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DHAKA-CTG

TAWFIQUE ALI, back from Camilla
The Dhaka-Chittagong highway was virtually empty of traffic yesterday as only a few public buses plied the road amidst fear of vandalism and police harassment.
A small number of inter-district
buses left Sayedabad terminal in the capital at 6:30 in the morning, when this correspondent boarded a Comilla-bound bus, travelled for two and a half hours and finally disembarked at Shashangachha terminal.
The bus operators said the administration concerned instructed them unofficially to stay off-road ahead of the rally. They also raised the allegation of intimidation from the ruling party men.
At 9:00 am, a conductor of Asia Line bus service said that all bus operators had decided not to run their buses in between Comilla and Dhaka for yesterday and today.
The bus owners do not want to take the risk of facing vandalism as a bus is worth aroundTk701akh.
Hamidur Rahman, who was travelling by an auto-rickshaw from Shashangachha to Comilla Cantonment stoppage, told the correspondent, “It seems
that the government itself has called a general strike today.”
Jahangir Alam, an engineer at an LGED office in Narayanganj, finally had to give up effort of reaching his office by a Dhaka-bound bus after a one-hour wait at the cantonment bus stoppage.
"My life is more valuable than attending the office,” he said.
At Gouripur, two Rab personnel in plainclothes intercepted a bus in which this correspondent was travelling. After a short search, they allowed the bus and its passengers to leave.
In absence of regular bus services, some local buses and auto-rickshaws were seen charging commuters much higher fares to make brisk money and cashing in on public sufferings.
As morning grew towards noon, the highway became emptier of traffic. At about a quarter to three in the afternoon, five elderly women of a nearby village were seen
waiting helplessly at Daudkandi bus stoppage.
A mobile court at a police check-post near Daudkandi toll plaza intercepted a passenger bus and fined its driver Tk2,000 for not having required documents, though police earlier requisitioned the bus and seized the documents.
Shafiq Kamal, a magistrate on duty, said a bus cannot carry passengers after beingrequisitioned.
It was learnt that an inspector had instructed on duty police officials at the spot not to let eight passenger buses of S Alam and Soudia Paribahans bound for Dhaka pass the area.
Md Delwar, driver of a bus, however, said police never fined them earlier on such a ground.
Rows of city buses were seen kept off-road all the way through Kanchpur to Sayedabad and Jatrabari.