Gazipur residents beset with traffic snarl

An acute traffic congestion hits the metropolitan city of Gazipur almost every day, adding to the plight of the city dwellers.     Inefficient traffic management, random car parking by the roadside and drivers making U-turns at their own sweet will are attributed to the grinding halt of the traffic in the city.    Moreover, piles of rubbish left unremoved from the roadside and an unbridled growth of rickshaws also add to the woes of the city residents. Of the contributory factors for tailbacks, Joydebpur Railway Junction is one which plays a key role to put the traffic movement to a halt.   A long line of vehicles come to a standstill intermittently for near about 10 hours a day while trains pass the level crossing at least 58 times a day.   Assistant Station Master at Gazipur Rail Junction Monir Hossain said vehicular movement is interrupted due to the passage of trains.          Signal bars on either side of the level crossing are put in place for at least 10 minutes every time a train passes, he added. Monoranjan Ghosh, proprietor of Tangail Sweetmeat store near Shibbari intersection, said at least four varieties of large public transport including the BRTC double-decker took right, left or U-turns at the roundabout every hour.    When the passenger vehicles took the turn, hundreds of vehicles were forced to wait on the streets facing the triangle, he said. Many a commuter while talking to the Dhaka Tribune narrated their woes in getting caught in the gridlock.   An auto-rickshaw driver Abdul Mannan said local buses usually pick up and drop passengers at Shibbari intersection, Chandona and Jhumur cinema hall on Shimultoli road in the city.   But they do not stop at those stations maintaining discipline like forming a straight line while boarding, added Mannan.   He said there were traffic police posted at the intersections in the city but are inefficient in handling the traffic movement.   Delwar Hossain, a driver of Polash Paribahan that ply on Shimultoli-Nabinagar route, admitted that fault lied with the drivers themselves.   “We are not good people. Rickshaw pullers park their vehicles on the streets while “Legunas” (motor vehicles) stop everywhere to pick up or drop passengers, flouting traffic rules,” he said.    Traffic jam was a daily affair facing the people of Gazipur, said Noor Ifraat Sultana, a mother of two school-going children. “We get stranded at the level crossing twice a day while taking the children to and from school. Were there any alternative route that I could use to reach school, I would for sure have used that,” she mentioned.   Emdadul Haque Masum, a lawyer of Gazipur district judge court, termed the level crossing “sorrow of Gazipur.”  Gazipur district unit Sammilito Sangskritik Jote General Secretary Selim Ullah Sarkar said at least 95% of all public and private institutions were situated on the eastern side of the level crossing.    “Gazipur residents had seen the rise and fall of many minsters and lawmakers, but none of them came ahead to discover any alternative route to avoid the level crossing,” he said.   If no remedy was found out to address the problem, people would have no other options but to live their lives with this diabolical traffic snarl, he added. Selim demanded construction of a flyover at the junction which he observed would rid the city residents of traffic congestion.   It is in fact a great challenge for the incumbent mayor to address the issue, he noted.   But the newly elected Mayor of GCC Prof MA Mannan prioritised finding solution to the traffic congestion largely caused by the level crossing.   “I will do my best to solve this problem together with the people of Gazipur,” he vowed.