Commuters experienced serious gridlock across the city on Wednesday, the first day of rescheduled office time set by the cabinet division to take the advantage of daylight and save power and energy as well.
The government fixed office time of all government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous offices across the country from 8am to 3pm from Sunday to Thursday until further notice from Wednesday. As the officials and employees of government and autonomous institutions came out of the streets yesterday morning to reach their respective workplaces by 8am, they faced serious difficulties to get transports while many of them remained stuck on their ways for hours due to heavy traffic gridlock in different parts of the capital. Apart from the office goers, morning shift students and teachers of schools and colleges also had to go through tremendous sufferings due to lack of public transport and traffic jam. Many had thought that they would not face any gridlock on their ways as the city roads and streets usually remain free in the morning.
The authorities concerned
must take effective measures
to address the city’s severe traffic
congestion problem immediately
We are spending a lot of money and wasting time due to the chaotic movement of public transport in the city. It is clear that there is no discipline on the roads yet. As the government rescheduled the office time, traffic division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in association with two city corporations could come up with fresh guidelines and take early measures to tackle the chaotic situation.
It is the responsibility of traffic police, BRTA, city corporations and bus owners’ organisations to maintain order on roads during the office hour. The authorities concerned must take integrated, coordinated and effective measures to bring the traffic system of the capital under one discipline as early as possible.
As many as seven lakh of non-mechanical vehicles such as rickshaws, vans and carts have been plying the city roads alongside the mechanical vehicles which have greatly contributed to the city’s nagging traffic jams. Therefore, keeping the fresh office time in mind, the authorities concerned must take effective measures to address the city’s severe traffic congestion problem immediately.
