Security tightens on Padma Bridge

On the second day of vehicles plying the Padma Bridge yesterday, the authorities beefed up surveillance to smooth out traffic.

Police set up a checkpoint ahead of Mawa toll plaza in Munshiganj to bar motorcycles from crossing the bridge.

Besides, law enforcers and army personnel continued patrolling the bridge throughout the day to prevent car parking and walking on the bridge.

Defying the government's ban, over 50 motorbikes gathered near the toll plaza around 7:30am and tried to cross the bridge.

As police intercepted the bikers, they argued with the toll plaza staffers for around half an hour, leaving other vehicles stuck on the expressway and creating around a one km tailback.

Security personnel then drove them away and the situation became normal.

Taking their bikes on pickups, many motorcyclists were seen crossing the bridge.

In another incident, over 50 motorbikes tried to cross the bridge around 4:00pm as they did not get ferries after waiting for a few hours at Shimulia ferry terminal.

Sergeant Sohel Hasan of Mawa traffic police outpost said more than 500 motorcycles were sent back in the morning. Then they crossed the river by ferries.

There is a police patrol team on the main bridge. Moreover, traffic police is on duty near the toll plaza. Efforts are going on to implement various instructions of the Bridges Division, he added.

Mahmudur Rahman, executive engineer of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, said vehicles crossed the bridge smoothly throughout the day yesterday.

In another development, a truck overturned on the bridge around 5:00pm, leaving four people injured.

Three people were wounded when another truck carrying 136 sacks of onion hit the exit ramps of the bridge.

The accident happened around 5:30pm when the driver lost control near the Mawa toll plaza.

A patrol team of security personnel seized another truck as it hit their vehicle when they were rescuing the injured.

The Bridges Division on Sunday night banned motorcycles on the bridge from 6:00am yesterday as thousands of bikers queuing up to cross the bridge overwhelmed the toll plaza employees and two bikers died in a crash on the bridge.