Of all the great things that had been expected of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chief Iqbal Mahmud, bringing an element of discipline to traffic wasn't at the top of the list. But it was he, rather than the traffic police chief, who held a two-day vigil against wrong-side driving. The details that emerged weren't very surprising but alarming nonetheless. Nearly 70 per cent of the cars that were fined were government vehicles. And in bizarre fashion, it was a driver of a secretary who was temporarily suspended for getting caught in the drive two-days in a row. What happens to him depends on traffic rules but why the secretary concerned wasn't taken to task is anyone's guess. Whether the fine is at the government expense or to be snaffled up under bureaucracy is also unclear. One good outcome is a break in tradition that government vehicles can do no wrong.
The weekend respite from traffic snarls has been elevated to the Eid festival breaks. Apart from that, everyone has disgruntledly gotten used to a twenty-minute journey extending to two hours. There just aren't enough cops to haul up law-breakers, pedestrians don't have or just don't follow their road-crossing options with the sophisticated traffic signals reduced to adornments rather than traffic control.
Mass public transportation has gone berserk in a dubious mix of government and private vehicles and little is being done to rein in individual transport and the spectacular if deplorable numbers of motorcycles on roads literally creaking at the seams. The progressive increase of fitness fees and road taxes have long breached the borders of sanity and achieved little. Shopping centres and roadside shops allowed to unilaterally spring up, educational institutions and coaching centres allowed in residential areas just exacerbate the situation. In between the seminars and conferences nothing gets done and the never-ending development work continues. While it was delightful to see the enthusiasm entering Durgotshob, it left a taste as bitter as Eid-ul-Azha. Was all the ostentation really needed when so many are struggling to rebuild their lives at this post-flood time? It re-emphasises the need for introspection as to what the purpose of humanity should be.
The allocation on mega-projects burgeon out of control while the basic requirements of more east-west roads, multi-level parking, coordinated mass-transportation and, above all, stricter controls on traffic movement including a solution for VIP movements are no replacements and certainly not negotiable. Flyovers, bridges -- nothing has really solved anything. The risk of bridges carrying loads they were never meant to run the risk of collapsing. And after the initial tight controls, vehicles parked imperiously on the Hatirjheel bridge, and the brazen movement late night of covered vans and other prohibited vehicles add another chapter to the uncertainty of a city that is dying.
There is no single solution but if left to continue this issue will be all-engulfing. Difficult decisions have to be made. Desperate times call for desperate measures.