Dhanmondi, best recognized for its towering buildings, hospitals, private schools and more importantly, its slapdash traffic congestions and pollution, has altered to a great extent since DMP declared one-way traffic in a number of its streets.

"It is quite remarkable to see such smooth flow of traffic. There are even no honking, and the frequent sites of cars pushing from the middle of nowhere to create gridlocks that lasted for hours is not there either," said an excited Tanzil Ahmed, resident from Dhanmondi.

While children shambling with their schoolbags and toddling their way to the schools across the static gridlocks especially in the mornings and afternoons used to be a common spectacle that roughly symbolized Dhanmondi even a while back, Dhanmondi residents find it difficult to recognize the fact that the situation is quite different now.

"It is quite hard to believe that the unbearably lengthy queue of cars that prickled the Dhanmondi streets has disappeared," said Madeeha Hafeez, a banker from Dhanmondi.

"It is evidently the most effective measures been taken by the authorities to smoothen the otherwise exasperating conditions of traffic in Dhanmondi," she added.

However, opinions seem to vary from commuters to commuters. Several Dhanmondi residents alleged that although abrupt traffic hold ups are as frequent as they used to be, they still tend to take place from time to time, as confusions about the new regulations are still apparent amongst local residents. Chauffeurs and dwellers from other parts of the city are not fully aware of the new policies as well

"There have been times when the situation was even worse than the usual turmoil. Although a number of law enforcers are stationed before the streets with the one-way signs and posts, numerous cars still manage to came through the wrong way and creates huge traffic confusions," said Rakib Hasan, resident from Dhanmondi.

"That sort of confusion has arisen quite a few times since then as general people are still confused about the exact details concerning the roads that were made one-way. In times like these the rickshaw-pullers also tend to charge outrageous fares, as they have to take longer routes," added Rakib Hasan.

Abdul Hakim, a rickshaw puller said, "This new policy has made our task even tougher as we have to take longer and trickier routes to reach destinations, and we had to increase our fares for this".

The roads of 6, 7, 8, 6A, 7A, 8A, 9A, 10A, 11A, 12A, 13A, 14A and several other residential areas of Dhanmondi were brought under the purview of this new DMP scheme. According to this scheme, one-way traffic will be applicable in these streets from 7:00am to 9:00pm except for the holidays.

"The scheme is promising and is likely to be effective in the long run provided that the traffic officials handle the situation responsibly and sensibly," said Jahangir Alam, an urban architect and resident of Dhanmondi.

"Honestly, I am quite sceptical about the consistency of the traffic police's performance and role in this matter. I appreciate their efforts to ease the situation, but it seems quite unlikely that they are going to be as strict as required and ensure that the orders are kept in the long run," he added.

As reported by DMP officials, around 150 members of the riot police have been deployed to monitor the one-way traffic system.

While the recent steps taken by the authorities seem laudable, majority feels the need of consistency and enhancement of further steps to improve the planning and rules in the residential areas.

"Different aspects such as parking facilities, allotment of plots, pedestrians rights, segregation of commercial and residential areas, along with rickshaws and cars need to be taken into account in order to ensure proper planning and pacify the overall situation," said Jahangir Alam.

According to Jashim Uddin, Joint Commissioner of the traffic department of DMP, the responses from Dhanmondi residents about the new regulation have been encouraging.

"Living in Dhanmondi has been quite a bit of nightmare for the local residents with all the haphazard traffic congestions. And as the recent schemes have been enforced to ease the overall situation with great success, the responses from local residents of Dhanmondi have been very encouraging indeed," said Jashim Uddin.

"The kind of torture that the residents of Dhanmondi have to go through due to all the traffic chaos during the school and office hours is simply agonizing as it is the right of every citizen to be able to live in peace," he added.