SCC drains out Tk 10m for rickshaw lane

Our Correspondent | Published: August 24, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

SYLHET, Aug 23: The Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) has to drain out about Tk 10 million due to decision of the local administration for removing the much-talked 'rickshaw lane', set at a cost of Tk 1.6 million (Tk 16 lakh) on a most important and busy road, just 17 months ago.
Months after the mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury took over, the SCC decided setting separate lane for rickshaws on the main road from Surma market point to the hawker point area from March 3 last year.
Dedicated for rickshaws only, the lane set with iron pillars and chain on both sides of the busy road started giving benefits for pedestrians as the traffic congestion was resolved. Private security men were also deployed for maintaining discipline while the city dwellers appreciated the move mainly taken by the mayor.
But, after the mayor was arrested in the Kibria killing case and was put under suspension, the scene started getting changed in weeks.
The vendors occupied the lane and adjacent roadside places triggering acute traffic congestion while neither the police nor the SCC administration took any step.
With this, the district administration, police and SCC officials held meetings and recently decided for removing the 'rickshaw lane' on the plea of easing the traffic jam. Meanwhile, a contracting farm named 'Protisruti Enterprise' has been deployed for the job, SCC officials informed.
Accordingly, it began on 15 August last. The cost for setting the lane stood at Tk 1.6 million while the monthly expenditure at Tk 4,80000 per month for allowance of private security men.
SCC Chief Engineer Nur Azizur Rahman said Tk 1.6 million was spent for setting the rickshaw lane about one and half years ago. Now the contracting farm has started removing the lane, set with iron pillars and chain and they will pay Tk 1,40000 to the corporation, he added.
SCC Chief executive Officer Enamul Habib said the matter was decided at meetings of the district law and order committee recently.
They had repeatedly asked for removing the lane since it had narrowed the main road and caused traffic congestion, he said. However the rickshaw pullers were not also using that.
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