Keeping in mind environmental and health aspects, the idea of ’Car Free Day’ or a private car-free day began, whose main purpose was to get people interested in eco-friendly transportation.
But how possible is it to implement such an idea in a city like Dhaka?
Various arrangements were made on Saturday to close a section of Manik Mia Avenue in front of the Parliament House in Dhaka to celebrate World Car Free Day. Balloons, posters, banners of various shapes and colors were arranged in front of the Parliament building. Members of various children’s organizations also participate in many activities, such as dancing, singing, painting.
But it would not be a mistake to say the formality of showing the whole event to the people, as compared to other days, the number of cars on the streets of Dhaka was not less in any part.
Carriage-free Day is celebrated in different countries of the world since the seventies for the purpose of encouraging people to use public transport, to increase the popularity of cycling or walking in order to create environment and health awareness.
Why people do not want to use public transport in Dhaka?
How realistic is it to motivate people to use public transportation or walk on foot in cities like Dhaka?
Nusrat Amin, a non-governmental organization working in Dhaka, said, “The state of mass transit in Dhaka is such that people do not use public transport unless forced.”
As a woman, using public transport in Dhaka or walking on the streets is embarrassing. Amin.
“It takes 20 minutes to walk from my home to the office on a walk. But in that short walk you have to listen to the nasty comments from people on the sidewalk and walk carefully to protect yourself, and no longer have the desire to walk the next day,” said Mis. Amin.
She also said that she suffered from insecurity in the streets after evening as a woman. Nusrat Amin.
