Where is the remedy?
DHAKA city is plagued with many problems. Traffic jam is probably the most dreadful thing that haunts the inhabitants of the capital all the time. It has been a nagging pain for a long time, with no sign of early remission. The question is for how long will people be able to bear it. There has to be a limit. Life in Dhaka is heading for a complete standstill unless something is done urgently.
The media has been, through its editorials, columns, articles and talk shows, trying hard to bring home the issue to the concerned authorities, but to no effect. Except wasting paint in marking demarcation lanes and zebra crossings, which no one is made to follow and switching over to an auto-signal system in some places, the Dhaka Metropolitan authority does not seem to be interested to do anything more to ease the traffic congestion. The government seems to be quiet and content after ordering staggered working hours for schools and offices and alternate weekly holidays for shopkeepers.
In a regular cabinet meeting held at the secretariat on February 1, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reportedly expressed her disappointment over the failure of the authorities concerned in easing the city's traffic congestion and held the home and communication ministers responsible for this. We would like to add one more person to this list of defaulters, the mayor of Dhaka City Corporation.
The prime minister was right to say that it was due to lack of proper management that the situation has not improved. Rightly annoyed, she asked her cabinet colleagues how could banned 20-plus year-old vehicles still be used on the streets, despite several drives?
It is unfortunate that the prime minister has to intervene in almost all issues of public suffering. If the prime minister remains bogged with such petty issues as day-to-day city traffic management, how will she attend to much more important issues of national and international concern?
What, then, are the jobs of so many engineers, bureaucrats and star-studded police officials? What then, are the jobs of the ministers, MPs, ward commissioners and the city mayor? Aren't they paid from the government exchequer out of taxpayers' money to look after the welfare of the people? The prime minister will be well advised to notify them of their tasks.
The causes for the city's traffic congestion are all known. The remedies are also not unknown. Why is it that the woes of the city dwellers continue to persist unabated? True, one of the main reasons is that the city has fewer roads compared to a huge and disproportionate number of vehicles plying on the streets, and the scope of broadening existing roads or building new roads is limited. Alternative mode of transport like metro rail or elevated expressway cannot be built overnight. It will take years.
Yet, it is also true that the few roads we have are not available for the free movement of traffic. They are occupied in places by builders storing construction material, small traders opening their makeshift workshops, the city corporation keeping their jumbo-sized waste bins, and vehicle owners parking their vehicles at will.
The same is true for the condition of footpaths. They are good for any purpose -- open public toilet, tea stalls, fruits and vegetable shop, hawkers market, makeshift shelter for have-nots or storage space for the real estate developers -- except for pedestrians.
Time and again, experts, professionals and conscious citizens in the country have come up with many valuable suggestions for the government to deal with the situation. Very few suggestions seem to have reached its ears. It may be worth recalling some of them here:
Short-term measures
-Make roads obstacle-free for uninterrupted traffic flow of traffic, -Repair the pavements, build new ones, where necessary, and keep them obstruction-free for easy movement of pedestrians, -Provide a sufficient number of foot-over bridges and zebra crossings, and make sure they are safe and easily accessible, -Put into traffic sufficient number of well-maintained and reasonably comfortable public buses, replacing the existing old and unfit ones, -Press into operation an efficient and reliable taxi cab service to allow people to get a taxi at their doorstep on call, -Phase out rickshaws gradually, but steadily, and -Make sure people strictly follow the traffic rules. Mid-term and long-term measures
-Build flyovers at rail crossings and other important places, -Introduce a circular river route around the city, -Complete the eastern bypass project, -Build elevated expressway and/or metro rail, -Build four or five satellite towns around the city, -Improve the city's railway connection with neighbouring districts, -Decentralise the administration and shift some of the government office headquarters s to other districts, and -Shift garment and other similar factories to the city's outskirts. Undeniably, the single contributing factor to the city traffic jam is too many rickshaws and private cars. If people can walk safely, get on a bus easily or get a cab on call within a reasonable time, their dependence on rickshaw or private car is bound to greatly diminish. The maintenance of private cars here is expensive and traveling by rickshaw is risky, time-consuming and not so cheap either. The prime minister was very correct to say that there has been a serious lack in the city's traffic management. This is where we believe, apart from the government officials, our elected representatives -- the mayor, ward commissioners, local MPs -- have important role to play. As citizens of Dhaka, we expect the elected MPs of our city to visit their respective constituencies now and then, and talk to local people so that they have a fair idea of the problems and their remedy. As a resident of Paribagh, I would like to invite Janab Rashed Khan Menon, our elected representative in parliament, to visit our place and see for himself how badly an area can be turned into a traffic quagmire because no one is there to take care of the anomalies.
-Make roads obstacle-free for uninterrupted traffic flow of traffic, -Repair the pavements, build new ones, where necessary, and keep them obstruction-free for easy movement of pedestrians, -Provide a sufficient number of foot-over bridges and zebra crossings, and make sure they are safe and easily accessible, -Put into traffic sufficient number of well-maintained and reasonably comfortable public buses, replacing the existing old and unfit ones, -Press into operation an efficient and reliable taxi cab service to allow people to get a taxi at their doorstep on call, -Phase out rickshaws gradually, but steadily, and -Make sure people strictly follow the traffic rules. Mid-term and long-term measures
-Build flyovers at rail crossings and other important places, -Introduce a circular river route around the city, -Complete the eastern bypass project, -Build elevated expressway and/or metro rail, -Build four or five satellite towns around the city, -Improve the city's railway connection with neighbouring districts, -Decentralise the administration and shift some of the government office headquarters s to other districts, and -Shift garment and other similar factories to the city's outskirts. Undeniably, the single contributing factor to the city traffic jam is too many rickshaws and private cars. If people can walk safely, get on a bus easily or get a cab on call within a reasonable time, their dependence on rickshaw or private car is bound to greatly diminish. The maintenance of private cars here is expensive and traveling by rickshaw is risky, time-consuming and not so cheap either. The prime minister was very correct to say that there has been a serious lack in the city's traffic management. This is where we believe, apart from the government officials, our elected representatives -- the mayor, ward commissioners, local MPs -- have important role to play. As citizens of Dhaka, we expect the elected MPs of our city to visit their respective constituencies now and then, and talk to local people so that they have a fair idea of the problems and their remedy. As a resident of Paribagh, I would like to invite Janab Rashed Khan Menon, our elected representative in parliament, to visit our place and see for himself how badly an area can be turned into a traffic quagmire because no one is there to take care of the anomalies.
Captain Husain Imam is a retired merchant navy officer.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. 
Related News
Politics is still an uneven playing field for women
2 hour(s) ago
Editorial
Shortage of nurses an urgent crisis
9 hour(s) ago
Editorial
India’s ‘push-in’ strategy violates international law
20 June 2026, 18:08 PM
Editorial
Why build roads through a reserved forest?
20 June 2026, 13:00 PM
Editorial
An alarming report on children’s exposure to climate risks
19 June 2026, 19:07 PM
Editorial
Comments