Tough day for Dhaka dwellers
Residents of the capital, especially office-goers and students suffered immensely yesterday as early morning rain coupled with VVIP movement caused massive gridlocks in different parts of Dhaka.
Not only for the office goers, but the first half of the day was also a nightmare for guardians dropping and picking up their children from school.
Traffic police officials said vehicular movement through Tongi's Cherag Ali to Gazipur remained almost halted due to the rain.
The traffic situation consequently worsened over up to the capital's Bijoy Sarani, Saat Rasta intersection. The roads connecting to the main thoroughfares also witnessed severe congestion.
Sharing his terrible experience, a banker told this correspondent that he started from his Mirpur residence for Gazipur's Board Bazar at 7:00am as usual, but after spending three hours, he could only reach Uttara.
"I remained stuck in traffic at the same place for 45 minutes and then decided to return home. I managed to reach home around 2:00pm after facing gridlock at Khilkhet," he said.
Miroza Parvin, the mother of a third grader at Shaheed Bir Uttam Lt. Anwar Girls' College, said she started around 11:00am to drop her daughter to school.
But she could not even reach Kochukhet by 12:45pm. There was severe gridlock as the road through the cantonment area remained closed.
The mother-daughter duo skipped school for the day and returned home around 1:30pm.
Commuters said Tongi, Uttara, Airport, Mohakhali, Bijoy Sarani, Bangla Motor, Shahbagh and Kochukhet areas saw the worst gridlock.
Many of them were seen walking to their destination, while others were seen waiting for vehicles at various spots.
Talking to this correspondent, auto-rickshaw driver Shah Alam said, "The traffic situation today will surely affect my income as I could not make the expected number of trips."
Besides, around noon, a group of hawkers held a demonstration in Gulistan against the Dhaka South City Corporation's eviction drive, causing gridlock on nearby roads, said Paltan Police Station OC Salahuddin Mia.
Meanwhile, around the same time, Gazipur Metropolitan Police (GMP) published a "traffic bulletin" on their official Facebook page in this regard.
"Vehicles were moving on one lane from both directions due to a hole dug for the flyover's pier cap in the Mill Gate area of Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway. The road was further blocked by the tin barricade around the pit and the trenches have not been repaired," it said.
Due to the infrastructural weakness of the BRT project in Tongi's Mill Gate area, heavy rain since Monday night further complicated the situation, read the bulletin.
"Several holes were dug on the road to install pillars as part of the BRT project in Tongi Mill Gate Cherag Ali area in Gazipur. But the project has been halted since last month," said Sheikh Shahadat Ali, traffic inspector of Gazipur Metropolitan Police.
As the water submerged the road, vehicles were moving slowly to avoid falling inside the holes, he added.
Abu Raihan Mohammad Saleh, joint commissioner (Traffic North) of DMP told this newspaper, "The road condition in Tongi's Cherag Ali area was the reason behind the traffic congestion. The movement of the vehicles was completely stalled in the morning and its impact spread to the other important points of Dhaka."
"Besides, the traffic situation also deteriorated due to the rain," he added.
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