Pedestrians suffer as footpaths remain occupied, filthy
Residents welcome rickshaw-free Mirpur Road
Sultana Rahman
City residents have welcomed the step to make Russell Square to Azimpur section of the Mirpur Road rickshaw-free, but commuters are suffering from lack of alternative transport arrangements and unusable footpaths. The busy road was made off-limits to non-motorised vehicles on December 17 forcing the commuters to take bus or walk on the footpaths which are lying in poor condition. Footpaths on both sides of the Mirpur Road are fully occupied by hawkers, with some points remain full of garbage. The dumping of garbage on the footpath continues due to lack of effective monitoring by the authorities. "I welcome the government decision to make the road rickshaw-free but before implementing the decision they should have arranged adequate buses and made the footpaths usable," said Zebunnessa, a college teacher. Zebunnessa took a rickshaw from her house at Green Road and left it at Science Laboratory crossing. Then she walked five minutes for getting a bus to her workplace Eden College. "It took more than half an hour to reach the college." When rickshaws were available, she could reach the college in 15/20 minutes, Zebunnessa said. "You cannot walk of the filthy footpath near Science Laboratory as people use it for urinating," she said. "But this is not the end of sufferings," she continued. "I found it really difficult to board a bus in front of Teachers' Training College. I could easily walk to my college if the footpaths were clean and free from hawkers." Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) has pressed 40 double-decker buses into service on the route and decided to run them for free to passengers until December 26 but it is inadequate to meet the passengers' demand. However, most commuters welcomed the decision to make the road off-limits to rickshaws as the step eased traffic congestion on the busy road. Now only the pedestrians and commuters of short-distance are suffering. "We the residents of Dhaka seldom walk whereas those in most big cities do not use a vehicle for a short distance," said Helaluddin Nagri, an official at the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB). He however agreed that the dwellers in Dhaka have limited scopes for walking as most of the footpaths are inconvenient for the pedestrians. According to Dhaka City Corporation, many rickshawpullers are affected due to the rickshaw off-limits plan for Mirpur Road. "This is nothing but an attempt to kill poor people," said Abdul Latif, a rickshawpuller.
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