Our law-enforcement agencies left nothing to chance, and there cannot be any complaint about the arrangement for security and ground movement of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his large entourage. It was indeed impeccable for a very very important person of Xi’s stature. Now with our honourable guest gone, we take a look at the traffic arrangements and ask: Could we have managed the traffic better and spared lakhs of commuters their worst nightmare ever? Within the city, commuters were stuck for 2-3 hours to traverse small distances. Those who travelled into Dhaka from outside spent 7-9 hours just to enter the city. Those who arrived by air were stuck at the airport for several hours, and many who were travelling abroad missed their flights. There must be better ways of honouring our guest without making our city dwellers suffer such misery.
Think of the last weekend.
People’s nightmare began hours before midday Friday. It began with the closing off of one side of the road from the airport to La Meridien Hotel, where Xi Jingpin was staying. And by the evening, a major part of Dhaka stopped dead on its track and the logjam snarled up to Gazipur, inflicting unbearable sufferings to commuters and causing flight delays and even postponement of weddings.
Sadly, all these could have been significantly minimised, if not averted, with a proper traffic management plan, said experts and victims.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on its website on October 13 announced that the western side of Airport Road schools offering pharmacy in canada — from Khilkhet intersection to Padma Oil (near airport intersection) — would be closed for 24 hours from 10:00am Friday, about one-and-half hours before the arrival of the Chinese president.
It also said the viagra from canada eastern side of the road would have contraflow lanes. However, long distance trucks and buses were asked not to use the road and use the Abdullahpur-Dhour-Beribadh-Mazar Road-Gabtoli route instead.
That was the traffic management plan and the commuters witnessed how inadequate it was. There was no prior publicity about the Airport Road’s partial closure and the diversion of traffic, which would have helped people make alternative travel plans.
In fact, the vital Airport Road was of little use after the west side of the road had been closed during most of the time Xi was in Dhaka. As traffic clogged on the east side of the road, police stopped vehicles heading towards Uttara at various places from Kakoli to Khilkhet to slow the flow, which had a knock-on effect elsewhere in the capital.
Many flights had to be delayed as pilots and crew members could not reach the airport timely. Many passengers also missed flights.
Putting barricades at Airport intersection, Uttara and Abdullahpur had a larger impact as vehicles could not cross Abdullahpur to take the detour.
Hundreds of vehicles were at standstill on Abdullahpur-Joydevpur road for five to eight hours, causing passengers, especially the elderly, women and children, to suffer.
“It took six hours to reach Abdullahpur from Joydevpur http://cialiswomen-femalecialis.com/ intersection,” said Mobarak, who was coming to indiaonline-pharmarx.com Dhaka from Mymensingh. “We knew that the east side of the Airport Road would be open but there was no movement of vehicles at all,” he said, adding that he reached Mohammadpur smoothly through Beribandh-Mazar Road-Gabtoli once he got passed Abdullahpur.
“Our minor boy became sick and was crying all the time,” he added.
There was also no prior announcements regarding temporary road closures at different points and intersections in the city before and after Xi went to the Bangabhaban, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) and Savar from Le Meridien Hotel. This had a cascading effect and clogged many city streets.
Tanzin Jahan, then a bride-to-be, went to a Mohammadpur parlour for her wedding makeup around 2:00pm. Once done, she started for Malibagh for her wedding ceremony but got stuck in traffic for about five hours.
She had to change her route several times and she finally reached the ceremony at 10:00pm. By that time many guests had left.
Expressing frustration, she wrote on her Facebook page, “R.I.P to all brides who had their wedding ceremony today, including me! #hail_dhaka.”
Mobarak, Tanzin and many victims expressed disappointment at the authorities’ failure to chalking out a proper traffic management plan that ensure security of VIPs and not cause people to suffer.
Urban transport expert Prof Shamsul Hoque believed the situation would not have been so bad had the traffic department alerted online pharmacy tech program people four to five days ahead that certain roads would be off-limits and traffic would be diverted.
“It’s very difficult to close a road when your road space is so small than what is required. Closing a road will have ripple effect and cause congestion in surrounding roads. But if people are alerted earlier and the traffic department sorted out a good traffic plan, congestion and sufferings will be less,” opined Hoque who is a professor of Buet’s civil engineering department.
In a congested city like Dhaka, he said the authorities should not put up barricades or close a road arbitrarily or online pharmacy classes without prior announcement.
The Daily Star approached two officials of the traffic department to know why they closed the roads and why their traffic management plans during Xi’s visit had failed.
Both declined to comment.
FLIGHT DISRUPTION
Sources said alongside delays of departing flights, some incoming flights of foreign carriers were delayed in touching down at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The lone runway was closed for nearly one hour during the arrival and departure of the Chinese president.
A significant number of passengers of Biman and foreign airlines missed their flights being unable to reach the airport in time, sources at the airport told The Daily Star.
“International passengers, who have missed their flights, will get the chance to fly to their respective destinations. But for this they will have to pay extra, between $20 and $40, depending on the particular airlines’ rules,” a top official of Biman Bangladesh Airlines said over the telephone.
An official of flight operations and central control of Biman said a total of 23 flights of the national flag carrier, domestic and international, were delayed between 30 minutes and two hours due to the traffic mess on Friday and Saturday.
An official of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh said it was a general practice on safety grounds that the runway remains closed 30 minutes before and after the arrival and departure of any VVIP flight.
“We inform respective airlines to reschedule their flights that were supposed to either arrive or depart,” said the CAAB official.
Flights of foreign airlines, including Fly Dubai, China Airlines, cialis 300 mg 30 tablet Mihin Lanka, Jet Airways, Etihad Airways, Emirates, Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, Air Arabia, and Thai Airways, among others, were the victim of flight disruption, sources said.
Source: The Daily Star