Dhaka's traffic mess
After a lull of 16 days (Sept 18-Oct 03), Dhakabashis are back on square ZERO as far as the traffic mess is concerned. From the Prime Minister down to the humble traffic cop, all are trying to minister to this plague that is strangling life in our so-called metropolis. Your second editorial in today's DS (5-10-09), still speaks of the pipe dreams of STPs, DUTPs, DITS etc, etc ad nauseum, that are years away even if implemented right away.
This morning an over zealous sergeant again stopped my rickshaw on Mohakhali Road while I was on my way to office in Banani. He sternly admonished me for breaking the law as rickshaws were banned (earlier a cop had waved me on, in deference to my white hair). I asked him politely “If the law says 'no rickshaws' on Mohakhali Road, then, why were your cops absent during the last 16 days? And why are there so many cars parked on the road and on the foot-paths? Isn't that also against the law, showing him the cutting of The Daily Star front page headline dated Sept 1, 2009 where the Prime Minister herself ordered 'the law enforcement authorities to seize and tow away illegally parked cars?” He smiled sheepishly and said “That was an exception for the Eid Holidays”. He gunned his motorcycle and roared away immediately, when I asked him to kindly inform me on which days “the law would be making an exception, when I could commit murder, robbery, mugging, smuggling, etc with impunity?”
When will our “experts” recognize that the basic problem of traffic is very simple, as enumerated in the 50 letters that I have written on the subject over the last two years. The number of cars in Dhaka (4-5 lakh each occupying 70-90 sft of road space, carrying maximum 2-3 lakh passengers) is too many for the roads (only 7% instead of minimum 25%). The traffic department is gutless to control private motor vehicles, so they ban rickshaws (3-4 lakh that occupy only 30 sft space each but carry 40-50 lakh passengers generating Tk.10-12 crores every day), without even denting the problem. Any resolution of the traffic mess where only a maximum of about 5% of the privileged class benefit, to the detriment, inconvenience and harassment of the vast majority (95%) of Dhaka's people, is unconstitutional, undemocratic, impractical, unjust, immoral, and in my opinion downright stupid. Do the authorities want an upheaval on their hands, when their hands are already full of other social problems; to name just a few, price rises, polluted water, load-shedding, unemployment, land grabbing, etc etc?
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