Shameem Reza Dafrul, Gobindaganj (Gaibandha)

Gabibandha's Gobindaganj Upazila is known as the gateway to 8 districts in the northern region. Numerous vehicles ply through this upazila on various routes including Hili Land Port and Burimari Land Port every day. But currently, CNG-powered autorickshaws have taken over the Dhaka-Rangpur highway. Due to these autorickshaws, the smooth and safe movement of vehicles and the movement of the local people has become difficult.

Drivers stop autorickshaws here and there on the road to pick and drop passengers. They have set up unannounced stands on the road. Due to this, traffic jams persist throughout the day on this busiest road. As a result, the working hours of the people, including the passengers, are constantly being wasted.

It has been seen on the ground that auto-rickshaws rule the busiest road in Gobindaganj on the Dhaka-Rangpur highway. The entire road is in their hands.

They are ruling by setting up stands at important places in the Gobindaganj municipal part of the road. Hundreds of auto-rickshaws are parked on both sides of the road for about 1 kilometer from the city's northern bus stand to the southern bus stand. The same situation is on the Gobindaganj-Dinajpur regional highway. As a result, drivers have to drive extremely fast to enter or move through the main gate of the road.

These auto-rickshaws have even claimed the lives of many people. Traffic jams are caused by auto-rickshaws at the entrance to the city throughout the day. Recently, motorcyclists and pedestrians have been killed by auto-rickshaws in several accidents. Bus driver Abdul Aziz said that these small vehicles stand all over the road. They cannot be easily removed from the road even by honking their horns. As a result, it takes at least 20 minutes to cross the road that takes 5 minutes. This is wasting many working hours. The conscious people of Gobindaganj blame the police station and upazila administration for the traffic jam, saying that the police station OC and UNO are not taking the initiative to remove the illegal stands from the busiest highway.

They said that the people of Gobindaganj upazila do not want to talk about the old things anymore, they want a quick solution to this. Victim Chhamiul Alam Rasu said that this is not a highway - it is like a bus stand. It is like a death trap has been created all over the highway. At times, ordinary people are losing their lives when they are hit by buses and trucks while crossing the road due to the parking of vehicles on the road. He demanded that the local administration take immediate necessary measures to get rid of this situation. Several people who did not want to be named said that thousands of vehicles ply on this road every day. Thousands of people are passengers on this road. Due to the illegal CNG-autorickshaw stands and their random movement and boarding and alighting of passengers, the suffering of these people has become a daily companion.

In this regard, Traffic Police Inspector (Admin) Shah Alam said that the traffic police are working regularly at the Gobindaganj Police Station intersection to resolve traffic congestion. He also said that the traffic police will work jointly with the Highway Police in a short time to resolve traffic congestion. When asked about the traffic congestion, Officer-in-Charge of Gobindaganj Highway Police Station, Mozaffar Hossain, said that necessary measures will be taken very soon to permanently resolve traffic congestion in
Gobindaganj.

In this regard, Gobindaganj UNO Syeda Yasmin Sultana said that this is actually the job of the Highway Police. Even so, if the Highway Police wants to cooperate with them, they will be stopped by parking CNG autorickshaws on the road so that there is no inconvenience to the traffic.