Electricity Crisis, Urban Planning, Development and Bangladesh

[Banglar Bir]

54.7% urban women victims of violence in Bangladesh: ActionAid Study
Bangladesh ranks 6th among 10 selected countries

Star Online Report

• 57% women think cops don’t take their complaints seriously
• 65% women think cops blame victim
• 49% women feel unsafe in public transports
• Action Aid study conducted on 10 countries

A total of 54.7% women living in urban areas face violence in Bangladesh, ActionAid revealed in a study today.
Moreover, 54.7% women face physical, psychological, financial and social violence including unwarranted touches from strangers, ActionAid Bangladesh Country Director Farah Kabir said while presenting the findings of the study at a launching programme in Dhaka.

The research on violence against women in urban cities ‘Whose City?’ came up with the findings after conducting a survey on 1200 Bangladeshi women living in the seven divisional cities of the country.

57% women allege that their complaints are not taken seriously by the law enforcers, she said.

65% women think that the law enforcers are more prone to blaming the victims instead the accused, she added.

49% women feel unsafe in public transports and 48% claim to feel the same while availing public services including health services.

Bangladesh ranks 6th among 10 selected countries
The research was conducted on ten countries including Bangladesh.

Bangladesh stands at the sixth position with 39.32 points at grade C among the ten. Whereas, the war-torn Congo too occupied the same ranking.

The countries surpassing Bangladesh in women safety and empowerment issues are Nepal, Nigeria, Jordan, Brazil and Zimbabwe.

The research was conducted taking five indicators into consideration - violence against women, legal assistance to fight against violence, women friendliness in budget, women friendly urban cities, safety in public transports,

Among the five criteria, Bangladesh scored zero on two - women friendly urban cities and safety in public transports.
http://www.thedailystar.net/country...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

There is very little prospect of retrofitting buildings and structure to withstand the heavy lateral (horizontal) force exerted during a strong earthquake. Issue is the nasty character of all the golden people of golden Bengal. The building owners cheat themselves by asking for no design (stress analysis) works, because it costs a little money. The Contractors usually copy build the piling system and superstructure as a result.

City Office engineers are callous and powerless to fulfill the requirement of construction of tall buildings. It is the duty of the central govt to formulate building design and construction laws by following the Codes in some other earthquake-prone countries like Japan and California. Laws should be same everywhere, except that the country should be divided into zones depending upon the intensity (I) of earthquake in each zone.

In the present situation without a set of design rules, I propose a minimum horizontal component of earthquake to be set at 0.5% of the Dead Load. It means, for a structure weighing 1000 ton, design engineers should be required to do the framing analysis to withstand a (1000 x 0.05) or 50 ton of lateral force acting at the highest elevation of the building, say, at 50m from the ground that tries to destabilize the structure.

I have seen some kind of soil testing that cannot be called soil testing for construction. It is required to perform Standard Penetration Test (SPT). No one in BD, except the foreign Contractors for the international job, fulfill this requirement. The result is BD is full of match box buildings whose foundations are weak to withstand the vertical and lateral forces during a strong earthquake.

Bangladesh city dwellers are in dire need of such a person,of your wisdom and your detailed writeups needs to be published in our local Daily media,for unmasking the evil & heinous money mongers Developers.

As till date our Developer is reluctant to provide us with the structural designs and layouts,even after the recent earthquake,that resulted in several large cracks in the building,we are left at the mercy of these greedy Developers.
Instead they immediately plastered the cracks and stated that everything is fine.

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 29, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:46 PM, November 29, 2017
Easing the pressure on Dhaka
Developing climate resilient and migrant-friendly secondary cities

Dhaka is the destination of most rural-to-urban migration in Bangladesh and will soon find it almost impossible to absorb more migrants. Photo: Prabir Das
Saleemul Huq
The second Annual National Conference on Urban Resilience was just held in Dhaka and in three days it brought together several hundred people from different sectors including the central government, local government, mayors and town planners, as well as researchers, academics, NGOs and private sector actors to discuss the future pathways to build urban resilience in Bangladesh.

While the first annual conference, held a year ago, focused mostly on the problems of life in cities as well as urbanisation, this year the discussions moved toward solutions to those problems.

