To ease traffic congestion in the capital, the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) today formally declared the Tejgaon truck stand road, Mohakhali bus terminal and Tejgaon industrial areas free of illegal parking.

DNCC Mayor Annisul Huq at a public meeting in the area declared Tejgaon road connecting Satrasta and Karwan Bazar free of illegal occupation for unhindered public movement about a fortnight after a decisive eviction drive.  

“Three years back, I saw a young would-be mother groaning in labour pain being stuck in the impassable narrow passage of this road crammed with illegally parked trucks and lorries as her mother was helplessly pleading everyone for a passage,” said the mayor.    

It will take one or two years to find a convenient place to set up a permanent truck terminal in the capital and until then the temporary truck stand in Tejgaon would continue to be used as a terminal, he said.

DNCC organised the rally on the free road attended by ruling party supporters, transport owners and workers to formally declare Tejgaon road, Mohakhali bus terminal and Tejgaon industrial areas free of illegal parking.

It is possible to build Dhaka as a clean, beautiful city if the authorities desire to do so, said ruling Awami League lawmaker Muhammad Faruk Khan.

“We all want a clean Dhaka city free of traffic congestion,” said Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan calling upon the mayor to ensure a permanent truck terminal for the benefit of truck and lorry owners and workers.   

On November 29, several hundred transport workers went berserk and fought pitched battles with police during the eviction drive against illegal structures and vehicle parking at the capital's Tejgaon truck terminal.

The mayor himself led the drive to free the spacious public road for smooth traffic movement and faced the transport workers’ wrath.   

Inter-district trucks and lorries as well as some illegal makeshift structures had been occupying the wide road turning it into a narrow alley obstructing normal traffic movement for decades.   

Mashiur Rahman Ranga, state minister for the Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives ministry also spoke at the rally.