Will Satrasta ever be freed?

Honking horns blend with frustrated shouts of  office-goers, students and patients stuck at gridlocks -- this is the daily reality of the Mayor Annisul Huq Road (Tejgaon-Satrasta).

It has been eight years since the late mayor made efforts to clear the road of illegally parked trucks, but the owners and workers remain undeterred.

Trucks of all sizes, from lumbering giants to nimble pickups, line both sides of the road throughout the day, contributing to congestion. The status quo only worsens after dusk.

A separate rickshaw-lane, supposedly constructed to reduce traffic on the road, has only turned out to be a waste of money, as rickshaws barely move through that. Besides, the lanes have narrowed down the road further, increasing traffic jams rather than solving it.

Also, trucks and pick-ups parked on the road have extensively damaged the dividers set up to create the lanes, leaving them  essentially non-functional.

Trucks are parked on the road, due to lack of space at the truck stand near it. When Dhaka North City Corporation conducts drives against illegal parking, truckers clear the road but return soon after, said Md Helal Uddin, owner of six trucks.

Mohammad Kasem, a helping hand of the truck terminal, said truckers start parking  on the main road at 7:00pm and usually keep them till 8:00am.

Tofazzal Hossain Mazumdar, president of Bangladesh Truck Covered-Van Owners Association, said every day around 5,000 trucks come to the terminal, but they can accommodate only 3,000 of them, and the rest remain on roads adjoining the terminal.

He said if the government provides them land to keep trucks, they will not keep them on the roads.

PROMISE OF PERMANENT SOLUTION

On December 30, 2020, DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam announced plans to construct a multi-storey truck terminal and held a meeting with the leaders of truck owners' association to solve the problem.

However, the work has not started yet due to land crisis.

Atiqul on February 5 told The Daily Star that it will not be possible to keep the road clear until DNCC cannot provide a permanent solution.

"I informed the prime minister that without obtaining land for a truck terminal, a permanent solution cannot be achieved," said the mayor.

"Around 3.5 acres of BTRC land and 1.5 acres of National Housing Authority land are currently available. The premier has approved us to use those lands. We received a letter last week in this regard," he added.

"We've initiated the design preparation process for the terminal and will soon appoint a consultant who will engage with stakeholders to finalise the design," Atiqul said.