The government moves to give the city dwellers a respite from tailbacks went in vain due to poor enforcement of traffic rules, partial implementation of plans and reckless driving.
Traffic policemen have again started controlling vehicular movement manually ignoring the automated system at most intersections. On the other hand, the authorities did not install the required number of automated signals at over 600 points.
Almost all the busy roads and areas remain jam-packed with hundreds of stranded vehicles due to reluctance of the traffic men in taking action against lane violators, illegal parking and obstruction of vehicular movement.
Besides, the month-long special drive that was launched on December 8 resulted in nothing but allegedly a huge amount of illegal income for some unscrupulous policemen.
Sources in Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) say during last one month they collected over Tk 20 lakh in fine, filed 24,563 cases, seized 562 vehicles and 935 driving licences, and arrested 146 drivers.
The sources add as the police officials get 40 percent of the amount collected in fine, they are more interested in filing cases and collecting fine than improving the situation.
Besides, in some cases they also receive bribe instead of filing cases, depriving the government of the revenue.
The overall traffic situation marked slight improvement last month following introduction of lane system on major roads in the capital from December 8 and installation of light signals, phasing out manual control from November 22.
But over the last few days it was seen that reckless driving continued everywhere on the city roads, while drivers collected and dropped passengers at will.
The city dwellers observed poor enforcement of traffic rules and absence of traffic monitoring teams’ activities, which led to horrific traffic gridlock.
During a visit to different intersections yesterday it was found that drivers were not maintaining lanes, while traffic personnel were controlling traffic movement manually.
In Moghbazar intersection it was seen no signal lights were in operation and the traffic heading Bangla Motor from Mouchak had to wait for about 12 to 15 minutes. On the other hand, traffic to Ramna halted for two to three minutes for each signal that caused impatience among the people heading to Bangla Motor.
Traffic personnel at Farmgate intersection said if drivers are not compelled to obey lanes before reaching the intersections, they can hardly make the vehicles follow lanes.
Sources at the office of the joint commissioner (Traffic) say DMP could not conduct the 12 traffic monitoring teams each headed by a deputy commissioner (DC) over the last few days due to the Police Week that started on January 5.
Speaking anonymously, a top police official said, “We also noticed that the traffic situation is getting worse. We will ensure strict enforcement of traffic rules to improve the situation.”
DC (Traffic West) Selim Mohammad Jahangir said over the last few days traffic personnel had to tackle a huge rush of political activists and their motorcades that also deteriorated the situation.
He added the Rehab Fair at Sheraton Hotel also worsened the situation as a good number of private cars gathered around the venue every day.
Mohammad Habib from Uttara said, “I got into the bus from Azampur at 11:45am and reached Shahbagh intersection after three hours due to nagging jam yesterday.”
His bus moved by inches from Bishwaroad to Banani and from Mohakhali flyover to Farmgate intersection, he said, adding, it took around one and a quarter hours to travel the distance the previous day.
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