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Overlooked underpass at Gulistan

Manisha Gangopadhyay
Overlooked underpass at Gulistan
Even after three years of the construction of the Gulistan underpass more people are choosing to weave through traffic at the busy intersection rather than use the underpass made for the 'convenience of pedestrians.'
The nearly-vacant pathways along the underpass are a testament to the fact that most find it more convenient to walk the streets than take two sets of stairs and walk through a marketplace in the underpass in order to cross the streets.
In fact, the majority of people who use the over 10,000 square feet underpass, built by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), with entrances on each of the four corners of the intersection have come there to see the shops.
Aktar Jamal Khan of DCC claims that vendors were invited to set up in the underpass in order to increase the safety along this route. Shops, he says, provide necessary lighting and ensure the presence of a critical mass of people because they attract customers.
" I'm here because my husband wanted to show me the marketplace," said a woman while passing through the underpass along with her husband and a child.
Still men and women and even with those children choose the riskier path of walking through traffic. A view from the crossing reveals why.
At the time of construction, the underpass may have seemed like a necessary
project because of heavy congestion at the site, particularly between Motijheel and Gulistan.
However, a traffic policeman believes that the removal of a nearby bus terminal after the construction of the underpass in 2001 has led to a significant drop in congestion.
Now, instead of choking up the intersection, buses stop briefly at different points along the way to drop off and pick up passengers, easing up much of the traffic.
Furthermore, unlike most crossings where pedestrians, rickshaws and vehicles cross each other’s paths and fight for the right of way, at the Gulistan crossing most pedestrians walk in the same direction as traffic.
Furthermore, rickshaws and motor vehicles take different routes once they approach the intersection. Most vehicular traffic goes back and forth from Motijheel to the General Post office, while rickshaw traffic - which must take care to avoid the General Post Office route that leads to rickshaw-prohibited areas — goes back and forth from Motijheel to Sadarghat.
Thus the crossing gives the appearance ofa smooth-flowing intersection, making it easy for pedestrians to walk.
However, this is not free from risks. The Gulistan crossing is, after all, a perilous 4-way intersection.
Contrary to its intended and apparently futile purpose, the underpass marketplace too poses a hazard to underpass
users. The approximately 8-foot wide footpaths have become storage spaces for high stacks of boxes full of heavy equipment and waste, as well as sharp objects such as large mobile antennas. If the underpass were actually used, the congestion this would cause would invariably lead to accidents.
DCC has not provided a separate storage space, forcing the shop-owners to utilise the 100 square feet space. This is clearly not feasible for those shops selling large equipment such as televisions and stereo systems, as is evident by the mountains of boxes lined up in front of these particular shops.
” We have no other place to keep them," says an electronics shopkeeper.
Other potential threat includes the flstorey under-construction brick shoppingcentre at the site of Gulistan Cinema near one of the underpass entrances. Like many construction sites in Dhaka, adequate protection from falling building materials is severely lacking.
As far as one can tell, the only real protection is an 8-10 feet long corrugated metal sheet sticking out from the sides of the 2nd floor, one assumes to 'catch' such objects.
Though the marketplace in the underpass has done little to encourage safety, it has helped DCC rake in revenues. Each one of the 104 shops, selling mostly electronics and mobile phone equipment, is charged a one time Tk 7 lakh, in addition to a monthly rent, which amounts to Tk 10 lakh a year.