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Bus parking on roads

DCC cashes in on parking of several hundred buses on Gulishtan roads, contributes to severe traffic jam every day; traffic department remains oblivious

Helemul Alam
Several hundred buses operating from Fulbaria and Joykali Mandir bus terminals are parked on the roads in Gulistan area, causing severe traffic congestion in that part of the capital.
Around 1,000 buses ply different routes including Dhaka-Mawa and Dhaka-Dohar from Fulbaria bus terminal, while over 500 buses run between Joykali Mandir and Gazipur,
Dohar, Demra, Munshiganj and other places.
In absence of parking arrangements, these buses occupy the roads between Fulbaria intersection and Fire Service headquarters at Bangabazar, and behind Gulistan Park.
Instead of taking measures to solve parking space crisis at the city terminals, Dhaka City Corporation has allowed two companies--Maliha Enterprise and Tushin Agro-to collect
toll from the buses parked on the roads near Joykali Mandir (Gulistan) and Fulbaria bus stands.
DCC receives Tk 17,061 for Fulbaria and Tk 20,300 for Joykali Mandir a day from each of the two firms. The annual figures are Tk 62.75 lakh and Tk 74.27 lakh, said Shahidur Rahman, DCC manager for inter-district and city bus terminals.
Terminal sources said the firms collect toll at rate much higher than what is
prescribed by the city corporation.
Since a huge amount of money is involved in “trade over f ?rking on the roads” near Joykali and Fulbaria, possibility of the terminals being shifted to the city outskirts is little, added the sources.
As long as the terminals are here, commuters and locals using the roads will continue to suffer for long tailbacks caused by illegally parked buses. Kalyum, a shop-owner at Bangabazar, said residents of Nazirabazar, Siddiqbazar and Agamosi 1-ane are the worst sufferers.
"It takes me around half an hour to reach my house at Alubazar by rickshaw. Had there been no bus-parking on the road, it would take no more than five minutes," he said.
A salesman of Sundarban Square Market in Gulistan said the number of customers has come down drastically due to deteriorating traffic situation.
Md Monir. a resident of Agamasi Lane, said it takes more then half an hour to go to Motijheel from their area.
A Fire Service and Civil Defence official said because of the buses occupying the road in front of their headquarters they have difficulty getting out of the area to attend fire call. Things become even worse in the event of a fire incident in Old Dhaka.
Sekandar Bepari, joint general secretary of a Bangabazar shop-owners association, said for Fulbaria terminal they have to face huge traffic congestion.
"Not only they park their buses, many drivers have repair work done on the roads. We lodged objections several times, but nothing happened," he said.
DCC Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka told The Daily Star that toll collection from the buses at Fulbaria terminal is nothing new. It has been going on for quite a few years now.
He said they never allowed parking on the street. They permit.bus lines to use the roads only to stop briefly to pick passengers.
It is the duty of traffic police to take action against anyone
parkingon the road.
DCC Manager Shahidur Rahman said they have already submitted a proposal to shift the inter-district bus terminal at Sayedabad to a place across Kanchpur Bridge and bring in its place the Fulbaria terminal.
Selim, former organising secretary of inter-district road transport workers' association's Dhaka chapter, said DCC was supposed to build a city terminal with parking facilities at Fulbaria.
But instead, it constructed three markets there during HM Ershad's regime.
Jamal Hossain, in charge of Tushin Agro, said they collect toll from the buses for stopping over, not for parking. It is traffic police's responsibility to take action against illegal parking.
He said they collect toll from buses on the road stretched from Golapshah Mazar to Bangabazar via Fulbaria and Siddique Bazar.
He said around 1,000 buses of 15 routes use the terminal.
The road from Joykali Mandir to Gulistan used to see less jam before different companies set up their counters here a few months back.
"We have moved here from Sayedabad terminal only five days ago as it is easier to get passengers near Joy kali Mandir," said a driver working on Dhaka-Narsinghdi route.
AKM Awlad Hossain, deputy commissioner (traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (south), said they often cannot take action against buses parked on the roads mainly for manpower shortage.
He said terminals with huge parking area are a must to end the illegal parking practices.
"The construction of markets in place of a terminal at Fulbaria was a wrong decision," he observed.