I will not go into the many issues discussed and recommendations made, but will highlight the major overarching issues and propose one possible solution.

The first of the three main overarching problematic issues for Bangladesh is the population of the country, which, despite major gains in reducing the growth rate, is still headed towards well-over the 200 million mark within the next two decades.

Most of these people will be young and in need of education and skills. A problem closely associated with this is the rapid rural to urban migration that is already taking place, which means that the country will have a 50 percent urban population in less than two decades.

The second overarching issue is that in Bangladesh, most of this rural-to-urban migration ends up in Dhaka, which is already the fastest growing mega-city in the world and will find it almost impossible to absorb more and more migrants.

The third and final overarching issue is climate change and its impacts, mainly in low-lying coastal areas. This will inevitably cause millions of people to eventually lose their livelihoods of farming and fishing due to climate change-induced sea level rise and force them to migrate to Dhaka.

Given this three-pronged set of overarching issues, one possible approach worth exploring is presented below.

We should consider investing in at least a dozen secondary cities to enable them to become climate resilient as well as migrant-friendly at the same time. If each of these dozen cities can welcome and provide productive citizenship to a million people, then the pressure on Dhaka will be relieved and future climate-induced migrants can migrate with dignity rather than under duress.

The concrete proposal to consider is to allow for a bottom-up, participatory approach from the secondary cities themselves rather than taking a top-down planning approach. This could be done through initiating a competition for all secondary towns to submit proposals for developing resilient city plans as well as an initial pilot project at the same time.

The towns could be given some initial funding to develop their proposals with some guidance on topics to be included and also to make it as participatory as possible. These proposals could then be evaluated by an expert committee which would then award each town with further funding to develop their resilience plan and pilot project proposal. The criteria for judgement would require both climate resilience and migrant friendliness to be addressed in each proposal.

The evaluation committee would then select the 10 or 12 best proposals and award each chosen town with funding to implement their pilot action proposal. If 40 towns participate in the competition and each town is awarded Tk 5 lakh to prepare their initial proposal, this would cost around Tk 2 crore.

Then, Tk 5 crore might be awarded per town to the cities for implementing their pilot action. If 10 or 12 towns are selected, this would require Tk 50 crore or Tk 60 crore respectively.

Hence this idea may require an allocation of around Tk 50–60 crore in total. This could quite easily be funded by the Bangladesh government's own Climate Change Trust Fund for 2018/19.

Such a bottom-up competition would help unleash the talents and ideas of mayors and citizens of different towns around the country and enable the citizens of those towns to determine their own futures.
Saleemul Huq is Director, International Centre for Climate Change and Development at the Independent University, Bangladesh.
Email: Saleemul.huq@iied.org
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/politics-climate-change/easing-the-pressure-dhaka-1497694

 

[Banglar Bir]

Wasa finds underground water reservoir in Savar
Tribune Desk
Published at 09:44 PM November 22, 2017

Bigstock
According to Wasa managing director, the water is accumulating from an underground Himalayan channel.
Dhaka Wasa has announced the discovery of a natural underground water reservoir in Savar’s Bhakurta,from where 150 million litres of water can be extracted daily.

“Water is accumulating there from an underground Himalayan channel. Drawing this much water will not be a problem since it will be automatically refilled by water from Himalayas,” Wasa Managing Director Taqsem A Khan said.

He told the media on Tuesday that Wasa produced 1.88 billion litres of water against a daily demand of 2.12 billion litres in 2009. The system loss at that time was 44% and Wasa released only 60% of the water bill.

“In only eight years, we are now producing 2.45 billion litres of water against a daily demand of 2.35 billion litres,” he said. “The system loss has gone down to 22% and we are realising 99% water bills.”

Taqsem highlighted various steps taken during the last eight years and laid out plans for the future at the media briefing.

When he took over, 87% water was produced from underground sources but it has been brought down to 78%, he said, hoping to reduce it to 30% within 2030.

“Water from Padma will come directly within next year. The Gandharbapur project will end within 2020 and Sayedabad third phase works will be completed within 2021,” he said.

Taqsem noted that it would be possible to draw some 150 million litres of water using deep tubewells from the newly-discovered Savar underground reserve.

He said the water produced by Wasa was “100% pure” but consumers faced some problems as there were faults in the pipelines.

