.
The road segment running between the Ramna Park and residential zone of ministers however is given the priority when it comes to traffic movement. Aptly known as VIP (very important person) road, it enjoys preferential treatment more than it deserves. Even when no VIPs move, the road is kept as much free as possible. On some days though, the breakdown of the traffic system has its spill-over share on this favoured road too. When this happens, the VIPs have no qualms about taking on to the wrong side of the road with escorting cars blaring whistles and honks to warn vehicles using the roads legally and rightfully.
So in the eyes of law, not all men are equal. Some are certainly more equal than others. Practices like this have been going on for quite sometime now and the rhetoric on this type of violation of traffic rule does not cease to remind people of the need for compliance of law and regulations. There is a common complaint that those responsible for regulating traffic movement are irresponsible enough to create the tailback rather deliberately. A study by the BRAC University has more or less concluded to this effect. Indeed, there can be no plausible explanation for stopping movement of traffic on as busy a segment as that of the Mymensingh Road near Shahbagh in the name of VIP movement. There is more to it than the eye can meet.
Under this arrangement, people feel frustrated, disenchanted and in some cases prompted to break law. At least the road from the High Court crossing up to Katabon could be widened by a few yards. Alternatively, roads on either side of Ramna Park could be turned one-way in the morning and afternoon when office-goers go to offices and return from work respectively.
- Friday, 26 April 2024 |
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