The extreme summer heat is making Ramadan traffic doubly intolerable for residents of Dhaka city.
Hundreds of commuters have taken to social media to vent their frustrations over traffic congestion during the holy month, with many of them complaining that they were forced to eat iftar on the road after failing to return home from work in time.
The traffic congestion is being made worse this year as schools are set to stay open till April 20.
Schools usually close during Ramadan, but they are staying open this year to make up for learning losses during the Covid-19 lockdown. As a result, students have added to the morning and evening office rush.
Mahte Hamza Plabon in a recent post on the popular Facebook group Traffic Alert said: "My office car left Gulshan 2 at 4:02 pm and arrived in the middle of Banani road 11 at 5:52 pm. Out of rage, I stepped out of the car at 5:40 pm and prayed at Chairman Bari. After my prayer, I was waiting at the Overbridge and my car was still stuck in the middle of Banani road 11."
He ate his iftar at the overbridge and the car eventually arrived at Setu Bhaban at 6:35pm.
Dola Rahman, a student at the University of Asia Pacific, told Dhaka Tribune, “I started an internship at the beginning of April. Yesterday, I had to go through a lot of hardship to get to work on time. I took a bus to Niketan first, but there was a lot of traffic on the road. The bus was not moving at all. I eventually got off the bus and took a bike through Uber. If the traffic jam continues like this, I will have to relocate for at least the next six months."
People on the lookout for car-pool partners
Afrin Sadia from Dhanmondi in a post on Traffic alert asked for a car-pooling partner to make her commute to work more bearable.
“Travelling from home to work and back is becoming increasingly difficult, and I'm desperately looking for a regular travel partner. I have walked from office to home, about 10/11km, thrice now and it's draining the life force out of me,” she said.
In response to the post, one Shahnawaz Khan said walking was preferable to being stuck in the traffic, while another respondent suggested she get permission to work from home at least during Ramadan.
Shapath Guha also posted that he needed a travel companion to go to Shyamoli from Siddeshwari.
Many people responded positively to their posts and expressed interest in sharing rides. Almost everyone was angry at both the traffic system and management.
They blamed ongoing construction projects as the primary cause of the traffic gridlock.
Construction sites, poor parking make matters worse
Construction work is ongoing at Gulshan, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Green Road, Moghbazar, and Motijheel to Mirpur, which has narrowed roads. Despite the fact that streets normally remain quiet and empty during Iftar, vehicles remain parked on all the roads.
"We will need more than an hour to reach Banani as the road conditions are poor, and the number of buses on the roadways has increased, causing additional traffic congestion," Robiul, a bus helper on the Airport-Bangabandhu Avenue route, said.
"I will go to Moghbazar. I’m waiting for this signal for more than 15 minutes and I will need at least another 45 minutes," a rickshaw puller named Barkatullah remarked while stuck on Panthapath in the evening.
"It's all traffic from the Bashundhara City Shopping Complex. People are now going shopping," he said with a pale smile, adding that it was draining to wait while fasting.
"Every day, I need to go to Saat Rasta for office, and it's simply another level of fight for me," Tasfiq Zaman, a private job holder from Mohammadpur, said.
"I'm not sure why they start this type of construction project every year during this season. But now people will get a little peace from traffic jams if the government closes schools and colleges for this one month," he added. He also blamed traffic police for failing to maintain lanes.
Anowar, a traffic police member at Dhanmondi 27, said: “The situation is worse than last year as educational institutions are open this year. It’s very tough for us to maintain the pressure of vehicles.
“If the government increases the number of traffic policemen, no solution will come as our roads don’t have the capacity to maintain this pressure,” he added.
