Dhaka city residents stayed indoors, unless they had pressing jobs to
attend, on Tuesday, the first day of the 48-hour blockade called by the
opposition demanding inclusive election under a neutral non-partisan
administration.
Most of the city shopping centres were closed and schools had no students, though there were no restrictions on them.
Many people, who ventured out, told New Age that they felt panicky over the looming uncertainties and chaos.
But for the pressing jobs at hand they would not leave their homes, they said.
Rickshaws took over the VIP roads undisturbed.
The roads remained virtually free from the honking cars and buses and the pollution they cause.
Long distance travelers waited in vain for buses that went off the roads.
Many people who arrived in the capital in the early hours of Tuesday by
bus or train found no transports to reach home from the bus terminals at
Mahakhali and Gabtali empty and the Kamalapur Railway Station.
‘I spent Monday night in panic on my way back to Dhaka from Khulna by a bus,’ said Mujtaba Ahmed, who works in a private firm.
‘But I found no transport to go home,’ he said.
On Tuesday morning many men, women and children remained stranded at the
Sadarghat Launch Terminal, on return from outlying districts, getting
no transport to go to their destinations in the city.
Office goers struggled to reach their places of work in the morning and
home coming proved equally difficult in the evening due to lack of
transports.
Bank executive Zakir Hossain told New Age that from Mirpur he had to go
to his office at Dhanmondi in rickshaws and covered some distance on
foot in the morning.
He said that he did not know how he would return home.
Viqarunnisa Noon School, Ideal School, Motijheel Boys’ High School,
Dhanmondi Boys’ School remained open with no student attendance. The
picture was the same in other city schools.
Earlier, the authorities suspended the Primary School Certificate Examinations scheduled for the day.
Housewife Tahmina Islam told New Age that she took her child to school
at Mirpur, which was open but found no other student there.
But for the makeshift shops, the shopping centres at the New Market area, Gulistan, Elephant Road and Mirpur were closed.
However, the groceries in lanes and by-lanes remained open.
At Karwan Bazaar floating tea stall owner Abdul Malek told New Age that he was worried over the looming uncertainties.
He said that personal safety was also a matter of concern.
‘How common people can go out?’ he asked afraid of cracker explosions.
BNP and its allies called the blockade rejecting what they described the
Election Commission’s move to hold the elections keeping the opposition
out. (source)