Dhaka's traffic mess

THE PM must have been riled enough to direct the minister for communications to do something to ease the unbearable traffic jam in the city's as the party's central committee meeting took up the issue on Saturday. And the minister came under pressure from his colleagues for a substantive effort to reduce, if not rid the capital of its traffic problems.
We are constrained to say that the traffic weeks and special drives have really been of little avail. The much vaunted special drive to ease traffic jam in August this year was an apology; there was no let up in the hardship being faced by the commuters in the capital.
It is regrettable that the problem, instead of attenuating is accentuating by the day, made worse by addition on the streets of almost a hundred and fifty vehicles daily. It is regrettable too that the matter, we feel, has not been addressed with any degree of seriousness so as to prompt the concerned persons to undertake short-term measures to relieve the city dwellers of this dreadful problem. We wonder what has happened to the Dhaka Urban Transport Project's (DUTP) plan that was formulated based upon the recommendations of the Dhaka Integrated Transport Study (DITS).
The PM had directed special measures including construction of elevated expressway to ease the problem. While expressways and flyovers are indeed indispensable measures these are ventures that will take time to plan and implement. Given the traditional lack of commitment of a new government to see through plans and projects initiated by the past government, as in the case of one flyover project in Dhaka, there is no gainsaying that the matter as a whole has not truly received the attention it deserved.
As for the present we suggest that the police display more commitment to see unfit vehicles off the road. There is bound to be jams when private busses and haulers stop in undesignated places under the eyes of the cop. What can one expect when there are thousands of unlicensed rickshaws contributing to the mess with the traffic police turning a blind eye? A great deal of the problem could be reduced if vehicles parked in unauthorised places were impounded or severely fined at the least. Why footpaths can't be rid of vendors and why those using footpaths to dump construction materials can't be taken to task. These do not need additional resources, time or money but only additional commitment of the agencies concerned.
We feel that the relevant ministries must undertake immediate measures simultaneously while undertaking long term steps with a clear-cut vision.