Pedestrians' woes

THESE days we see people avoiding sidewalks due to a lack of walking facility. Whereas we can easily cover short distances like one kilometre or so on foot, we cannot do so due to the poor state of our footpaths. Most of the footpaths of our city are invaded by the street hawkers and the unfortunate pedestrians are compelled to walk along the road and cause hindrance to smooth traffic movement. It has become a perennial problem and if the authorities concerned do not take immediate measures to evict the hawkers from the footpaths, situation will aggravate further and make things more complicated. Moreover, most of the footpaths are in a broken state and there is none there to see it. Due to traffic congestion, much of our working hours are wasted and our economy is deprived of its desired progress. A 10-kilometre journey takes one and a half to two hours or even more in peak hours in the capital especially during Ramadan. We see additional traffic pressure in this month as many people come from outside Dhaka for business or shopping. Severe traffic jams are seen outside the leading shopping malls. I hope the government will take immediate steps to clear the footpaths so that the pedestrians can walk conveniently. We frequently see the cars being parked or construction materials piled up on the footpaths. I hope the authority will look into this matter and free the footpaths from illegal occupation.

Nadim Javed

Tejgoan, Dhaka