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Move to ease traffic jam sees little result

Staff Correspondent
A major government step to ease traffic jam on the city roads has apparently failed to reduce man-hours lost in traffic tailback.
Strike forces comprising members of police, Bangladesh Rifles, Ansar, Armed Police Battalion, deployed to ease traffic jam at the beginning of Ramadan, have proved futile in controlling the large number of vehicles plying the roads every day, especially immediately before Iftar, at the beginning of office hours and during its break.
"Dhaka is not a city for so many vehicles, it is quite impossible for law enforcers to control the large number of vehicles running on so few number of roads," said a BDR personnel at Farmgate, preferring not to be named.
"Double-deckers, local and long-route minibuses, microbuses, semi-trucks, private cars, three-wheelers and, in many cases, rickshaws -- all in droves ply the same road and many of their drivers have no traffic sense. How is it possible to make the road a jam-free one?" another BDR personnel said.
Members of the strike forces were found clearing the roads off the vehicles as soon as any passenger bus stopped at the stoppages, but the rush of other vehicles is so massive that their action yields very little result.
"As soon as we stop traffic on any lane to let others go, the first lane gets long within a very short time creating jam at the other end," a traffic sergeant at Mohakhali said yesterday trying to explain how traffic snarls occur.
As the Eid nears, increasing number of vehicular traffic and people are thronging different city markets and malls occupying part of roads thus creating traffic jam there.
"The increasing number of running vehicles are not only clogging the roads, as many of them are already parked in front of the markets, narrowing the passage for other passing vehicles," said another traffic sergeant stationed in front of Rapa Plaza at Sukrabad.
As number of vehicles on the road increases two hours ahead of Iftar every day, movement at Shahbagh, Sheraton, Mohakhali, Banani, Farmgate, Karwan Bazar, Moghbazar, Paltan, Kakrail, Malibagh, Khilgaon, Science Laboratory, Jatrabari and Biswaroad crossings practically comes to a standstill.
Roads in front of Karnafuli Garden City, Century Market and Twin Towers in Shantinagar, Chadni Chawk and New Market, Peer Yameni Market and Bangabazar Super Market near Gulistan remained clogged almost throughout the day yesterday.
As most VIPs use the Kakrail-Sheraton road to avoid jam at the Shahbagh crossing, vehicles on the Kazi Nazrul Islam Road (VIP Road) take nearly an hour to reach Farmgate from Shahbagh.
Shopping malls sprawled over different parts of the city especially on the Satmasjid Road and Dhanmondi areas do not have parking facilities and the space provided by some of them is not sufficient.
Green Road to Science Laboratory and the entire stretch of Mirpur Road from the New Market to Asad Gate are examples of daylong traffic nightmare as these are intersected by many lanes and bylanes.
Dhanmondi and Banani, known as Dhaka's education zones, are occupied by many schools, private universities and coaching centres. Most of these institutions do not have any parking spaces of their own, another reason for the traffic gridlock during and at break time of these educational institutions.
The Banani and Khilgaon flyovers are conversely contributing a lot to the traffic clogging in the area.
"During the office hours, it takes almost one and half hours from Tongi to reach Farmgate owing to the construction work of the Banani flyover," Sohel Morshed, an official of a private bank at Karwan Bazar, said. "It will take almost two hours if it is Iftar hours," he added.
However, The Deputy Commi-ssioner of Traffic (North Zone), Ansar Ali Pathan, is satisfied with the traffic management in the city.
"The pressure on the road is normal as more people are coming out for shopping and thronging different markets and many of them are parking their vehicles in front of the markets, you cannot prevent it," he said.
"The situation will ease after Eid," he added.