Roping in jaywalkers

Perhaps, there is no comparative assessment of freedom the jaywalkers enjoy in major cities of the world. If there was one, Dhaka city would have been at the top of the list.
The relevant agency, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), does deserve appreciation for granting the maximum possible freedom to the jaywalkers! Not many government agencies are found to be that much tolerant to the people willing to exercise their rights (?) freely.
However, following the publication of pictures in the newspapers showing jaywalkers crossing busy roads risking their lives, the DMP on occasions engages a number of traffic policemen at least at a couple of important road crossings to stop them from performing such daring acts.
Even the on-duty police were seen trying in vain to dissuade the pedestrians from crossing the roads without using the nearby foot over-bridges or underpasses. The on-duty police also used ropes to stop pedestrians from illegal crossing of the roads.  
The DMP traffic authorities have abandoned the idea of changing the habit of jaywalking by pedestrians. Thus, the latter have been crossing busy roads the way they like. At some points of Dhaka city, namely, Farm Gate, Sonargoan Hotel Crossing, Bangla Motor, Shahbagh, Science Laboratory, Press Club, Purana Paltan, Dainik Bangla crossing, pedestrians hardly take notice of the fast moving motor vehicles and cross roads raising their hands to signal the drivers to go slow or stop.
In fact, the errant pedestrians do contribute to further deterioration of traffic situation of Dhaka city that is globally infamous for its chaotic traffic system. However, it is not proper to expect one active segment of the traffic system to behave in accordance with rules while some others would continue to defy the same with total impunity.
People are regular witness to how the traffic rules are being broken by buses, trucks, private cars, rickshaws. Policemen and vehicles carrying very important persons (VIPs), including ministers, very often take to wrong routes to avoid long tailbacks.  Without bringing about any change in the state of affairs with the overall traffic situation, it is hard to expect the pedestrians to be law-abiding despite the fact that they should avoid jaywalking for the sake of their own safety.
Against this backdrop, the Commissioner of the DMP Saturday last announced the use of mobile courts for a week, starting from tomorrow (Tuesday), to punish the jaywalkers in between the Shahbagh and the Farmgate crossings. The relevant provision relating to public nuisance offences under the penal code 1860 will come into play to punish the jaywalkers. A pedestrian may be sent to prison for a maximum period of six months or fined Tk.200 for jaywalking.  The DMP top boss while announcing the drive at a press conference said the drive is aimed at creating awareness among the pedestrians to use the foot over-bridges and underpasses.
There is no scope to question the merit of the latest DMP action. But one has valid reasons to raise questions about the effectiveness of the same under the given circumstances.
The DMP commissioner has said the drive against jaywalking is a pilot one and its sole objective is to create awareness among the users of roads of Dhaka city. But what do we expect after the drive is over? Will the pedestrians give up the habit of jaywalking and use the over-bridges and underpasses for the sake of crossing roads safely?  Very unlikely.
The recent drive against unfit buses in Dhaka is a glaring example. Things have happened the way everyone had predicted. As soon as the drive was discontinued, the dilapidated and unfit vehicles have returned to the streets. The results, in probability, would be the same in the case of jaywalking.
It is not that the authorities concerned are unaware of the likely outcome of these steps that are very much cosmetic in nature. Yet they tend to come out occasionally with something to demonstrate their authority.
But what has been revealed in a report published in a leading Bengali daily Sunday last does indicate to near breakdown of chain of command in the police. There are, reportedly, a good number of instances where low ranking police officials ignored orders coming from the police high-ups, allegedly, because of the former's political links. This is a bizarre development, in fact.
When departmental orders coming from the high-ups of the main law enforcing agencies are defied by subordinates, it is difficult to expect that others would show respect to actions taken by such agencies.
There are allegations galore that most institutions, constitutional or otherwise, are on the verge of ruination for a variety of reasons, politicization figuring at the top of the list. However, the allegation is not any regime-specific. The process has been on for nearly two and a half decades. Of late it has gathered pace only.
The quality of governance remains a very important factor in the life of a nation. Violation of law, major or minor and irregularities, financial or otherwise, are directly linked to the rule of law which, however, cannot be ensured without having 'good governance' in place.  The current state of traffic system in Dhaka or other places does indicate to a deep-rooted rot that the nation can hardly afford.

[email protected]