Cumilla choked by congestion

Commuters' suffering in the sweltering heat on the roads, as most of them had to spend at least 30 minutes to an hour more than the usual time to reach their destinations due to gridlocks, has become a common situation in Cumilla city.

A large part of the congestion the city dwellers face each day is due to the illegal parking of buses, trucks and auto-rickshaws. To make things worse, buses stop in the middle of streets to take on extra passengers instead of designated bus stops.

After visiting Chawkbazar Old Chattogram road of Cumilla recently, the eastern entry and exit point of the town, this correspondent saw a huge tailback that stretched for at least a few kilometers, if not more.

 "There is no limited time for traffic congestion in the area. It starts in the morning and continues till midnight," said Jakir Hossain, a local vendor.

However, the Jangalia bus stand of the city has been expanded and developed lately, meaning the vehicles, which had to park outside the terminal a few years ago due to lack of space and poor infrastructure, can now be stationed inside.

So people get on the buses from their designated place, which has significantly reduced traffic jams in the nearby areas.

But those using the Paduarbazar Bus Stand on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway are not so lucky. Passengers board on and off the buses from the  road in front as the terminal has not been expanded for years, triggering huge traffic snarl-ups on the busy highway.

The same situation was seen after this correspondent visited the Shasongacha bus station area.

Bilkish Akhter, teacher at a Syedpur school, said, "I regularly commute from Cumilla to Syedpur but there is always traffic congestion in the Shasongacha bus station area. There is no discipline in traffic management."

The situation is particularly worse in Kandirpar area, the business hub of Cumilla City.

Auto-rickshaws haphazardly park here and there and the footpaths are occupied by vendors, making it even difficult to walk.

Masuk Altaf Chowdhury, a journalist and president of Cumilla Press Club, said, "The city corporation has no data on illegal auto-rickshaws. They have no control over the traffic system."

"The traffic woes won't improve in a day. Imposing strict laws, awareness campaigns and participation of all relevant stakeholders are needed to get rid of gridlocks," he added.

 Traffic inspector Russel Bhuiyan said, "There are 54 traffic police deployed in Cumilla town. They work by  roster of 27 person in each shift, which is not sufficient."

"Community policing is very  inadequate in Cumilla city. The commercial market buildings don't have  enough parking places. In some places, market owners illegally park  their vehicles on roads, which causes congestion," he added.

Contacted, Dr Shafikul Islam, chief executive officer of Cumilla City  Corporation, said," We are going launch a drive to evict illegal  establishments  besides Laksham Road at Tomsom bridge in Shaktola area.  But there is no plan in the works to widen city roads."  

Sunity  Chakma, executive engineer of Roads and Highway Department, said a  project worth Tk 5,68,93,000 has been taken to construct a U-loop, an  overpass and three under passes in Sadar south upazila, Paduar Bazar and  Beltoli areas.

The traffic jams would reduce significantly once these projects get completed, he said.