It was half past midday. A rickshaw van, laden with medicines in paper cartons, approached slowly towards the Matsya Bhaban circle in Dhaka.

The van crossed the intersection. Minutes later, two more vans passed through the road in front of the fisheries department headquarters at Segun Bagicha.

The vans were used by a pharmaceuticals company, Renata Ltd, to deliver medicines in times of hartal. The company's delivery pickups were off the roads for fear of vandalism.

All roads leading to the intersection were mostly bare, as a 48-hour strike began early yesterday morning, called by the opposition BNP and its allies.

The strike hampered traffic from one corner of the city to another, putting daily routine work in disarray.

“We are not using our delivery trucks because of the strike. That's

why, our company has hired rickshaw vans,” said Mahmudul Hasan, a sales representative of Renata Ltd. He was sitting on his van next to the cartons of drugs.

Hasan was on his way to Mohammadpur to deliver medicines. His colleague was going to Dhanmondi to distribute saline; while the other was on route to another clinic in Hatirpool.

Renata hired over 20 rickshaw-vans to ensure delivery of drugs as the hartal was in force.

' 'There is no scope to compromise with life-saving drugs. That's why we have hired vans to ensure timely delivery," Hasan said.

The movement of pedestrians on sidewalks was thin as well. Roadside teashops, which are usually abuzz with customers, were mostly idle. The same was true for groceries and restaurants.

The strike has cut into the incomes of businesses.

“We have some regular customers who come to shop with their own

vehicles. Today they have not come," said Abu Sayeed Reaz, a salesman at Tanvir General Store at Segun Bagicha.

He said sales slumped because of a fall in the number of customers. “On other days, the sales of beverages remain high. Today it is low because of a lack of public movement."

Pradip Roy, the in-charge of an outlet of Grameen Sweetmeat Bakery and Foods Ltd, at Bijoy Nagar, said they opened their shop two hours late. “We usually open the showroom at 8am on normal days. Today, we opened at 10 in the morning.”

"Customer turnout has slumped by almost half due to the strike,” Mohammad Parvez, manager of Hotel New Star, a restaurant, in Farmgate, one of the busiest spots in Dhaka on other days.

Parvez said the restaurant logs an average turnover of Tk 30,000 in sales on workdays. “But we have lost a fourth of our average sales because of the hartal.”