The number of public transport vehicles on Dhaka streets has fallen drastically though there is no announcement of a strike from transport owners ahead of the BNP’s divisional rally in Dhaka on Dec 10. Fewer long-haul buses left Dhaka as well on Friday as the number of passengers dropped amid fears of violence centring the rally. Bus service from Dhaka’s Gabtoli terminal to northern Bangladesh was notably light until noon. The number of Dhaka-bound buses was also reduced due to the lack of passengers.
Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi, Science Lab, Shahbagh, TSC, Gulistan, Arambagh and Mirpur have been nearly deserted since Friday morning with buses parked idly along the roads. Police have set up a checkpoint at Amin Bazar in Savar. They are conducting searches for suspicious activity in the area. There were few long-haul buses on the Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways in Gazipur on Friday and few passengers travelling on them.
Transport drivers and passengers say they believe this is due to worries about unrest surrounding the BNP rally in Dhaka. Law enforcers usually struggle to cope with heavy traffic on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway even on the weekend, according to Traffic Sergeant Md Mashiur Rahman of Gazipur Metropolitan Police. But on Friday, traffic police were largely idle due to the drop in the number of long-haul buses. Local buses are still running, but they have few passengers.
Police have been deployed to various important locations, but not many searches were observed. However, police patrol vehicles and armoured vehicles could be seen on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway. Driver Noor Mohammad, who drives a bus for Dream Land Paribahan, spoke with bdnews24.com in the Chandana intersection area.“We are worried that our vehicles will be attacked,” he said. “But police have not searched our vehicles yet.”
“I am headed to Dhaka for family reasons,” said Md Akkas Ali, a passenger on a Dream Land bus. “The number of long-haul vehicles and passengers on the road is less than normal. My bus set off from Mymensingh to Dhaka with less than half the seats filled. We didn’t face too many issues on the way.”
“Police patrols have been stepped up on the highway,” said Molla Nazrul Islam, commissioner of Gazipur Metropolitan Police. “Additional armoured police vehicles are on patrol. If we believe there is a need for it, police at checkpoints will conduct searches. If we receive any information, we will conduct searches.” There wasn’t too much long-haul traffic on the road on Friday.
The registration and fitness papers of small and large vehicles on the Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway are being checked, says Sub Inspector Md Sadiq of Sreepur Police Station, who is on duty at the Maona intersection. Police have set up two checkpoints on the Dhaka-Tangail Highway in the Kaliakoir Chandra area. The three-way intersection is the main road from the north of Bangladesh to Dhaka. Police on duty at the checkpoints were searching passengers and vehicles.
They stopped, questioned and searched any motorcycles, pickup vans, long-haul buses, and trucks they found suspicious.Drivers on these routes to northern Bangladesh say there are fewer vehicles and passengers on the road. Jony, an SA Paribahan driver, headed from Sirajganj to Dhaka, said that people were scared of unrest and had not left their houses.
Abu Taher, a driver for an Alam Paribahan bus from Dhaka to the north, said much of the same thing. “We have been conducting a special operation since Dec 1,” said Shafiqul Alam, superintendent of Gazipur Police. “We are carrying out vehicle searches in line with that operation.”
