Editorial
Capital caught in gridlock
Can't anything be done to rid the city of it?
It seems that Dhaka residents are destined to live with the traffic problem as a fait accompli. One doesn't have to live in Dhaka for any great length of time to see how the problem has aggravated in quick time. It is really beyond our comprehension that while the accretion of the problem is worsening the existence of the city dwellers, very little palpable has been, or is being, done to address this issue, one that has now assumed a crisis proportion.
Added to the already existing aggravating factors of traffic congestion is the phenomenon, known as VIP movement. And, as we are told, last Sunday's situation in particular was worsened by the fact that vehicles movements had to be restricted on certain roads to cater to the movement of so many VIPs attending the parliament. And add to this the fact that at some very sensitive rail crossings in the city that had witnessed serious train-vehicle collisions in the recent past, the gatekeepers took a strange step -- putting the rail gate down well in advance of the due time to prevent vehicles spilling on to the tracks and causing accidents.
Even the management of the problem, it seems, is a case of playing it by ears. Poor management, associated with ad hocism, gives us an impression of reliance on tokenism and helplessness of the police.
We understand that the problem is not alone for the police to solve. But certainly, it is for the police to ensure that rickshaws do not enter roads that are off limits to them. It was quite disconcerting to see a picture in this newspaper, of not two, but three policemen riding a rickshaw on a road on which rickshaws are prohibited from plying. Is it also not for the traffic police to ensure that vehicles without fitness certificate are off the roads, that fake license holders are put away so that they cannot be a menace to other vehicles and the public, that private and public buses stop only at designated points?
There has been too many posturing on the matter and too little substantive work. Medium to long term plans appear to be mired in bureaucratic tangles. We say at the risk of being repetitive, traffic snarls-up are draining the economy at the national level while pulling asunder individual work plan and disrupting one's life severely. Can't something be done to rid the city of this crisis?
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