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Moghbazar, traffic jam go together

Shariful Islam
Irritated rickshaw puller Rafiq Mian only made 250 metres headway from Moghbazar Wireless towards Moghbazar intersection. "I have been stuck here since 8:00am and now it is past 9:00am,” he said.
Rafiq is actually angry with himself as he took a passenger onboard and pedalled towards Moghbazar knowing very well that traffic jams are a regular phenomenon during the morning rush in the area.
"I do not usually come to Moghbazar during the morning rush even if a passenger is willing to pay me three times the normal fare," Rafiq told The Daily Star.
“I made a mistake coming to this area At any other place I would have earned more than Tk 30 by now," he added. Badal Bhuiyan was taking his daughter Kaniz Fatima, a class-II student, to Ispahani Girls School at Moghbazar. He was seen sitting on a rickshaw at Moghbazar intersection.
Badal looked frustrated and disappointed as he knew his daughter was going to be at least 15 minutes late, about which the teachers notified him just a day before. The school starts at nine and almost every day he faces the same suffering during the morning rush.
"I started for school an hour ago. The school is just a kilometre away from my home in Nayatola. In the last 40 minutes my rickshaw travelled only 100metres," Badal said.
He said he would have been able to travel to and from the school 10 times on foot within this time. He said he had no option as his daughter is too young to walk that far.
He said usually rickshaw pullers charge Tk 7 from his home to the school but during the morning rush they charge Tk 20. He said he has to spend quite a lot of time trying to get rickshaws to go
towards Moghbazar intersection.
Nagging traffic jams have become a significant part of life of thousands in Moghbazar and Malibagh areas.
Moghbazar resident Mahfuzur Rahman yesterday said with the government announced closure of all schools from September 16, traffic jams in the area eased to some extent.
A number of other locals said apart from the roads leading to Mouchak from Moghbazar and Malibagh level crossing intersection, all roads and alleys in Moghbazar and Malibagh area come to a standstill between 8:00am and 11:00am.
They said traffic jams begin on the stretch of road between Moghbazar and Mouchak as traffic policemen halt traffic at Moghbazar intersection for seven to 10 minutes at a time. They let vehicles go for around two minutes after the stops but very few vehicles can actually get through as the road is full of slow m oving rickshaws.
People of Moghbazar and Malibagh bear the brunt of jams at Mouchak intersection. Traffic
sergeant Hiron said people coming to Mouchak and Anarkali markets get off their vehicles at the intersection causing the jams regularly.
"During the morning rush the roads between Moghbazar and Mouchak intersection and Malibagh Chowdhurypara and Mouchak intersection get packed with vehicles first and then all alleys inside Moghbazar and Malibagh get clogged with rickshaws," said Moghbazar resident Mohammad Ibrahim.
The residents also said four level crossings between Malibagh and Tongi Diversion Road at Moghbazar also aggravate the jams.
Traffic police and railway sources said with 72 trains arriving and departing from Kamalapur Railway Station every day. each of the four level crossings are closed for traffic around six hours a day.
Railway officials said around five minutes is lost every time a train goes past the level crossings. "If we estimate the time lost for 72 trains, it would be around 360 minutes," said a top traffic police official.