A quiet 2nd day of strict lockdown

Streets in the capital and elsewhere remained almost empty yesterday, the second day of the seven-day "strict lockdown" the government enforced amid rising cases of Covid-19.People mostly left home to say the Jumma prayer or to go to the kitchen markets.

On the roads, there were check posts manned by teams of the army, BGB, Rab and police. There were executive magistrates at some of the check posts. They stopped traffic and the people who failed to explain why they ventured outdoors were detained or fined.

At many check posts in the capital, the officers did not have much to do as the streets remained almost empty. No law enforcers were seen at some of the check posts.

The fact that it was a rainy weekend was also the reason why people mostly stayed indoors.

Fewer people were penalised for violating the rules yesterday than the day before.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police yesterday detained 320 people, down from 550 the day before.

The detainees failed to give acceptable reasons why they defied the stay-at-home order.

Police also fined 208 individuals and at least 219 motorists were fined Tk 5.45 lakh.

Rab teams conducted 166 patrols and set up 145 checkposts across the country, said another statement.

Fifty nine mobile courts accompanied by Rab fined 213 people a total of Tk 2.15 lakh.

Very few cars and some rickshaws were seen around Farmgate, Green Road, Tejgaon, Gulshan, Badda, Banani, Mohakhali, Paltan, Matsya Bhaban, Gulistan, Motijheel and on Dhaka-Aricha highway.

But the picture was different at the alleys in residential areas, especially in the old Dhaka.

Many residents went to nearby mosques where maintaining social distance is a challenge.

At Karwan Bazar, private company employee Ratan Sarker said, "I didn't find some essential items in any other market. That's why I had to come here."

Most of the shops and markets on the thoroughfares were closed.

Traffic Sergeant Rafiqul Islam, who was at Jahangir Gate, said when the rain stopped for a few hours, the pressure of traffic slightly increased.

"Some of the people we stopped said they were going to the airport, others said they were going to hospitals," he told The Daily Star.

Several rickshaw pullers in Farmgate said that there were not enough passengers.

"I got only two passengers between 10:00am and 1:00pm," said rickshaw puller Nazib Ullah in Farmgate.

Outside Dhaka, law enforcers were seen on roads and highways in and around the cities and towns.

In Rajshahi on Thursday, an assistant commissioner (land) in Bagmara upazila broke the arm of a college teacher by beating him with a stick during a mobile court, reports our staff correspondent.

The teacher's wife said the officer later visited her house and apologised yesterday.

Contacted, Assistant Commissioner Mahmudul Hasan said it was a misunderstanding.

The main streets in Rajshahi city were almost empty yesterday, but people were seen in the alleys and at the kitchen markets in the morning.

In Rangpur and Dinajpur, the main roads were almost empty, but there were crowds at kitchen markets.

In Barishal, the metropolitan police organised a Coronavirus Awareness Vehicle procession around noon, reports our correspondent.

Traffic was really thin on Dhaka-Mymensingh and Dhaka-Tangail highways.

Our Munshiganj correspondent reports that there were hardly any travellers at Shimulia-Banglabazar ferry terminals. Only trucks and ambulances were crossing the Padma.

The "strict lockdown" will end at midnight on July 7.