Traffic mess in city

A huge tailback forms on the road in the High Court area yesterday, as the BNP stages a sit-in on the premises of Engineers Institution, Bangladesh nearby to protest the 'government interference in the judiciary'. Photo: STAR

The BNP's sit-in programme at Engineers' Institution of Bangladesh yesterday triggered a chain reaction in Dhaka traffic system hindering vehicular movement throughout the day.
City dwellers and commuters went through unbearable sufferings having to remain stranded for hours in jam-packed public transport and other vehicles on major city streets in the hot and humid weather.
Traffic on major roads in parts of the city apparentlycame to a standstill since 10:00am as leaders and activists of BNP and its front and associate organisations marched towards the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh.
The congestion took a serious turn in adjoining areas as traffic police had to close the road between Shahbagh and Matshya Bhaban from 10:00am to 3:00pm. The tailback from the sit-in spot reached Farmgate on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue and Science Laboratory intersection on Mirpur Road.
The worst-affected areas were Shahbagh, Bangla Motor, Kantaban, Elephant Road, Gulistan, Motijheel, Matshya Bhaban, Jatiya Press Club, Paltan, Kakrail, and Shantinagar.
It took more than two hours to travel 2km on a bus. Vehicles on streets were crawling inch-by-inch.
"I am exhausted as I had to struggle the whole day yesterday to control the gridlock," traffic police constable Abdul Mannan who was on duty at Sonargaon intersection told The Daily Star yesterday afternoon.
The office-going people and students and their guardians in those areas were the worst sufferers.
Narrating the sufferings Mohammad Zafar, a student of Titumir College said, "I started from Sheorapara to see a relative admitted in Dhaka Medical College Hospital. But it took me two hours to reach Shahbagh from Khamarbari."
The traffic jam also caused economic loss to bus operators as they could only make half the trips yesterday.
"We had to pay a certain amount to the bus owner from our pockets, let alone the earnings, as we could only make three trips instead of six that we make daily," said Mohammad Shamim, helper of a bus that runs between Kalshi and Gulistan.
He said it took more than four hours to travel 14km between Gulistan and Kalshi. He also said usually it takes a little over one hour.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday told the Jatiya Sangsad that her government had taken various programmes including construction of elevated expressway and flyovers to reduce the city's traffic congestion, reports BSS.
"We have undertaken programmes to construct flyovers at different points in the city and elevated expressway along with water ways around the city for reducing Dhaka's unbearable traffic jam," she said during the question-answer session.
She said her government has already purchased 200 new buses and more buses would be bought soon to discourage private cars on the streets.