This is not new for us especially living in Dhaka city. If every PM is using VIP protocol, think about the traffic in Dhaka; meanwhile I guess MP/Ministers has no headache on this issue.
If anything like underpass or elevator express way is not made within couple of year, Dhaka will be more like a hell.
Regards
Md. Iqbal Hossain
From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, September 30, 2010 5:34:16 AM
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Traffic rage over PM's return
Traffic rage over PM's return
Dhaka, Sep 29 (bdnews24.com)–Thousands of commuters, many dashing to catch flights, suffered severe traffic gridlock in Dhaka from late Wednesday afternoon as pro-government supporters prepared to greet prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
Around 3,000 adherents of the ruling Awami League and youth front Juba League blocked Airport Road towards Shahjalal International Airport with trucks, buses, pick-ups and cars, which meant hundreds of international and local passengers may have, or almost, missed their flights.
Many were reduced to pushing their vehicles that ran out of gas as they waited for hours on end.
The accesses to the Airport Road, such as Gulshan Link Road, Biswa Road leading to Badda, the road from Abdullahpur to Ashulia, were taken over by parliament members and senior party leaders who led slogan-shouting processions through the city streets.
It was a party decision to accord Hasina reception at the airport. She flew back around 7:50pm after attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
It was by no means the first time that Dhaka residents suffered such ignominy. Her party people clogged key roads when Hasina returned from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting at Port-au-Spain on Dec 4 last year and again from the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference on Dec 21 that year.
At one stage, the eight-lane Dhaka-Mymensingh highway shrank to two lanes due to the heavy gathering of the activists. The motorcycles, microbuses, buses, and trucks carrying the party activists were parked on the road.
Desperate commuters vented their anger to bdnews24.com correspondent.
Two Danes were scurrying down the road at 7:55pm, zigzagging through the party activists. One of them, 'Maria', who gave only one name, said they needed to catch a flight back home at 8:30pm.
"We don't know where did we get down from the car, but we're walking for the last 10 minutes," she said.
Middle-aged Laila Aziz of Uttara said she tried to go to Dhanmondi to meet her daughter, but returned home after seeing the huge tailback.
At 7:15pm, bus helper 'Rafique' of Ananya Paribahan said that it took them two and a half hours to reach the airport from Mohakhali. Naila Chowdhury said she reached Rajlakhhi at Uttara from Gulshan-2 after two and a half hours.
Mohammad Hanif, who works with a private firm at Gulshan, said he started to walk from Biswa Road for home at Uttara in exasperation.
The prime minister started for her official residence around 8pm in a motorcade, when the traffic was halted again. The activists had been shouting slogans for Hasina before 7pm, forcing senior Awami League leaders, cabinet members and other VIPs to meander through to reach the VVIP Lounge.
Things got slightly better for a brief period when Juba League leaders came to the Airport Road around 7:15pm and urged their activists through loudspeakers to stay on either side of the road to let the traffic move.
Around 3,000 adherents of the ruling Awami League and youth front Juba League blocked Airport Road towards Shahjalal International Airport with trucks, buses, pick-ups and cars, which meant hundreds of international and local passengers may have, or almost, missed their flights.
Many were reduced to pushing their vehicles that ran out of gas as they waited for hours on end.
The accesses to the Airport Road, such as Gulshan Link Road, Biswa Road leading to Badda, the road from Abdullahpur to Ashulia, were taken over by parliament members and senior party leaders who led slogan-shouting processions through the city streets.
It was a party decision to accord Hasina reception at the airport. She flew back around 7:50pm after attending the UN General Assembly in New York.
It was by no means the first time that Dhaka residents suffered such ignominy. Her party people clogged key roads when Hasina returned from the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting at Port-au-Spain on Dec 4 last year and again from the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference on Dec 21 that year.
At one stage, the eight-lane Dhaka-Mymensingh highway shrank to two lanes due to the heavy gathering of the activists. The motorcycles, microbuses, buses, and trucks carrying the party activists were parked on the road.
Desperate commuters vented their anger to bdnews24.com correspondent.
Two Danes were scurrying down the road at 7:55pm, zigzagging through the party activists. One of them, 'Maria', who gave only one name, said they needed to catch a flight back home at 8:30pm.
"We don't know where did we get down from the car, but we're walking for the last 10 minutes," she said.
Middle-aged Laila Aziz of Uttara said she tried to go to Dhanmondi to meet her daughter, but returned home after seeing the huge tailback.
At 7:15pm, bus helper 'Rafique' of Ananya Paribahan said that it took them two and a half hours to reach the airport from Mohakhali. Naila Chowdhury said she reached Rajlakhhi at Uttara from Gulshan-2 after two and a half hours.
Mohammad Hanif, who works with a private firm at Gulshan, said he started to walk from Biswa Road for home at Uttara in exasperation.
The prime minister started for her official residence around 8pm in a motorcade, when the traffic was halted again. The activists had been shouting slogans for Hasina before 7pm, forcing senior Awami League leaders, cabinet members and other VIPs to meander through to reach the VVIP Lounge.
Things got slightly better for a brief period when Juba League leaders came to the Airport Road around 7:15pm and urged their activists through loudspeakers to stay on either side of the road to let the traffic move.
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