Our Correspondent
Chattogram, Apr 7: The people of Sitakunda upazila of the district on Saturday formed a human chain on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in protest against road accidents.
They also demanded that the government take steps to form a public-private coordination team to monitor reckless driving, pull down illegal shops from both sides of the highway, stop careless driving and overtaking by unskilled drivers and their helpers and set up check-posts at different points.
They made the demands at an hour-long human chain stretching over 40 kilometres in Sitakunda area from Chittagong City Gate to Baro Darogahat from 10:00 am.
Thousands of people from all walks of life including students of different schools and colleges, shop owners, industry workers, employees and owners of small businesses took part in the programme. Members of over 200 socio-cultural and sports organizations of the area also joined the human chain.
They facilitated movement of vehicles to and from Dhaka and Chittagong during the protest programme and made no obstruction to any vehicle.
The organizers said 142 people died alone in Sitakunda area on the highway, the lifeline of the country's road communication, in a year till March 2018. It has been observed that many schoolchildren were killed under the wheels of buses of transport company- Safe Line Paribahan- in the area.
They alleged that there is no traffic and road management system on the four-lane highway. Trucks and covered vans carrying cargo enter the private container terminals adjacent to the highway from wrong side and drivers park their vehicles haphazardly on the highway, causing traffic congestion for hours.
The five-hour trip of passenger buses to reach Dhaka from Chittagong takes more than 12 hours, although the highway has been made four-lane to facilitate smooth travel. Traffic congestion has rather turned acute after expansion of the highway, they said.
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