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Rally makes commuters suffer a lot

Staff Correspondent
Traffic on the major streets in the city came to a standstill yesterday as ruling Awami League supporters rushed to the grand rally held at Suhrawardy Udyan.
The Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue was completely choked around 2:00pm with vehicles carrying supporters towards the venue. The road was the main route for supporters coming from Savar, Dakkhinkhan, Uttara, Rupnagar and Mirpur, among other areas.
Processions further worsened the traffic situation with long tailbacks behind the marching supporters. At least three huge processions clogged up the
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road for one hour from 2:00pm.
Thousands of people were forced to take the roads and footpaths due to lack of public transport or traffic congestion on the roads leading to Suhrawardy Udyan.
Further nuisance was caused by flouting of traffic rules by vehicles carrying party supporters. Three BRTC buses carrying AL supporters to the rally were seen on the wrong lane on Bijoy Sarani around 3:30pm. Vehicular movement had to stop on that lane because of the violation of rules.
The same violation was observed in other areas including Kakrail-Matsya Bhaban intersection.
Bus operators said different thana units had earlier reserved hundreds of buses leading to a shortage of public transport.
Abul Kalam, acting president of Dhaka Sarak Paribahan Samity, told The Daily Star that around 200 buses had been rented from Mirpur bus terminal alone.
"The ruling party leaders were competing with each other in their bid to take more supporters to the rally. So, they rented as many buses as possible," headded.
Another bus owner said many buses were taken by force. “We did not dare to ask for fare. We only want our vehicles back in one piece,” said a owners' association leader asking not to be named.
Raihan Bin Shafiq, a banker who works at Motijheel, said he walked from the Jatiya Press Club to Karwan Bazar intersection to avail a transport to reach Shyamoli in the evening.
"It took me three hours to get back home
after work,” he added.
"Although the road from Bangla Motor intersection to Farmgate was comparatively free in the evening, no public vehicle was available on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue,” said Sanjida Afrin, a college teacher.
The Farmgate bus stop in front of Ananda cinema was thronged by weary passengers waiting for buses.
Tinni, a student standing at the bus stop, told this correspondent that she had been waiting for a bus to Abdullahpur for more than half an hour but saw none.
"It would normally cost around Tk 40 to go there by bus. I have to take a CNG-run auto-rickshaw now that would cost me around Tk 300-400," said Tinni.