Dhaka is like an ICU patient: Annisul

Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq today compared Dhaka’s state to that of an ailing patient in the intensive care unit of a hospital.

“Dhaka’s present condition is like a patient in the ICU of a hospital,” he told a roundtable meeting at a hotel in Dhaka, Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports.

“The mayor is its doctor, who has never studied medical science,” he said. “But the patient must live. We can’t keep researching while the patient is dying.”

Dhaka is now the second worst livable city in the world. Besides agonising traffic conditions and hazardous environment, this monsoon revealed its vulnerability in drainage system.

The mayor opined that something must be done urgently to save Dhaka by at least lowering the impact of traffic problem by 40 to 50 percent.

“Everyone suggests making the footpaths hawker-free, but it is not easy as they have invested money in their businesses and there are many powerful hands behind this.”

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, chief guest of the meeting, told Annisul, “You should take small steps and implement them gradually. Free the roads from grabbers. Everyone says nice words, but there is hardly any action.”

Alongside traffic congestion, the mayor of Dhaka South City Corporation, Sayeed Khokon mentioned water-logging as another major problems of Dhaka.

“We often discuss about the problems. Now we want some actions. Some works need to be done. Although alleviating traffic congestion is a responsibility of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, the city corporation wants to lead in the efforts and wants to contribute to the cause,” Khokon said.

Meanwhile, Golam Farukh, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), mentioned unplanned and damaged roads, development works, and driving on the wrong side as the root cause of the acute traffic problem.

Four documentaries on the causes of Dhaka’s traffic congestion and possible ways to overcome this problem along with various future plans were screened during the roundtable.

LGRD State Minister Moshiur Rahman, engineers and experts also attended the roundtable.