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Trapped in tailbacks

Traffic jam rises on unfit buses, illegal rickshaws, WIP movements, lax law enforcement

Helemul Alam
Return of unfit buses and illegal rickshaws on the city streets is one of the reasons why traffic congestion has worsened over the last two weeks, say traffic cops and public transport employees.
They blame the tailbacks also on rapid rise in the number of new cars with little expansion ofthe road network.
Special measures to ensure seamless ride for the WIP motorcades add to the sufferings of commuters. To make matters still worse, demonstrations blocking roads have intensified in the last few days.
Speaking in return for anonymity, a traffic sergeant said the beat-up buses that were banned from the streets in 2002 are getting back to business with changes on the exterior to look new.
This has been continuing unhindered with the connivance of a section of officials at Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), he added.
Nur Islam, a private bus line staffer, said some 100 out-of-condition buses have returned on Motijheel-Banani route in the last three months including 20 in the last week alone. Similar is the situation along the other
routes.
A sergeant at Zero Point said a huge number of illegal rickshaws have begun crowding the roads after the December 29 election.
He said they often cannot stop rickshaws entering the VIP roads due to manpower constraints and rush of the three-wheeled carts. The simultaneous plying of motorised and non-motorised vehicles severely hampers the traffic movement.
A Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) official said authorised rickshaws, rickshaw-vans and push-carts are far outnumbered by the ones running without permission.
The properly licensed rickshaws total 79,616, rickshaw-vans 7,916 and push-carts 120 against more than 3 lakh unauthorised rickshaws, 50,000 rickshaw-vans and 20,000 push-carts.
A BRTA official said 150 to 200 new vehicles save motorcycles get on the roads across the country everyday. Of them, 40 to 50 join the city traffic.
A sergeant, on duty in Ramna area, said the traffic personnel have to dedicate more time now to clearing th e roads for WIP motorcades as the number of ministers, state ministers and advisers is over 40. Things were much easier during the caretaker government as the number of advisers at that time was only 10. Besides, rundown vehicles too were held in check, headded.
BRTA Director (efiforce-ment) Abdur Rouf said they conduct drive against unfit vehicles continuously.
Lately, though, operation of BRTA mobile courtsnas slowed down as three magistrates of the DC office are now busy with SSC examinations, he noted.
They will step up the crackdown on illegal vehicles after the end or in the middle of the exams.
Joint Commissioner (traffic) Jasim Uddin of DMP said agitations blocking the thoroughfares, which have become quite frequent of late, lead to near-constant gridlock.
Besides, the situation has deteriorated as the number of commuters has shot up with most of the schools and colleges returning from vacations.
He points out, "We struggle maintaining smooth flow of traffic also because we don't have the manpower needed to man around 400 intersections across the city. Only a few crossings have fully automatic traffic signal systems."
He said they cannot go on a drive against illegal rickshaws at will as they need permission for that, and also have to consider the livelihood of poor and displaced people.
Absence of a large dump to hold the seized rickshaws acts as another deterrent.