Ctg commuters suffer for lack of transport
Sinthia Binte Rashid was waiting for a human-haulier at the port city's Chawk Bazar intersection yesterday morning.
Whenever one arrived after every 15 minutes, the Chittagong College student rushed to board it but to no avail since like her, around a hundred people were also awaiting public transports in the area.
Some four to five male passengers got on a vehicle, could not find any unoccupied seat and started their journey hanging behind it.
Meantime, Sinthia was waiting for over an hour under the scorching sun to go to Agrabad.
“I have to go home,” said Sinthia. “Usually a good number of human-hauliers park here. I'm just too tired to wait for so long in this heat.”
This had been the scenario in most of the busy areas of the port city including Sholashahar Gate No 2 and Muradpur, Bahaddarhat, Lalkhan Bazar, Tiger Pass, Wasa and GEC intersections for the last two days.
With Traffic Department of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) observing Traffic Week since Monday and imposing strict measures on vehicles plying without route permits, commuters are suffering due to a shortage of public transport on city roads.
In many areas, commuters were seen waiting for vehicles for long. Also, scorching summer heat added more woe to their sufferings. Female passengers were the worst sufferers as they had to wait longer to get a seat.
This correspondent met a sweat-drenched Pulak Sarkar, a private job holder, in Kazir Dewri area.
“Failing to find any transport, I started walking from Jamal Khan Road. I have to go to Lalkhan Bazar. I waited for 30 minutes but could not find any vehicle. Even the rickshaw-pullers demanded three times more than the usual fair,” he said. “So I decided to walk.”
Transport leaders said as the traffic department declared to be strict against illegal vehicles during Traffic Week, a good number of vehicles did not ply the roads in the last two days.
Around 1,200 buses and 600 human-hauliers ply 17 city routes, and around 25 percent of them do not have route permits, claimed Tarun Dasgupta, general secretary of City Transport Owners' Association.
“The ones without the permit stayed off the road,” he said. “Moreover, there is a shortage of drivers and therefore, many vehicles are driven by unlicensed drivers.”
“Police are imposing strict measures not only on the vehicles without permits but also on the unlicensed drivers,” he said. “So, many of those drivers are also not driving the vehicles.”
As a result, many vehicles with route permits cannot ply the roads for want of drivers, he said. “All these made the situation worse for the passengers.”
However, Abdul Mannan, publicity secretary of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation, alleged that police were “harassing” drivers despite having legal documents. “It is also a reason behind their reluctance to drive during Traffic Week,” he said.
Contacted, Azizur Rahman, assistant commissioner (traffic north zone) of CMP, said Traffic Week will be observed from May 22 to May 25 with an aim to create awareness among commuters and drivers to follow the traffic rules.
Denying the allegation of harassing drivers, Azizur said police only filed cases against those who failed to show legal documents. “We are not just being strict on Traffic Week only, it's a continuous process. Our drives against illegal vehicles will go on.”
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