The news item – “The government is going to be strict to control private cars” said Obaidul Kader, communication minister – has drawn my attention. He also has said, it is seen that 8-10 private cars belong to a single family and all these are in use. This is the main reason behind traffic congestion in the opinion of the minister. Hearing his opinion- a story comes to mind. Two people were coming back from the river after taking their bath. One thought that the other might have prayed to Allah all the night and after taking bath he will have rest. This was the thinking of pious man about the other person. One the other hand, the other person depicted in his mind not a very good idea about the pious person.One of my service-holder friends is not a high official. His wife was facing problem in reaching her two daughters to their schools. They could not take pubic buses during the school/office hours when those are normally full of passengers. The scenario is same even for the short human-hauler services. He sold out a plot of ancestral land and bought a second-hand car. I know a doctor of a government hospital in Dhaka. His practice does not earn a handsome income. Somehow he can manage his family. He took loan for buying a car also for carrying children to and from schools.
Everyday people suffer a lot for not having adequate transport facilities. They spend long hours in traffic congestions that the members of the Cabinet do not face. We know about this through the print and the electronic media.
I found many families staying in Dhaka for their children’s education only. This adds to pressure on the city’s civic amenities. If the division and district-level cities and towns had standard educational institutions the pressure of families migrating to Dhaka for education of their wards would have reduced to a great extent. I know Unicef has decentralised operations by setting up offices at the division/district levels. The relevant staffs have been transferred to offices in Mymensing, Bogra, Khulna and so on.
Reputed educational institutions of secondary to tertiary levels should have expanded, or patronised to establish their branches at division and district levels. Without decentralisation of power and functions and without the creation of attractive places of living the rest of the country a liveable Dhaka is unthinkable. The honourable minister should know this.
Merina Hossain Mita
Dhaka
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