Nagorik Odhiker Andolon form a human chain in front of the Chittagong Press Club on January 1 demanding occupant-free footpaths and protesting adulteration of foods and reckless driving.Photo: STAR

The traffic department in the port city has failed to improve the traffic system in 2011 due to its inability to implement several decisions under political pressure, persons concerned in the sector said.
Calibration of fare metres of the CNG -run auto-rickshaws, introduction of counter-ticket bus service system and off-limits to rickshaws from Barik Building to Bahadderhat intersection and stopping the practice of illegal parking are among the notable initiatives that the Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) has failed to implement successfully.
The CMP fixed the date thrice for the CNG-run auto-rickshaw owners in April, 2011 to calibrate the metres. But the initiative failed as the fare chart was not prepared.
It also experienced difficulties in setting up counter-ticket bus service with the help of different transport owners' organisations.
Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) Mayor M Manjur Alam launched the service on July 25. The service was postponed on the first day of its launching due to groupings among the public transport owners and political leaders.
A senior CMP official said a group of bus owners belonging to political parties used the transport staff to create chaos in the sector and vandalise many public transports on July 27 in the port city in a bid to stop the service.
Belayat Hossain, general secretary of Chittagong Metropolitan Transport Owners' Group, denying the allegations, said CMP and the local administration were responsible for the failure to make the sector stable. Referring to the counter-ticket bus service, he said they gave all information about the agitators to the deputy commissioner of CMP traffic but no initiative was taken.
Belayat said he was the only public transport owner who had been maintaining the counter-ticket bus service in the port city. But he is to stop the service for non-cooperation from the traffic department.
He said CMP held a meeting with the public transport owners, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, CCC and Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) to make the road from Barik Building to Bahadderhat intersection off-limit to rickshaws from January 1. The CMP postponed the decision under pressure from the rickshaw-pullers and political leaders, he said.
He said the CMP could not implement many decisions for lack of proper planning and political pressure.
Engineer Subhas Chandra Barua, general secretary of Forum for Plan Chittagong, said barring rickshaws from plying is a sensitive issue and CMP should consider many things before taking such a decision.
He said the CMP has no specific plans to reduce traffic jam in the city. He suggested separate lanes for buses and stopping the practice of illegal parking on the roads.
Faruk Ahmed, deputy commissioner of CMP (Traffic), said they tried a lot to keep the traffic system normal in the city.
When asked about the calibration, he said they were not responsible for this. The initiative for calibration was stopped for the time period as the price of gas was increased twice at that time, DC traffic said.
Faruk blamed non-cooperation from the bus owners for failure to continue the counter-ticket bus service in the port city. He sought cooperation of all concerned to restart the service.
He said they were not well-prepared to implement the decision to make the road from Barik Building to Bahadderhat intersection off-limit to rickshaws.