Traffic jams turn Dhaka into a \\\'living hell\\\'

Nowadays, illegal parking has swept the entire city of Dhaka as cars, trucks and other vehicles are parked almost everywhere with no respect for civic responsibility. In addition to illegal parking, faulty traffic signalling, narrow road-spaces and the incorrigible tendency of the drivers to overtake create prolonged traffic congestions in the capital which is also the most densely populated city in the world. That the city is unliveable is strongly demonstrated by its vehicle-choked roads and the glum faces of countless commuters.   
Most of the bus terminals in the capital are not regulated or supervised by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Dhaka's two city corporations, nor the traffic department of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). Drivers regularly violate traffic rules while maintaining VIP protocols also leads to frequent traffic jams on spacious roads. The road-dividers create more problems than solutions, causing congestion on the important roads of the city.
Unplanned road excavations in overpopulated areas of the capital are conducted by the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), the Dhaka Electric Supply Corporation (DESCO), the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) and the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL). But there is apparently a serious lack of coordination among these agencies and most of them do not notify the public before starting their works.
Besides, the plying of CNG auto-rickshaws, rickshaws and buses form multiple lines along the turnabouts and intersections.  They do this to seize a little room in sheer desperation. The pushcart and rickshaw-pullers, drivers of CNG auto-rickshaws, van-pullers and the unruly drivers of buses or trucks - all vie for tiny spaces with noticeable aggression and utter disregard for other citizens' right of passage. Obviously, all these create unnecessary traffic hold-up and trivial 'fender-bender' occurrences.  
Surprisingly, traffic personnel in some critically important road junctions often allow movement of traffic on one side of the intersections for as long as 10 minutes and thus intensify the gridlock on all connecting roads. Instead of providing a professional solution, they contribute to the killing of commuters' valuable time!
Vigilance on the part of the law enforcement agencies can ease the crisis to some extent. Dhaka has a limited network of either small or congested roads. Until sufficient road-spaces are available, such limited space should be appropriately utilised through stringent enforcement of traffic rules and severe punishment of the violators.
The authorities should make united efforts to ease the situation. There are a whole lot of things to be addressed -- widening the roads and building connecting roads as needed, providing proper footpaths, arranging integrated traffic-signals, obliging the commuters and pedestrians to abide by traffic and transport regulations, purging the practice of illegal parking, taking stringent measures against unauthorised shops, kiosks and hawkers occupying Dhaka's countless footpaths, roads and inner lanes.
Apart from the construction of new roads and renovating the existing ones, the government should expand the road network of Dhaka, make a strategic partnership with the residents and create incentives for all commuters to reduce traffic jams and save their working time. Citizens cannot allow the problems on the roads to kill their valuable time and force them to change or cancel their daily schedules - thus making them utterly helpless in leading daily lives.
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