Drive against jaywalking begins today

Dhaka Metropolitan Police begins its week-long drive to check jaywalking on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue in the capital this morning.

Every day from 8:00am to evening, there will be two mobile courts, led by executive magistrates, on the Hotel Ruposhi Bangla intersection-Farmgate Police Box stretch of the avenue.

A jaywalker will be fined Tk 200 or sentenced to six months in prison, DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed told a press conference on Saturday.

One of the two mobile courts will operate on the avenue's Hotel Ruposhi Bangla intersection-Bangla Motor stretch while the other will function on Sonargaon Hotel intersection-Farmgate Police Box portion, said Sarwoer Alam, metropolitan executive magistrate of Dhaka district administration.

Police have already launched a three-day awareness campaign in the area.

“It's a pilot project. If it proves successful, the DMP will gradually introduce the project elsewhere in the city,” the DMP chief said while announcing the decision.

The DMP drive is taking place amid a sorry state of footbridges and footpaths in the capital.