“We are changing the pipes in Dhaka,” the Wasa boss said.
This article was first published on Bangla Tribune
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/dhaka/2017/11/22/wasa-underground-water-himalaya/

12:00 AM, November 30, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 11:05 AM, November 30, 2017
Choking on Dhaka's air
Air pollution in Dhaka city is a serious threat to public health. Unplanned urbanisation coupled with a failure to enforce the existing laws got us to this point.

Dhaka's particulate matter 2.5 level is nine times WHO's recommended target. Dhaka's air quality was recently ranked as the second worst in Asia, only second to New Delhi. Photo: Amran Hossain
Nahela Nowshin
It's getting harder and harder to breathe—literally. Dhaka's air has become so unbreathable that it is almost impossible to pass the streets without noticing someone wearing a mask, trying to brave the triple whammy of construction dust, smoke from burning garbage and leaves, and vehicular emissions.
That is why when in early November the Delhi government declared a public health emergency because of the toxic smog that enveloped the city, the news struck a chord with many Dhakaiites.

Even though bad air is something we have to deal with all year round, the winter dry season—ironically the period of time Bangladeshis look most forward to—makes it all the more intolerable. Delhiites are not alone—we too have on our hands a public health emergency, make no mistake.

Dhaka dwellers don't need official data to tell them just how suffocating and dangerous the air they are breathing in is. But for the sake of curiosity and for outsiders fortunate enough to have never experienced Dhaka's air, let's do some simple math to see where we stand in the context of global standards.

Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) is a primary indicator of air pollution. PM2.5 refers to fine particles that are a complex mixture of solid and liquid, and are so tiny that they can penetrate and lodge deep into the lungs—making it one of the most harmful kinds of air pollutants. Exposure to high levels of PM2.5 has serious health implications and drastically increases the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and lung cancer.

So how does Dhaka fare when its PM2.5 levels are compared with those of the air quality guidelines put forth by the World Health Organization—which provide the basis for global standards?

The recommended target of PM2.5 as per the “WHO Air Quality Guidelines” is an annual mean of 10 micrograms per cubic metre. In a report compiled by The Guardian early this year, where WHO data on PM2.5 has been disaggregated region by region, the PM2.5 level in Dhaka was revealed to be an annual mean of 90 micrograms per cubic metre—the second worst in Asia after Delhi.
This is nine times WHO's recommended level of 10 micrograms per cubic metre.

"Pollution caused by brick kilns—the primary source of Dhaka's dirty air—is not simply a natural byproduct of urbanisation. It is also a result of the failure to implement the Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kilns Establishment (Control) Act which was passed in 2013 and came into effect the following year.

Dhaka residents need to take note. We can no longer ignore the smog hanging over the city thinking it's simply a harmless concomitant of open construction, industrial production, or the dry season. The first thing that one would typically lay the blame on is Dhaka's unplanned urbanisation—and that of course is irrefutable. But that doesn't tell the whole story behind Dhaka's filthy air. The fact is that air pollution in the city has exponentially grown worse because of a complete disregard for existing laws.

A public notice by the Department of Environment (DoE) in December 2016 claimed that the majority of particulate pollutants come from brick kilns—a whopping 58 percent—while dust (18 percent), vehicular emissions (10 percent), and burning of biomass (eight percent) also contributed to deteriorating air quality.

The tale of the brick kiln industry gives a glimpse into the intricate and bleak picture behind Dhaka's air pollution. The brickfield cluster in northern Dhaka produces 2.1 billion bricks annually (around 14 percent of the country's brick production). Pollution caused by brick kilns—the primary source of Dhaka's dirty air—is not simply a natural byproduct of urbanisation.

It is also a result of the failure to implement the Brick Manufacturing and Brick Kilns Establishment (Control) Act which was passed in 2013 and came into effect the following year. The Act, in an effort to bring brick establishments under control, gave them two years' time to switch to modern technology and relocate from certain areas such as in ECAs (ecologically critical areas) or within a kilometre from the boundaries of ECAs.

The law also has a provision which makes it mandatory for all kilns to manufacture a minimum of 50 percent hollow bricks to discourage the use of fertile soil—the main ingredient for making bricks.

