Illegal parking clogs busy roads

Editorial

Where are the law enforcers?

Abdul Gani road is a very important road in Dhaka. It leads to the Secretariat, the seat of the bureaucracy (along with a number of other important government buildings) and also heads to a very busy junction of the city. Unfortunately, though there are “no parking” signs on both sides of the road put up by police authorities, vehicles are parked in rows on the side, which has created a mess. A picture in this paper published on October 17 shows a long line of cars parked on the road that has shrunk in width by at least half! And it is not the first time that such a picture has been carried by this paper.

Our question here is twofold. First, whatever happened to the strict patrolling and fining by the police for illegal parking in the city? Are we to understand that since all the buildings on this road are government offices, the people who have kept their cars on it get carte blanche to break the law? The other question is, precisely what is Rajdhani Unnayan Katripokkho (Rajuk) doing to alleviate this situation? Where are the parking spaces in the city? When can we expect multi-storied parking spaces to become available so that car owners may safely park their vehicles (without fear of their vehicles getting a ticket or being towed away) and go about their business in peace?

These are valid questions that authorities will have to answer today or tomorrow. We hope the police higher-ups will look into this matter to expedite traffic on Abdul Gani road. And the sooner the authorities start work on freeing up parking space in buildings and constructing new parking lots, we can all breathe a little easier.

• Courtesy: The Daily Star / Oct 18, 2018