Should we continue this way?
Bravo, to my friend Mr Rahat if nothing else, one must give him full marks for his consistency at being inconsistent on the question of banning rickshaws from Dhaka immediately (DS 20 Nov)!!! A few days ago Mr Chisti of Lalmatia had voiced something similar and I have already sent off the rebuttal to DS. If that letter is printed before this, Mr Rahat should find most of the answers, if at all he is looking for an answer for our jams. Also he can refer to my summary of the findings of the authoritative BUET/JICA Traffic Workshop, and Transparency Int. article “Facts and Figures” already printed in the DS.
The problem with Mr Rahat is that while we all are trying to cope with traffic problems in Dhaka in 2009, he is living in an Utopian Dhaka of 2029 with all those freeways, metros and other lollipops at hand!!! Mr Rahat's reference to Ittefaq's 6 Nov photo of a traffic jam at Dainik Bangla is laughable. The photo clearly shows that all modes of vehicles, rickshaws, CNGs, cars, buses are present. The question is, which mode is more convenient, easily available, safer, occupying less road space and carrying more passengers at a lesser cost to the public rickshaws undoubtedly!!! So, Mr Rahat, judge for yourself who is obstructing whom? And for good measure, I can refer you to ten pictures of gridlocks on the so-called unconstitutionally named VIP roads, where NOT ONE rickshaw can be seen!!.
Thank you Mr Rahat for grudgingly admitting that a) “Dhaka's roads do not have the capacity to hold such huge numbers of Gas Guzzling Monstrosities (GGMs) and b) a 50 kg bag cannot hold 100 kg of anything, so is it not practical to support and increase the vehicles that serve the larger masses of Dhakabashis than those that inflate the egos of a few privileged persons?
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