The inhabitants of old part of Dhaka have been suffering from some serious problems in their day to day urban life. Various problems exist in the roads, transportation, housing, sanitation and business activities have made the life of the citizens of this area of the capital very hard and painful.
For an instance, the distance of Raysaheb Bazar Mor from Bahadur Shah Park of this area is just 1 km. However, the vehicles go on this road remain stagnant due to the heavy traffic congestion and bad condition of the road. It takes more than one hour to cross the road.
Saiful Islam, a businessman of the city, told The Bangladsh Pratidin, “He got up in the bus from Jagannath University area at 11 am, and reached Gulisnta at 1pm. I’ve to face this huge traffic problem every day.”
He said as huge number of people work in district and session judge court, deputy commissioner’s office, and students study in Jagannath University, Kabi Nazrul College, National Medical College, and other institutions use this route regularly, big traffic congestion is created in the roads of this area. Moreover, reckless vehicles parking on these roads, along with temporary shops cropped up on the roads worsened the problem.
Not only this 1 km path, the same scenario is visible in the roads from Dayaganj to Gendaria Station, Jatrabari to Dayaganj Bridge, Postogola to Gendaria Thana, Northbrrok Hall Road, along with roads leads to Sadarghat and Gabtali via bank of Buriganga river. The maximum roads in Old Dhaka are narrow and not more than one vehicle can pass these roads simultaneously. The roads from Dholaikhal Tong Market to Kabi Nazrul College, from Paridas Road adjacent to Northbrook Hall to Hemendra Das Lane— none of the roads is wider than 10 feet. Even, two Rickshaws get stuck to one another in these roads and the passers-by find it hard to move easily. When any machine vehicle enters into these roads, irritable traffic congestion is created, and the same scenario is visible here throughout the year.
This picture is not only visible in Dholaikhal Tong Market, Paridas Road or Islampur Road, but also in other main roads of Old Dhaka. There are also roads where a rickshaw cannot enter. If two people walk together, there is a risk of collision. Numerous commercial establishments, houses, buildings, markets and educational institutions have been built along these roads. Dholaikhal Tong Market shops have many goods placed on the road. This reduced the width of the road to half. Millions of city dwellers of old Dhaka are living through this. On the other hand, the footpath of Laxmibazar has become a mobile market. At the same time, millions of buyers and sellers come to Banglabazar to buy books, Islampur to buy cloth, Badamtali to buy fruit and Shyambazar to buy vegetables. At this time, the footpaths are occupied by hawkers, so the pedestrians have to walk on the main road. Then the area got entangled and the people get screwed.
Suffering does not end here. The people of old Dhaka are fed up with garbage everywhere. Although the City Corporation announced that garbage should not be left in the open, it was found scattered in different parts of Old Dhaka. Even the garbage container of the city corporation placed on the road adjacent to the Dayaganj police box. Garbage heaps were seen outside these containers on the road.
Apart from this, no one obeys the instructions of the DSCC Mayor not to keep garbage in the container during the day. Cleaning workers were also seen bringing garbage from different places in the area. Heaps of garbage is seen on the road next to Shyambazar.
Risky establishments: There are thousands of dilapidated and abandoned buildings in Shankharibazar, Tantibazar, Tipu Sultan Road, Narinda, Nawabganj Road, Lalbagh, Khaje Dewan, Chawkbazar, Mitford, Islampur, Jindabahar, Kasaituli, Nazirabazar, Kaptanbazar, Satrawza, Sutrapur, Hazaribagh, Chawkbazar, Banshal, Kotwali, Shyampur, Kamalbagh and Kamrangirchar area of Old Dhaka. People have been living in these areas for generations in dilapidated buildings that are hundreds of years old. One of the buildings is Edward Building of Sir Salimullah Medical College. In addition, the employees are living in several other high-risk buildings in this hospital compound. At the same time, the buildings of old Dhaka are close to each other. Most of the buildings are constructed in violation of Rajuk building-construction policies. As a result, these buildings are at risk of getting fire.
Regarding the traffic congestion of Old Dhaka, Dr. Adil Mohammad Khan, the professor of urban area and planning department of Jahangirnagar University, told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “Traffic jam is a traditional problem in Old Dhaka. The high-density of population is the main reason behind it. Other reasons include narrow lanes and illegal encroachment of footpaths, along with lack of discipline in the transport system.”
To solve the problem, this urban expert said the roads in old Dhaka should be brought under proper plan. First, the one-way traffic system should be introduced. At the same time, it should be specified which roads will be used only by private cars, which to be used by transportable vehicles and which to be used only by non-mechanical vehicles. Secondly, the authority should take sharp measure to make the narrow roads pedestrian friendly. And to make old Dhaka livable, DAP has detailed description. If DAP is implemented, Old Dhaka will be operational.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on December 12 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque)
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