Wasa work intensifies woes of city people
The last working day of the week saw crippling traffic jam breaking across the city thanks to the increased movement by many city dwellers ahead of a week that promises more political turmoil and possible shutdowns.
This was for the second consecutive day for the city commuters who had to face the severity of traffic gridlock.
The ongoing digging works of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) at different points of the city have intensified the woes. It has started digging up 26-kilometre road in the capital to install pipelines, but the work is progressing at a snail's pace.
Mohammad Fakhrul Ahmed, owner of a shoe store at Uttara, said it took him three hours to go to Gulistan from Uttara which usually takes less than two hours.
"I had to spend around six hours on the street due to the severe traffic congestion. I was forced to keep my shop closed for six hours," said Fakhrul who went to Gulistan to buy goods for his store.
Mohammad Alim, driver of a bus of Kalshi-Gulistan route, said they can usually complete at least four passenger trips by 3:00pm but yesterday they could complete only three trips due to the severe traffic jam.
"It took me three hours to go to Gulistan from Pallabi. I had to spend one and a half hours just to reach Taltala from Mirpur Section-10 which is a way of only 15 minutes," said Rayhan Ahmed, a private job holder of Motijheel.
Traffic congestion is not only killing valuable times but also throbbing the passengers hard due to the roasting heat, said Anwar Ahmed, a resident of Mohakhali, who yesterday faced the same sufferings.
Apart from long tailbacks on the streets, long queues of vehicles were also seen at different CNG refuelling stations for the second consecutive day.
"I had to wait around two hours from 1:00pm at a CNG refuelling station in Tejgaon area but returned without taking gas seeing the long queue," said Akhtar Hossain, driver of an auto-rickshaw.
"I could earn only Tk 800 today [yesterday] because of the traffic jam and spending excess time for taking gas at the refuelling station. It is almost half of my daily earning," he added.
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