On hearing the shocking news of his father's death, Dulal, a small trader in Gazipur, set out with his wife for his village of Rajapur at dawn on Monday. But little did Dulal know that he would not get to bid a final farewell to his dead father due to unavailability of transport in the ongoing political turmoil.

Dulal Matubbar, the eldest son of Habibur Rahman Matubbar of Halderkhali in Rajapur, was taken aback when he arrived at Tongi station from his Gazipur residence. There were no vehicles except some battery-operated rickshaws, human haulers and rickshaws, he told this correspondent in tears, blaming the country's bad politics.

Walking and using rickshaws, the couple arrived in Nabinagar 30km away.

"Fortunately we got a bus from Nabinagar to take us to Paturia ferry ghat and from the other side of the river Padma, the rest of the road, about 170 kilometres, we walked and rode everything from an easy bike to a rickshaw to reach home at 10:00pm," Dulal said.

It took Dulal and his wife 17 hours to travel 250Km.

But his father had already been buried by the time he arrived. Deprived of his right to see his dead father for the last time, Dulal cried like a child sitting by the fresh grave and cursed the politics of the land.