Rashid Ahmed remained stranded in a vehicle near Zia International Airport from 5:00pm to 7:15pm while Shahana and Yiasmin on the Mohakhali Flyover for the same period. Like Rashid, Shahana and Yiasmin, thousands of city dwellers and commuters had to go through untold sufferings, as almost all the city streets were jammed with vehicles.
The nagging traffic congestions on the city’s roads appeared to have returned to previous level as very few drivers were going by the lane system introduced by Dhaka Metropolitan Police to bring discipline on the streets. Commuters blamed the law enforcing agencies for lack of monitoring whether the drivers were going by their designated lanes.
The government recently took approval of the parliament on an anti-begging law with the commitment to uproot the phenomenon of begging in the city streets within five years. The law says anyone who asks for charity in public, or displays handicaps or mutilations in order to obtain money, will be punished with three months in prison.
"Contrary to what many assume, the tradition of 'Pahela Baishakh' (first day of the Bengali new year) celebration in urban areas, in particular Dhaka, wasn't a sudden implant in the 1960s," says renowned cultural personality and artist Mustafa Monwar.
