With hundreds of poor people coming into the city during Ramadan and more than a usual crowd visiting Dhaka from across the country to shop for Eid, traffic congestions are becoming unbearable.

The government has already completed Dhaka Urban Transport Project (DUTP) to develop the transportation system in the capital city where some main arterials were made rickshaw free for hours.

Rickshaws play a key role in transport within the city as it carries 40 percent of the passengers, but parking and management of rickshaws under the massive development project were neglected.

Under the DUTP the authority banned rickshaws along Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue that centred Farmgate, one of the busiest places in Dhaka that connected to Green Road, Indira Road and the link road between Sat Rasta intersection and Farmgate.

The authority did not arrange any parking space for rickshaws at the linking points and as a result rickshaws that arrive at Farmgate along Green Road, Indira Road and the linking road are clogging at the cut-off point on the main road.

When investigated into the reasons behind the clogging at these points, authorities blamed the lack of coordination among the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) organs, uncontrolled increase of illegal rickshaws, faulty design of the transport infrastructure and conditions laid down by the donor agencies.

Sirajul Islam, DCC's Chief Urban Planner told Star City that the DUTP authority did not coordinate with the planning wing even once during the implementation of the infrastructural developments.

About rickshaw clogging at end of Green road and Indira road, he said no parking space has been set aside in the design for rickshaws on the cut-off points on those roads, nor has a turn over been constructed, but thousands of people visit Farmgate regularly on rickshaws.

Police stop rickshaws at the points and the rickshaws remain put waiting for passengers and this result in clogging.

Sirajul said that although the authorities developed a large number of footpaths in the city recently under the project, they did not arrange any facilities for the disabled along on the footpaths.

"The use of different patterned tiles on the footpaths could have facilitated the disabled, costing nothing extra to the implementing authority," he said.

About the rickshaw clogging at Green Road, a traffic police constable said that it was a tough job for a single man to control hundreds of rickshaws. "I do that for hours on end, and cannot leave the spot under any circumstance," he said.

Anisur Rahman, a rickshaw puller in front the Tejgaon College told Star City: "Police stops rickshaws in front of the college, but if we pay between Tk five and Tk 10 they let us go up to over bridge at Farmgate."

He said that the rate of bribe used to be Tk two only, but after the recent price hikes, even Tk five is too little.

A police sergent at Green Road said the situation will be worse in a few days as more people will flock the city to shop for Eid, despite the authorities' initiatives for a smooth flow of traffic during Ramadan. He further said that it is during this time that a large number of rickshaw pullers come into the city earn something extra before Eid.

Mehedi Ali Khan, DUTP's ex-project director said the blame of the planning wing was baseless. The DUTP consultants designed the development work, and as the World Bank (WB) funded the project, WB selected the consultant and DCC had nothing in hand except implement the design, he said. He said it would be dangerous for DCC if they violated conditions set by WB.

DUTP's present administration said that nothing was wrong with the planning. The authority had emphasised on the increase of illegal rickshaws in the city during this period. Dhaka city has about 89 lakh authorised rickshaws and at least four lakh unauthorised rickshaws plying in the city.

The authority (WHO IS THIS AUTHORITY???) asked how they could plan for illegal rickshaws. "It is a matter of implementation not planning," the authority said.

When asked how long e city dwellers will have to suffer because of heavy traffic congestions, due to lack of implementation and faulty planning, one DUTP official said: "As long as corruption, ignorance, and non-coordination exist." He said the DUTP was a Tk 1,200 crore project but the budget was trimmed down to Tk 800 crore after half of the scheduled time had elapsed and the government found that only 16 percent the work had been completed.

Under the project, the authority constructed two flyovers, 100 km road network, 110 km footpath, 22,000 square meter parking spaces and twelve foot over bridges at different points in the city. The official said that though the infrastructure is essential, it would create a long-term problem if not built in the right place.

He said: "One can not expect solutions from a curtailed and faulty project which was produced by a foreign consultant who does not have knowledge of the socio economic condition of the city."