Dhaka wears deserted look

Staff Reporter :
Dhaka city wore a deserted look on the voting day on Sunday as most of the public transports and private vehicles were off the streets due to a panic stricken situation created allegedly by the opposition called two-day long strike.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its like-minded political parties called the strike demanding cancelation of the 12th national elections.

Government, private institutions, shopping malls and shops in the city area were closed. The people, who came out in the streets, faced difficulties severely due to the transport crisis.

Rickshaw pullers passed the day idle due to the passenger crisis as the city dwellers did not come out of their residences unless for urgent need as panic swallowed their minds.

Ashikur Rahman, a rickshaw puller of the Mohammadpur area, told The New Nation, “I came out from my house at around 12.00 Noon. But, still I could not manage the deposit money due to severe passenger crisis. I am having a very hard day today.”

Presence of voters was also very low in the city’s polling centres as the city dwellers showed disinterest in the national elections.

Visiting different parts of the city, this correspondent found that almost all the city streets were empty and there was no usual traffic jam on the road.

There was not any traffic jam and commuters’ crowd at Gulistan which is one of the busy areas of Dhaka. Besides, there is no traffic red signal at Gulshan-1 Chattar and Vijay Sarani which is another congested area for vehicles in the city.

Rampura, Malibagh, Shantinagar, Vijayanagar and Paltan areas have a smaller number of vehicles and there is no such thing as a traffic jam. The number of commuters is also very small. Besides, on some roads, the silence has fallen during the day.

Earlier, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) banned movement of some vehicles on the polling day, starting with the restriction of motorcycles plying in the capital from Friday.

The restrictions, however, eased in specific cases, while journalists, poll observers, and other emergency service staff used motorcycles upon receiving due permission from returning officers.

Following the restriction, movement of taxi cabs, pickups, microbuses and trucks were not seen in the DMP area.

All types of vehicles carrying medicines, health and medical products and newspapers used for such purposes were seen on the day.

Journalists and election observers used motorcycles for emergency work upon the approval of the returning officer.