Fewer public transports were noticed on the streets of the capital yesterday – the third day of the on-going 7-day lockdown.
Visits to various places of the city showed that the government security agencies were strictly enforcing the health safety rules ensuring physical distancing and use of face masks in public.
Witnesses said, except for emergency services and kitchen markets, all the markets, shopping malls and business establishments remained shut from Monday.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 cases and its fatalities reached a new high. People are found largely reluctant about obeying health safety rules and public movement restrictions of lockdown.
Private cars, rickshaws and auto-rickshaws, microbus and CNG-run auto-rickshaws and many ride-sharing services were seen plying the streets like the previous two days.
Meanwhile, traders of different markets and shopping malls staged demonstrations demanding keeping their business establishments open. Besides bike riders, who operate ridesharing, also staged demonstrations blocking roads at Maghbazar and in front the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) headquarters. They were demanding lifting the ban on ridesharing services.
Ashrafuzzaman, manager of Alif Paribahan, said, “We are operating 60 percent of the buses maintaining health protocols. Usually, about 200 vehicles operate on four routes. The number of passengers is far fewer than the previous days.”
“But the resumption of bus services has apparently reduced the sufferings of office-goers and commuters in the capital,” he said.
Joint Commissioner of Traffic Police (North) Abu Saleh Sheikh Russel of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said that city buses started going back into operation on Wednesday morning but the number of buses was far less than the usual. As the number of passengers was low, owners were operating fewer buses.
However, experts said it will be difficult to contain coronavirus infections and deaths if a strict lockdown is not enforced as the situation is turning worse day by day.
Many patients are moving from one hospital to another for beds or ICU support as most hospitals are occupied.
Meanwhile, motorcyclists who provide ride sharing services had gathered in different places of the capital, protesting and demanding to lift the ban on ride sharing services. The protests were held at various places in Dhaka including Minto Road, Agargaon and Mirpur on Wednesday morning.
At 10:30 am on Wednesday, it was seen that 30-40 motorcycles, making their way from Agargaon, gathered at Mirpur road number 10. During the time, drivers chanted slogans demanding the resumption of ride sharing services.
The motorcyclists further moved to Mirpur road number 14 and carried out their protest. At the same time, motorcyclists carrying passengers gathered at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) headquarters on Minto Road in the capital to protest.
Witnesses also said that the motorcycles kept honking their horns while demanding to lift the ban on ride sharing with different slogans. The bike owners, protested on motorcycles at different points of the capital, divided into small groups.
Our Correspondent in Rajshahi said small traders in there staged demonstration on Wednesday morning when a mobile court asked them to close their shops, as per government-imposed restrictions to rein in the rising number of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
Many traders and their employees opened shops in the morning at the RDA Market, in the heart of the city, on the third day of the seven-day "lockdown".
When a mobile court team reached there at around 11am and asked them to close their shops, the traders staged demonstration on a road in front of the market.
The traders went to their respective shops after the mobile court left the place, said witnesses.
