‘School students should get good footpaths, quality public transportation’

Staff Reporter :
Speakers at a discussion meeting said considering the health and livable environment of our students, we must provide good footpaths and quality public transportation.

They also feel that it is important to implement all the action plans that have been adopted at different times in this regard.

The speakers expressed this opinion at the discussion meeting held under the banner of “Transport mode choice behavior of school-going students in Dhaka City” on Tuesday in the conference room of Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) building in the city.

Center for Law and Policy Affair (CLPA) and DTCA jointly organized the program.

Later a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the two organizations for research work in this regard.

Sabiha Parveen, Executive Director of the DTCA, presided over the meeting. Mohammad Rabiul Alam, Additional Executive Director of the DTCA, Prof Dr Md Akter Mahmud of Urban and Regional Planning department at Jahangirnagar University, Abu Naser Khan, Chairman of Poribesh Bachao Andolon, among others, gave speeches at the meeting.

Syed Mahbubul Alam, Secretary of the CLPA, delivered the opening speech at the meeting. The meeting was moderated by Mohammad Haider Kamruzzaman, Transport Engineer of the DTCA and the keynote paper was presented by Asrar Habib Nipu, Policy Analyst of the CLPA. Representatives from different government and private organizations were also present in the meeting.

Prof Akter Mahmud said, “Considering the health and livable environment of our students, we must provide good footpaths and quality public transportation. It is also urgent to implement the initiatives taken by the city corporations in Dhaka regarding launching school bus for the students.”

Mohammad Rabiul Alam, Additional Executive Director of the DTCA, said, “A total of 65 percent of Dhaka city dwellers commute on foot. Through this research, we want to highlight what can be done to create a safer environment for people who are pedestrians and to get people who use cars into an active mode.”

Sabiha Parveen, Executive Director of the DTCA, said, “This research will play an important role in building a safer and environment friendly transportation system.

This service should be made known under the voluntary service of the different communities with the combination of people from all classes and professions of the society and all should work together for it.”