But none of these things are actually enforced. One, the shift from “fixed-chimney”, i.e. dirty technology, to cleaner, more efficient methods such as the “zigzag” does not come cheap. Two, brick kilns are typically located in lowlands that tend to flood during monsoons, which is why the dry season is when brick kilns get to work.

The shift to modern technologies would require highlands to avoid the risk of flooding—and with the soaring price of land in Dhaka, this is simply not doable for many brick kiln owners. Without government incentives to move to cleaner technology, the hands of the brick-making industry are tied.

This is just one of numerous cases in the country's history of weak environmental regulation. Similarly, laws related to the fitness of vehicles (as per the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983) which could go a long way in curbing air pollution are flouted openly in a city where the number of vehicles is going up every day.

That pollution is wholly an inevitable consequence of urban development is a myth easy to buy into—urbanisation is only part of the story. This simplistic line of reasoning also absolves public authorities and industries of their responsibility to act in accordance with the law and serves to conceal the impunity with which they are degrading the environment—depriving citizens of their right to a public good such as clean air.

So whether one looks at it as an environmental issue or a health crisis in the making, what it's not is a “simple price to pay” for urban development. There is no denying that the main culprit behind Dhaka reaching its boiling point today is unplanned urbanisation; but it is the utter failure to enforce the laws in place that will perhaps expedite our plunge into environmental doom.
Nahela Nowshin is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star.

 

[Banglar Bir]

Tannery shifting limps
Both Dhaleswari, Buriganga getting polluted now
Rashad Ahamad | Published: 00:05, Nov 30,2017

Untreated wastes released from the tanneries at Savar on the outskirts of Dhaka pollute the River Dhaleshwari. The photo was taken on Wednesday. — New Age photo

The under-construction Tannery Industrial Park at Savar became a huge source of pollution since 100 out of 155 tannery factories shifted there in last eight months.

Environmentalists expressed serious concern over 15,000 cubic metre of untreated wastes being released into the Dhaleswari River daily by 100 tannery factories.

They said that the problem arose due to the government’s failure to fully commission the central effluent treatment plant and install other supportive facilities in 14 years since 2003.

The authorities’ failure to provide environment friendly leather industry, they said, defeated the very purpose of setting up the 200-acre tannery park at a huge cost and also relocating the tannery factories from Hazaribagh.

The tannery park has been turned into a dumping yard for liquid and solid toxic wastes from the factories in production there, they said.

The ground realities show that the new tannery park at Savar replicated the situation for which tannery factory shifting from Hazaribagh was planned, they said.

For missing two deadlines to fully commission the CETP and put in place a dumping yard, a common chromium recovery unit and the other supportive facilities if the government could be blamed, the factory owners can’t shirk the responsibility of not using the available facilities, they said.

According to BUET, the consultants of the tannery park, roughly 15,000 cubic metre of untreated wastes is released into the Dhaleswari River by 100 tannery factories every day.

The team leader of the group of consultants, BUET’s professor Delwar Hossain told New Age that the problem arose as the CETP is used for treating the wastes for only four hours every day and not round the clock as it should be.

He said that the factory owners were creating problems by throwing solid waste into the pipes for draining liquid wastes without fixing strainers on these outlets.

As a result, he said, the tannery park gets submerged by liquid wastes spilling from the drainage pipes.
Delwar said that the factory owners were creating yet another problem by dumping solid wastes here and there instead of at the corners earmarked by the authorities until a permanent dumping yard was built.

Local people complained that untreated liquid wastes is released into the Dhaleswari River round the clock using three drains built for draining out rain waters.

During visits, New Age found that the drains built for rainwater removal had been filled with stinking liquid tannery waste.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan general secretary Abdul Matin said that in the name of relocating tannery factories the government relocated pollution from Hazaribagh to Savar.

He said that earlier the Buriganga alone was getting polluted by tannery wastes and not now by polluting the Dhaleswari in the upstream the Buriganga is also being polluted.

Project director Ziaul Haque blamed the Chinese contractors for not operating the CETP round the clock.

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that tannery relocation would be meaningless if the government failed to stop pollution.

Bangladesh Tanners Association chairman Shaheen Ahamed said that factory owners never channeled solid wastes through the pipelines meant for draining out liquid wastes.

