Ruling party lawmaker Shahadat Hossain Salim has called for exemplary punishment of officials responsible for what he described as “gross negligence” that led to a 32-hour traffic gridlock on the Dhaka–Chattogram highway, saying the administration’s lack of coordination caused severe public suffering.

In a Facebook post, Salim said the highway between Chandina in Cumilla and Ashariarchar in Narayanganj remained virtually paralysed for 32 consecutive hours from Friday night.

Salim, the Member of Parliament from Lakshmipur-1, said the highway between Chandina in Cumilla and Ashariarchar in Narayanganj remained virtually paralysed for 32 consecutive hours from Friday night.

He alleged that “an influential section of the administration” had become determined to make the government look unsuccessful.

“Unless this irresponsible group is identified and strict action is taken against them immediately, a dark future awaits us”, Salim wrote.

According to Salim, National Parliament Whip A B M Ashraf Uddin Nizan, who was recently assigned responsibility for coordinating development activities in Cumilla, Chandpur and Brahmanbaria, convened an emergency Zoom meeting to investigate the causes of the gridlock and the resulting suffering.

The meeting was attended by the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of Cumilla and Narayanganj, the superintendent of highway police and executive engineers of the Roads and Highways Department, Salim said.

Claiming that he observed the meeting from beside the whip, Salim said he was “extremely surprised and deeply disappointed” by what he described as a lack of remorse and accountability among the officials concerned.

He alleged that even the relevant officials had no prior information about the bridge repair work that contributed to the traffic disruption.

“The extreme lack of coordination and accountability at the level of the officials is truly alarming,” Salim wrote.

The MP said the whip expressed strong anger and frustration during the meeting and stressed the need for advance public notices before carrying out major road or bridge repair work.

According to Salim, the whip said announcements through newspapers, television tickers and social media could have alerted travellers in advance and allowed them to use alternative routes, potentially preventing the severe congestion.

Salim also said the whip later spoke with the chief engineer of the Roads and Highways Department, but he claimed that he again saw no positive attitude towards accepting responsibility.