Business leaders at a discussion yesterday urged the government to regulate the rapidly growing number of battery-run rickshaws, free Dhaka’s footpaths and roads from hawker encroachment, address waterlogging, and repair dilapidated roads.

While there are sidewalks on both sides of the road from Farmgate’s Ananda Cinema Hall to Panthapath intersection, they are hardly functional.

It’s a 10-minute walk from Farmgate’s Ananda Cinema Hall to the Panthapath intersection through Green Road. However, it takes 20 minutes to cross this 700-metre road, thanks to illegal occupants of the footpath