Restrictions they do not heed
Thousands of people left Dhaka for the second straight day yesterday to celebrate Eid in their village homes, violating travel restrictions imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Desperate to be at home with their loved ones, they ignored the risks of contracting novel coronavirus and spreading it to others.
It happened at a time when the country's coronavirus situation has been deteriorating every day. The authorities yesterday reported the total number of Covid-19 cases crossed the 25,000 mark while the death toll hit 370.
Police, which stepped up measures to curb people's movement, claimed that they tried to stop the home-goers, but failed since so many of them descended on roads at a time.
In the absence of public transport amid the ongoing shutdown, the home-goers travelled by pickups, motorcycles and battery-run three wheelers, ignoring social distancing rules. When they came near check-posts set up by the law enforcers at the exit points of the capital, they crossed them on foot.
Ferry services on Shimulia-Kathalbari and the Paturia-Daulatdia routes remained suspended like the previous day. Many remained stuck at the ferry ghats while many others crossed the Padma river by trawlers, risking their lives when super cyclone Amphan was approaching.
Besides, vehicles remained stuck in tailbacks on the Dhaka-Tangail highway, said witnesses.
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed yesterday urged those stuck at the ghats not to go home.
"Stay where you are," he said while addressing a briefing on law and order ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr and the coronavirus situation, at the Police Lines Auditorium in the capital's Rajarbagh.
He said many were crowding the ferry terminals although warning signal number 3 was raised before the storm. "Many others are trying to cross the river risking their lives, but we've instructed the authorities to curb the movement."
The police boss then urged the home-goers stuck at the terminals to come back. "If necessary, police will arrange that," he said.
He also said around 23 of the country's 64 districts were free from coronavirus until the second week of April. "But whenever people started to move from one place to another, the disease spread across the country."
The ongoing shutdown, imposed to fight the coronavirus outbreak, began on March 26. The government later extended it six times.
In a circular on May 14, the Cabinet Division said movement of people would be restricted from May 17-May 28 across the country. The circular also said no one would be allowed to leave the city where they work. The local administrations and law enforcers were supposed to enforce the restrictions during the period.
FERRY TERMINALS
Ferry services on the Shimulia-Kathalbari route was suspended around 3:00pm on Monday after thousands of people crowded the Shimulia Ghat in Munshiganj's Louhajang upazila.
The services resumed after midnight and continued till 5:30am yesterday, said an official of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC).
He also said only one ferry remained in operation for emergency purposes, including for carrying bodies of deceased.
Like the previous day, a huge number of people gathered at the terminal yesterday. Finding no ferry, about a thousand crossed the Padma by small trawlers, according to terminal employees.
Asked, Md Asaduzzaman, additional superintendent of police in Munshiganj, claimed that they tried their best to enforce the curbs. "We have installed check posts and barricades on highway. We have also stopped people from crossing the river in small trawlers."
He said some 15,000 people had gathered at the terminal till yesterday noon.
"As the ferry services remain suspended, we have arranged about a dozen of buses so that those people can go back. We have fixed the bus fair at Tk 40. After that, many started leaving the terminal on their own," he told The Daily Star.
Mahfuz Afzal, additional SP (admin & ops) of Munshiganj, however, said some five to six thousand people took shelter at different places amid rain.
"We are looking for them. We will try to send them back once we find them," he told one of these correspondents around 8:00pm.
On the Paturia-Daulatdia route, ferry operations remained suspended from 7:00am due to a huge presence of home-bound people, said Zillur Rahman, deputy general manager of BIWTC at the Paturia Ghat.
"We are not sure when we will be able to resume the operations. The weather is an issue," he said.
Hafizur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in Manikganj, said they set up barricades at six points on the Dhaka-Aricha highway to stop people from leaving Dhaka.
"For those who managed to gather at the terminal, we arranged some buses and sent them back forcefully," he said, adding people's presence at the Paturia terminal became thinner in the afternoon.
DHAKA-TANGAIL HIGHWAY
Although public transport services have been suspended till May 30, the highway witnessed a long tailback caused by hundreds of pickups, cars and microbuses.
Police said a good number of garment workers recently joined work in Dhaka. They were now going back to their village home to celebrate Eid.
Sajedul Islam, traffic inspector (administration) in Tangail, said they put up barricades just before the Bangabandhu Bridge. "We have stopped hundreds of cars and microbuses heading towards different districts of north Bengal and sent them back. We sent them back when they failed to give us any valid reasons for travelling."
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