Staff Reporter:
The government is going to introduce community policing involving retired members of the police, ar-my, air force, navy, BGB and Ansar to tackle the growing traffic congestion across the capital, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said yesterday.
“We have already engaged students to help improve traffic management. Similarly, we are planning to establish a community policing group consisting of retired personnel from the police, army, air force, navy, BGB, and Ansar, all of whom have experience in traffic management, which will be implemented soon,” he said while speaking to reporters after a meeting on law and order at the Secretariat.
The meeting held an elaborate discussions on the eight-point demand of the Sanatan Jagoroni Jote, Biswa Ijtema, High Court’s order to ban battery-powered auto-rickshaws, Victory Day celebration, arrest of miscreants, fake cases, harassment, drug issues and traffic management.
Responding to a question, the Home Adviser said a city should ideally have 25% of its area as roads, but we have only 7.5%. However, the number of vehicles is increasing daily and the existing roads cannot accommodate this growth.
Besides, protesters have been blocking roads demanding to press home their several point demands daily, worsening traffic situation, he said adding, “Community policing has worked before and we are trying to revive it in a new format.”
When asked about the timeline for implementing community policing for traffic management, he said, “While this cannot start immediately due to the recruitment process, it will begin soon.”
Responding to another question about the potential ban on battery-powered auto-rickshaws, the adviser said, “The High Court has issued an order to ban battery-powered auto-rickshaws and we are moving forward with implementing this order. Once official instructions are received, necessary steps will be taken to address the ongoing issues related to auto-rickshaws.”
He also urged battery-run autorickshaw drivers to hold their protests at Suhrawardy Uddyan.
Regarding footpath shops, the Home Adviser said that no such business will be allowed on roads.
Talking about fake cases, Jahangir Alam said, “Measures are being taken to address harassment as a committee is being formed to tackle these issues, although it is not finalised yet.”
Claiming that the overall law-and-order situation is improving, the Home Adviser said, “Legal action will be taken against those involved in creating chaos, no matter whether they are from the Awami League or any other group.”
