Clockwise: A human hauler plies beneath Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover at Jatrabari, woman crosses a muddy road in Saidabad intersection, concrete rings are left at Tikatuli and commuters near Saidabad bus terminal inhale smoky air.
People continued to suffer on Gulistan-Jatrabari road under the country’s biggest Mayor Hanif Flyover although the flyover was opened to traffic in October 2013 aiming at reducing tailback on the road.
Neighbourhoods of the area said that the flyover could not reduce the suffering of the people as the authority was yet to repair the road that had become practically unfit for traffic due to cracks and potholes during the construction of the flyover, widely known as Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover.
Dhaka South City Corporation officials said that they could not repair the road because of fund crisis.
Dellower Hossain, a restaurant owner in the road near Saidabad bus terminal, said that the flyover brought comfort for its users but raised suffering for the people who used the road under the flyover.
‘Before the construction of the flyover, the road was wide with four lanes in each way, but now vehicles cannot run in more than two lanes,’ he said mentioning that the road became unfit for traffic because of the construction work of the flyover.
Fruit trader Faruk Hossain said that the flyover authority unnecessarily made the road narrow building boundaries covering up to about 10 feet of the road seriously hampering traffic flow causing unbearable traffic congestion.
Thousands of commuters who use Saidabad inter-district bus terminal, a gateway to the capital for the eastern and south eastern parts of the country including port city Chittagong, Sylhet, Comilla, Narsingdi, Chandpur, Noakhali, Feni, Narayanganj and Munshiganj, are the worst sufferers as long stretches of the road are badly damaged.
Four kilometre road from Jatrabari takes more than two hours all day all time to reach Gulistan as makeshift shops and hawkers occupy a major portion of the road and footpath and vehicles are illegally parked on the broken narrow road with full of holes.
The sufferings become worse during office hours or in the afternoon, bus driver Md Aminul Islam said, adding that the dilapidated road also damaged vehicles.
In some spots of the road construction work continues blocking the road and even many link roads also remains blocked for months, said the locals.
They said that the road became full of dust in sunny day and muddy in raily season as sands and soil were piled on the road during the flyover construction.
Arifur Rahman, a automobile shop worker, said that the road became submerged with knee-deep muddy water even after a mild shower causing accidents frequently while darkness covered the area because of dust in sunny days.
Dhaka South City Corporation affected road repairing project director Md Nurul Amin said that different government agencies including Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited and others did development work during the construction of the flyover badly damaging the road.
‘The authority already allotted Tk 23 crore for repairing the road and it would be made usable within very short time,’ he said.
Source: New Age
