Public sufferings knew no bounds as the quota protesters blocked major roads, highways and rail lines in the capital Dhaka and different other parts of the country on Tuesday.
Students from all the private and public universities across the country started gathering on the roads and highways in the morning to protest Monday’s attack on their fellows in the ongoing movement for quota reform.
Students of several universities, including Dhaka University, came under attack allegedly by the activists of Bangladesh Chhartra League, student wing of the ruling Awami League on Monday.
Traffic came to a grinding a halt in the capital as university students staged demonstration by blocking roads, disrupting movement of passenger buses and emergency service vehicles, including ambulances.
Hundreds of vehicles got stranded for hours at the Mohakhali, Nabisco, Science Lab intersections, Jatrabari, Rampura, Notun Bazar, Badda, Banani, Nodda, Mirpur 10, Gabtoli-Sadarghat Beribadh roads and Uttara area, causing immense suffering for the commuters.
People also got stuck in traffic congestion for several hours in most parts of downtown Dhaka. City commuters waited hours for public transport at the main thoroughfares.
Vehicular movement on all major highways in the country was halted for hours on due to the road blockade and demonstrations by the students from different universities.
People travelling on inter-district buses have also suffered terribly as quota protesters blocked major railways and highways, cutting off Dhaka from different parts of the country.
The agitating students blocked Dhaka-Chattogram highway and rail lines in Chhatrogram, Khulna-Jashore highway, Dhaka-Barishal highway, Dhaka-Rajshahi highway and Dhaka-Aricha highway.
In the morning, students of different universities took position on the main roads in front of their campuses in the capital and elsewhere. Students from other educational institutions in the vicinity also joined them.
While visiting different areas, it was seen that hundreds of vehicles have remained stranded in the capital, forcing people to walk long distances to reach their destinations.
Commuters, including elderly people, patients, and office-goers, were the worst sufferers due to the blockades.
As the HSC examination and other exams were going on in different schools and colleges, many examinees and their parents struggled to reach their home after the exam as the quota protesters blocked roads across the country.
Many kids were seen going home with their parents on foot as no vehicles and rickshaws were playing the city roads.
Many people were seen walking with their baggage in the Mohakhali bus terminal area as the protesters were not allowing any vehicles to run in the city’s Nabisco area.
The rail communication from the capital with the rest of the country is disrupted as protesting students blocked rail lines in the Mohakhali area in the capital.
Anowar Hossain, superintendent of the Dhaka District Railway Police, said train service came to a halt from around 2:00 pm when the protesters blocked the Mohakhali Rail Gate area.
Railway officials say at least nine trains have been stranded in and out of the capital since 4:30 pm.
Anwar Hossain, Station Master of Kamalapur said, “At least six trains, including Rajshahi Express, Chottola Express, Suborna Express, and Sirajganj Express, are stranded at Kalampur Station. Three trains heading towards Dhaka— Banalata Express, Chilahati Express and Silk City Express —also got stranded on the tracks midway.”
The Kolkata-Dhaka Maitree Express has been halted at Mouchak, Gazipur, according to the station master at Dhaka Cantonment railway station. The train was scheduled to arrive at 4:05pm.
As the train got stuck, many passengers, disembarked the trains and started walking.
Shaiduzzaman Khan, a businessman, said, “It took around three hours to reach Bashundhara Residential Area from Mohakhali. I had to walk from Kurmitola General Hospital to Bashundhra Residential Area due to the road blockade.”
The number of public transport on main roads in the capital came down due to potential violence, causing inconvenience for the commuters.
Some bus drivers said that the traffic congestion also caused economic losses to the bus operators, as they could arrange only half of the trips.
Staff members of different government and non-governmental organisations also faced problems while returning home from their work places.
