Traders, waste occupy Wiseghat to Badamtali
Waste from adjacent kitchen markets lay piled on the road from Wiseghat to Badamtali in front of Ahsan Manzil, one of the oldest historical sites in Dhaka. The photo was taken recently. Photo: Shawkat Jamil
It was 11:30am on a Tuesday when Selina Akhter, a 35 year old woman carrying her two-year-old daughter on her lap, was trying in vain for an hour to hire a rickshaw to go to Sadarghat from Mitford Hospital in the city. "Not a single rickshaw wanted to go with the excuse of traffic congestion at Badamtali," said Selina. In many days it takes two to three hours to cross Badamtali for traffic congestion caused by fruit laden covered vans and trucks parked on the road, said Abdul Jalil, a cart puller of the area. People using Beribadh road from Sadarghat everyday also complained of long tailbacks from Wiseghat to Badamtali, around half a kilometre. During a recent visit, around 80 trucks and 10 covered vans were seen parked at Badamtali, one of the country's biggest wholesale fruit market, either empty or selling fruits. A pile of waste around two feet high from adjacent kitchen markets was also seen occupying around 30 feet of the road in front of Wiseghat. Those selling the fruits said they usually keep their vehicles parked there for two to three days to sell the fruits they buy from Chittagong port to wholesalers and retailers. One such trader, Mohammad Faruk, said he would have to stay there to sell the 588 cartons of apples he brought and started selling as early as 6:00 in the morning. He added that they daily give Tk 100 to Dhaka Mohanagar Fal Amdani, Roptani O Arot Babshaee Bahumukhi Samity Limited to hire community police to maintain traffic flow and ensure security of their trucks at night. Another trader, Shohidul Islam, said he came there three days ago and sold half of his apples. "If we fail to sell the remaining apples within the next three to four days, we will keep it in a cold storage or begin selling at cheap prices," he said. Mohammad Masum, commander of community police under Kotwali Police Station, said 14 community policemen work in two shifts to maintain traffic flow there. He said maintaining traffic flow is a struggle now as the number of trucks doubled in comparison to what was three years ago. But they try their best to always keep a portion of the road free for vehicular movement, he added. The samity President Md Harun-or-Rashid said they already appointed the community police to maintain traffic flow but pressure of traffic increases during Ramadan and the season when mangoes arrive. He said they asked Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority for two jetties, with enough space to park around 40 trucks. Bipon Kumar Shaha, chief waste management officer of Dhaka City Corporation, said they asked the kitchen market authorities to dump waste on the road for a certain period of time to prevent it from being dumped in the Buriganga river. He said they remove the waste every Thursday night. "Removing the waste every day is not possible due to the traffic congestion there," he said.
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