Life gets back on track

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Life in the city picked up its pace again yesterday after lumbering for four days as Awami League (AL) led 14-party combine suspended its countrywide blockade programme until next Sunday.
The public and private enterprises, banks, schools and shopping malls were buzzing with activities while the usual traffic jam scenario was seen at different intersections of the city as motorised vehicles returned to the streets, which were dominated only by the rickshaws for the past few days.

Businesses at the Motijheel moved on in full swing with people thronging the commercial hub of the capital.

The Chittagong and Mongla seaports and all land ports resumed operations early in the morning and the trucks and buses got back to the highways linking other cities of the country with the capital, our correspondents report.

The people who were stranded outside or inside the capital due to the blockade also started returning to their workplaces.

The intercity bus, train and launch services that were snapped resumed from Wednesday evening as soon as the blockade was withdrawn. The Kamalapur Rail Station sources said within 24 hours of resuming operations, a total of 31 trains left the station while many Dhaka-bound trains from different stations of the country reached there as usual.

The Gabtali Bus Terminal also started the inter-city bus services from Wednesday evening, sources said.

Although vegetables and other food supplies to the city increased after a four-day interval, the kitchen market showed no signs of decrease in the prices of the essentials.

“Can you imagine, one kilogram atta is selling at Tk 28, while price of only four eggs is Tk 22. The situation is getting worse day by day,” said a resentful customer at the Karwan Bazar yesterday.

Most of the low-income group, especially the day labourers, who could not get any work during the blockade, were also seen back in business. Subal Shil, a barber from the city’s Green Road providing services mostly to this group, said that even his business was not good due to the blockade.

“Flow of customers to the saloon was very thin in the past four days as people could not earn enough money to come here due to the blockade. Everything was halted during that time, but the situation is now getting normal,” he added.

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