Commuters suffer for AL rally in city

Thousands of commuters were stuck for hours in tailbacks on all the major city roads since early afternoon yesterday thanks to an Awami League rally at Suhrawardy Uddyan.

People's suffering continued late into the evening although the rally ended at 5:00pm.

Scores of patients heading towards Dhaka Medical College Hospital from different directions were forced to walk leaning on others, as all the adjoining roads were clogged with vehicles.

This correspondent found the entry to the hospital's emergency unit blocked with vehicles stuck in a jam.

Md Sakhawat Hossain, a trader of Nawabpur Road in Old Dhaka, had a severe headache and somehow managed to reach near Bangabazar by a rickshaw. But from there, he said, he had to walk all the way to the hospital with the help of two attendants.       

This correspondent walked all the way from the hospital down to The Daily Star office in the late afternoon, as traffic came to a grinding halt.

The JSC and JDC examinees, who had their exam centres away from home had to suffer on their way back home.  

The ruling party organised the rally on the eve of the Jail Killing Day today. The rally was addressed by the prime minister. 

The roads stretching from Topkhana to Shahbagh, from Matsya Bhaban intersection to Inter Continental (Sheraton) Hotel intersection, from Shahbagh to Elephant Road and the adjoining roads were clogged with vehicles.

Hundreds of commuters were seen moving on foot all the way from Matsya Bhaban intersection to Farmgate along Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue as no vehicle could pass through the tailbacks during the rush hour after work. 

Sudipta Roy along with his wife and little daughter got stuck for an hour on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue near Tejturibazar, waiting for a CNG auto-rickshaw to go to Uttara.

My daughter became restless and then tired of waiting for so long, said Sudipta.

“I got an auto-rickshaw but the driver demanded a fare of Tk 500 despite the recent government rule that all auto-rickshaws must run on meter.”