City planners attribute the problem to lack of east-west roads in the city. They said apart from Panthapath and New Elephant Road there is virtually no east-west thoroughfare. Moreover they said lack of planning among the policy makers to allocate public transport has aggravated the problem.

Between Mohakhali and Shahbagh, from 6am to 10pm, the VIP Road only allows rickshaw commuters to cross the road at Bangla Motor intersection. Then again, the wait for each crossing is so long that during any working day there are frequent altercations between rickshaw pullers and commuters on one side and the traffic constables and sergeants on the other. The traffic managers wait somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes before disrupting the 'VIPs' and letting the long queue of a melange of vehicles cross the road -- that just for a few minutes.

The sergeants are constantly worried about the consequence of a VIP being delayed on the road. One sergeant said that they have instructions to keep the VIP Road always moving without any traffic build-up.

People living in Rajabazar, Farmgate, Kalabagan, Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi, Lalmatia having to cross VIP Road are left with little choice. They have either to hire a taxi or take a bus and change it several times making time consuming detours. Or they are left with the option of taking a rickshaw through the pot-holed lanes and by-lanes of Rajabazar or Kalabagan.

Traffic sergeants at different intersections said that when planning, the policy makers never take the plight of the city's poor into consideration. A police sergeant near Panthapath said that to take his five-year-old son to school everyday from Rampura to Dhanmondi and back is itself a separate job.

"My wife travels halfway by rickshaw, crosses the busy Sonargaon road with the child and then starts looking for a rickshaw again, she stays in front of the school until 1.30pm and returns home in the afternoon," he said requesting not to be named.

Millions living on the eastern side at places like Malibagh, Eskaton, Khilgaon, Bashabo, Maghbazar and other places are subjected to the same plight for traveling into the western part of the city. The existing rules on the city's divider only make life difficult for the common people.

A source in the bus owners association said that the traffic police have categorically refused to allow any official bus stops on the Sonargaon road due to its VIP status. The only official bus stops on this large stretch of the VIP Road is at Farm Gate.

All others are illegal for which every bus owner has to pay the police.

"Officially they will not allow us to stop but they will charge money for the unofficial stops at Karwan Bazar, Sonargaon and Bangla Motor intersections," said the source.