Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has blamed 'mismanagement' of traffic by local authorities for the hold-ups on highways during the Eid-ul-Azha journeys.
However, he believes a strong road network, bolstered by the Padma Bridge, facilitated smooth travels for holidaymakers this time, reports bdnews24.com.
“Although we have the Highway Police, they have quite a small workforce. We have the district police and deputy commissioners [but they, too, lack an adequate workforce]," Quader told reporters at the Secretariat on Tuesday, the first workday after a three-day vacation.
The government had requested the BGMEA and BKMEA to schedule the holidays for garment workers in phases, but they did not comply, said Quader. “They declared Friday and Saturday as holidays for workers, which caused traffic jams in Chandra.”
The minister mentioned 43 cases of technical glitches and road accidents on the Bangabandhu Bridge, which halted the flow of traffic.
“We can allow other vehicles to run smoothly on the Padma Bridge, even if one vehicle faces an accident. We can move it aside. But for the Bangabandhu Bridge, one accident means the other vehicles cannot move.”
The minister also attributed accidents to delays on the highways.
Despite it being a four-lane road, travellers experienced some traffic congestion on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway, he said. The government is working on transforming it into a six-lane highway to ease the flow of traffic, he added.
Quader also provided an update on the Metro Rail project, saying it will be inaugurated in the first week of December.