Good coverage of traffic issue
This could well be an exercise in futility, but I could not resist the temptation to resume my crusade for the solution of our Traffic Jams, that have now brought the city to a halt. The wide and commendable coverage that DS has been giving in recent weeks, both in writing and through stark pictures of gridlock and tailback have encouraged me to send you this, my 24th letter since last Ramadan on the subject. Your Tailback Tale No 1 is heartily welcomed.
Even my old friend, Malibagh's Rahat has come out of the woodwork (DS 17/9), and as usual bleating imploringly for rickshaws to be banned from our 'modern metropolis'. (Is Dhaka modern, is it a metropolis?). Surely he and everyone else must have seen the dozens of pictures printed in DS. How many rickshaws do you see in the gridlock on the roads that have been rickshaw-free for months? Even where the pictures show mixed traffic, private cars outnumber rickshaws 20 to 1, in road space they occupy 80% while carrying fewer passengers, and most often empty. Has anyone ever asked who is paying for the fuel that is being burnt needlessly? Ultimately it is the vast majority of fasting pedestrians who are forced to walk in heat and rain to keep a few privileged persons crawling (or most often not moving at all) in A/C comfort.
Surely, the real cause of the gridlocks and tailbacks must now be apparent to all. viz: 1) There are too many private cars(3-4 lakh) on too few roads(only 7%), 2) Most of these are Gas Guzzling Monstrosities (GGMs) that cannot even turn on most roads and have no business being openly flouted in our poor country. 3) They occupy maximum road space while travelling empty/half-empty. 4) Thousands park (illegally) wherever they wish and in some places the nearby cop is hired to keep an eye on the cars. 5) They pollute the air, 6) They deafen by constantly blowing blaring horns, as if herding sheep, which is what they consider the common people. 7) What about the amount of water wasted for washing them, when 50% of Dhakabashi are deprived of even drinking water. 8) Finally, what is going to happen soon when the thousands of cars awaiting clearance at Chittagong port start running on the streets due to NBR's myopic policy that removed all restrictions on car import?
I will not waste my and everyone else's time by mentioning the 20-year STP, the police action plans and the pious platitudes being mouthed including Mr. Rahat's plea for the lame-duck present government to do 'something' to set things right.
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