He said that the wastes spill out as the authorities installed narrow pipes.

He said that the government should take the responsibility for forcing factory shifting before putting the facilities in place.

Who would take the responsibility for the government missing two deadlines for completing the project and extending the deadline for the 3rd time until 2019.

 

[bluesky]

Bangladesh city dwellers are in dire need of such a person, of your wisdom and your detailed writeups needs to be published in our local Daily media,for unmasking the evil & heinous money mongers Developers.

As till date our Developer is reluctant to provide us with the structural designs and layouts,even after the recent earthquake,that resulted in several large cracks in the building,we are left at the mercy of these greedy Developers. Instead they immediately plastered the cracks and stated that everything is fine.

Thanks for the praise although I am unworthy of such things, I am a half-educated man. Not the developers, but it is the callous top politicians and bureaucrats who are responsible for the mishaps. But, they also cannot do anything to help people out, because they themselves do not know what should they formulate for the building laws or Codes and Standards.

Your developer did not show you any structural analysis sheets only because he did not perform any such thing. He just copied the drawings of other buildings and made some changes without going through the process of structural framing analysis by Moment Distribution Method. His engineers, being construction engineers, are not supposed to know about the design itself.

I believe that if the cracks are in the plastering/brickwork of the walls, you do not have to worry. You have to be watchful about cracks in columns, beams and floors. You should also know if the building has tilted. Place a few round marbles at one corner of a floor, and see if they roll down to the other side. Tilting is caused by an unequal settlement of the pile groups in, say, east and west groups.

It is the responsibility of the central govt to formulate laws and design/construction requirements, and pass these things to the local authorities like municipalities who will supervise the design and construction according to these laws.

 

[Banglar Bir]

The dream of a smart city
Ekram Kabir
Published at 05:13 PM December 01, 2017

Can Dhaka be a smart city?Photo: DHAKA TRIBUNE
Our cities are rushing into the digital world, but are we prepared?
The latest “smart city” buzzword has created some chaos in my mind. I’m struggling due to the lack of right definitions of smartness that are going around.

To me, being able to live intelligently and sustainably, keeping both present and future resources is the sign of smartness. And when we think of building a city smartly, a host of aspects pops up in our minds.

Human movement, utility, health, hygiene, sanitation, and businesses are a few pivotal aspects that we may think of while building a smart city.

Then comes the thought of digitally connected, internet-based, and sensor-swarmed smart cities which are likely to turn our lives upside-down in a short while.

For us in Bangladesh, the journey from analogue to digital as a way of life, I believe, is likely to be more complicated, as it’s evident that we haven’t been, unlike thousands across the world, analogue-smart since the beginning of our cities.

I asked a few colleagues of mine as to what pops up in their minds when they think of a smart city.

In two seconds, they came up with the concepts of traffic-free, clean, and digitally accessible cities. They also cited examples of Singaporean and Malaysian cities.

So, it’s quite evident that our requirement is still pretty basic and analogue.

It may have been way easier for those who had already shown an amazing form of smartness prior to building their cities, to transform their cities from analogue to tech-driven cities.
Wishful thinking?
I would humbly like to thank the organisers of the Smart City week for initiating the campaign. The first of its kind in the country, this was meant for raising awareness among regular people as well as policy-makers regarding developing cities smartly and living smartly.

During the launching ceremony, noted engineer Prof Jamilur Reza Choudhury said that Dhaka remained an unplanned city despite having some notable urbanisation and transportation plans, thanks to poor implementation of the plans.

This is when we can’t help but feel sad about ourselves. Government and private organisations, including the municipalities, have showcased their ideas on city planning, transport, low-cost housing, green building, waste management, urban poverty reduction, water for all, public toilets, pollution control, disaster management, ICT, and public space.

Dhaka remained an unplanned city despite having some notable urbanisation and transportation plans, thanks to poor implementation

Among these, ICT is a comparatively newer aspect, but we have been trying to improve all the rest for the last 46 years.

After successfully proving ourselves unsuccessful in traditional ways of running our affairs in cities, we’re now hopping on the digital bandwagon. Infrastructure, as well as the city-dwellers’ mindsets, could be the biggest challenges while we try to transform our cities.

