Right before every Eid, the nation’s highways see congestion unlike any other time of the year, adding misery to people’s lives at a time when they should only be happy.
Often, the entirety of our road and highway network is brought to a gridlock due to the rush of people going home for Eid.
This is nothing new, and while plans have been made to tackle the situation by the respective authorities, and control rooms have been set up by the government, the same pattern does not seem to have been broken.
It is no secret that traffic is one of Bangladesh’s biggest problems.
That our traffic is what hinders our development as a nation is a fact, and a recurring problem such as this cannot keep taking place every year, if our country is to go far on the road to development.
Traffic management, especially of the highways during the festival season, needs to be better.
We cannot make any more excuses.
More rover scouts and traffic police are not sufficient for the handling of the kind of traffic the roads experience. Long term solutions, such as more flyovers, dedicated bus lanes, more bus stations, and proper management of highways are some ways in which we could ease our traffic situation.
There need to be better solutions in alleviating the traffic congestion that Dhaka and its connecting highways face.
The sad truth is that heavy traffic has become a very common part of our everyday lives. As we grow as a nation, this truth is something we need to try to bring to a change.
We cannot keep letting the overcrowded traffic be a necessary part of joyous Eid celebrations.
