Traffic jam on important roads in Khulna has become acute before the holy Eid-ul-Fitr, causing immense sufferings to the people in the city. It has been difficult for people to reach the destination within scheduled time due to huge traffic congestions at the busy points in the city.
Vehicles going to important offices, including those under civil and police administrations and courts, from western Khulna face tailbacks in Dak Bungalow area as different types of vehicles like buses, baby-taxies, private cars, easy-bikes, rickshaws and motorcycles use the same road.
There is no taxi, tempo, no battery-run three-wheelers or even rickshaw stand in the city. The drivers stop these vehicles on the roads for passengers. Besides, haphazard parking of the rickshaws and battery-run auto-rickshaws by the side of markets, shopping centres, educational institutions and key installations are narrowing the space of the streets, hampering smooth traffic movement, alleged city dwellers.
Most of the important roads in the town do not have separate walkways while a few ones mostly remain under the occupation of vendors.
According to the sources, the important and busy points in the city that have been facing severe traffic jam include Picture Palace Cinema Hall crossing, Dak Bungalow crossing, Shibbari
intersection, Sangeeta Cinema Hall intersection, KD Ghosh Road, Clay Road, Old Jessore Road, Cemetry Road, in front of KDA New Market, Phul Marker Crossing, Moylapota intersection, Gallamari intersection, BL College intersection, Phulbarigate KUET Road, Daulatpur Bazar intersection and Sonadanga central bus stand intersection.
Thousands of people from the adjacent upazilas and other parts of the district come to the city to buy various commodities everyday. On the other hand, the rush of people increases, especially during the religious festivals and at the office hours, the roads cannot accommodate space for the vehicles.
A good number of high rise buildings and big markets have been constructed in the town during the last few years. Although most of these buildings have parking spaces, these are often used for other purposes while the vehicles are parked on the adjacent roads, causing problem to vehicular movement.
One the other hand, there is no adequate number of public buses or vehicles in the city for carrying the office-goers. More than one lakh people, regular office going passenger, are suffering for lack of vehicles as well as traffic congestion.
License officer of KCC (vehicles branch) Kazi Md Imrul Hasan said, the corporation has provided licences to 17,000 rickshaws and around 2,500 battery-run auto-rickshaws time to time, but the number of rickshaws and battery-run three-wheelers are plying the city roads has almost doubled.
Yunus Ali Sardar, a battery-run auto-rickshaw driver said, “The number of cars and auto-rickshaws plying the town is too high for the existing roads. Most of the auto-rickshaw drivers hardly care about traffic rules. They take passengers and let them get down here and there and often take turning on the roads.”
|
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.