Take Dhaka, for example. How do you digitalise its chaotic mechanism into a tech-driven serenity? Yes, some aspects are possible to implement right now; transport and online services can also be implemented in this chaos.

However, would it be possible to deploy billions of sensors across Dhaka and control and monitor all accumulated data from a single grid? Let’s say we can, but who would stop the roadside dumping of waste? Who would stop grabbing the rivers, canals, and many such things? Imagine a chauffeur-less car in Dhaka, where no one bothers to abide by traffic rules.
Learning from others
Let’s go to Singapore, Barcelona, and Milton Keynes for example. They have been revolutionising the aspects of smart living. They have brought together data from a sensor network that stretches across the city and feeds the collected data into an open data pool, as well as into dynamic digital models of the cities.

Some 98% of Singapore’s government services are accessible online, and citizen-centric mobile health, municipal, and transport apps have also rolled out. Sensors and smart applications in public housing provide residents with feedback that help them reduce their energy and water consumption and drive down costs.

One of their key projects is the introduction of wireless sensors at parking places — to ease city traffic by showing car drivers available parking spaces.

They have also introduced many e-government services which improve access to public services. At numerous locations (shopping centres, libraries, etc), the city maintains digital kiosks which ensure a city-wide presence of municipal authorities. Citizens can undertake most administrative procedures at these kiosks as well as online.

The South Korean district of Songdo in Seoul, on 1,500 acres of land and equipped with wi-fi and sensor networks, has become home to international business and a futuristic city experiment at the same time.

Smart work centres with teleconferencing systems enable a third of government employees to work closer to their homes.

Now, like Songdo, we also had an opportunity when we planned to develop Purbachal and other districts outside the capital city. What extent of smartness have we shown while acquiring the land to build various infrastructure? Had we not employed the same system of thought when we built our major, older cities?
Analogue mistakes
Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, South Korea, the US, India, UAE, UK, China, and Azerbaijan have started building their cities for the future in new spaces. As they do so, they are seen to keep all kinds of digitally driven provisions in mind, so that the people who’d be living in those cities would live a complete digital-smart life.

On the other hand, since they have shown a nice form of analogue-smartness in their old cities and towns, their attempts to transform them into sensor-swarmed ones are much easier.

We, the builders of traditionally unsmart cities, seem to be rushing into a digital-smartness. This journey of ours may backfire; we may find ourselves in a much more chaotic entanglement while we try to inject digital aspects into an analogue anarchy.

We have to find a way to rise from our analogue slumber in order to pave the way for a digital future. And I, again, thank the organisers of Smart City week who have clearly showcased some ways to weed out the analogue mistakes.
Ekram Kabir is a story-teller and a columnist.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/2017/12/01/dream-smart-city/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Dhaka city traffic keeps going awry
Shahin Akhter | Published: 00:05, Dec 04,2017 | Updated: 00:04, Dec 04,2017

Vehicles are stuck on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue at Bangla Motors area in Dhaka on Sunday. — New Age photo

Traffic rule violation in the capital is going on unchecked due mainly to traffic mismanagement and lack of proper planning and facilities, urban and transport experts find.

Reckless and wrong lane driving, use of illegal hooter, beacon lights, tainted glasses, driving on footpaths and without legal documents, wearing seatbelts and helmets and illegal parking have now become rampant.

All these lead to chaotic traffic situation, with repeated High Court, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and Dhaka Metropolitan Police orders in this regard having no effect.

DMP and BRTA officials are also conducting daily drive and filing thousands of cases against violation of traffic rules but the situation does not seem to improve.

According to DMP traffic department they filed about 8.75 lakh cases and realised Tk 41.18 crore as fines for violating traffic rules till November 17 this year.

During the period, they filed 2.21 lakh cases against motorcycles, 75,616 for wrong lane driving, 27,393 for using hydraulic horns, 2,410 for using hooter and beacon lights, 2,004 for using tainted glasses and seized 3,646 motorcycles.

Till October this year BRTA executive magistrates filed 15,036 cases, realised about Tk 3.30 crore as fines, sent 399 vehicles to dump stations and imprisoned 461 people for violating traffic rules.
Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan joint secretary and urban planner Iqbal Habib told New Age on Thursday that there were no plans, vision or target for the overall development of the traffic management.

