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Two more roads to be rickshaw-free in January

SOHEL ISLAM
Two city roads will be made off-limits to rickshaws and other nonmotorised vehicles from January 1.
The roads are Russell Square to Azimpur via New Market and Science Laboratory Crossing to Jatiya Press Club via Shahbagh.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) yesterday. Representatives from
Bangladesh Transport Foundation (BTF), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Dhaka Metropolitan Police, Dhaka Sarak Pariban Samity and Bangladesh Bus and Truck Owners Association were present at the meeting.
Earlier, a decision to ban rickshaws on the roads from December 1 was put on hold as the DTCB wanted a public awareness campaign.
The DTCB signed an agreement with Bangladesh Transport Foundation (BTF) yesterday, which will carry out the campaign by distributing leaflets and talking to the commuters, bus drivers and rickshawpullers.
"The BTF will also seek opinion from the media. By December 7, the BTF will come up with its plan for the campaign, " DTCB Executive Director Quamrul Islam Siddiqui said.
Siddiqui said a rickshaw owners' association, which has 87,000 legal rickshaws, demands that illegal rickshaws should be banned.
There are some five lakh illegal rickshaws plying the city, creating snarl-ups.
"So we have to decide our action accordingly. We want to introduce a system under which commuters would be able to get on a bus every few minutes on any route," Siddiqui said.
"If these two routes are made off-limits to rickshaws, we can provide quality bus service for the passengers," General Secretary of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity Saiful Alam said. "Now we have 130 buses and mini buses under our organisation, which will be adequate to meet the demand once rickshaws were withdrawn."
Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP), mostly funded by the World Bank, has planned to make six more routes free of rickshaws and non-motorised transports by 2005. The four routes to be freed of rickshaws by 2004 are Mirpur-10 to Farmgate via Rokeya Sarani, Baridhara to Mouchak via Pragrati Sarani, Bangla Motor to Mouchak via New Eskaton and Technical Crossing (Mirpur Raod) to Mirpur-2.
The rest -- Azimpur to Syedabad via Tikatuli and Purnana Paltan to Sadarghat via North South Road will be made rickshaw-free by 2005.