Commuters caught in snarls

Vehicles get stuck, creating serious congestion at the Anderkilla Intersection on Saturday. PHOTO: STAR

The traffic department expresses inability to tackle the situation and said it would worsen further when the Eid shopping gets momentum.

With intolerable gridlocks occurring at almost everyday, the city is now witnessing serious traffic congestion at almost all the streets though the Eid shopping is yet to get momentum.

Office goers, students as well as workers of different industrial units suffer seriously as they get stuck on the streets in most of the city areas due to traffic jam since 10:00am. The harrowing time, the city dwellers begin to face from 2:00pm and it continues until the evening.

The worst situation prevails at the intersections of Agrabad Badamtali, Choumuhani, Dewanhat, Tigerpass, GEC Moor, Sholashahar 2 no gate, Muradpur, Bahoddarhat, BRTC, Kadamtali, New Market, Kotwali, Anderkilla, Enayet Bazar, Amtal Tin Puler Matha, Chawk Bazar, Prabartak and Gol Pahar.

The city streets and highways like Sheikh Mujib Road, OR Nizam Road, Pathantuli Road, Jubilee Road, Momin Road, Sirajdaullah Road, Bakalia DC Road, Station Raod and Batali Road also remain blocked for hours during the period.

Huge number of trucks waits in long queue on the road as there is no terminal for trucks in the Chittagong Port area, aggravating the situation.

Only two traffic sergeants struggle in vain to tackle the situation at the areas from Barik Building intersection to Customs intersection.

Many of the people very often miss to have Iftar in time and are forced to take their meals on the road after fasting due to congestion.

Kamrul Hasan, an official of a private bank at Agrabad, was seen drinking water on a rickshaw to break his fast at the Batali Road area on Monday since all the four roads that could take him to home remained blocked due to the traffic congestion.

"I had to take my Iftar on the road for five days as I could not reach my residence at Anderkilla timely though I leave my office at 4:00pm to cover the distance not more than four kilometres," said Kamrul.

The congestion is taking place at a time when the traffic department is observing a Traffic Month since the first Ramadan, said Helal Uddin, a student of Chittagong University.

Md Ahsan Habib Palash, Deputy Commissioner (DC) (Traffic) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), said the situation is beyond control.

There are only 35 sergeants, 200 constables, seven inspectors and two assistant commissioners (AC) to regulate the traffic system in the city, sources at DC (Traffic) office said.

There are only 66 posts of traffic sergeants created in 1978 and no more post had been created during the last 28 years in the CMP where the number is 600 in Dhaka, they said.

Moreover, immediate after the Durga Puja seven sergeants, out of 50, have been taken to Dhaka for maintaining traffic during the Ramadan while eight others are on leave now.

"I have only 17 sergeants, working in a shift, now to control the traffic system in the city and it is quite difficult to tackle the situation with this manpower," Palash said.

"We cannot post any officer in many important city spots due to shortage of manpower," he added.

Around 700 city service buses, 13,000 CNG-run auto-rickshaws, 1,000 inter-district buses, 5,000 trucks, 1,000 tempos, 30,000 rickshaws are plying in the city.

Many of these vehicles ply without requisite documents . Such vehicles very often violate traffic rules and consequently cause traffic congestion.

Besides, there are over two lakh rickshaws plying the city streets, contributing to the gridlock, sources said.

"We have seized 180 trucks and buses during a week long drive since September 24 for reckless driving, illegal parking and plying without required documents, including licence, route permits and violating traffic rules," said Palash.

He also blamed absence of notice boards at the parking lots or stoppages and zebra crossing and lack of over-bridges for the congestion.