‘We don’t need full time traffic and area- and voluntary-based traffic warden system is necessary for Dhaka city in current situation,’ he suggested.

In this process, he thinks, mobile app and common people could be engaged for easy, instant and authentic results which could bring huge progress in traffic management system.
Traffic management would start improving from the moment the authorities implemented digitised enforcement system and established the notion that law was meant for all equally, he said.
Sudden initiatives like making Manik Mia Avenue off-limits to cars for a certain period would not be successful if road users were not conscious, he added.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s Accident Research Institute director professor Moazzem Hossain finds motorcyclists the most unruly as they violate traffic rules on a regular basis.
For lack of planned system, parking facility and low vehicle speed, people are encouraged and compelled to violate traffic laws, he says.

Traffic police’s regular drives bring almost no positive results because of huge gap between what needs to be done and what is done, he adds.

DMP additional commissioner (traffic) Mosleh Uddin Ahmed claims that they are getting positive reaction from people that Dhaka’s traffic management and congestion are improving.
He says his officials were filing 2,500 to 3,000 cases daily in recent months while the number was between 3,500 and 4,000 previously.

Mosleh said currently most of the cases were filed against motorcyclists while cases against VIPs, police, journalists and government officials decreased.

Most traffic rules violation occurred in the periphery areas, he claims.

BRTA director (enforcement) Nur Mohammad Mazumder said it would take time to bring complete order to roads.

However, more people were going by law currently, he claimed.

On May 5, 2016, DMP banned occupational stickers including that of press, police and lawyer and the use of hooters, hydraulic horns and beacon lights in private vehicles.

The High Court on October 23, 2014 served show cause notices on the government and the police to explain why they should not be asked to enforce traffic rules strictly to prevent some VIPs and VVIPs from using the wrong side of Dhaka’s streets to avoid traffic congestion.

On March 5, 2012, the High Court asked the authorities not to allow motorcycles or cars on footpaths.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/29684/dhaka-city-traffic-keeps-going-awry

 

[Banglar Bir]

03:29 PM, December 04, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:30 PM, December 04, 2017
Prepare action plan to save Dhaka’s 50 canals, HC to govt

Star file photo
Star Online Report
The High Court today directed the government to prepare an action plan for recovering 50 canals under the two city corporations of Dhaka by demarcating areas as per their original flow from encroachment.
The court ordered the authorities to submit the action plan and report before the HC in next six months.

The authorities were ordered to regulate pollutants of the canals and ensure proper maintenance.

The court also ordered to prepare a report on the status and position of the canals including Shegunbagicha canal, Katasur canal, Kallyanpur canal and Khilgaon canal.

The High Court bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan came up with the order following a writ petition filed by Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela) seeking necessary directives to protect the canals which are reportedly encroached by land grabbers and polluted.

The court also issued a rule asking the authorities to explain why their failure to protect the canal from encroachment, obstruction and pollution should not be declared illegal.
http://www.thedailystar.net/city/pr...dhaka-recovering-50-canals-high-court-1499998

 

[bluesky]

Prepare action plan to save Dhaka’s 50 canals, HC to govt

I have prepared a simple action plan on behalf of the Court. Will our authorities come up with a solution to the problem? Oh!! the politicians cannot make their voters angry by doing national salvation works like restoring the canals. My simle propositions are as follows:

- Make theodolite survey of the canals to demarcate the govt. Khash land in the canal area.
- While doing survey, hammer down the steel, wooden or R.C pegs (about 80 cm long) to the ground at all points where the direction of the demarcation line changes.
- Clean the canals of all debris.
- Ask the steel makers to produce sheet piles of a specialized size.
- Hammer the piles to a pre-determined depth at the two edges of the canals. Here, a stress analysis calculation is needed to check if the embedded pile length and its bending strength have the capacity to withstand the permanent earth pressure from the sides.
- Cast a longitudinal R.C concrete pile cap of, say, (50cm x 50cm) size on top of the entire length of pile group. This longitudinal pile cap will resist any individual pile from tilting alone towards the water side due to earth pressure from the land side.
- Build 1.5m high embankment on the land up to the line where the khash land ends. Make a road on it for human traffic, if not motorway.
-Build culverts over the canals to allow people to cross over to the other side. How about culverts @700m pitches?