Youth March for Walkable and Cycle-Friendly Roads

Staff Reporter:

A youth march demanding walkable and cycle-friendly roads was held in the capital city on Friday. The event was organized to celebrate UN Global Road Safety Week 2025 by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Dhaka Ahsania Mission, and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.

The march began at 8:30 AM on the main road of Manik Mia Avenue and continued south of the National Parliament House, extending to Asad Gate-Khamar Bari intersection.

Key participants in the event included Shitanshu Shekhar Biswas, Director of Road Safety at BRTA; Md. Nazmul Haque, Deputy Director at BRTA; Md. Mukhlesur Rahman, Deputy Director of the Health Sector at Dhaka Ahsania Mission; Muntasir Mahmud, Deputy Director of the Youth and Volunteers Department at the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society; Sharmeen Rahman, Road Safety Project Coordinator at Dhaka Ahsania Mission; and Shariful Islam, Tobacco Control Project Coordinator. Officials from BRTA, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society also attended the event.

In addition, around 200 young people including students from various youth groups and educational institutions participated in the march.

During the program, speakers highlighted how traffic congestion leads to a loss of productive hours each day and pointed out that walking and cycling can be effective solutions. They stressed the need for safe infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, along with the formulation and implementation of a Road Safety Law. They also emphasized the importance of walking and cycling habits for better health, a cleaner environment, and reducing road crashes.

At the event, members of Ahsania Mission’s Youth Forum for Health and Wellbeing S. Z. Apu, and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society’s National Youth Committee, convenor Md. Rayhan Rahman, handed over a memorandum to BRTA Director Shitanshu Shekhar Biswas, demanding the formulation of a Road Safety Law.