Dwellers in Dhaka suffered immensely on Saturday as the traffic system in the south part of the capital collapsed as thousands of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, activists and followers from across the country came to Suhrawardy Udyan to attend the party鈥檚 national rally in the city.
Daylong traffic congestion crippled the commuters鈥� movement in Ramna and Shahbagh thana areas and affected the city鈥檚 northern part throughout the day as thousands of Jamaat and its affiliated organisations鈥� leaders and activists joined the rally and hundreds of vehicles entered the city and kept on the city roads on the day, according to the party and police.
Hospital goers in the area suffered a lot as two of the country鈥檚 largest hospitals are situated in the Shahbagh area.
Abdur Rahman, a resident of Lalbagh in the city, told 抖阴精品 at about 3:00pm at Shahbagh that he needed more than three hours to come from the Gulshan area, and he got down from a bus in the Farmgate area as it was not moving.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police鈥檚 additional commissioner (traffic), Md Sarwar, said that they had taken preparations for the rally and deployed additional forces to maintain the traffic system on the day.
鈥榃e diverted vehicles at different points to mitigate people鈥檚 suffering,鈥� said Sarwar.
He said that many of the vehicles that came to the city from outside the capital were parked in undesignated places.
Jamaat鈥檚 rally formally began at about 2:00pm to press home their seven-point demand, including assurance for a level playing field and a proportionate representation system in the general election.
Hundreds of Jamaat and its affiliated organisations鈥� people, however, began gathering on the venue since early Saturday, causing huge traffic congestion in the busy areas of the city, including Kakrail, Shahbagh, Ramna, Segunbagicha, Azimpur, Nilkhet, Elephant Road, Dhanmondi and Kalabagan.聽
The crowd increased gradually as a huge number of party leaders and activists in groups joined the rally with processions from across the country from early in the morning, and it compelled the traffic authorities to divert vehicles.
Vehicular movement in the Ramna and Shahbagh thana areas gradually began after 6:00pm, after ending the rally.